Shulchan Arukh Even HaEzer · Siman 161

Shulchan Arukh Even HaEzer 161 — English translation

Translation: Sefaria Community Translation. Section numbers match the Hebrew text above.

1. 1Someone who has many wives, and dies, and has a brother: the intercourse or release of one of them removes the obligations of the others, and the brother can only marry one of them.
2. 2If among them are those who are unfitting for a Cohen: if the brother acts to release them, he releases one who is unfitting and not one who is fitting.
3. 3[If he had many wives and died and] he had many brothers and his wives fall to them: One [brother] marries or releases one of the wives and [this act] allows the rest of them [to marry someone else].
4. 4The [primacy of] commandment is on the eldest brother to marry [Rema: or release]. If he doesn't want [Rama: or he can't free her or marry her, e.g he's married to her sister (Rivash 159)] [the commandment] returns to each brother in the order of their age. If none of them want, we return to the eldest and say to him: the commandment is yours, either free her or marry her. If he doesn't want to free or marry or free her, we force him to free her, but we don't force him to marry her. Rema: even if the eldest had taken an oath not to marry and not to free her, we force him and not the younger brother. In any case we free the eldest of the oath, even though it never took hold, because of the way it appears (Rivash 159).
5. 5If the eldest says, "Wait until my younger brother comes of age", or his younger brother is deaf and [the eldest] says, "Wait until he heals", or his elder brother is overseas and he says, "Wait until he comes back", we don't listen to him.
6. 6If the older [brother] did not want to do levirate marriage preferring halitza, and the younger [brother] wants to do levirate marriage: sexual relations with the younger is preferable. But, if neither of them wishes to do levirate marriage, rather, halitza, the halitza of the elder is preferred. REMA: see below paragraph 165 - that in our times halitza is given priority. If she is not desirous of levirate marriage, only halitza, then the halitza of the elder is preferred (Trumat HaDeshen paragraph 220).
7. 7Even though it is a commandment that the elder do levirate marriage, if the younger came along and did it levirate marriage first - he is granted it. REMA: the same is true if the younger did halitza, it is valid ex post facto (Ibid). But, from the outset, she needs to seek out the elder [brother], to give him his portion of money as is explained in paragraph 165.
8. 8A man had four brothers and they all died, and all of their wives fell to him. If he is rich and can provide for them, if he wants he can marry all of them. If not, he frees who he wants to from them, and marries who wants to from them, one from each [brother's] house.
9. 9A woman who remains obligated in levirate marriage to two brothers, the elder is of the "time forced" [conversos?] and the second is Jew. The Jew has precedence to free her. If the other [the elder] goes ahead and frees her, she is free to the world. Rema: see (Shulchan Arukh, Even HaEzer 157:4)

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