From: sethr@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (seth.r.rosenthal)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Adopted children
Summary: More reasons for unsure Kohanim heritage
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:47:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsl.1992Oct15.164731.22793
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

In article <2663@israel.nysernet.org>, warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein) writes:
> In <8257@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> eva@Apocalypse.CAD.UCLA.EDU (Eva) writes:
> 
> >Arguements that ensued took form of:
> >1) How can anyone be sure they are of true Cohen lineage?
> >   (for example if three of four generations later, my friend's great
> >    grand children assess their last name, assume that past generations just
> >    weren't religious, and therefore partake of Cohen duties not realizing
> >    that there was an adoption generations ago)
> 
> No one today can be 100% sure that they are Cohanim.  It would be a
> great mistake for someone to assume that he is a Cohen based on his
> last name, and any Rabbi would be sure to point this out.  There is a
> family named Cohen in my shul who don't claim to be Cohanim.
> 

There are lots of reasons why a Cohen may not be a Kohan, depending
on how far back one wants to go.  Some of the more recent ones:

1) Marriage to a convert.  Sure the community wouldn't accept it,
but when two people really wanted to marry they just went somewhere
else, bribed a scribe to forge some documents, it wasn't that hard
to fool the local religious authorities in a town 500 miles away
from your original one.

2) Getting the name at Ellis Island.  Lots of variants on this one.
Cohen being the name of the person in front was one.  Most of the
agents were Irish or Italian and the Eastern European names,
especially the slavic sounding ones, were not comprehensible to them.
They had lists of common Jewish names, and if they couldn't
figure out what to put down, they would take a name off the list.
Cohen, Levy, Greenburg were all on the list.

3) If the last male Kohan of a town died (in Europe) the community
would initiate a search for a male kohan who would be willing
to relocate to their town.  They would usually make a very attractive
offer (compared to the overall economy) to get the Kohan to
move and re-establish a line.  This became a way for unscrupulous
people to make some money, get a house, get away from a town
they disliked, etc.  Not all who claimed to be were Kohanim, and
as I said papers could be forged.

More ancient reasons:

1) Some part of Eastern European Jewish ancestry is from the Khazars,
a Turkic tribe in the Caspian Sea area whose aristocracy converted
to Judaism around the 9th century.  The king was called the
Khaqan, and the name Kagan might be an indication of descent
from the Khazar kings, not the Ukrainian equivalent of Kahan.

2) In the period of Greek and Roman rule over Judaea many
corruptions entered the priesthood including the appointing
of priests from outside the approved lines by the Roman
authorities, or by the Judaean kings themselves.

The names that I am pretty sure represent kohanim, at least
in my experience all of them I have met have always thought
they were, are:

Katz, Rappoport (the true ones know who they are), Varone (Seph.).
I'm sure some Cohen's are really kohanim.  My Bernstein and
Adler lines claim to be Kohanim, and I recall someone posting under
the last name Wallace said they were too.  It's my understanding
from Iraqi Jews that they kept their Kohan lines very carefully
as well as their Davidic ones.


		Seth Rosenthal

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own not my employers'.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish