Dictionary

levir en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin lēvir.

Meanings

1. A husband's brother.
   • The tie between the childless widow and the levir exists automatically from the moment of widowhood. Thus a sexual relationship with anyone other than the levir would be adulterous, an offense punishable by the death penalty, according to Lev. 20:10 and Deut. 22:22. 2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 236:
   • Levirate marriage protects a levir's sexual property and a dead man's entitlement. The former, however, serves the latter. 2008, Deborah L. Ellens, Women in the Sex Texts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy: A Comparative Conceptual Analysis, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 261:

Forms