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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Leviral marriage - prepositions & grammar

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  • From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • To: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>, "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Leviral marriage - prepositions & grammar
  • Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 12:17:00 +0300


The "Hebrews were monogamous"? Who said? Not just the patriarchs. Elkanah,
Moses (well, maybe him). The Torah makes several provisions for co-wives and their children. I admit, polygamy was probably rare, since the population is divided pretty evenly, but it certainly was not unheared of.

Proverbs 5:18 exemplifies the attitude, and the position of rabbis is similar.
Elkanah, David, Solomon... You know the historical value of these examples. Polygamy was largely reserved for kings, and even Herod seemingly divorced one wife before marrying another.

"Leviral marriage was "like a marriage": a lonely intercourse to restore the seed, and then support of the relatives living together"? Again, who said? Why should the widow and her former brother in law not enjoy a married life together, whether he has another wife or not?

He should come to her, restore the seed, that's it. Why, otherwise, are distant brothers exempt from the obligation? If that were a marriage, there would be no reason for exemption. Brothers might often marry sisters, and even for that reason (prohibition of marrying the wife's sister) marrying borther's wife is impossible.
Also note, it has to be his brother's offspring, not his. If he would marry the brother's widow, the offspring would be formally his. But the whole point was to restore the brother's line. This is, actually, the strongest argument to show that leviral relationship was not marriage.

Rebekka was not Isaac's first wife? Then what's the point of the whole story? Abraham is worried because Isaac has not married, and he doesn't want him to marry a native. Se he sends his servant to get him a woman from his own clan. If Isaac had been married, either Abraham would not be worried, or the story would find a reason to critisize the woman.

Well, I cannot strictly defend this opinion. But let me again point out a few strange things: Isaac just couldn't be bachelor at the age of forty; he took her to his mother's tent.

What is your opinion about the suggestion that 'verb lo l'isha' is an idiom? Something like "took for a wife" or Russian, lit., "Took into wives." Russian originally implied many wives, but came to mean one only. Something similar could take place in Hebrew.

Vadim Cherny




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