[ ]From Wife to Widow and Back Againone in which the new husband ceded paternity of the children to the
wife’s first husband and she maintained control of her dead husband’s
estate.^53 Levirate was not restricted to blood relatives, so it is possible that
the widow was able to exercise some control or influence in the choice of
lev ir.^54 W hile Iranian law ma kes lev irate a financia lly beneficia l arrange-
ment for women, rabbinic law does not; instead the rabbis focus on mak-
ing levirate marriage a financially attractive option for men.^55 The levi-
rate widow has none of the power allotted to her Iranian counterpart but
can be forced into a levirate union by any one of her husband’s brothers.
The rabbis do offer some mechanisms to reduce the likelihood that
a levirate union will be initiated through sexual intercourse or without
the consent of the woman. One type of rabbinic response to the anoma-
l ies of lev i rate ma r r iage was t he i nt roduct ion of r u les t hat “nor ma l i zed”
levirate unions, making them more like regular marriages. The pri-
mary beneficiary of these changes, as demonstrated in the preceding
chapter, was the levir, who through levirate marriage was able to claim
his brother’s property while acquiring a wife and retaining paternity
rights to the children born of the levirate union.^56 While these laws may
or may not have been intended to improve the position of the levirate
widow, they certainly gave her a greater voice in choosing or rejecting
a levirate marriage.
Because the death of a childless man automatically generated a bond
between his widow and his brother, levirate marriage could be formal-
ized through sexual intercourse alone; there was no need for the levir
to betroth his widowed sister-in-law. Moreover, even nonconsensual
sexual intercourse between the levir and the yevama “completed” the
marriage. This removed any need for the consent of the yevama to the
union, creating another distinction between levirate marriage and
regular marriages, which do require a woman’s consent. The Mishnah
introduces an additional step in affirming the relationship between the
levir and the yevama, and in doing so makes levirate marriage more like
other unions. Betrothal is not required for levirate marriage, because
t he woma n “has been acqu i red for h i m by a d iv i ne act,” but a si m i la r act,
known as ma’amar or declaration, is recommended. The Mishnah states,
“If he made a declaration [of his intent to marry his widowed sister-
in-law] and then had intercourse with her — behold this is the proper
w a y.”^57 The Mishnah offers no indication of the content of the declara-