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47-575: The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political (administering cities of refuge) and educational responsibilities as well. In return, the landed tribes were expected to support the Levites with a tithe ( Numbers 18:21–25 ), particularly the tithe known as the First tithe , ma'aser rishon . The Kohanim , a subset of the Levites, were the priests, who performed

94-506: A commoner family (c.f. yeoman ), inherited from Germanic law . A gentleman farmer is the largely historic term for a country gentleman who has a farm as part of his estate and farms mainly for pleasure rather than for profit. His acreage may vary from under ten to hundreds of acres. The gentleman farmer employed labourers and farm managers. However, according to the 1839 Encyclopedia of Agriculture , he "did not associate with these minor working brethren". The chief source of income for

141-557: A "Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazi Levite lineage based on what was previously a relatively limited number of reported samples, can now be considered firmly validated", precising that a "rich variation of haplogroup R1a outside of Europe which is phylogenetically separate from the typically European R1a branches", referring to the R1a-Y2619 sub-clade. Having a last name of Levi or a related term does not necessarily mean

188-407: A Jewish mother, in the traditional manner, or it does not exist and is not conferred at all. Some Levites have adopted a related last name to signify their status. Because of diverse geographical locations, the names have several variations: The following are some Levites with non-Levite-like last names in modern times: Landed tribe In real estate , a landed property or landed estate

235-644: A Near or Middle Eastern origin for all Ashkenazi Levites, including the R1a Y-chromosome carriers, and refuted the Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry : Previous Y-chromosome studies have demonstrated that Ashkenazi Levites, members of a paternally inherited Jewish Levite caste, display a distinctive founder event within R1a, the most prevalent Y-chromosome haplogroup in Eastern Europe. Here we report

282-472: A distinct status. There are estimated 300,000 Levites among Ashkenazi Jewish communities, and a similar number among Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews combined. The total percentage of Levites among the wider Jewish population is about 4%. Today, Levites in Orthodox Judaism continue to have additional rights and obligations compared to lay people, although these responsibilities have diminished with

329-664: A negative consequence. British Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler ruled in 1863 that the daughter of a Cohen may only marry a non-Cohen. The types of sacrifices the bat-kohen is afforded include the breast and thigh of the peace offering , the four loaves of the thank offering , and the foreleg of the Nazirite 's ram offering. The bat-kohen may offer her employees to partake in her terumah . Technically, she may bypass her father (or husband) and initially give her tithe offering and dough offering , but Menachem Meiri forbids this of concern that one may give these gifts in error to

376-723: A number of demographic groups, reaching over 70% in West Bengal Brahmins in India and among the Mohani people in Sindh , Pakistan. Behar's data suggested a founding event, involving an 'introgression' of anywhere from one to fifty non-Jewish European men, occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation. As Nebel, Behar and Goldstein speculate: although neither

423-403: A person is a Levite, and many well-known Levites do not have such last names. Levitical status is passed down in families from father to child born from a Jewish mother, as part of a family's genealogical tradition. Tribal status of Levite is determined by patrilineal descent , so a child whose biological father is a Levite (in cases of adoption or artificial insemination, status is determined by

470-419: A status symbol. Landed property was a key element of feudalism , and freed the owner for other tasks, such as government administration, military service, the practice of law, or religious practices. In later times, the dominant role of landed estates as a basis of public service faded. Development of manufacturing and commerce created capitalist means of obtaining income, but ordinarily demanding

517-599: 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." A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar et al. pointed to multiple origins for Ashkenazi Levites, who comprise approximately 4% among the Ashkenazi Jews. It found that Haplogroup R1a1a (R-M17), uncommon in

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564-537: Is a property that generates income for the owner (typically a member of the gentry ) without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate. In medieval Western Europe, there were two competing systems of landed property; manorialism , inherited from the Roman villa system, where a large estate is owned by the Lord of the manor and leased to tenants ; and the family farm or Hof owned by and heritable within

611-741: The biblical Aaron of the Tribe of Levi . The origins of the name/term "Levy" in Hebrew remain unclear. Some hypotheses link this name with the Hebrew root lwh , the Aramaic root lwy , or the Arabic root lwy . The noun kohen is used in the Torah to refer to priests , both Israelite and non-Israelite, such as the Israelite nation as a whole, as well as the priests (Hebrew kohanim ) of Baal . During

658-671: The destruction of the Temple . For instance, Kohanim are eligible to be called to the Torah first, followed by the Levites. Levites also provide assistance to the Kohanim , particularly washing their hands, before the Kohanim recite the Priestly Blessing . Since Levites (and Kohanim) are traditionally pledged to Divine service, there is no Pidyon HaBen (redemption of the firstborn) ceremony for: Orthodox Judaism believes in

705-404: The sanctity afforded priests . The bat-kohen receive lenient specifications in her preparations for immersion . The firstborn of a daughter of a Kohen or Levite is not redeemed at thirty days. One author has suggested that a bat-kohen should have priority in leading a women's zimmun just as a kohen does for a men's zimmun. In modern times, Orthodox and many Conservative rabbis maintain

752-490: The Bible, both Joseph and Moses married daughters of non-Jewish (Egyptian and Midianite) priests. However, in rabbinic literature the term bat kohen refers exclusively to daughters of Jewish priests, the descendants of Aaron . If the daughter of a priest engaged in illicit sexual relations, her penalty was to be burned; in contrast to the usual penalty which was strangulation. Daughters of priests were allowed to eat

799-526: The Conservative halakha committee in Israel has ruled that women do not receive such aliyot and cannot validly perform such functions, and many traditionalist Conservative synagogues have retained traditional gender roles and do not permit women to perform these roles at all. Other Conservative rabbis, along with some Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, are prepared to give equal kohen status to

846-593: The House of Israel. ("A first-born son washes the Kohen's hands if there is no Levite".) In Orthodox Judaism, children of a Bat Levi, like those of a Bat-Kohen , regardless of the child's father's tribe or the mother's marital status, retain the traditional exemption for their children from the requirement of being redeemed through the Pidyon HaBen . Conservative Judaism permits a Bat Levi to perform essentially all

893-582: The M582 lineage also occurs at low frequencies in non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations. In contrast to the previously suggested Eastern European origin for Ashkenazi Levites, the current data are indicative of a geographic source of the Levite founder lineage in the Near East and its likely presence among pre-Diaspora Hebrews. In a later 2017 study Behar et al. revised their initially mitigated position, concluding that

940-601: The Middle East or among Sephardic Jews , is present in over 50% of Ashkenazi Levites, while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites' paternal lineage is of certain Middle Eastern origin, including Y-chromosome haplogroups E3b, J2, F, R1b, K, I, Q, N and L. Haplogroup R1a1a is found at the highest levels among people of Eastern European descent, with 50 to 65% among Sorbs , Poles , Russians , and Ukrainians . In South Asia , R1a1a has often been observed with high frequency in

987-642: The NRY haplogroup composition of the majority of Ashkenazi Jews nor the microsatellite haplotype composition of the R1a1 haplogroup within Ashkenazi Levites is consistent with a major Khazar or other European origin, as has been speculated by some authors (Baron 1957; Dunlop 1967; Ben-Sasson 1976; Keys 1999), one cannot rule out the important contribution of a single or a few founders among contemporary Ashkenazi Levites." A 2013 paper by Siiri Rootsi et al. confirmed

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1034-485: The Priestly Blessing or calling a kohen to the first aliyah ). Most Reform and Reconstructionist temples have taken a similar position. Some women's prayer groups that practice under the halakhic guidance of non-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. Isaac Luria explains

1081-537: The Temple was by rabbinic decree; and rabbis therefore have the authority to permit the practice to evolve from its Temple-based roots). 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. Many egalitarian-oriented Conservative synagogues have abolished traditional tribal roles and do not perform ceremonies involving kohanim (such as

1128-502: The Torah generally reserves for daughters of priests. Although basic Torah law allows for the bat kohen to marry a challal , convert and freed slave (Hebrew eved me shukhrar ), the Midrash and Talmud cite Rabbi Yochanan 's view that a daughter of a priest is best off marrying a priest. Rabbi Yochanan maintains that in the event a bat kohen marries a non-Kohen, undesired results for the groom are likely to surface, such as poverty or

1175-512: The analysis of 16 whole R1 sequences and show that a set of 19 unique nucleotide substitutions defines the Ashkenazi R1a lineage. While our survey of one of these, M582, in 2,834 R1a samples reveals its absence in 922 Eastern Europeans, we show it is present in all sampled R1a Ashkenazi Levites, as well as in 33.8% of other R1a Ashkenazi Jewish males and 5.9% of 303 R1a Near Eastern males, where it shows considerably higher diversity. Moreover,

1222-550: The attention of the owner. At roughly the same time, governments began imposing taxes to fund government bureaus and the military, so that people of talent could perform government services for salaries without need for the proceeds of ownership of farmland. Much of the United States , typically New England , Pennsylvania , and most states west of the original colonies, never had a landed aristocracy , so their armed forces and government agencies could never be organized on

1269-492: The basis of a landed aristocracy . Bat-Kohen A bat-kohen or bat kohen ( Hebrew : בת כהן ) is the daughter of a kohen (Jewish priest), who holds a special status in the Hebrew Bible and rabbinical texts . She is entitled to a number of rights and is encouraged to abide by specified requirements, for example, entitlement to consume some of the priestly gifts , and an increased value for her ketubah . In

1316-586: The bat-kohen. The priestly court (prior to 70 CE) established that a virgin bat-kohen would receive a ketubah of 400 Zuz (rather than the standard 200 Zuz for a Jewish virgin). (However, the Talmud Yerushalmi opines that the bat-kohen who marries a non-Kohen receives that standard 200 Zuz, as a penalty for not marrying within the priesthood. ) A widowed bat-kohen would receive the standard 100 Zuz for widows, though at one point this sum had been raised to 200 Zuz. Rabbeinu Tam clarifies that

1363-438: The central role he saw for Priests and Levites in terms of Jewish and world responses, in worship, liturgy, and teshuva , repentance. In The Priests and the Levites (1940), 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

1410-517: The daughter of a kohen. The US Conservative movement, consistent with the view that sacrifices in the Temple will not be restored and in light of many congregations' commitment to gender (but not caste) 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. They base this leniency on

1457-511: The demise of the groom. An exception to this taboo is if the groom is a Talmid Chacham . The Talmud narrates how the Tanna Rabbi Yehoshua married a non-kohen wife and then complained that it weakened him. Rashi explains that the marriage of a bat kohen to a man who is not a kohen, or a Talmid Chacham , is considered a swipe at the honor of Aaron , and Aaron himself is annoyed at the demotion of his progeny, resulting in

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1504-666: The eventual rebuilding of a Temple in Jerusalem and a resumption of the Levitical role. A small number of schools, primarily in Israel , train priests and Levites in their respective roles. Conservative Judaism —which believes in a restoration of the Temple as a house of worship and in some special role for Levites, although not the ancient sacrificial system as previously practised—recognizes Levites as having special status. Not all Conservative congregations call Kohanim and Levites to

1551-413: The excess amount). Joseph ibn Habib justifies the excess amount by saying it is a greater shame for a kohen if his daughter is divorced, and the higher ketubah value discourages husbands from divorcing their bat-kohen wives. When a priest's daughter committed adultery, not only did she suffer the special penalty of burning (rather than strangulation), but her father was demoted from being honored with

1598-507: The existence of the Temple in Jerusalem , Kohanim performed the daily and holiday ( Yom Tov ) duties of sacrificial offerings . Today kohanim retain a lesser though somewhat distinct status within Judaism , and are bound by additional restrictions according to Orthodox Judaism . During the Priestly Blessing , the Levites traditionally wash the hands of the Kohanim prior to the blessing of

1645-405: The first and second reading of the Torah , and many no longer perform rituals such as the Priestly Blessing and Pidyon HaBen in which Kohanim and Levites have a special role. Reconstructionist and Reform Judaism do not observe distinctions between Kohanim, Levites, and other Jews . The Kohanim are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from

1692-408: The genetic father), is also considered a Levite. Jewish status is determined by matrilineal descent, thus conferring levitical status onto children requires both biological parents to be Israelites and the biological father to be a Levite. Accordingly, there is currently no branch of Judaism that regards levitical status as conferrable by matrilineal descent. It is either conferrable patrilineally with

1739-517: The gentleman farmer was derived not from any income that his landed property may generate; he had either access to his own private income , he worked as a professional and/or he owned a large business elsewhere. Or all three. Modern landed property often consists of housing or industrial land, generating income in the form of rents or fees for services provided by the facilities on the land, such as port facilities. Owners often commission an estate map to help manage their estate as well as serving as

1786-442: The increased amount is found in rabbinic sources. Jonathan of Lunel describes the excessive amount given the bat kohen as the rightful due to her and her family for keeping to the Torah laws and restrictions that apply to priestly families and keeping to the heritage ( yukhsin ) of priestly lineage. He rejects the notion that such excess would cause envy and jealousy from non-priestly families (who are not officially entitled to

1833-401: The ketubah, all this with the intent to publicize the importance of the daughters of Kohanim. Shneur Zalman of Liadi stated that the marriage ceremony and feast a bat kohen to a non-kohen man is not considered a seudat mitzvah , since the marriage is one that may produce negative results. The 400-Zuz ketubah was practiced during the amoraic period, but from then onward, no mention of

1880-522: The negative aspect of a bat kohen not marrying a kohen from the Kabbalistic view, using gematria ; that since the Hebrew letters K H N ( ה,נ,ך those that spell "kohen") do not have a match using the Ayak Becher formula, therefore it is best for a kohen to marry a kohen. The formula, explains Luria, portrays that the such marriage between Kohanic families works nicely. The expectations upon

1927-479: The position that only a man can act as a kohen, and that a daughter of a kohen is recognized as a bat kohen only in those limited ways that have been identified in the past. 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. Similarly,

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1974-486: The rituals a male Levi would perform, including being called to the Torah for the Levite aliyah in those Conservative synagogues which have both retained traditional tribal roles and modified traditional gender roles. In Israel, Conservative/Masorti Judaism has not extended Torah honors either to a bat Kohen or to a bat Levi. In 1938, with the outbreak of violence that would come to be known as Kristallnacht , American Orthodox rabbi Menachem HaKohen Risikoff wrote about

2021-408: The sanctified gifts to priests ( terumot hakodashim ), just as sons of priests, and priests themselves, were allowed to. Rabbinic sources describe Tamar as the daughter of Shem , and consider Shem have been a priest before the priestly covenant was given to Aaron . This explains why Judah suggested she be burned to death for her alleged sexual affair, as burning is a form of punishment which

2068-440: The view that the kohen's privileges 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

2115-456: The wife of a Kohen who was initially the daughter of an Israelite post her divorce, such giving the gifts to a person who is no longer entitled to the gifts. The daughter of a priest is likewise permitted to consume the firstborn animal . Regarding the foreleg, cheeks and maw , there is a Tannaitic dispute (between the schools of Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Eliezer Ben Yaakov ) as to whether an Israelite performs his mitzvah by giving them to

2162-466: The words in Ketuboth "that which is due you" (Aramaic d'chazi l'chi ) are to portray that the excess amount is not considered a bonus (Aramaic tosefet kethuba ) but the base amount (Aramaic ikkar kethuba ). Likewise, Asher ben Jehiel explain that the full amount of 400 Zuz is collectible even in the even the original ketubah document is lost, and even if the larger 400 Zuz amount was not written in

2209-731: The work of holiness in the Temple. The Levites, referring to those who were not Kohanim, were specifically assigned to: When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan ( Joshua 13:33 ), the Sons of Levi were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel Himself is their inheritance" ( Deuteronomy 18:2 ). In modern times, Levites are integrated in Jewish communities, but keep

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