What can levirate marriage teach us about ancient Jewish family structures?  Why start Seder Nashim with death? 

Dvora Weisberg is the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Rabbinics, HUC-JIR Rabbinical School Director and Rabbinical Program Director in Los Angeles. She is the author ofLevirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism, which explores the ancient rabbis’ understanding of family and familial relationships. Rabbi Dr. Weisberg also teaches frequently in informal settings, including adult education programs in congregations, several summers at the URJ Kallah and sessions for the CCAR and its regional conventions.

Special thanks to our executive producer, Adina Karp

View a source sheet for this episode here.

Keep up with Interleaved on Facebook and Twitter.

Music from https://filmmusic.io

"Midnight Tale" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)