Because of the fictional device of placing all of this action in the desert 2,000 years before the this was written, the plot can be hard to follow. The hereditary role of the priesthood won't be fully explained until a bit later, in the book of numbers. Aaron is of the Levite tribe. As it will turn out, all Levites have priestly duties and privileges, but only the direct descendants of Aaron, a subset of Levites called the Kohanim, can be high priest or enter the holy of holies. In modern Judaism, the main duties of prayer leadership, the rabbinical role, is open to any Jew. However, orthodox and conservative Judaism reserve certain ceremonial roles for people who claim Kohanic and Levite descent. Genetic studies cast some doubt on these family traditions. In fact, given the vagaries of intermarriage, conversion, and the disruptions of exile and migration, likely most Jews have some Levite ancestors, while it is also possible that some have little or no ancestral connection to the Israelite people of 700 BC to whom this actually refers. In any case, again, the main purpose of the text of Leviticus 21 is to continue reinforcing the monopoly of the Levite priesthood over Israelite religious practice.
21 The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:
No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives, 2 except for his nearest kin: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother; 3 likewise, for a virgin sister, close to him because she has had no husband, he may defile himself for her. 4 But he shall not defile himself as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5
This is perhaps a bit hard to understand. What it means is that the Kohanim cannot attend funerals or otherwise minister to the dead with the exceptions noted here.
They shall not make bald spots upon their heads, or shave off the edges of their beards, or make any gashes in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the Lord’s offerings by fire, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7
This refers to common mourning practices, which are also forbidden to the Kohanim.
They
shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled; neither
shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For they are holy to
their God, 8 and you shall treat them as holy, since they offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, I who sanctify you, am holy. 9 When the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death.
It is possible that this refers to temple prostitution, that is religious rites involving sex with consecrated women, which apparently existed in Canaan. So again, this is claiming a Levite monopoly over religious practice, which did not previously exist among the Israelites.
10 The
priest who is exalted above his fellows, on whose head the anointing
oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the vestments,
shall not dishevel his hair, nor tear his vestments. 11 He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother. 12
So again, these are funerary and mourning practices.
He
shall not go outside the sanctuary and thus profane the sanctuary of
his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon
him: I am the Lord. 13 He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin. 14 A
widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, a
prostitute, these he shall not marry. He shall marry a virgin of his own
kin, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his kin; for I am the Lord; I sanctify him.
In other words, the Kohanim have to practice what is called marital endogamy, marrying only within their own tribe, to preserve their distinctiveness. As I say, if they could marry outside of the tribe, eventually pretty much everybody would have priestly descent.
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 17 Speak
to Aaron and say: No one of your offspring throughout their generations
who has a blemish may approach to offer the food of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, one who is blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, 20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a blemish in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy. 23 But
he shall not come near the curtain or approach the altar, because he
has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries; for I am the Lord; I sanctify them. 24 Thus Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
So Kohanim who are in any way disfigured cannot perform priestly rites. However, they do get to be supported from the priestly share of sacrifices and tithes.
5 comments:
I can see why a Kohen has to marry a woman in his tribe's subsect. But she has to be a virgin?
And the part about blind Kohanim, or one with "crushed testicles," being "blemished" and not getting to partake in the ritual ceremonies ... sheesh. I don't get it. So god has eugenicist tendencies? And could a Kohen that has a "blemish" not participate in duchening?
From Wiki: "Performing the Jewish ceremony of the priestly blessing is known in Yiddish as duchening, a reference to the bimah on which the blessing is said. The tradition of covering the hands stems from the biblical prohibition against a Kohen with hands that are disfigured in any way from offering the blessing. The rabbis softened this prohibition by saying that a Kohen with disfigured hands to which the community had become accustomed could bless. In later centuries, the practice became for all Kohanim to cover their hands so that any disfigurement would not be seen by the Congregation. This gave rise to folklore that one should not see the hands of the Kohen or even that harm would befall someone who sees the hands of the Kohen. Some congregants will even turn their backs to the Kohanim so as to avoid any possibility of seeing their hands—although this practice is unsupported by any rabbinic source."
Well, I presume all of this purity stuff is part of the brand. They're claiming to be holier than the competition so they need marketing points. The covering of the hands is interesting. I don't know where that tradition originated but one might speculate that in medieval Europe the Jews were poor and mostly farmers or manual workers who would commonly have had disfigured hands. Just a guess. The disfigured Kohens were still supported by the priesthood and presumably there was no barrier to their marrying and to their sons assuming the priesthood.
Another possibility is that allowing Kohanim who are "disfigured" in some way was a practical consideration. Judaism is an eminently practical religion. The smaller the population, or congregation, the harder it is sometimes to find a Kohen. I'm not religious, and there are times when someone has approached me for a b'rakhah over the Torah during the reading, and once about the duchening. But it feels hypocritical to me as a nonobservant Jew. That said, as a former trumpeter, I'd feel a bit more comfortable being a ba'al tekiah, though still somewhat awkward, being nonobservant.
Well yes, that was essentially my point.
Are there any restrictions as to who can play the shofar?
That is a great question. I found this online:
https://www.ok.org/kosherspirit/fall-2011/the-laws-of-shofar/
It seems to talk more about what makes the shofar itself "kosher"--for instance, it can't be made from the horns of cattle or non-kosher animals.
It seems women are not supposed to blow the shofar at services, but may blow it for themselves or other women; they are not required to hear it.
Then there's the issue of a "hechsher," a rabbinical certification of kasher for the shofar. But I didn't see, for instance, whether a non-Jew can perform the duties of ba'al tekiah.
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