Ephrem, one of the earliest Syriac Christian writers, lived on the eastern outskirts of the Roman Empire during the fourth century. Although he wrote polemical works against Jews and pagans, and identified with post-Nicene Christianity, his writings are also replete with parallels with Jewish traditions and he is the leading figure in an ongoing debate about the Jewish character of Syriac Christianity. This book focuses on early ideas about betrothal, marriage, and sexual relations, including their theological and legal implications, and positions Ephrem at a precise intersection between his Semitic origin and his Christian commitment. Alongside his adoption of customs and legal stances drawn from his Greco-Roman and Christian surroundings, Ephrem sometimes reveals unique legal concepts which are closer to early Palestinian, sectarian positions than to the Roman or Jewish worlds. The book therefore explains naturalistic legal thought in Christian literature and sheds light on the rise of Syriac Christianity.

Jewish Law and Early Christian Identity: Betrothal, Marriage, and Infidelity in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian

In this study, Weisberg uses levirate marriage (an institution that involves the union of a man and the widow of his childless brother) as described in biblical law and explicated in rabbinic Judaism as a lens to examine the status of women and attitudes toward marriage, sexuality, and reproduction in early Jewish society. While marriage generally marks the beginning of a new family unit, levirate comes into play when a family's life is cut short. As such, it offers an opportunity to study the family at a moment of breakdown and restructuring. With her discussion rooted in rabbinic sources and commentary, Weisberg explores kinship structure and descent, the relationship between a family unit created through levirate marriage and the extended family, and the roles of individuals within the family. She also considers the position of women, asking whether it is through marriage or the bearing of children that a woman becomes part of her husband's family, and to what degree a married woman remains part of her natal family. She argues that rabbinic responses to levirate suggest that a family is an evolving entity, one that can preserve itself through realignment and redefinition.

Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism

Breaking a Marital Bond

Creating a Primary Bond

The Hebrew Bible contains little information about the practice of levirate marriage in ancient Israel. The passages that touch on levirate marriage offer conflicting descriptions of the institution. This article explores those passages and argues that what connects all of them is a sense of discomfort with levirate marriage, particularly on the part of men. This discomfort may relate to concerns about paternity or the preservation of property. It does not apparently extend to women, whom the Hebrew Bible portrays as willing, and even eager, to promote levirate unions. This sense of discomfort or anxiety suggests a concern for the desires of the living that supersedes obligations to the dead. The discomfort displayed in the Hebrew Bible may influence later Jewish responses to and constructions of levirate marriage.

The Widow of Our Discontent: Levirate Marriage in the Bible and Ancient Israel:

stances in which levirate marriage should or should not-or may or may not-be performed The sages of the Mishnah often restrict levirate marriage, detailing instances in which levirate marriage is forbidden. While there are rulings that promote levirate marriage, overall, the Mishnah's presentation suggests that such marriages were less likely to occur than one might suppose from reading Deut. 25 :510.

Dvora E. Weisberg

Papers

Levirate Marriage and Halitzah in the Mishnah

The Babylonian Talmud's Treatment of Levirate Marriage