851. A Desire for Levirate Marriage

“A certain heretic said to Raban Gamliel: ‘You are a people with whom its God has performed levirate marriage,’ as it is written, ‘In their flock and in their cattle they shall go and seek the Lord, but they shall not find; He has slipped away from them’” (Hosea 5). He said to you, “You fool! Is it written ‘released for them’? It is written ‘released from them,’ while a sister-in-law whom the brothers released, could there be any validity in her?

This means that if the brother-in-law releases the sister-in-law, since the sister-in-law does not want to perform levirate marriage, it means nothing. But if the brother-in-law does not want, he releases the sister-in-law from the brother-in-law. The Creator releases Himself from them, meaning He received the release from them. That is, when Israel does not want to perform levirate marriage, the Creator forces them.