Yibbum

Yibbum ( pronounced "yee-boom"), in Judaism is commonly translated as levirate marriage, one of the most complex and misunderstood types of marital unions mandated by Torah law, and which is not presently practiced in its full application. From the Torah, Judaism teaches that a "Yabham in Hebrew, [is] a specific term denoting a childless man's brother, who has an obligation to marry his dead brother's wife" [1]. The most famous case of a Levirate type marriage in the Hebrew Bible is the unusual union of the Hebrew patriarch Judah and his daughter in law Tamar as recorded in the Book of Genesis chapter 38 [1]. The full commandment is spelled out in the Book of Deuteronomy 25:5-6 [1]:\n:"When brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, the dead man's wife shall not be allowed to marry an outsider. Her husband's brother must cohabit with her, making her his wife, and thus performing a brother-in-law's duty to her. The first-born son whom she bears will then perpetuate the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be obliterated from Israel."' However, there is a loophole if the one of the parties refuses to go through with the "marriage", that is known as Chalitza , the "removal" of a specially designed leather shoe by the woman from the man who either he or she refuses to marry, as a symbolic act of renunciation of their willingness to perform the Yibbum (levirate marriage), Deuteronomy 25:7-10 :

"If the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, the sister-in-law shall go up to the elders in court, and declare, 'My brother-in-law refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel, and will not consent to perform his brotherly duty with me.' The elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. If he remains firm, he must say, 'I do not want to take her.' His sister-in-law shall then approach him before the elders, take off his shoe and spit toward his face. She shall then declare, 'This is what shall be done to the man who will not build up a family for his brother.' The name of [that place] shall then be known in Israel as, 'the house [where] the shoe was removed'."

In Jewish law, Halakha, today, Yibbum is not permited and therefore the ceremony of Chalitza must be performed in front of a ten man Beth Din (court of Jewish religious law). A famous case involving a symbolic case of both Chalitza and Yibbum is recounted in the Book of Ruth when after the death of her husband, Ruth is rejected by an anonymous Ploni Almoni, and is noticed, welcomed and eventually turns to her husband's remaining kinsman Boaz. The rabbis in the time of the mishnah added formal marriage requirements such as a marriage contract, but over the centuries Yibbum waned in favor, until it was completely abolished by Ashkenazi Jews who favored strict monogamy, whereas it may have lingered on among Sephardi Jews who were more accepting of allowing more than one wife. The Biblical significance of Yibbum is emphasized by various Judaic teachings that the Jewish messiah will be directly descended from both Judah and Tamar as well as through Ruth andBoaz. Their stories are considered to be of the most powerful love stories in the Hebrew Bible. An entire tractate in the Talmud, called Yevamot, is devoted to the subject of levirate marriages.

External links

\n*Levirate Marriage and Halizah\n*Tamar -- the Wife of Yehudah\n*Levirate marriage\n*Levirate Marriage and Chalitzah - Yibbum ve-Chalitzah\n*Redemption in Megillat Ruth Category:Jewish law and rituals\nCategory:Judaism and women