Chalitza

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:31 AM -0400 7/31/02, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>[AMERICAN ISRAELITE]
>31 July 1885, pg. 185, col. 3:
>    _Chalitza_, or casting the shoe, is founded on the 25th chapter of
>Deutoronomy, verses 7, 8 and 9, which provide that in the death of a man,
>childless, it shall be the duty of a brother, if the husband have one living,
>to marry the widow, and she must not take any one else until he shall have
>declined, in the presence of the elders, to assume that obligation.

Hmm.  Doesn't even mention the part where the widow (after pulling
off the guy's sandal, and we know all about what *that* means from
old Sigmund) gets to spit in the levirate-violating brother-in-law's
face and announce "So it shall be done to the man who does not build
up his brother's house".   Traditionnnnnnn, tradition!

larry