[ ]Paternity and Continuitythe child or children of the levirate union, rather than award it to the
father or the brothers of the deceased, as is usua lly the case when a man
dies without children. The child would be raised by his mother — and, in
some societies, by the levir — as the son of her deceased husband.
In fact, one of the characteristics that define a relationship as levi-
rate is the assignment of the children of the union to their mother’s de-
ceased husband.^14 In some cultures, levirate is a vehicle used to provide
an heir for a man who died without children; in these cultures, assigning
the child of levirate to the deceased fulfills the purpose of the union. In
other cultures, levirate is a response to the belief that a woman remains
the legal wife of her husband even after his death; that is, any children
she bears are the legal offspring of the deceased. In some cases, a widow
cannot remarry, nor can she return to her family of origin. Levirate in
many cases is optional, and the widow may be able to choose the levir
from among her husband’s kinsmen. In all of these cultures, the chil-
dren of the levirate union are treated as the children of the woman’s
dead husband, not the children of their biological father.^15 This is true
whet her t he w idow a nd t he lev i r l ive toget her or sepa rately, a nd whet her
the levirate union is long term or temporary.
Biblical references to levirate create some confusion as to the assign-
ment of pater nit y of t he chi ldren of lev irate unions in a ncient Israel. The
language of Deuteronomy indicates that the children — or at least the
first child — of a levirate union were to be assigned to the lineage of the
deceased rather than to that of their biological father. That the deceased
and not the levir was the legal pater of the child of a levirate union is also
supported by Onan’s reluctance to impregnate Tamar; Onan spills seed
because he knows “that the seed would not count as his.” At the same
time, the Hebrew Bible names a child of a levirate or levirate-like union
as the son of his biological father; Tamar’s sons are listed in genealo-
gies as Judah’s sons, and Obed is referred to as the son of Boaz, not of
Mahlon.
All rabbinic discussions of levirate recognize that levirate is man-
dated only when the deceased left no issue. Furthermore, levirate is
mandated only when there is some possibility that the union could
produce children; sterile women and eunuchs may not contract levirate
marriage. This indicates that the goal of the union is the creation of a
child who w ill carr y on the name or line of the deceased. However, a ll of