ב"ה

Daily Mitzvah (Rambam)

Day 83: Positive Commandment 217

Show content in:

Positive Commandment 217 (Digest)
Circumventing Levirate Marriage

"And she shall remove his shoe off his foot"Deuteronomy 25:9.

If the brother of a married man who dies childless does not marry his widowed sister-in-law [See Positive Commandment 216], the widow is commanded to remove her brother-in-law's shoe [as part of the chalitzah ceremony described in the Torah, and she is then permitted to marry whomever she desires].

Our sages tell us that performing levirate marriage is preferable to employing chalitzah to release the widow and brother-in-law from their bond.

From Sefer Hamitzvot, published and copyright by Sichos in English. To purchase the Sefer Hamitzvot two-volume set, please click here.
The text on this page contains sacred literature. Please do not deface or discard.
Daily Quote
Fortunate are the righteous, and fortunate are their neighbors; woe to the wicked, and woe to their neighbors
  –Talmud, Sukkah 56b
This page in other languages