Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism

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Index

Mishnah (continued)
testimony eligibility, 55, 76–77;
types of women in, 140; on waiting
period for levirate, 177
Mishpaha, 49–50, 72
Monogamy: as complication for
levirate, 22, 36, 68–69; defining,
66; rabbinic preference for, 52, 116,
207n1; in Roman Palestine, 67
Mortality concerns and levirate,
211n9
Mother, children as heirs of, 9, 82, 174
Motivations regarding levirate: and
incest taboos, 31, 65; levir’s, xix,
x x, 26–27, 28–29, 32, 36–37, 38, 98,
100–101, 105, 109, 111, 112, 113–16,
120, 138; proper vs. improper,
18, 65, 98, 114–15, 160–61, 164;
rabbinic court’s regulation of,
156 – 61; yevama’s, xix, 115, 125,
138, 163–65, 209n29; yevama
support as rabbinic, 31–32. See also
Strategies of continuity
Mourning laws, 73–76, 93–94, 226n99

Nahman bar Isaac, Rav, 79, 114
Name, continuity through levirate
child, xviii, x x, 59, 82, 93, 100, 174
Nandi of Africa, 12
Naomi (in Ruth narrative), xix, 31–32,
212n 31
Natal family. See Family of origin
Nation as family metaphor for
fraternal ties, 99–100
Nedarim, 148–50
Neusner, Jacob, 195
Never-married men as ineligible for
marriage to widows, 9
New Testament, levirate mention in,
39
Nigoya, 17–19
Nuclear family: beit av as, 48–49;
biblical emphasis on, 54; and
decline of levirate practice, 35–36;
incest taboos concerning, 58;
modern definition of, 47; rabbinic
focus on, xvi–xvii, x xiv, x xv, 44,
52, 74, 95, 128, 161–62, 193, 195,
200–201, 207n1. See also Family of
origin
Nuer of Africa, 20

Numbers: and beit av as tribal

subdivisions, 49; daughters

as heirs, 169; inheritance and

levirate, 201–2; marriage rules to

protect patrilineage, 68, 202; order

of inheritance, 37; sh’eir in, 50–51

Obligations, family as defined by, xvi

Oboler, Regina Smith, 12, 209n29

Onan (levir in Genesis 38), xix, 28–29,

32, 97, 123

Pappa, Rav, 155, 156

Parents of levir and yevama, role in

levirate decision, x xiv, 35, 162–63

Pasternak, Burton, 67

Pastoral societies, levirate in, 6

Paternal vs. maternal kin, linguistic

distinctions, 56

Paternity: assignment to deceased

brother, 12, 19–20, 26, 38, 43, 109–12,

116, 170–71, 173, 174–75, 186, 188,

220n36; assignment to levir, 4,

12, 21, 43, 110–11, 168, 172–76,

177, 182–83, 188, 191, 193–94,

199, 209n11, 226n13; and father’s

responsibility to children, 175–76;

overview, 19–21; and procreation

commandment, 189–92; rabbinic

anxiety over, 191–92; uncertainty

of, 172–73, 177–83, 191, 192–93,

228n61; and waiting period for

remarriage, 128, 130, 192–93; and

wife as husband’s property, 229n65

Pater vs. genitor, 19–21

Patriarchy and control over widows, 8

Patrilineal descent: in ancient Israel,

48, 51; and bifurcate-collateral

kinship system, 53; and brother for

levirate union, 102; descent system

definition, 69–70; and endogamy,

68, 185; and inheritance laws, 15,

79–82; and levirate practice, 6–7,

34, 201–2; rabbinic perspective,

70–73, 74–75, 89–90, 195

Patrilocality: in ancient Israel, 48; beit

av, 48–49; and levirate practice,

6, 34; and marriage rules, 68; in

Mishnah, 196; wife’s place with

husband’s family, 6, 9, 48, 161, 196

Philo, 37, 169