Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]gest the possibility of involvement of the extended family, particularly
the parents of the deceased, and acknowledge that multiple surviving
brothers or other male relatives may have an interest in resolving the
status of the levirate widow.
Mishnah Yevamot focuses on the levir and the widow, positing a
bond between them and proposing ways to resolve that bond. While it
never considers the part that parents might play in a levirate situation,
the Mishnah does hint at the entanglement of the extended family in
levirate. The opening chapters of Mishnah Yevamot imagine families in
which marriages between relatives multiply the roles individuals may
play, lead i ng to sit uat ions i n wh ich a lev i rate u n ion wou ld be i ncest uous.
T he Mish na h a lso posits sit uat ions i n wh ich severa l brot hers may ma r r y
sisters, simultaneously binding two families more closely together and
making levirate difficult if not impossible to carry out. These scenarios,
however improbable, suggest that levirate is not only a union between
two people, but an act that can have an impact on the couple’s extended
family or families as well.
Levirate is a valuable lens through which to explore rabbinic defini-
tions of family. It focuses on the smallest family unit, a potential hus-
band and wife, but also requires consideration of much larger family
units, multiple brothers, multiple wives, families joined through mar-
riage, and families created through both blood and marriage simulta-
neously. It also considers the obligations of individuals to their family
members, both living and dead, as well as the tensions between those
obligations and the choices an individual might make for his or her own
benefit. With this in mind, we now turn to our exploration of rabbinic
constructs of the family.