[ ]From Wife to Widow and Back AgainIt seems li kely t hat at least in some circumsta nces, a ma n or woma n’s
family might have an interest in promoting halitza or levirate. Parents
were involved in arranging their children’s marriages; they presum-
ably retained an interest in the marriage and in the arrival of chil-
dren. Parents might have influenced their son’s decision to marry his
brot her’s w idow or to ref ra in f rom doing so. The Mishna h ack nowledges
that some of the parties affected by a levirate bond would have been
minors. It considers the case of two minors, a yevama and her young
brother-in-law, who have intercourse, and rules that “they shall grow
up together.”^101 The minor boy’s intercourse is effective, but he is too
young to give a woman a divorce; the couple must wait until they reach
adulthood before the young man can release his sister-in-law. However,
t he words “t hey sha l l g row up toget her” sug gest t hat t he couple cou ld be
raised in the same household, perhaps in preparation for affirming
the levirate union when they reach adulthood. This case, together
with the next case, which imagines an adult yevama “raising” her mi-
nor brother-in-law who has had intercourse with her, leaves open the
possibility that the yevama will remain in her in-laws’ home, even in
their care. Such an arrangement suggests parental approval of the levi-
rate union. Similarly, when a minor yevama who was betrothed by her
mother or brothers chooses to “refuse” her levir, it seems likely that her
family encouraged her to do so.^102
To the extent that a particular yevama had any voice in the outcome
of the levirate bond, her ties to her husband’s family might influence her
preference. The Mishnah acknowledges that relations between a wife
and her husband’s female relatives can be assumed to be strained. We
learn in Mishnah Yevamot : t hat a woma n’s mot her-in-law, sisters-in-
law (her husband’s sister and the wife of her husband’s brother), co-wife,
and stepdaughter cannot testify to her husband’s death, freeing her to
remarry. The same women are permitted to deliver the wife’s bill of di-
vorce and may testify that she has committed adultery to exempt her
from the sotah ritual.^103 The commentaries on these three mishnayot all
assume that a wife is disliked by her husband’s female relations and that
they would not hesitate to give misinformation — or information that has
not been properly checked — since they do not care if her status is dam-
aged. Tensions between a woman and the wife of her husband’s brother
may reflect concern that they might end up as co-wives; the other rela-