Introduction[ xxii ]helps me understand levirate in ancient Judaism, I use anthropology
and cross-cultural comparison to elucidate issues that arise in bibli-
cal and rabbinic texts. I appreciate that what is true of one culture may
not be true of another. However, anthropological studies of kinship of-
fer models by which a scholar may evaluate any society’s construct of
kinship and marriage, and applying these models to rabbinic literature
allows us to reflect on the significance of the rabbis’ descriptions of re-
lationships among family members.
I will also consider the marriage and kinship systems of the roman
empire and the Sasanian empire, the settings in which ancient rabbinic
literature was produced. Scholars of rabbinics have become increas-
ingly aware that rabbinic culture did not arise in a vacuum, and that the
knowledge of ancient roman and Babylonian law and literature enables
us to better understand rabbinic Judaism. I have argued elsewhere that
roman and Babylonian constructs of marriage and heirship may help
explain attitudes toward levirate in ancient Judaism, particularly the
differences between Palestinian and Babylonian traditions.^14 Levirate
was viewed as a valuable strategy to obtain an heir in Sasanian Baby-
lonia, the setting of the Babylonian Talmud. The Bavli’s interest in levi-
rate, as well as its particular interpretation of the levirate law, should be
studied against the backdrop of Iranian law. Similarly, the Palestinian
sources’ preference for halitza, the rite of release, over levirate marriage
may be better understood by studying roman strategies of heirship,
which did not include levirate.
The first two chapters of this book serve as an introduction to levirate
in general and levirate in Judaism in particular. The first chapter offers
a brief introduction to levirate from a cross-cultural perspective. we
have relatively little information about levirate in ancient Israel, and it is
helpful to supplement that information with data from other societies.
In addition, a consideration of how levirate fits into marriage and kin-
ship systems, and an understanding of the type of marriage system that
supports levirate, may help us understand why and how levirate served
ancient Israelites and why it was more problematic for the early rabbis.
A society’s use of levirate is closely linked to its understanding of family,
marriage, and inheritance; a comparison between those assumptions
in other cultures and those of the rabbis of Late Antiquity may help us
appreciate the rabbis’ desire to reconceive levirate.