[ xi ]Acknowledgments
I am grateful for the friends and colleagues whose suggestions and ques-
tions have enriched this work, including rachel Adler, Judith Baskin,
eugene Cooper, Yakov elman, Tamara eskenazi, Joel Gereboff, Sharon
Gillerman, Bernard Jackson, Gail Labovitz, Stephen Passamaneck,
Leonard Plotnicov, and ron reissberg. I am also grateful to my readers
at UPne, whose critiques helped me revise the book.
I want to thank rachel Timoner and Andrea namaste for their help
in preparing the manuscript. my editor, Phyllis Deutsch, has been a joy
to work with.
my fa m i ly has been a n incred ible sou rce of suppor t. my ch i ld ren, mi-
cah and noah, have tolerated learning much more about levirate mar-
riage than they ever wanted to. noah has pushed me forward by threat-
ening to write his own book. micah is a careful reader, whose sense of
style has enriched my own writing. my husband, neal, has encouraged
me during the difficult moments in my work and cheered me on during
my successes.
This book is dedicated to my doctoral adviser, Dr. Baruch Bokser, zāl.
Dr. Bokser not only helped me become a scholar; he was an exceptional
model of a teacher. From the moment he became my teacher until his
death, Dr. Bokser was a devoted adviser, even reading portions of my
dissertation in his hospital bed. The care and attention I have given my
students is a tribute to his example ā what is mine and theirs is his.