Notes[ 5 ]. Y. Yev. 4 : 3 ( 5 d).
8. B. Yev. 38 a – 39 a.
9. In some societies, rights to the widow devolve on a specific brother, the as-
signment being determined by birth order. While the Mishnah expects the old-
est surviving brother to take primary responsibility for resolving the yevama’s
status, his legal power is no greater than that of any other brother; any brother
can perform levirate marriage or halitza.
8. Num. 3 : – 1.
81. M. Ned. 1: 1.
8. M. Ned. 1:.
83. B. Ned. 4a – b.
84. The Mishnah places the primary responsibility for levirate on the oldest
surviving brother, but acknowledges that any brother can marry or release the
widow (M. Yev. : 8 ). The Mishnah also provides for asking each brother in turn to
take action before turning back to the oldest and telling him to act (M. Yev. 4 : 5 ).
W hile the Mishnah rejects the idea of an extended delay (M. Yev. 4 : 6 ), there is no
mechanism to force any one of the brothers to marry or release the widow.
85. The challenge presented to the rabbis by women taking the law into their
own hands is discussed by Charlotte Fonrobert, Menstrual Purity (Stanford, Ca-
lif.: Stanford University Press, ), 118 – 1; Dvora Weisberg, “Men Imagining
Women Imagining God: Gender Issues in Classical Midrash,” in Marc Lee Ra-
phael, ed., Agendas for the Study of Midrash in the Twenty-first Century (Williams-
burg, Va.: College of William and Mary, 1999 ), 68 – 1; and Weisberg, “Desirable but
Dangerous: Rabbis’ Daughters in the Babylonian Talmud,” Hebrew Union College
Annual 5 (4), 15 – 154.
86. Of course, her role in the ritual does not fully empower the yevama. She
cannot force the levir to appear before a court and submit to halitza. Halitza re-
quires the consent of both parties (B. Yev. 1b). Fu r t her more, t he lev i r ca n ma r r y
other women whether or not halitza has been performed, while the yevama is
tied to him and unable to marry outside her husband’s family.
8. For examples see B. Yev. 1 1b, 1a, 1 3b, 14a, and 1 6a – b. The plethora
of such cases, compared with the paucity of cases describing levirate, might be
cited as evidence for rabbinic preference for halitza. However, it is important to
remember that while halitza is a ritual that must be enacted in the presence of a
court, levirate marriage can be performed without judicial supervision. Even if
levirate was a common occurrence, we would not expect to find cases in which a
rabbi “supervised” or “witnessed” a levirate union.
88. B. Yev. 1 1 b.
89. Later commentaries and codes insist that the rabbis take the interests of
the levirate widow into account when determining what advice to give the levir.
9. Y. Yev. 1: 6 (1d).
91. B. Yev. 1 6 a.
9. In “Ref usa l of t he Lev irate Ma rriage,” Yof fie cla ims t he lev ir is “unwort hy”
because he is “from a lower socioeconomic class” (3).
93. The first exchange in the dialogue is clearly between the mother and the
rabbi. It is impossible to tell if the subsequent exchanges involve the mother or
the widow herself.
94. M. Yev. 13 : 13.
95. B. Yev. 11 a.
96. A similar situation arises in B. Git. 35 a. A woman collects her marriage
settlement by making a vow before she is told that such a vow cannot be made. In