The Institution of Levirate[ ]general, as well as studies of marriage and widowhood in various soci-
eties in Africa and Asia. Some of the studies are based on recent ethno-
graphic and anthropological research, while others are based on older
work. I appreciate that these studies reflect different approaches to an-
thropology and ethnography, and that some of the earlier studies may
now be considered outdated in their approach to their subjects.^4 I have
not used any of these studies to make definitive statements about levi-
rate in Jew ish tradition; rat her, I am interested in considering variations
in levirate and the dynamics of the relationship among the individuals
affected by levirate.
Defining Levirate
All marriage systems include “sets of rules... to govern the establish-
ment, continuance, and dissolution of marriage.... They also include
rules concerning the holding and transmission of property or status.”^5
Levirate is employed by cultures when it promotes values that are cen-
tral to that culture, concerns that are evident in multiple aspects of the
cu lt u re’s ma r r iage system. It is of ten possible to cor relate aspects w it h i n
a marriage system; levirate may be one of a number of characteristics
shared by certain marriage systems, and these shared characteristics
may indicate shared values.
In A History of Marriage Systems, G. Robina Quale defines levirate as
treating the sons sired by a deceased husband’s brother as the
sons of the deceased. The term is also used, however, to describe
husband-succession, or having the wife’s sons by a second husband
inherit the estate of the first (sonless) one, as well as sharing in the
estate of their actual father with any other sons he might have had
by other wives. The term is even used to refer to widow-inheritance,
or merging the estate of a sonless deceased husband with that of a
second kinsman-husband.^6
Another scholar argues that all levirate unions have three common
characteristics. “[T]hey are usually with a husband’s kinsman (although
non-kinsmen and maternal nephews may sometimes be levirs with the
permission of the kin group); they are socially recognized as legitimate;
and the children are considered to be the descendants of the deceased
and not the levir.”^7