[ ]Conclusion(ma’amar) and requiring the same waiting period as was required for
the remarriage of all widows. Furthermore, the rabbis assigned the pa-
ternity of children born in a levirate union to the levir. The estate of the
deceased was bestowed on the levir when he married his sister-in-law.
The levir was not expected to preserve the estate of his deceased brother
for the child or children of the levirate union but could bequeath it, to-
gether with his other property, to all of his children.
These changes may have made levirate marriage a more desirable
option for a man. Ironically, however, these changes on some level de-
stroyed levirate, insofar as they undermined the purpose of levirate as
described in the Hebrew Bible. Levirate, according to the Bible, is in-
tended to provide an heir for a deceased childless man, ensuring the
preservation of his “name.” As imagined by the rabbis, levirate provides
a new husband for a widow and an additional wife and property for a
brother, but offers nothing for the deceased. His wife and property have
been appropriated by his brother while he remains without offspring.
In early rabbinic literature, we see the focus of levirate shift from
concern for the deceased to concern for the living: the widow and the
levir. This shift is underscored by the concern for determining and hon-
oring the wishes of the parties to a possible levirate union. The death of
a childless man binds his brother(s) and widow(s); levirate marriage or
halitza releases them from those bonds. If they choose to marry, they
replace the levirate bond with their own marital bond, one that they
enter into willingly.^9 The yevama becomes her brother-in-law’s wife “in
every way.” If they choose not to marry, halitza allows the levir and the
widow to dissolve their bond and discharge their “responsibility” to the
deceased without any penalty; the levir retains a brother’s portion of
the estate of the deceased and the widow receives her marriage settle-
ment. Moreover, whether the levir chooses levirate or halitza, his choice
is to be guided by the sages, not by his family. Like marriage and divorce,
levirate is to be regulated by the sages.
Unlike the Bible, rabbinic texts hint at options for a childless widow
beyond levirate. The Mishnah imagines situations in which a woman
would reject her brother-in-law because of his occupation, take a vow
that made marriage between them impossible, or seek to dissolve a le-
virate union through claims of nonconsummation. Both the Bavli and
the Yerushalmi include stories of levirate widows who did not wish to