21
votes
Accepted
What were (some of) the names of the 24 families of Kohanim?
There are a number of sources that list the mishmarot or make mention of them. Some were mentioned in the comments.
Tanach:
Divrei Hayamim 1:24:7-18, as @JoelK noted, brings the list from the time of ...
- 26.8k
18
votes
Accepted
How did the Kohanim eat in the Azara?
Tosafot to Yoma 25a discuss whether the kohanim sat down to eat korbanot in the 'azarah. They suggest three approaches:
They would eat standing up in the 'azarah, due to the prohibition on sitting ...
- 45.2k
14
votes
Accepted
Is a Kohen Allowed to Receive an Organ Donation?
Quoted from the book Healing in Halacha By Rabbi Micha Cohn (page. 245-247 Mosaica Press 2016)
Rav Moshe Feinstein (Iggros Moshe Yoreh Deah 1:230), wrote on the
opinions of a contemporary Rabbi ...
- 15.6k
13
votes
Did each Kohen Gadol wear his predecessor's garments?
Rambam, Hilchot Klei HaMikdash 8:5:
כָּל בֶּגֶד מִבִּגְדֵי כְּהֻנָּה שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ צוֹאִין אֵין מְלַבְּנִין אוֹתָן וְאֵין מְכַבְּסִין אוֹתָן אֶלָּא מַנִּיחָן לִפְתִילוֹת וְלוֹבֵשׁ חֲדָשִׁים. ...
- 45.2k
9
votes
What is the significance of the Choshen stones assigned to each tribe?
To answer the last part of the question that wasn't addressed yet.
Is there any significance as to why a specific stone was assigned to a specific tribe? Was it something within the color, or the ...
- 1,743
9
votes
Is a kohen who embarrasses someone publicly prohibited to duchen?
Responsa Shevet Halevi 8:172 rules that such a person is allowed to duchen, because the verse that is the source of the prohibition, as well as the Rambam and Shulchan Aruch imply that the issue is ...
- 6,515
9
votes
Accepted
What did it use to mean for a kohen to get a second aliyah?
Tosfot (Gittin 59b) answers (based on a similar case in Tosefta Megilla 3:6) that to distinguish the two sections, the kohen would go sit down back in his seat and then stand up again and go up to the ...
- 100k
8
votes
Birkas Kohanim when wife is a niddah
This is cited by Raavad in his commentary to Tamid (end, s.v. He'chelu):
ובספר מקצועות מצאתי כתוב היכא דאיכא נדה בביתא דכהן אסור אסור ליה למסיק לדוכן כל אימת דאיתא בנדתה דחייש דלמא נגע במידי דנגעה ...
- 12.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Why do kohanim make a bracha on birkat kohanim if they are safek kohanim?
This question is addressed by several acharonim. R. Jacob Reischer argues that since a kohen who does not perform the blessing is as if he has violated three positive commandments, the Sages said that ...
- 49.9k
8
votes
Is a woman considered a sotah if she cheated on her husband with another woman?
The Babylonian Talmud sets forth in Yemavot p.76 A that relations between women are not considered actual sexual relations, stating, "“And even according to Rav Eleazar, who stated that an unmarried ...
- 5,231
8
votes
Where are the 24 places that Kohanim are called Leviim?
I could not find any mainstream commentary which listed them.
Based on a search, I found 14 cases where they are explicitly referred to as Kohanim Haleviyim, with a couple more questionable (unlikely) ...
- 21.2k
7
votes
Accepted
What did the Kohanim do if there was nobody who hadn't already done the K'toret?
מִי שֶׁלֹּא זָכָה בַקְּטֹרֶת כָּל יָמָיו יָבֹא וְיָפִיס. וְלֹא הָיוּ מַנִּיחִים לְמִי שֶׁזָּכָה בָהּ פַּעַם אַחַת לִשְׁנוֹת בָּהּ, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁמַּעֲשֶׁרֶת, דִּכְתִיב (דְּבָרִים לג) יָשִׂימוּ קְטוֹרָה ...
- 23k
7
votes
Are there any Jewish records of Ananus ben Ananus aside from Josephus?
Beit Chanan (Ananus ben Ananus in Hebrew is Chanan ben Chanan (חנן בן חנן)) appears in Sifrei Devarim 105:22 ("Beit Chanan" in at least one MS per the Finkelstein edition; "Bnei Chanan&...
- 26.8k
7
votes
Difference between the RamBam and Talmud Kiddushin 82a in list of jobs that posul a King/High Priest?
(If you're in a rush, skip to the last paragraph.)
Let us first compare the texts to see what the discrepancies actually are. The Talmudic passage reads as follows:
Kiddushin 82a
תנו רבנן כל ...
- 49.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Can a kohen be born tamei?
In short, touching that happens inside doesn't matter. Even if you swallowed an impure ring and a pure ring and they touch each other in your stomach and then you throw them up separately, the pure ...
- 100k
7
votes
How was Elazar HaKohen allowed to marry the daughter of Puti (Yisro)?
Gemara in Yevamos 60b asks almost exactly the same question about Pinchas marrying one of the midyanite girls after capture from war:
תניא ר' שמעון בן יוחי אומר גיורת פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד ...
- 1,430
7
votes
May a Kohen bury limbs of his 7 krovim (first degree relatives) which were removed during their lifetime?
YD 373:9
אין הכהן מיטמא לאבר מן החי מאביו, ולא לעצם מעצמות אביו. וכן המלקט
עצמות אינו מיטמא להם אע"פ שהשדרה קיימת.
חסר ממנו כל שהוא -- אפי' הוא מונח אצלו -- אינו מיטמא לו; שאינו מיטמא
אלא לשלם.
...
- 100k
7
votes
High priest’s death pardoning criminals?
Numbers 35:28 records the rule that someone guilty of involuntary manslaughter (who had to be exiled to a ‘city of refuge’) is allowed to return home upon the death of the High Priest.
- 45.2k
7
votes
Accepted
Did the Kohen Gadol minister barefoot?
It is actually Jewish law that a priest has to serve barefoot. The source is in the Talmud, Tractate Zevachim 24a
This is derived as the Sage from the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught:
Since the floor ...
- 53.7k
7
votes
Cheating cohen before a get
The Shulchan Aruch (O.C.128:39) does not include this on its list of disqualifications, and then goes on to add:
"If he does not have any of the disqualifying factors for the priestly blessing, ...
- 5,231
7
votes
Accepted
Why didn't ben-Qattin redesign the Kiyor to have more than 12 spigots?
The Tosfos Yom Tov on this Mishnah, asks a different question, which might be able to shed light on yours. He asks that if there are 12 spigots, you need 12 Amos circumference, so that 12 people can ...
- 13.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Why are Kohanim not careful about contracting Tummas Meis from other live individuals?
See Rambam Hilchot Evel 3:1-2. The prohibition is for a kohen to come into "contact" (via maga, masa or ohel) with a corpse or part of a corpse (which is capable of imparting tum'ah).
There ...
- 45.2k
6
votes
People with defects and their role in serving
See Thursday and Friday
Yesterday, we noted the question as to whether the Torah prohibition
which forbids a ba’al mum – person with a physical deformity – from
performing the avoda (service) ...
- 7,506
6
votes
If a father does not arrange pidyon haben for his firstborn son, what happens?
If the father neglects to do it the son redeems himself at his first opportunity. (Shulchan Arukh YD 305:15)
- 100k
6
votes
Accepted
Do modern Jews believe in a priesthood after the order of Melchisedec?
Malkitezedek was a priest contemporary with Avram. He lost or ceded his special status to Avram (Tz'enah Ur'enah and R' Daniel Raccah cited here).
Avram's (i.e. Avraham's) grandson Yaakov had twelve ...
- 56.9k
6
votes
Heter to be permitted to a Cohen after relations with a non-jew with condoms?
Rav Chaim Ozer Grodinsky (Saifer Achiezer 1:23, 3:24,5) proposes that the use of a condom should not be considered "Derech Biah" - the normal act of relations. It is considered a shinui in the act.
...
- 15.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Giyur l'chumrah + tribal/family affiliation
Giyur lechumra by definition, is a giyur that may or may not be necessary. It is performed when someone's lineage is questionable, or if they underwent a questionable giyur in the past.
As such, the ...
- 1,199
6
votes
God as Cohen(paradigm) mentioned in my Jewish Study Bible (The Jewish Publication Society)
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 39a) describes a conversation between a Min (heretic) and R. Abbahu:
A certain Min said to R`Abbahu: Your God is a priest [Kohen], since it is
written, That they take for ...
- 14.6k
6
votes
How did the Cohanim walk around the Mizbeach?
You are probably referring to the "Sovev" - ledge half way up the Mizbeach, which was six Amos above the floor.
The Tiferes Yisroel (צורת המזבח אות יד) writes that there was probably a Ma'akoh - ...
- 6,183
6
votes
Did the high priest have a rope tied to him while he performed his duties?
There was most likely no such rope.
The source of this idea is two mentions in the Zohar:
The Zohar on Parashat Acharei Mot (67a) describes the Kohen Gadol’s preparation before entering the Kodesh ...
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