Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]it is impossible to compel a man to take his brother’s widow against his
will and prescribes a ritual of release. Levirate, according to Deuteron-
omy, requires a man willing to serve as a surrogate for his dead brother.
This man must feel a sense of duty to the deceased, or to his extended
cla n, t hat over r ides h is nat u ra l i ncl i nat ion to fat her on ly ch i ld ren he ca n
claim as his and maintain only property he can pass on to his heirs. In
the event that the brother does not possess that sense of duty, and the
elders of the community and his sister-in-law are unable to convince
him, Deuteronomy releases the levir and the widow from their obliga-
tion to the deceased. However, the ritual of release is designed to shame
the levir; he has failed his brother and his house bears the shame of his
refusal.
While acknowledging the possibility that a man might see levirate
as a burden, the Bible insinuates that childless widows saw levirate as a
beneficial institution. In Deuteronomy , the widow’s appearance be-
fore and declaration to the elders suggests that she desires the union.
She plays a prominent role in the shaming ritual, serving as the “voice”
of her deceased husband. Tamar works to reestablish her place in her
husband’s family through her seduction of Judah. Naomi and Ruth plot
to arrange Ruth’s marriage to a member of Elimelech’s family.
Does the Hebrew Bible imagine that women gain more through le-
virate than men? Certainly, the widow has less to lose. Levirate allows
her to remain in her husband’s family, a family to which she may have
grown accustomed and in which she may have found support and com-
fort. A childless widow was a vulnerable member of society, and levirate
ensured a woman a home and the possibility of children. Furthermore,
since the widow had no rights to her husband’s property, marriage to her
brother-in-law in no way threatened the widow’s economic standing; on
the contrary, it might well improve her situation. Women’s willingness
to promote levirate may be seen as enthusiasm for the protection offered
by t hat i nst it ut ion or si mply recog n it ion t hat a ch i ld less w idow ’s opt ions
were limited.
The disincentive on a man’s part to agree to a levirate union was
met by the early rabbis with a series of emendations to the laws of levi-
rate. These emendations took into consideration and responded to the
disadvantages levirate posed to men. The rabbis transformed levirate
into “normative” marriage, formalizing it with a declaration of intent