Cohanim

Israel Rosenfeld (iir@vms.huji.ac.il)
Sun, 18 Aug 96 13:09 +0200

AdmiralTAG <soferim@Netvision.net.il> wrote:
>Israel Rosenfeld wrote:
>> I quote: Mishna Kidushin 3:12 -
>> Wherever marriage is possible, and
>> marriage is forbidden, the child follows the "defective", e.g.
>> widow to cohen gadol (high priest), divorcee to cohen, [the
>> child is considered a "Yisrael"].
>
>Now I'm completely confused. If a cohen marries a bat cohen who is
>"defective," I know the children are "halala," [not considered Cohanim] but
>are they "Yisrael" or "Cohen"? If they follow the mother's shevet [tribe],
>wouldn't they still be cohanim, albeit without privileges?

I quote: Rambam, Laws of Prohibited Relations 19:8 -
But a person who is a hallal according to the Torah is like a non-Cohen,
he may marry a divorcee and he may become unpure from the dead.
Explanation: The Torah in Vayikra 21:1-15 spells out the laws of Cohanim.
These include the prohibition against certain marriages (see my quote
above) and against becoming impure by touching or carrying a dead person.

The Rambam calls him a "non-Cohen", e.g. he has neither the priviliges
nor the obligations, nor the prohibitions of a Cohen.
Now what IS he? A "hallal" of course.

I quote: Mishna Kidushin 4:1 -
Ten types of families came "on Aliya" together with Ezra from Babylon:
Cohen, Levi, Israel, Hallal, Gerim (converts), freed slaves, illegitimates, ...
Cohen, Levi, Israel may intermarry.
Levi, Israel, Hallal, Gerim (converts), freed slaves may intermarry.

So we see, the mishne refrains from calling a "hallal" an Israel because
he is different, he can't marry a Cohen!

Behatzlacha rabba,

Yisrael