[ ]From Wife to Widow and Back Againleases,” while the man “is released.”^62 When evaluating the effective-
ness of the ritual, the Mishnah speaks of “her” halitza ritual, the ritual
performed by the levirate widow, and not “his” ritual, despite the ritual
having been chosen by the levir.
Only in the final mishna of Mishnah Yevamot do we find an at-
tempt to position the levir at the center of the halitza ritual. This mishna
describes the ritual with the man as the primary subject:
The ritual of halitza [is as follows]: He and his sister-in-law come to
the court, and they give him advice that is appropriate for him, as it
is written, “The elders of his town shall then summon him and talk
to him” (Deut. 25:8).^63The Mishnah ignores the preceding verse of Deuteronomy, which de-
scribes the yevama initiating the halitza ritual by appearing before the
elders and declaring, “My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name
in Israel for his brother; he will not perform the duty of a levir.” A ritual
that, according to the Torah, allowed the yevama to express her disgust
(and that of the community) with a man who would not do his duty to the
dead becomes a ritual chosen by the man himself as a way of discharging
his obligation. While acknowledging the woman as the primary actor in
the halitza ritual, the Mishnah insists that the decision to enact the ritual
is t he ma n’s.^64 Here t he Mish na h rever ts to for m, v iew i ng men as subjects
and women as objects in matters involving marriage and sexuality.
Tannaitic sources indicate some reluctance to force a woman into a
levirate union. The School of Hillel indicates that a minor orphan whose
husband dies may exercise the right of refusal against her brother-in-
law, even if she had not exercised it against her husband, thus obviating
the need for levirate marriage or halitza.^65 A woman could reject a levir
with physical deformities or a repulsive job, even if she had accepted the
same deformities or job in her husband.^66
There were also conditions under which the sages were willing to ask
or urge a levir to release his sister-in-law, even if he preferred marriage.
One such case involved a claim by the woman that her levir had not con-
summated their union:
A yevama who said within thirty days of the marriage, “I have
not had intercourse” — they force him to perform halitza.^67 [If she