Introduction[ xxiii ]Chapter 2 begins with an analysis of levirate in the Hebrew Bible.
rabbinic constructs of levirate represent the rabbis’ commitment to
read biblical texts in ways that make those texts speak to Jews in Late
Antiquity. Before turning to rabbinic levirate law, we need to under-
stand the biblical texts and consider the role levirate might have played
in the ancient Israelite family. At the end of the chapter, I survey the lim-
ited Second Temple literature regarding levirate and segue into rabbinic
texts, using the mishnah and the Tosefta to provide a brief overview of
rabbinic law regarding levirate.
The third chapter deals with kinship and family structure as de-
scribed in rabbinic literature. It explores different definitions of family
in rabbinic legal texts that deal with mourning, testimony, incest, and
inheritance, as well as levirate marriage. It also analyzes kinship termi-
nology in rabbinic literature. This exploration will determine how the
rabbis understood family in its broadest and narrowest senses, and how
those definitions shaped and are reflected in levirate law.
Chapter 4 discusses relationships among brothers. Levirate rests on
the assumption that a man has an obligation to provide children for his
deceased brother. This assumption suggests a bond between brothers
that fosters a sense of mutual support and obligation that might super-
sede one brother’s self-interest. while rabbinic law treats the surviving
brothers as a unit — any one of them can respond to the levirate obliga-
tion on behalf of all the brothers — it also recognizes the tensions that
may a rise when brot hers have conflicting interests. This chapter revea ls
the tensions between the individual’s interests and those of the family,
and suggests that the rabbis were willing to promote the former, even if
it meant undermining levirate.
Chapter 5 focuses on the levirate widow, a woman whose husband
has died without children. The levirate widow is in a unique legal posi-
tion; she is not free to remarry as she chooses, but must wait for her hus-
band’s brother to marry her or release her. The levirate obligation has
an impact on her economic status and her status regarding vows; she
has more freedom than a wife but less than a normal widow. Her posi-
tion with regard to her family of origin and her late husband’s family is
also unique. As a childless widow, she has no blood ties to any member
of her husband’s family, and the marriage that brought her into their
family has ended. However, the levirate bond makes her a candidate to