The sun., 1903-06-06
ORIGINAL COHEN LAID AWAY.
MANY COHENS AT THE FUNERAL
VOELDN,T LOOK AT HIM.
Cohens BrinE Descendants OF rriFs's'
who May Not See the Dead without
Detiipmcnt-SO They shaded Iie'r
Ewes and sat Apart From the Hest.

The funeral Of Harris Cohen. "the Only
Oripina / Cohen. was held yesterday morning
ing at his home. 03, Park avenue. About
firty descendants and other relatives VINO
lear the family name attended, and
bie crowd. including many OF Cohen
former Baxter street competitors came
IN from the Sixth ward. Several East
side politicians also were present.
The services were conducted by the
Rev. Leopold Zinser Of the Chaari Iedek
Svnnpog,ie, in Henry street. They were
of rigidly orthodox character and, owing
To the peculiar circumstaces of the case,
brought out with interesting prominence
an old Jewish custom which isn't generally
known in this country and which is observed
only by Hebrews of the old type
All the Cohcns who attended the funeral.
except the immediate members oi the
family, were, il was noticed, IN room
where they could hear the services put
could not tee the coffin. THIS room was
in the front part of the house, adjoining
the room in which the body lay lhe iamiiy
and most of the other mourners who were
not Cohcns were in the latter room,
A hallway connects the rooms at the rear
As the Cohcns who We're not in the famlly
passed through the hallway to their special
room they turned their heads or covered
their eyes, so that they wouldn't see into
the room where he dead man was.
The rabbi conducted the services near the
hallway and, although he couldn't be seen
be heard distinctly. As the funeral pro-
cession moved out the Cohens In the side
room kept in the rear and at Cypress Fields
they Went in as far as the Cohen lot. but
they didn't approach the. grave They
bowed their heads and did not look up
until the ceremony was ended
All this was inexplicable even to some
Jews who attended the funeral The
explanation Is this
Every jew who bears the name OF Cohen
is supposed to be direct descendant OF
the Hebrew priests of Bible times The
law, as laid down in the Book of Levitlcus.
commands as to priests that there shall
none be defled for the dead among his
people, but for his kin that is near unto
him, that is, for his mother and for his
father and for his son and for his daughter
and for his brother . but he shall
not defle himself. being chief man among
his people. to profane himself
Now, many of the Cohens believe this
law applies to them as the descendants OF
the original Kohens just the same as IT did
to the priests, and that is why about twenty
yesterday and kept as far as possible from
the corpse. They believe they should
never look on dead body, even on that Of
an animal, il it is possible to avoid doing
so. Many, it is said. have observed the
rule at funerals in this city before. but 1t
hasn't been noticed generally.
A prominent rabbi, speaking OF the law
after the funeral, said:
.Yes, there istuch a Jewish law, but it
has come to be disregarded by all except
orthodox believers Of the most rigid type.
The law applies not only to Jews OF the
name of Cohen, but also to others who have
had the tradition of their descent from
the priests handed down from generation
to generation. There are many hahns
who claim the distinction and also some
Schihs-Schiff being rough German
synonym for Kahn.
"The law is traceable in its origin back
to the influence of the Egyptian death cult
Worship upon Jewish monotheism.
Death had come to have such powerful
and unsatisfactory place in Egyptian wor-
ship that the Jews wished in their system
to emphasize it as little as possible. Hence
the restrictions on the priests In this respect.
after tie destruction of the temple at
Jerusalem the priests no longer had any
distinct privileges or functions, but they
retained the distinction Of the office by
observing the old rules laid down for
them.
yet, alas, not all the Cohens and Kahns
a uoo1 man