Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]sible to determine definitively, given the dearth of sources and the lack
of clarity in the biblical texts. In either case, the child of a levirate union
has a clear legal relationship to his mother’s new husband, the levir, and
none whatsoever to the deceased, beyond acknowledging him as his fa-
ther’s late brother. The rabbinic construct of levirate leaves the deceased
childless, while offering the levir an opportunity to father additional
children on his brother’s widow and claim them as his own. The child
born of a levirate union is part of a complete nuclear family; although
this family arises from an obligation generated by death, it is defined
legally by the bonds of the living to each other.