Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]levirate union. According to Mishnah Yevamot :, a fat her wou ld i n her it
his childless son’s property in the event that one of his sons submitted to
halitza. If one of the surviving brothers chose to enter into levirate mar-
riage, there is a dispute as to who inherits the property, with the prevail-
ing view assigning the property to that brother. This gives the deceased’s
father a possible reason for encouraging his sons to opt for halitza over
levirate. At the same time, if the wife had brought property into the mar-
riage, levirate would allow her husband’s family to retain that property
and remove the need to pay her marriage settlement; thus it is possible
that levirate might preserve the deceased’s estate for his heirs — his fa-
ther or brother — while halitza would deplete it.
Does the yevama’s family of origin have any interest in the decision?
A family might prefer that their daughter remarry quickly, in which case
levirate would be preferable to halitza. If the marriage created ties be-
tween the husband and wife’s families that were valued by the wife’s
family, they might encourage levirate to preserve the connection; the
same would be true of the husband’s family. If the woman’s family saw
no benefit in a continued alliance between the families, or if they did
not think highly of their son-in-law’s brother, they might prefer that he
submit to halitza. Like the yevama herself, the woman’s family had no
power to force the levir’s choice. They might, however, have some eco-
nomic influence. Mishnah Ketubot : discusses the dowry assigned by
a father to his daughter and reports:
If [the bride’s father] agreed to give his son-in-law a certain sum of
money and his son-in-law died [before the money was delivered],
the sages say: He can say [to the levir]: “I wanted to give this to your
brother; I do not want to give it to you.”While the Mishnah does not specify when this exchange between the
woman’s father and brother-in-law occurs, Rashi locates it between
the husband’s death and the levir’s decision.^100 The decision, although
entirely up to the levir, may be influenced by the father’s declaration;
this may be a ploy on the father’s part to encourage the levir to choose
halitza. It is worth noting that in the case brought before Rabbi Hiy ya
bar Abba (B. Yev. a), the yevama is accompanied by her mother, who
initiates the conversation and conveys to the rabbi that her daughter has
no desire to marry the levir.