Responsum: On Apostasy and Levirate Marriage

Yehuday Ga’on

8th Century

If, when she married her husband, the yabam was [already] an apostate, she does not require ḥalitsah from him. If the husband [himself] became an apostate, and she was compelled to remain with him, and he died childless in his state of apostasy, then she has no ties to the yabam, as he is not considered his brother, and she does not require ḥalitsah [in that case] either.

Translated by Avi Steinhart.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.

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If a married man dies childless and has a surviving brother, Jewish law requires that brother to marry the widow. This is termed levirate marriage. This Hebrew responsum deals with the question of what happens if one of the two men had converted out of Judaism. The yabam is the husband’s brother, who would be obligated to marry the widow, and ḥalitsah is the ceremony that exempts them from the obligation.

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Early Medieval Law and Religious Observance

7th to 12th Century

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