The Historical and Conceptual Development of Levirate Betrothal

Abstract

This article will discuss the act of ma’amar, levirate betrothal. The nature of ma’amar is the subject of Tannaitic debate in a baraita in the Palestinian Talmud. The Tannaitic Sages present three different opinions as the nature of ma’amar based on derivations of the Biblical verses. This approach differs from that of the Babylonian Talmud, which views ma’amar as a Rabbinic enactment.

This study examines the three different approaches of the Tannaitic sages regarding the mechanism by which ma’amar operates and explains that these approaches reflect models of partial betrothal. This understanding emerges from an analysis of the explanations of the early amoraim to a wide range of Tannaitic sources regarding levirate marriage, as well as regarding other non-standard marriages such as the marriage of a deaf-mute or of a minor. The concluding section attempts to identify when these models were replaced by the model of Rabbinic enactment and suggests an explanation as to why this change took place.