Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism

5 | From Wife to Widow and Back Again

[ 13 ] [5] From Wife to Widow and Back Again T he conditions in which Tamar, the widowed daughter-in-law of Judah, finds herself in Genesis 38 capture the essence of what it means to be the widow of a childless man in Israel. Upon the death of his oldest son, Judah orders his second son to marry Tamar and raise up seed for his brother. That son, Onan, avoids impregnating Tamar and dies. Judah now instructs Tamar to live as a widow in her father’s house until his third son, Shelah, reaches adulthood. Judah apparently has no intention of allowing Tamar to marry his surviving son, but he does not release her, expecting her to remain a widow indefinitely. Only by taking matters into her own hands and risking her life does Tamar attain her goal, reinserting herself into Judah’s family by bearing his children. The status of a levirate widow (yevama) in rabbinic law is determined by her husband’s death without children. She is bound to his brother, expected to bear children that somehow preserve the lineage, or at least the memory, of her deceased husband. She is an anomaly, no longer married but not yet independent. Like Tamar, she is powerless to affect her status. If her husband had left children, the widow would have no obligations to his family; in fact, her husband’s heirs would have legal obligations to her. She would be entitled to remain in her husband’s home and receive maintenance from his estate.1 She could serve as the guardian of her husband’s estate and his children.2 When she was ready to leave her husband’s home, she could collect her marriage settlement.3 A widow could remarry, and it appears that remarriage was common.4 Levirate Marriage and the Family [ 14 ] The marriage of a widow might be celebrated with less ceremony than that of a virgin, but her consent to betrothal was required, as was a marriage settlement. A widow had complete control over her property and could make any vow she chose. In contrast, the widow of a childless man had no options. While the death of a husband normally “freed” his wife,5 the death of a childless man left his wife bound to her brother-in-law. In the event that her husband was survived by a brother, she was obliged to marry that brother.6 The decision to marry rested with the brother; if he chose to, he could marry her, or if he chose to, he could refuse and submit to halitza.7 The yevama had no legal right to decline; in fact, the marriage could be performed with no ceremony, against her will, through intercourse. Although the Mishnah sets forth guidelines that are presumably intended to avoid significant stalling by the husband’s brothers, there is no mention of legal recourse for a yevama whose brothers-in-law fail to perform halitza or levirate marriage.8 The distinction between the status of the widow of a childless man and that of other widows is indicated linguistically as well as legally. Rabbinic texts refer to the widow of a man with children (whether the children are hers or those of another woman) as an almana. The almana widow has all of the rights just described; she is entitled to her marriage settlement or support from her husband’s heirs. The term used to describe a woman whose husband dies without offspring is yevama, a word that describes her relationship not to her deceased husband, but to his brother, her brother-in-law (yavam). Such a woman is also referred to as shomeret yavam, a woman awaiting her brother-in-law, that is, a woman waiting for her brother-in-law to decide to marry her or release her; the term underscores the woman’s dependence on her husband’s brother.9 This chapter considers the position of the levirate widow, or yevama. In examining the situation faced by a levirate widow, we turn first to tannaitic texts, the Mishnah and Tosefta, and then to the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds. These texts focus on questions of status, determining when a woman falls into the category of levirate widow and how her anomalous situation can be resolved through levirate marriage or halitza. They also consider the period between the death of the yevama’s husband and the decision of her brother-in-law, determining who is obligated to support...