WALTER JACOB

Let us begin with the levirate marriage, which represented a major area of concern through the ages; yibbum was intended to ensure that a deceased brother’s lineage would continue. The widow could be released from her obligation to her brother-in-law through the ceremony of halitzah.* In Sephardic lands, naturally, yibbum continued to be practiced and so led to numerous cases of polygamy; it was also condoned in northern Europe , although there halitzah became the norm. This question was never completely resolved.”

According to the Mishnah, which after all based itself on the biblical command“be fruitful and multiply,”** a woman had to be divorced or a second wife taken if she remained barren after ten years. After some initial discussion such exceptions were not permitted in northern Europe on these grounds.

A wife’s insanity or her conversion to Christianity , both of which made divorce impossible, led to the suspension of the herem. It was similarly not enforced when the conduct of the wife demanded a divorce according to talmudic law but she was unwill­Ing to accept it.*® In northern Europe the authorities were reluctant to make any exceptions to the herem after the first generation,

nevertheless such bans did take place. In Sephardic lands nothing changed.

CONCUBINAGE

; Polygamy was not the only obstacle to a monogamous mar­lage. The taking of two or more wives could also occur through concubinage(pilegshut). Concubines were women of lower status than the main wife, if there was one. Concubinage occurred

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