Notes[ 3 ]. Sifre Deuteronomy 88 and M. Yev. : 1 – . Other factors that determine
whether the brother is a suitable candidate for levirate marriage can be found at
M. Yev. 8 : 5 ; 9 : 1 – 3 and T. Yev. 11 : 1 – ; 1:.
8. M. Yev. 4 : 1 – .
9. M. Yev. 3 : 1 ; 13 :.
3. M. Yev. 1 : 1 – .
31. M. Yev. 1 :; : 6 – ; 3 : 8 ; 1: 1.
3. T. Yev. : 5.
33. M. Yev. 8 : 5.
34. B. Yev. 36 a.
35. M. Yev. 4 : 11 does recommend that in a situation in which the levir prefers
halitza and one of the widows is already disqualified from marrying a priest, the
levir should perform halitza with that woman, leaving her co-wife free to marry
a priest. While this recommendation does allow at least one of the widows wider
possibilities for remarriage, B. Yev. 44 a emphasizes the desire to make women
available to priests, not the desire to make priests available as husbands. It cites
Rabbi Judah HaNasi as saying, “A man should not pour out water from his cistern
when others need it”; i.e., a man should not perform halitza with a woman who
would otherwise be suitable to marry a priest, denying her to other men, as long
as there is another avenue for him to fulfill his levirate duty.
36. M. Yev. 6 : 1.
3. M. Yev. 4 : 1 – .
38. M. Yev. 1: 3. The rabbis debate the status of a child born to a yevama who
has remarried without halitza; the majority position holds that the child is not a
mamzer. The marriage, however, must be dissolved.
39. M. Ned. 1: 6.
4. T. Yev. 6 :.
41. Lev. : 14.
4. M. Yev. : 4 ; 9 : 4.
43. M. Yev. 4 : 3.
44. M. Ket. 8 : 1.
45. M. Ket. 8 : 1. For a detailed discussion of a married woman’s right to dispose
of her property, see Elman, “Marriage and Marital Property,” 8 – 38.
46. There is some disagreement among commentators and translators as to
the identity of the “husband” mentioned in this mishna, some arguing that he
is the yevama’s deceased husband and others arguing that he is her prospective
husband, the levir. I will address this problem later in the chapter.
4. See Weisberg, “Levirate Marriage and Halitza in the Mishnah,” 58 – 6.
48. M. Yev. 6 : 1.
49. M. Yev. 4 : 11.
5. M. Yev. 5 : 1.
51. A widow could marry a man from the priestly caste, but a woman who
had undergone halitza could not. An act of unsanctioned (i.e., nonmarital) inter-
course could also bar a woman from marriage to a priest.
5. Elman, “Marriage and Marital Property,” 31 – 3 , 5 .
53. Elman, “Marriage and Marital Property,” 55 – 56.
54. Elman, “Marriage and Marital Property,” 53.
55. Elman, “Marriage and Marital Property,” 31 – 33.
56. See Chapter 4.
5. M. Yev. 5 :; see also T. Yev. :.
58. T. Yev. : 1.