Levirate marriage is the marriage between a widow whose husband died without offspring (the yevamah) and the brother of the deceased (the yavam or levir), as prescribed in Deuteronomy 25:5–6: If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn that she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother that is dead, that his name be not blotted out of Israel. When the levir does not marry the yevamah, the ceremony of Halizah takes place, whereby the woman becomes released from the levirate tie (zikkat ha-yibbum) and free to marry someone else.

נגד ר' אברהם אהרן יודעלאוויץ, שבספרו אב בחכמה, ניו יארק תרפ"ז, ביקש להתיר חליצה על-ידי שלוחה של היבמה. עי': יודלביץ, אברהם אהרן בן בנימין בונם.