MOSHE ZEMER

The Responsa Committee reviewed this decision in 1980 and commented that the discussion, based on traditional interpretation of halakhah affirms the conclusion of the traditional rabbis that there is a prohibition against the marriage of a man to his deceased brother’s widow.

MARRYING HIS DIVORCED WIFE’S SISTER

One of the most recent responsa, published in the latest collection of modern reform teshuvot, deals with a most stringent impediment to marriage. In 1991 a question was asked whether a man that has divorced his wife may now marry her sister. Although the traditional law of consanguinity forbids it, is it appropriate in our age to continue being strict regarding this particular relationship?’

Responsum:

The biblical prohibition regarding marrying one’s ex-wife’s sister (Lev. 18:18) states:“Do not marry a woman as a rival to her sister...in her lifetime.” The objective of the prohibition is clearly not consanguinity but peace between the sisters. Note that the Hebrew literally says that the marriage is prohibited because its effect would be litsror ale’hah, to make life narrow and mean for the first wife. Thus, the purpose of the law is to avoid sibling discord.

The Talmud already posits the question whether the relationship is allowed if the first wife has been divorced, and answers that the addition“in her lifetime” prohibits this. Thus, the reason for the biblical stricture is seen not as permanently inherent in the relationship itself...[and] rests on plain inter-personal considerations, which disappear once the first wife is dead, but not before... This configuration has not lost its potency in our

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