A kohen (or cohen, Hebrew כּהן, "priest", pl. כּהנִים, kohanim or cohanim) has a separate status in Judaism. A kohen is a direct male descendant of the Biblical Aaron, brother of Moses. Another term for the descendants of Aaron are the Aaronites or Aaronids.
During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, kohanim performed specific duties vis-à-vis the daily and festival sacrificial offerings. The Kohen Gadol (High Priest) played a special role during the service of Yom Kippur. Today, kohanim retain a lesser though still somewhat distinct status within Judaism and remain bound by additional laws in Orthodox and, to a lesser extent, in Conservative Jewish communities. The Kohen, while having an exclusive role, is intended to be symbolic of all Jewish life: what Kohanim did inside the temple, other Jews should do outside in their daily lives. What rabbis and Torah scholars do inside the Yeshiva, other Jews should do outside in their daily lives.
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The status of kohen was conferred on Aaron, the brother of Moses, and his direct male descendants as an "everlasting office". (Exodus 28:1-4) During the forty years of wandering in the wilderness and until the Holy Temple was built in Jerusalem, kohanim performed their priestly service in the portable Tabernacle (Numeri 1:47-54,Numeri 3:5-13,Numeri 3:44-51, Numeri 8:5–26). Their duties involved offering the daily and Jewish holiday sacrifices, collectively known as the korbanot in Hebrew, and blessing the people in a ceremony known as Nesiat Kapayim ("raising of the hands"), the ceremony of the priestly blessing.
When the First and Second Temples were built, the kohanim assumed these same roles in these permanent structures, 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 24 were present in the Temple.
Because Aaron was a member of the Tribe of Levi, all kohanim today are levites, by direct patrilineal descent. However, not all levites are kohanim. When the Temple existed, most services (i.e. the korbanot) could only be conducted by kohanim. Non-kohen levites (i.e. all those who descended from Levi, the son of Jacob, but not from Aaron) performed a variety of other Temple roles, most notably providing music and songs (Psalms) to accompany Temple ceremonies but also a variety of other duties including standing guard over the Temple and Temple Mount, construction, maintenance, and assisting the kohanim by washing their hands and feet before services. During the era of the Tabernacle, the non-kohen levites were employed in caring for and transporting the Tabernacle between travel destinations.
In biblical and Temple times, kohanim could assume their duties once they reached physical maturity (usually associated with the age of 13). However, the fraternity of Kohanim generally would not allow their fellow young Kohanim to begin service until they reached the age of 20 (See Talmud Bavli Hullin 24b, and Maimonides' Yad, Hilchoth Klei HaMiqdash 5:15). There was no mandatory retirement age. Only when a Kohen became physically infirm could he no longer serve (see T.B. ibid., and Maimonides' Yad, Hilchoth Biath HaMiqdash 7:12, and Hilchoth Klei HaMiqdash 3:8).
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:
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). Kohanim with these blemishes would be assigned to secondary roles in the Temple outside of performing the service itself.
The kohanim were rewarded for their role in the Temple through 24 special "priestly gifts." These were:[1]
Females were never allowed to serve in the Tabernacle or the Temple. They were permitted to consume 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. Conversely, the daughter of a non-priest who married a kohen took on the same rights as an unmarried daughter of a kohen.
In every generation when the Temple was standing, 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. A Kohen Gadol may only marry a virgin. Although Orthodox Judaism retains a procedure to select a Kohen Gadol when needed, there is no Kohen Gadol today, in the absence of a Temple.
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, which are still maintained in Orthodox Judaism.
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.
While all branches of Judaism which accept Halakha recognize the rules in principle, they differ considerably in their practical application.
Areas where Haredi and Modern Orthodox approaches might 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:
Today, the official status of Kohen is assumed by anyone who can trace their ancestral heritage to a confirmed Kohen; which is essentially no one. It is for this reason that authorities within Orthodox Judaism maintain that a Yisroel is not technically obligated to pay a modern day Kohen for the Pidyun Haben ceremony (He would ask for the five coins back after he gave it to the Kohen). Until the eighteenth century in Europe, nineteenth century in Yemen) 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" (Cohn, Kogan, Kagan, etc.), or "Kahanowitz" etc. ("son of Cohen") is not proof enough, as emigration, assimilation and intermarriage have conferred the name on various individuals (and even non-Jewish descendants) as well. While no one today is considered a Kohen to the extent that he can serve in the Temple, in the Orthodox Jewish community as long as one has a paternal family tradition of being a Kohen, they are granted certain honorary roles and duties within the community.
Orthodox Judaism maintains a belief in and hope for a restoration of a Third Temple in Jerusalem. Other denominations of Judaism, including the several in Orthodox 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 separate status in the following areas of modern life:
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, and a Yisroel 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. 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. 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.[1]
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.
All of the kohanim participating in an Orthodox prayer service must also deliver the Priestly Blessing, called Nesiat Kapayim, during the repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei. 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. All Jews living in Israel and Sephardic Jews living outside of Israel deliver the Priestly Blessing daily; Ashkenazi Jews living outside of Israel deliver it only on Jewish holidays of biblical origin.
Orthodox Judaism does not permit a bat kohen (daughter of a kohen) or bat levi (daughter of a levite) to participate in Nesiat Kapayim. The reason is that Nesiat Kapayim ("the raising of the hands") performed today is a direct continuation of the Temple ritual, and should be performed by those who were authentically eligible to do so in the Temple.
Regarding the ritual of the Priestly Blessing, the Conservative Movement's CJLS has also approved two positions. One view holds that a bat kohen may deliver the blessing; another view holds that a bat kohen is not permitted to participate in the Priestly Blessing because it is a continuation of a Temple ritual which women were not eligible to perform (Rabbis Stanley Bramnick and Judah Kagen, 1994; and a responsa by the Va'ad Halakha of the Masorti movement, Rabbi Reuven Hammer, 5748).
The majority of Reform Jews and Reconstructionist Jews consider all rules and ceremonies regarding the priesthood to be outdated. Many consider it to be anti-egalitarian, and thus discriminatory against Jews who are not Kohanim. Therefore the honors given to the Kohen during the Torah reading and in the performance of the Priestly Blessing are not observed in Reform or Reconstructionist Jewish communities. Many Reform and Reconstructionist Temples effectively forbid the practice of these laws and customs.
Outside the synagogue, kohanim lead the Pidyon Haben, the symbolic Redemption of the First-born ceremony for first-born male sons. This mitzvah is based on the Torah commandment, "and you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons." (Exodus 13:13)
In Orthodox and Conservative circles, this ceremony is conducted as part of a festive meal. The Kohen first washes his hands and breaks bread, then calls for the father and the baby. The baby is typically brought in dressed in white and bedecked with gold jewelry, which the women in attendance contribute to beautify this mitzvah. The Kohen then engages the father in a formal dialogue, asking him whether he prefers to keep his money or his son. At the end of this exchange, the father hands over five silver coins (There is a debate about how much this should be in contemporary money. According to some calculations, this would be equal to approximately 101 grams of silver. It is a general custom to give a value more than what this would be worth, to enhance the mitzvah), and the kohen blesses him and his son. Though this ceremony should be conducted when the child is 29½ days (one lunar month) old, a first-born male who was never redeemed via Pidyon Haben may redeem himself later in life through a similar interaction with a kohen. Though no Kohen today can trace his lineage to a proven Kohen, a Yisroel technically has the right to demand the money be given back after the service.
The son of a Kohen or Levi and the son of the daughter of a Kohen or Levi need not be redeemed by the Pidyon HaBen rite. See Pidyon_HaBen (Exemptions)
Orthodox Judaism requires that the ritual be performed by male Kohanim. (Following the view of the Ramabam)
According to the Conservative Jewish view, there are some rabbinic sources that allow women to perform this ritual, and thus a bat kohen (daughter of a kohen) may perform the ceremony for a newborn son. However, it is forbidden to perform this ceremony on a first-born daughter.
Reform and Reconstructionist Jews generally do not perform this ceremony.
The Rambam (Maimonides), the leading figure of Jewish law, does say however in The Guide for the Perplexed that the entire concept of the priestly caste (i.e. Kohanim and Leviem) was intended to limit animal sacrifices to one group of people in order to slowly wean the populace off primal customs.[citation needed] According to Orthodox Jewish practice, modern-day kohanim are obligated to guard against ritual defilement as prescribed by the Talmud. In order to protect them from coming into contact with or proximity to the dead, Orthodox 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.
Modern-day kohanim are also prohibited from marrying a divorcee (even their own divorced wife), a woman who has committed adultery, been involved in incest, or had relations with a non-Jew. In compliance with Talmudic law, they also may not marry a female convert, out of concern for what may have occurred to her while she was a gentile. A born-Jewish woman who has had premarital relations may marry a kohen if and only if all of her partners were Jewish.
A child of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father, while halakhically Jewish, is prohibited from marrying a kohen, by rabbinic law according to some opinions[citation needed]. The Sons of such a union do remain Kohanim. All modern orthodox synagogues will perform such a marriage.[citation needed]
In addition to the numerous restriction placed on Kohanim, Jews who are not Kohanim exemplify this designated role of the Kohen by granting him certain honorary roles within the community. Examples of such roles include the following....
The Kohen is given the option to recite blessings after the meal before the Yisroel if the Yisroel has lesser or equal knowledge of Jewish law compared to the Kohen.
It is a common misconception that the Kohen receives the finer portion of food at a meal or is called first to the Torah in order to give him honor. The Kohen is not entitled to the finer portion of a meal (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch), and is called first to the Torah in order to prevent arguments between Kohanim, Leviem and Yisroels. A Yisroel cannot be called to the Torah for the spot of a Kohen so long as one is present nor can a Kohen be called for the spot of a Yisroel so long as one is present.
Nearly all Rabbinic authorities maintain that in the next world (which is eternal), as opposed to this world where people are born inherently unequal, a person's status is determined by his effort alone. (Derech Hashem; Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato)
So too, the honor due to a person who studies the Torah (Old Testament) and the Talmud (Jewish Oral Law) exceeds that due to a Kohen by far greater amounts. (Hilchot Deot; Rambam)
In addition, according to the vast majority of Rabbinic authorities, the honor given to a Kohen and Torah scholar is intended solely for the benefit of the person who is giving the honor; as opposed to the one who is receiving it.
"Better off a man be strangled by his placenta at birth than study Torah for the sake of honor" - Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers)
Regarding Kohanim it is said - "You think I am giving you authority? I am giving you servitude!" - Mesillat Yesharim (Path of the Just); Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato) )
Conservative Judaism believes in a rebuilt Temple, but does not believe in restoring the system of korbanot that the Kohanim used to perform in days past, and hence does not believe in a need for Kohanim to perform their traditional roles. Accordingly, Conservative Judaism holds that while, in general, Jewish law is still binding, the restrictions against whom a kohen can marry are no longer applicable today. The movement allows a kohen to marry a convert or divorcee for these reasons:
Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism consider halakhah no longer binding, and believe the entire ancient sacrificial system to be incompatible with modern sensibilities. They also believe that caste or gender-based distinctions such as having a caste of kohanim with distinct roles and obligations derived from heredity is morally incompatible with the principle of egalitarianism.
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 25:7-13). 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.[citation needed]
Orthodox Judaism retains the view 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.[4]
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.[5]
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 passages involved 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 Kohen-hood 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).[6] 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 law 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.[7]
Because Reform and Reconstructionist temples have abolished traditional tribal distinctions, roles, and identities on grounds of egalitarianism, a special status for a Bat Kohen has no significance in these movements.
Recently the tradition that kohanim are descended from a common ancestor was supported by genetic testing [8]. Since all direct male lineage shares a common Y chromosome, testing was done across sectors of the Jewish population to see if there was any commonality between their Y chromosomes. There was proven to be certain distinctions among the Y chromosomes of kohanim, implying that many kohanim do share some common ancestry. The information was also used (perhaps prematurely)[vague] to support the claim of the Lemba (a sub-Saharan tribe) that they were in fact, a tribe of Jews. The gene can however be passed through a female, which invalidates as proof of Kehuna on religious grounds.
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 Kohen (or any number of variations) who are not kohenim nor even Jewish. Conversely, there are many kohenim who do not have Kohen as a surname.
There are numerous variations to the spelling of the surname Kohen. 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 "kohen"-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.
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).[9]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gives legal right of kohen to constitute the Presiding Bishopric under the authority of the First Presidency (Doctrine and Covenants 68:16-20). When and where Church kohanim are not available, Melchizedek Priesthood holders substitute. To date, all men who have served as the Presiding Bishop have been Melchizedek Priesthood holders, and none have been publicly identified as kohanim. 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."
Furthermore, the Star Trek Symbol is the same shape as the negative (air) space created between the Kohein's thumbs and forefingers, which some Kohanim touch while doing the Birchas Kohanim (Priestly Blessing). (There is some dispute as to whether or not to touch thumb to thumb and forefinger to forefinger while doing the blessing.
On the other hand, Robin Williams' characterization as extraterrestrial Mork (in the American sitcom Mork & Mindy) included a salutation with a position of his hands (along with the words: "Na-Nu, Na-Nu") which was very similar to kohen's hands.
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