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MISHNA: In a case of four brothers married to four women and some of the brothers died childless, their wives thereby become yevamot. If the eldest of the brothers who survived wished to consummate the levirate marriage with all of his yevamot, he has permission to do so.
The Baraita demurs, we advise him as follows:
If he was a young man and she an elderly woman or if he was an elderly man and she a young woman, they say to him:
What do you want with a young woman when you are elderly? Or: What do you want with an elderly woman when you are young? Go after your own kind, i.e., a woman of a similar age, and do not place discord in your household that could be caused by marrying a woman of a significantly different age.
From the baraita it is apparent that if consummating the levirate marriage will ultimately lead to contention between the couple, it is preferable to perform ḥalitza. Similarly, in the case of the mishna, marrying four women will likely lead to contention since it is difficult to support so many people, and poverty will lead to strife.
Therefore, the yavam should not be allowed to consummate levirate marriages with all of them.
We explore the notion of age differences in halacha and the success of such marriages using modern statistics.