Halizah

Halizah (or Chalitzah ; Hebrew: חליצה‎‎) is, under the Biblical system of levirate marriage known as Yibbum, the process by which a childless widow and a brother of her deceased husband may avoid the duty to marry.

The process involves the widow taking off a shoe of the brother (i.e. her brother-in-law) and making a declaration. Through this ceremony, the brother and any other brothers are released from the obligation of marrying the woman for the purpose of conceiving a child which would be considered the progeny of the deceased man. The ceremony of chalitzah makes the widow free to marry whomever she desires (Deuteronomy 25:5-10).

It is sufficient for only one brother-in-law to perform the ceremony. The mode of levirate marriage (Genesis 38:8) is thus modified in the Deuteronomic code attributed to Moses, by permitting the surviving brother to refuse to marry his brother's widow, provided he submits to the ceremony of Halizah. In the Talmudic period the tendency against the original mode was intensified by apprehension that the brother-in-law might desire to marry his brother's widow for motives other than that of "establishing a name unto his brother." Therefore, many Talmudic and later rabbis preferred halizah to actual marriage (Yevamot 39b). Thus the ancient institution of the levirate marriage fell into disuse, so that at present Halizah is the general rule and marriage the rare exception (Shulkhan Arukh, Eben ha-'Ezer, 165, and commentaries).

In theory, however, the Biblical law of levirate marriage is still presumed in force, thus making the childless widow who remarries someone other than her brother-in-law without performing the halizah ceremony an adulterer.

Deuteronomy describes the ceremony simply. In the presence of town elders, the widow loosens the shoe of the brother-in-law, spits upon the ground before him, and recites a prescribed formula which scolds him for not building his brother's household. In the Talmud, however, the rabbis explained the ceremony as a more solemn and public act. The ceremony must take place before a court of three, who need not be very learned, but must at least understand Hebrew (Yevamot 101a; Shulkhan Arukh, Even ha-`Ezer, 169, 1). All those who are disqualified from testifying in legal matters are disqualified also from acting on this board of judges (Yevamot 101a). These three appoint two others to assist them, and at the service on the evening preceding the day of the ceremony they appoint a place for its performance, to give the matter more publicity. The place chosen is usually the synagogue court or the house of the rabbi, although the ceremony may take place in the house of the widow. All investigations into the concerned parties are conducted the previous day, on which both are instructed in ceremony details, and on which the "yebamah" (widowed sister-in-law) is not allowed to eat. The halizah should not be performed in the evening (Yevamot 104a), nor on a Sabbath or a holiday (Beitzah 36b), nor on the eve of a Sabbath or a holiday ("Terumat ha-Deshen", § 227).

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