[ ]Conclusionmay be “resurrected” insofar as a man’s death is more “normal” if he
leaves children.
Rabbinic law rejects the idea that a family can be put back together
through levirate. Individuals cannot be replaced by other individuals,
even their brothers. Death ends marriage and a man’s obligation and
ability to procreate. A widow is released from the obligations of marriage
through her husband’s death. Nonetheless, in response to the law in
Deuteronomy, the rabbis preserved levirate in name. They transformed
it, acknowledging that the levir and his sister-in-law are bound to each
other as a result of their brother and husband’s death. The bond can be
dissolved through halitza or confirmed through levirate. In the former
case, the ritual of halitza transforms the yevama into a normal widow,
freeing her to remarry. In the latter, she and the levir create a normal
marriage. In both cases, death may lead to the establishment of new
families rather than the re-creation of the old family. By preserving levi-
rate, the rabbis acknowledge the authority of the Torah, from which they
draw their own authority. Through their transformation of levirate, the
rabbis assert their authority over the family and acknowledge that fami-
lies are composed of individuals who are not interchangeable and who
must have some voice in determining their position within the family.
The claims of the dead on the living — and on the yet unborn — are dis-
missed. Death ends one person’s claims on another, leaving the living to
assume new roles.