Kohen
A kohen (or cohen, Hebrew כּהן , "priest", pl. כּהנִים , kohanim or cohanim), is a direct male descendant of the Biblical Aaron, brother of Moses. Kohanim performed a variety of duties in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Kohen Gadol (High Priest) played a special role during the service of Yom Kippur.
Today, kohanim retain a distinct personal status within Judaism and are still bound by special laws in Orthodox and, to a lesser extent, in Conservative Jewish communities.
Biblical origins
The status of kohen was first conferred on Aaron, the brother of Moses, and his direct male descendants, by God (Exodus 28:1, 2–4) as an "everlasting office". During the 40 years in which the Jews wandered in the wilderness and until the Temple was built in Jerusalem, kohanim performed their service in a portable house of worship called the Mishkan (Tabernacle.) Their duties involved offering the daily and holiday korban (sacrifices and offerings of nearness), and blessing the people in a ceremony known as Nesiat Kapayim ("raising of the hands"), the Priestly Blessing.
When the Temple in Jerusalem was built, the kohanim assumed these same roles in this permanent structure, located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel. They were divided into 24 work groups of seven to nine priests each. Those who served changed every Shabbat, but on the biblical festivals all twenty-four were present in the Temple.
Because Aaron was a member of the Tribe of Levi, all kohanim are levites, as tribal membership passes via patrilineal descent. However, not all levites are kohanim. Most of the Temple service (i.e. the korbanot) could be conducted only by kohanim. Non-kohen levites (i.e. all those who descend from Levi, the son of Jacob, but not from Aaron) assisted the kohanim by washing the latters' hands and feet before services and providing music and song to accompany the Temple ceremonies. During the era of the Tabernacle (Mishkan), the levites were employed in caring for and transporting the Tabernacle between travel destinations.
Qualifications and disqualifications
In biblical times, kohanim assumed their duties at the age of 20 and retired from active service at the age of 60. Certain imperfections could disqualify a kohen from serving in the Temple. Since the Temple was a place of beauty and the services that were held in it were designed to inspire visitors to thoughts of repentance and closeness to God, a less than physically perfect kohen would mar the atmosphere. These blemishes include:
- blindness
- lameness
- an excessively low nasal bridge (such that a straight brush could apply ointment to both eyes simultaneously)
- disproportionate limbs
- a crippled foot or hand
- eyebrows that grow profusely
- cataracts
- a white streak that transverses the junction between sclera (white part of they eyeball) and iris
- certain types of boils
- crushed testicles
This, however, is not a comprehensive list (Lev. 21:18-20, and Rashi, ibid.) A kohen who was afflicted with one of these imperfections was held unfit for service. However, should it be a correctable imperfection, the kohen would become eligible for service should the defect be corrected. At any time, he was permitted to eat of the holy food (same source as above, including adjacent verses and commentaries). In addition, kohanim with these blemishes would be assigned to secondary roles in the Temple outside of performing the service itself.
The kohanim were rewarded/apid for their role in the Temple and their special status through 24 special "priestly gifts".
Women were not allowed to serve in the Tabernacle or the Temple. However, they were permitted to consume and/or derive benefit from some of the 24 priestly gifts. If a kohen's daughter married a man from outside the kohanic line, she was no longer permitted to consume these priestly gifts.
Kohen Gadol
In every generation, one kohen would be singled out to perform the functions of Kohen Gadol (High Priest). His main job was the Yom Kippur service, but he did offer a daily meal sacrifice, and he had the prerogative to supersede any kohen and offer any offering he chose. See Kohen Gadol for more details.
Ritual defilement
The kohanim formed a holy order. For the purpose of protecting them against ritual defilement, the Torah imposed on the following rules for ritual purity. Most of these rules are still in force today.
Kohanim are forbidden to come in contact with dead bodies, nor are they permitted to perform the customary mourning rites. They are commanded, however, to become defiled for their 7 closest relatives: father, mother, brother, sister, child or wife. (They may only become defiled for a sister who is unmarried.)
A kohen is forbidden to enter any house or enclosure, or approach any spot, in which a dead body, or part of a dead body, may be found (Lev. 10:6, 21:1–5; Ezek. 44:20, 25). Practical examples of these prohibitions include: not entering a cemetery or attending a funeral; not being under the same roof (i.e. in a home or hospital) as a dead body. The exact rules and regulations of defilement are quite complex, but a cursory rule of thumb is that they may not enter a room with a dead person or come within a few feet of the body. Proximity to the corpse of a non-Jew is less serious and may only be an issue if actual contact is established. A competent Orthodox halachic authority should be consulted for each and every situation.
The Kohen Gadol must marry a virgin.
A kohen is forbidden to touch anyone or anything that has been made ritually unclean through contact with the dead.
Exceptions to rules of defilement
The Talmud prescribes that if any kohen—even the Kohen Gadol—finds a corpse by the wayside, and there is no one else in the area who can be called upon to bury it, then the kohen himself must perform the burial (meis mitzvah). The Talmud also orders the kohen to defile himself in the case of the death of a nasi (rabbinic leader of a religious academy). The Talmud relates that when Judah haNasi died, the priestly laws concerning defilement through contact with the dead were suspended for the day of his death.
During the period of the Temple, kohanim were required to abstain from wine and all strong drink while performing their priestly duties (Lev. 10:9; Ezek. 44:21).
Prohibition against marrying a convert or divorcee.
A male kohen may not marry a divorcee, a prostitute, or a dishonored woman (Lev. 21:7). Any kohen who enters into such a marriage loses his priestly status while in that marriage. The kohen is not allowed to "choose to forgo his status" and marry a woman prohibited to him (Lev. 21:6–7). According to the Talmud, if a kohen marries in disregard of the above prohibitions, his marriage is still effective. Any children born of the union are legitimate and not mamzer. However, these children are termed chalal ("defiled") and lose their kohen status permanently.
However, today these rules are not accepted as binding in Conservative Judaism. See the articles for more details: The marriage of a Kohen to a divorcee and Marriage of a Kohen to a convert
The role of Kohanim today
Today, the status of kohen is assumed by anyone who has a family tradition to that effect. Until the eighteenth century in Europe (nineteenth century in Yemen) it was believed that many kohanim could accurately trace their lineage back to a verifiable Kohen such as Ezra. Today, families may verify their priestly lineage via the tombstones of deceased ancestors, as the universal symbol of the hands arranged for the Priestly Blessing is a time-honored engraving for the tombstones of kohanim. Simply having the family name of "Cohen" or "Kahanowitz" ("son of Cohen") is not proof enough, as emigration, assimilation and intermarriage have deferred the name on non-priestly individuals (and even non-Jewish descendants) as well.
Orthodox Judaism maintains a belief in and hope for a restoration of a Third Temple in Jerusalem, and Kohanim are regarded as retaining their original sanctity, and some elements of their original roles and responsibilities, and having a status of waiting in readiness for future service in a restored Temple. Other denominations of Judaism have different attitudes towards Kohanim, depending on their attitudes towards a Temple and Temple worship.
In Orthodox Judaism and to some extent in Conservative Judaism, Kohanim maintain their special status in the following areas of modern life:
Synagogue aliyah
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).
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.
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 halakhah, however, and Israelites may be called up for all aliyot. It is considered beneath the kohen's dignity to call him up for any of the other aliyot, although he may be called for maftir, which is not technically one of the seven aliyot. In Orthodox Jewish circles, this custom has the status of law. The late 12th and early 13th century Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg 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. Rabbi Joel Wolowelsky of the Rabbinical Council of America 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.
In Conservative Judaism, our Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) and Va'ad Halakhah have issued differing rulings on this subject. See the article on the status of women as kohanim and leviyim for more information.
The CJLS has also issued differing positions on whether a bat kohen (daughter of a kohen) may claim the kohen's honorary role in synagogue prayer services. See the article on the status of women as kohanim and leviyim for more information.
Priestly blessing
Kohanim traditionally deliver the Priestly Blessing, called Nesiat Kapayim, during the repetition of the Amidah. The text of this blessing is found in Numbers 6:23-27. They perform this rite by standing in the front of the synagogue, facing the congregation, with their arms held outwards and their hands and fingers in a specific formation. See the article Priestly blessing for more information.
Pidyon Haben
A Kohen is necessary to perform the life-cycle ritual known as the Pidyon Haben, the symbolic redemption of the first-born for first-born Jewish sons. See Pidyon Haben. As for whether or not women may perform pidyon haben, see the status of women as kohanim and leviyim for more information.
Personal Status of a Kohen
According to Orthodox Judaism, Kohanim are going to be needed again to perform their traditional roles in a future rebuilt Third Temple, and hence have a responsibility to stand in readiness, including maintaining their prescribed qualifications to the extent possible under diaspora conditions. Because of this requirement modern-day kohanim are obligated to guard against ritual defilement as prescribed by the Torah. In order to protect them from coming into contact with or proximity to the dead, Jewish cemeteries traditionally designate a burial ground for kohanim which is at a distance from the general burial ground, so that the sons of deceased kohanim can visit their fathers' graves without entering the cemetery. They are also careful not to be in a hospital, airplane, or any enclosed space where dead bodies are also present.
The child of two converts is considered "born Jewish" and thus may marry a kohen. A child of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father, while halakhically Jewish, is prohibited from marrying a kohen, by rabbinic law.
Lineage of priests in the Torah
King Melchizedek of Salem, identified by Rashi as being Shem, the son of Noah by another name, is the first person in the Torah to be called a Kohen (Genesis 14:18).
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 at 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 Pinchas (Phineas) had already been born, and did not receive the priesthood until he killed the prince of the tribe of Simon and the princess of the Midianites (Numbers 31:11–12).
Thereafter, the priesthood has remained with the descendants of Aaron. However, when the Messiah comes, there is a tradition that it will revert back to the first born.
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