Editing Levirate marriage (section)

==Judaism==
{{Main|Yibbum|Jewish views on incest|Incest in the Bible}}
In the [[Hebrew Bible]], a form of levirate marriage, called ''[[yibbum]]'', is mentioned in {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|25:5-10|HE}}, under which the brother of a man who dies without children is permitted and encouraged to marry the widow. Either of the parties may refuse to go through with the marriage, but then both must go through a ceremony, known as ''[[halizah]]'', involving a symbolic act of renunciation of a ''yibbum'' marriage. Sexual relations with one's brother's wife are otherwise forbidden by [[Leviticus 18]] and [[Leviticus 20]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/interpretersbibl02butt/ |title=Interpreter's Bible |volume=2|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Abingdon Press]]|date=1953|via=[[Internet Archive]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/interpretersbibl02butt/page/93 93] & [https://archive.org/details/interpretersbibl02butt/page/103 103]|quote=16. There is curiously no reference here to the so-called Levirate marriage, at one time practiced in Israel, whereby, if a man died childless, his brother would take his wife in order to raise up descendants for him. (Deut. 25:5-10).{...}21. So-called Levirate marriage is presumably excepted (see Deut. 25:5 ff.).}}</ref>

Jewish custom has seen a gradual decline of ''yibbum'' in favor of ''halizah'', to the point where in most contemporary Jewish communities, and in Israel by mandate of the [[Chief Rabbinate of Israel|Chief Rabbinate]], ''yibbum'' is prohibited.

This started already in time of [[Mishnah]], "The opinion of Abba Shaul, who said, 'The [[mitzvah]] of ḥalitza takes precedence over the mitzvah of levirate marriage'" (Yevamot 3a). "Now that they do not have intent for the sake of fulfilling the mitzvah, the Sages say, The mitzvah of performing ḥalitza takes precedence over the mitzvah of consummating the levirate marriage" ([[Babylonian Talmud]], ''Yevamot'' 39b). In [[Yemen]], however, the practice of Levirate marriage was observed by the Jewish community there until their immigration to the Land of Israel.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goitein|first=S.D. |author-link=Shelomo Dov Goitein|title=The Yemenites – History, Communal Organization, Spiritual Life (Selected Studies)|editor=Menahem Ben-Sasson|editor-link=Menahem Ben-Sasson|date=1983|publisher=[[Ben-Zvi Institute]]|place=Jerusalem |page=306 |language=he |oclc=41272020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Goitein|first=S.D.|author-link=Shelomo Dov Goitein |title=Zur heutigen Praxis der Leviratsehe bei orientalischen Juden|journal=Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society|volume=13 |pages=159–166|date=1933|oclc=637974886|language=de}}</ref> In 1950, the [[Chief Rabbinate of Israel|Rabbinate of Israel]], along with the [[Chief Rabbi#Israel|Chief Sephardic Rabbi]], forbade its practice amongst the Yemenites, citing a need for "uniformity amongst the Jewish groups," and only permitted those who were already married through levirate marriage from outside the country.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ḥibshush |first=El'azar |title=Enactments of the Rabbinate in Marital Matters (תקנות הרבנות בענייני אישות)|journal=TEMA, Journal of Judeo-Yemenite Studies |volume=20 |editor=Yosef Yuval Tobi |publisher=Association for Society and Culture (Ha-Aggudah le-Tipuach Havrah ve-Tarbut) |date=2022 |location=Netanya (Israel) |pages=101-149 |language=he |isbn=978-965-92934-9-0 |issn=0792-4461}}</ref>