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| Priesthood in Judaism |
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| Kohen · Recognition of priestly descent Priestly covenant |
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Aaron · Eleazar · Phinehas
· Eli · Ahimelech · Abiathar (First Temple) · Zadok · Shallum · Hilkiah · Jehoiada (Second Temple) Joshua the High Priest Simeon the Just Elazar Ben Charsum Yishmael Ben Elisha Yehoshua ben Gamla Pinchus Ben Shmuel |
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The ten gifts given in the Temple
1. Sin offering · 2. Guilt offering 3. Communal peace offering 4. Fowl sin offering · 5. Leftovers from the suspensive guilt offering 6. Oil from the offering for the leper 7. Bread from First Fruits · 8. Showbread 9. Leftovers of the meal offering 10. Leftovers of the First Sheaf.
Four gifts given in Jerusalem 15. Heave offering 16. Heave offering of the Levite's tithe 17. Dough offering 18. First shearing of the sheep 19. Shoulder, cheeks and maw 20. Coins for redemption of the first born son · 21. Redemption of a donkey · 22. Dedication of property to a priest · 23. Field not redeemed in a Jubilee year · 24. The property of the foreigner with no heir. |
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Clothing
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Kohen (or Kohain, Hebrew כֹּהֵן, 'priest', pl. כוהנים, Kohanim) is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohanim are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron.
The name Kohen is used in the Torah to refer to priests, both Jewish and non-Jewish, such as the priests (Hebrew kohenim) of Baal,[1] as well as the Jewish nation as a whole. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, Kohanim performed specific duties vis-à-vis the daily and festival sacrificial offerings.
Today Kohanim retain a lesser though somewhat distinct status within Judaism, and are bound by additional restrictions according to Orthodox Judaism.
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The Hebrew noun kohen is most often translated as "priest", whether Jewish or pagan, such as the priests of Baal or Dagon, though Christian priests are referred to in Hebrew by the term כומר ("komeir"). The word derives from a Semitic root common, at minimum, to the Central Semitic languages; the cognate Arabic word كاهن kāhin means "soothsayer, augur, or priest".
Translations in the paraphrase of the Aramaic Targumic interpretations include "friend" in Targum Yonathan to 2 Kings 10:11, "master" in Targum to Amos 7:10, and "minister" in Mechilta to Parshah Jethro, Exodus 18:1–20:23 1:1. As a starkly different translation the title "worker", Rashi on Exodus 29:30 and "servant" Targum to Jeremiah 48:7, have been offered as a translation as well. Some have attempted to resolve this translation contradiction by suggesting that although the priest does enjoy specific privileges, a primary component of priesthood in Judaism is servitude.
The status of priest kohen was conferred on Aaron, the brother of Moses, and his sons as an everlasting covenant [2] During the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and until the Holy Temple was built in Jerusalem, the priests performed their priestly service in the portable Tabernacle (Numbers 1:47-54,Numbers 3:5-13,Numbers 3:44-51,Numbers 8:5–26) Their duties involved offering the daily and Jewish holiday sacrifices, and blessing the people in a Priestly Blessing, later also known as Nesiat Kapayim ("Raising of the hands").
When the First and Second Temples were built, the priests assumed these same roles in these permanent structures on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They were divided into 24 groups, each group consisting of six priestly families. Each of the 24 served for one complete week, with each of the six serving one day per week, on the Sabbath all six worked in tandem. According to later rabbinical interpretation these 24 groups changed every Sabbath at the completion of the Mussaf service. On the biblical festivals all 24 were present in the Temple for duty.
In a broader sense, since Aaron was a descendant of the Tribe of Levi, priests are sometimes included in the term Levites, by direct patrilineal descent. However, not all Levites are priests.
When the Temple existed, most sacrifices and offerings could only be conducted by priests. Non-priest Levites (i.e. all those who descended from Levi, the son of Jacob, but not from Aaron) performed a variety of other Temple roles, including ritual slaughter of animals, song service by use of voice and musical instruments, and various tasks in assisting the priests in performing their service.
King Melchizedek of Salem, identified by Rashi as being Shem the son of Noah by another name, is the first person in the Hebrew Bible to be called a "priest" kohen. Genesis 14:18. The second is Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, then Jethro, priest of Midian.
When Esau sold the birthright of the first born to Jacob, Rashi explains that the priesthood was sold along with it, because by right the priesthood belongs to the first-born. Only when the first-born (along with the rest of Israel) sinned in the incident of the golden calf, the priesthood was given to the Tribe of Levi, which had not been tainted by this incident.
Moses was supposed to receive the priesthood along with the leadership of the Jewish people, but when he argued with God that he should not be the leader, it was given to Aaron.
Aaron received the priesthood along with his children and any descendants that would be born subsequently. However, his grandson Phinehas had already been born, and did not receive the priesthood until he killed the prince of the Tribe of Simeon and the princess of the Midianites (Numbers 25:7-13). Thereafter, the priesthood has remained with the descendants of Aaron. Some Haredi groups believe that when the Messiah comes, there is a tradition that it will revert back to the first born.
In every generation when the Temple was standing, one Kohen would be singled out to perform the functions of the High Priest (Hebrew kohen gadol). His primary task was the Day of Atonement service. Other unique tasks of the high priest included the offering of a daily meal sacrifice, and the prerogative to supersede any priest and offer any offering he chose. Although the Torah retains a procedure to select a High Priest when needed, in the absence of the Temple in Jerusalem, there is no High Priest in Judaism today.
King David assigned each of the 24 priestly clans to a weekly watch (Hebrew mishmeret משמרת) during which its members were responsible for maintaining the schedule of offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem (1Chronicles 24:3-5). This instated a cycle of 'priestly courses' or 'priestly divisions' which repeated itself roughly twice each year.
King David, along with Samuel divided the then existing priestly groups into 24 priestly divisions (Mishmarot, משמרות), since at the time preceding David and Samuel the priestly courses numbered a mere eight. Each group's members were responsible for maintaining the schedule of offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem 1Chronicles 24:3-5. When the First and Second Temples were built, the Kohanim assumed these roles in the permanent temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Each of the 24 groups consisted of six priestly families, with each of the six serving one day of the week. On the Shabbat all six worked in tandem. These 24 groups changed every Sabbath at the completion of the service. However, On the biblical festivals all 24 were present in the Temple for duty. The cycle of the 24 priestly courses repeated itself roughly twice each year.
Following the Temple's destruction at the end of the First Jewish Revolt and the displacement to the Galilee of the bulk of the remaining Jewish population in Judea at the end of the Bar Kochva Revolt, Jewish tradition in the Talmud and poems from the period records that the descendants of each priestly watch established a separate residential seat in towns and villages of the Galilee, and maintained this residential pattern for at least several centuries in anticipation of the reconstruction of the Temple and reinstitution of the cycle of priestly courses. Specifically, this kohanic settlement region stretched from the Beit Netofa Valley, through the Nazareth region to Arbel and the vicinity of Tiberias.
Although Kohanim may assume their duties once they reached physical maturity, the fraternity of Kohanim generally would not allow young Kohanim to begin service until they reached the age of twenty,[3] some opinions state that this age was thirty.[4] There was no mandatory retirement age. Only when a Kohen became physically infirm could he no longer serve.[5] A Kohen may become disqualified from performing his service for a host of reasons, including -but not limited to- Tumah, Marital defilements, and Physical blemishes. Of importance is that the Kohen is never permanently disqualified from service but is permitted to return to his normal duties once the disqualification ceases.
The Kohanim were compensated for their service to the nation and in the Temple through the twenty-four kohanic gifts.[6] Of these 24 gifts, 10 are listed as to be given even outside the land of Israel. An example of the gifts given to the Kohen in the Diaspora are most notably the five coins of the Pidyon haben ceremony, and the Giving of the foreleg, cheeks and abomasum from each Kosher-slaughtered animal.[7]
Torah verses and Rabbinical commentary to the Tanach imply that the Kohen has a unique leadership role amongst the nation of Israel -in addition to the common knowledge that the Kohen is to officiate the sacrificial activity in the Temple (the Korbanot), the Kohen is assumed responsibility of being knowleadgable in the laws and nuances of the Torah and accurately instructing those laws to the Jewish people.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains this responsibility as not being the exclusive Torah instructors, but working in tandem with the Rabbinic leaders of the era.[8]
After the destruction of the Second Temple and the suspension of sacrificial offerings, the formal role of priests in sacrificial services came to an end, whether temporary or permanent. However, Kohanim retain a formal and public ceremonial role in synagogue prayer services, which were established as a substitute for or reminder of the sacrifices themselves ("Take with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: "Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips..." (Hosea 14:3)). Kohanim also have a limited number of other special duties/privileges in Jewish religious practice. These special roles have been maintained in Orthodox Judaism, and sometimes in Conservative Judaism. Reform Judaism does not afford any special status or recognition to Kohanim.
Every Monday, Thursday and Shabbat in Orthodox synagogues (and many Conservative ones as well), a portion from the Torah is read aloud in the original Hebrew in front of the congregation. On weekdays, this reading is divided into three; it is customary to call a Kohen for the first reading (aliyah), a Levite for the second reading, and a member of any other Tribe of Israel to the third reading. On Shabbat, the reading is divided into seven portions; a Kohen is called for the first aliyah and a Levite to the second, and a member of another tribe for the rest.
If a kohen is not present, it is customary in many communities for a levite to take the first aliyah "bimkom Kohen" (in the place of a Kohen) and an Israelite the second and succeeding ones. This custom is not required by Halakha (Jewish religious law), however, and Israelites may be called up for all aliyot.
The late 12th and early 13th century Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg ruled that in a community consisting entirely of Kohanim, the prohibition on calling Kohanim for anything but the first two and maftir aliyot creates a deadlock situation which should be resolved by calling women to the Torah for all the intermediate aliyot. Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky, an author on the topic of the role of women in Judaism, has recently endorsed relying on this authority to permit the deliberate creation of minyanim composed entirely of Kohanim for the express purpose of giving women an opportunity to have an aliyah to the Torah in an Orthodox setting.[9]
The Conservative Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), consistent with the Conservative movement's general view of the role of Kohanim, has ruled that the practice of calling a Kohen to the first aliyah represents a custom rather than a law, and that accordingly, a Conservative rabbi is not obligated to follow it. As such, in some Conservative synagogues, this practice is not followed.
The Kohanim participating in an Orthodox prayer service also deliver the Priestly Blessing,[10] during the repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei.[11] They perform this service by standing and facing the crowd in the front of the congregation, with their arms held outwards and their hands and fingers in a specific formation.[12] Kohanim living in Israel and many Sephardic Jews living in areas outside of Israel deliver the Priestly Blessing daily; Ashkenazi Jews living outside of Israel deliver it only on Jewish holidays.[13]
Outside the synagogue, the Kohen leads the Pidyon Haben ceremony. This symbolic Redemption of the first-born son is based on the Torah commandment, "and you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons."[14]
Orthodox Judaism recognizes the rules as being in full force, but in practice seeks leniency with respect to some of the rules' strictures, and tends to resolve at least some doubts in favor of permitting a questionable marriage. Areas where Orthodox approaches may create different results include situations where a woman has been raped, kidnapped or held hostage, descendants of converts whose Judaism status turned out to be subject to doubt, ambiguous prior dating histories, and other potentially ambiguous or difficult situations.
Rape poses an especially poignant problem. The pain experienced by the families of Kohanim who were required to divorce their wives as the result of the rapes accompanying the capture of Jerusalem is alluded to in this Mishnah:
If a woman were imprisoned by non-Jews concerning money affairs, she is permitted to her husband, but if for some capital offense, she is forbidden to her husband. If a town were overcome by besieging troops, all women of priestly stock found in it are ineligible [to be married to priests or to remain married to priests], but if they had witnesses, even a slave, or even a bondswoman, these may be believed. But no man may be believed for himself. Rabbi Zechariah ben Hakatsab said, "By this Temple, her hand did not stir from my hand from the time the non-Jews entered Jerusalem until they went out." They said to him: No man may give evidence of himself.[15]
The Israeli rabbinate will not perform a marriage Halachically forbidden to a Kohen. For example, a Kohen cannot legally marry a divorced or converted woman in the State of Israel, although a foreign marriage would be recognized.
Conservative Judaism has issued an emergency takanah (rabbinical edict) temporarily suspending the application of the rules in their entirety, on the grounds that the high intermarriage rate in its community threatens the survival of Judaism, and hence that any marriage between Jews is welcomed. The takanah declares that the offspring of such marriages are to be regarded as Kohanim. The movement allows a kohen to marry a convert or divorcee for these reasons:
Kohen was a status that traditionally referred to men, passed from father to son, although there were situations where a Bat-Kohen, daughter of a kohen, enjoyed some special status. For example, the first-born son of a Bat-Kohen or the first-born son of a Bat-Levi, the daughter of any Levi did not require the ritual of Pidyon HaBen.
In addition, females, although they did not serve in the Tabernacle or the Temple, were permitted to eat or benefit from some of the 24 kohanic gifts. However, if a kohen's daughter married a man from outside the kohanic line, she was no longer permitted to benefit from the kohanic gifts. Conversely, the daughter of a non-kohen who married a kohen took on the same rights as an unmarried daughter of a kohen.
Today, Orthodox and many Conservative rabbis maintain the position that only men can act as a kohen, and that a daughter of a kohen is recognized as a Bat-kohen only in those very limited ways that have been identified in the past. Other Conservative rabbis, along with some Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, are prepared to give equal kohen status to the daughter of a kohen.
Orthodox Judaism maintains that the privileges and status of kohanim stem primarily from their offerings and activities in the Temple. Accordingly, in Orthodox Judaism only men can perform the Priestly Blessing and receive the first aliyah during the public Torah reading, and women are generally not permitted to officiate in a Pidyon HaBen ceremony. However, the question of what acts (if any) a bat-kohen can perform in an Orthodox context is a subject of current discussion and debate in some Orthodox circles.[18]
Some women's prayer groups which practice under the halakhic guidance of Modern Orthodox Rabbis, and which conduct Torah readings for women only, have adapted a custom of calling a bat-kohen for the first aliyah and a bat levi for the second.[19]
Conservative Judaism, consistent with its view that sacrifices in the Temple will not be restored and in light of many congregations' commitment to gender (but not tribal) egalitarianism, interprets the Talmudic relevant passages to permit elimination of most distinctions between male and female kohanim in congregations that retain traditional tribal roles while modifying traditional gender roles. The Conservative movement bases this leniency on the view that the privileges of the kohen come not from offering Temple offerings but solely from lineal sanctity, and that ceremonies like the Priestly Blessing should evolve from their Temple-based origins. (The argument for women's involvement in the Priestly Blessing acknowledges that only male kohanim could perform this ritual in the days of the Temple, but that the ceremony is no longer rooted in Temple practice; its association with the Temple was by rabbinic decree; and rabbis therefore have the authority to permit the practice to evolve from its Temple-based roots).[20] As a result, some Conservative synagogues permit a bat kohen to perform the Priestly Blessing and the Pidyon HaBen ceremony, and to receive the first aliyah during the Torah reading.
The Halakha committee of the Masorti movement (the equivalent of Conservative Judaism) in Israel has ruled that women do not receive such aliyot and cannot perform such functions as a valid position (Rabbi Robert Harris, 5748). Therefore, not all Conservative congregations or rabbis permit these roles for bnot Kohanim (daughters of priests). Moreover, many egalitarian-oriented Conservative synagogues have abolished traditional tribal roles and do not perform ceremonies involving kohanim (such as the Priestly Blessing or calling a Kohen to the first aliyah), and many traditionalist-oriented Conservative synagogues have retained traditional gender roles and do not permit women to perform these roles at all.[21]
Because most Reform and Reconstructionist temples have abolished traditional tribal distinctions, roles, and identities on grounds of egalitarianism, a special status for a bat Kohen has very little significance in these movements.
Recently the tradition that many Kohanim are descended from a common male ancestor has gained support from genetic testing. Since the Y chromosome is inherited only from one's father (women have no Y chromosome), all direct male lineages share a common haplotype. Therefore, testing was done across sectors of the Jewish and non-Jewish population to see if there was any commonality among their Y chromosomes. The initial research by Hammer, Skorecki, et al. was based on a limited study of 188 subjects, which identified a narrow set of genetic markers found in slightly more than 50% of Jews with a tradition of priestly descent and approximately 5% of Jews who did not believe themselves to be Kohanim [22] Over the succeeding decade, Hammer, Skorecki, and other researchers continued to collect genetic material from Jewish and non-Jewish populations around the world. This led to the classification of a broader set of genetic markers, now termed the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH). This set of markers is found in the Y chromosome of 79% of those who have a family tradition of Priestly descent and only in 5% of Jews who have no family tradition of being Kohanim. The CMH is found in fewer than 5% of non-Jews[23] The scientific findings show a statistical likelihood of less than 1 in 10,000 that the results could have been a chance event (P<.0001) Thus, peer-reviewed studies in the scientific literature document certain distinctions among the Y chromosomes of Kohanim, implying that nearly 80% of Kohanim share some common male ancestry. Since the religious status of a Kohen is contingent upon being the male biological descendant of Aaron in conjunction with numerous other variables that are not subject to genetic testing (the wife of a kohen cannot have had relations with a non-Jew, be a divorcee etc...) the possession of a common haplotype does not provide sufficient evidence to confer or maintain the religious status of a Kohen, which depends on more than simple heredity. This loss of priestly status over time may account for the 5% of non-Kohen Jews who demonstrate the CMH markers on the Y chromosome.
The status of kohen in Judaism has no necessary relationship to a person's surname. Though it is true that descendants of Kohanim often bear surnames that reflect their genealogy, there are many families with the surname Cohen (or any number of variations) who are not Kohanim nor even Jewish. Conversely, there are many Kohanim who do not have Cohen as a surname.
There are numerous variations to the spelling of the surname Cohen. These are often corrupted by translation or transliteration into or from other languages, as exemplified below (not a complete list).
However, by no means are all Jews with these surnames Kohanim. Additionally, some "Cohen"-type surnames are considered stronger indications of the status than others. "Cohen" is one of the hardest to substantiate due to its sheer commonality.
In contemporary Israel, "Moshe Cohen" is the equivalent of "John Smith" in English-speaking countries - i.e., proverbially the most common of names.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, one common interpretation of the practice of having three pieces of matzah on a Seder plate is that they represent "Kohen, Levi and Yisrael" (i.e., the priests, the tribe of Levi, and all other Jewish people).[24]
According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, only "literal descendants of Aaron" have the legal right to constitute the Presiding Bishopric under the authority of the First Presidency (Section 68:16-20). When and where no Latter-day Saint descendants of Aaron are available, Melchizedek priesthood holders are permitted to substitute. To date, all men who have served on the Presiding Bishopric have been Melchizedek priesthood holders, and none have been publicly identified as descendants of Aaron. See also Mormonism and Judaism.
The positioning of the kohen's hands during the Priestly Blessing was Leonard Nimoy's inspiration for Mr. Spock's Vulcan salute in the original Star Trek television series. Nimoy, raised an Orthodox Jew (but not a kohen), used the salute when saying "Live long and prosper."
The Priestly Blessing is used by Leonard Cohen in his farewell blessing during "Whither Thou Goest", the closing song on his concerts. Leonard Cohen himself is from a kohen family. He also uses the drawing of the Priestly Blessing as one of his logos.
In 1938, with the outbreak of violence that would come to be known as Kristallnacht, American Orthodox rabbi Mnachem HaKohen Risikoff wrote about the central role he saw for Priests and Levites in terms of Jewish and world responses, in worship, liturgy, and teshuva, repentance. In הכהנים והלוים HaKohanim vHaLeviim(1940), The Priests and the Levites, he stressed that members of these groups exist in the realm between history (below) and redemption (above), and must act in a unique way to help move others to prayer and action, and help bring an end to suffering. He wrote, "Today, we also are living through a time of flood, Not of water, but of a bright fire, which burns and turns Jewish life into ruin. We are now drowning in a flood of blood...Through the Kohanim and Levi'im help will come to all Israel."[25]