Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]marry their brothers-in-law. In these stories, rabbis respected the wom-
en’s wishes and tricked the levirs into halitza. Although preferring that
women avoid levirate marriage through court-initiated and approved
efforts rather than “uncontrolled,” self-initiated acts, rabbinic sources
show no inclination to force women into levirate unions. The rabbis’ ad-
mission that a woman might be reluctant to marry her brother-in-law
recognizes that women had options other than levirate or perpetual
childless (and impoverished) widowhood. It also may reflect the un-
derstanding that while marriage transferred a woman from her father’s
authority to her husband’s, she retained strong connections to her fam-
ily of origin. Rabbinic Judaism did not imagine a woman becoming an
intrinsic part of her husband’s extended family; in fact, rabbinic law ac-
knowledges the likelihood of animosity between a married woman and
her husband’s female relatives. Levirate would not have been the only
option for a childless widow and may not have been a particularly at-
tractive one.
The rabbis’ reconfiguration of levirate corresponds to their under-
standing of family. The primary family unit in ancient Israel was prob-
ably an extended family unit with shared residence. The family was a
patrilineal group, headed by the oldest male. Adult sons farmed with
their parents, and women left their family of origin upon marriage to
reside with their husbands’ family. Biblical law supports this type of
family, regulating sexual relations between family members who might
live in close proximity and attempting to ensure that the family’s land
would remain within the patrilineage. The practice of levirate comple-
ments the structure and serves the interests of the extended agrarian
family. Because a man’s land is part of his patrilineal family’s estate,
levirate — together with the denial of a wife’s right to inherit from her
husband — helps preserve the family estate while providing a home for
a childless widow. Brothers who live in close proximity to each other and
to their extended family can be called on to assume responsibility for
their brothers’ widows. The authority of the older generation may con-
tribute to a man’s decision to enter into a levirate union, as illustrated
by the influence of Judah and Naomi in the unions of Tamar and Ruth.
There is no indication that the rabbis imagined such influence taking
place in their world; they focus on the choices of the individual levir and,
to a lesser extent, the yevama. What influence might be brought to bear