לויים | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| ~500,000–600,000 worldwide[a] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Israel | 240,000 |
 United States | 200,000 |
 France | 16,000 |
 Canada | 12,000 |
 India | 3,000 |
| Languages | |
| Vernacular: Hebrew,English and numerous other languages in theJewish diaspora Historical: Biblical Hebrew,Aramaic | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism,Samaritanism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| otherJews,Samaritans | |
Total percentage of Levites among Jews is about 4%. | |
Levites (/ˈliːvaɪt/LEE-vyte;Hebrew:לְוִיִּם,romanized: Lǝvīyyīm) orLevi[3] areJewish males who claimpatrilineal descent from theTribe of Levi.[4] The Tribe of Levi descended fromLevi, the third son ofJacob andLeah. The surnameHalevi, which consists of the Hebrewdefinite article "ה"Ha- ('the') plusLevi ('Levite'), is not conclusive regarding being a Levite; a titular use ofHaLevi indicates being a Levite. The daughter of a Levite is aBat Levi (Bat being Hebrew for 'daughter').
The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political (administering cities of refuge) and educational responsibilities as well. In return, thelanded tribes were expected to support the Levites with atithe (Numbers 18:21–25), particularly the tithe known as theFirst tithe,ma'aser rishon. TheKohanim, a subset of the Levites, were the priests, who performed the work of holiness in the Temple. The Levites, referring to those who were not Kohanim, were specifically assigned to:
WhenJoshua led theIsraelites into the land ofCanaan (Joshua 13:33), the Sons of Levi were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel Himself is their inheritance" (Deuteronomy 18:2).[6]
In modern times, Levites are integrated in Jewish communities, but keep a distinct status. There are estimated 300,000 Levites amongAshkenazi Jewish communities,[7] and a similar number amongSephardic andMizrahi Jews combined. The total percentage of Levites among the wider Jewish population is about 4%.
Most scholars view theTorah as projecting the origins of the Levites into the past to explain their role as landless cultic functionaries.[8]
Today, Levites inOrthodox Judaism continue to have additional rights and obligations compared to lay people, although these responsibilities have diminished with thedestruction of the Temple. For instance,Kohanim are eligible tobe called to the Torah first, followed by the Levites. Levites also provide assistance to theKohanim, particularly washing their hands, before theKohanim recite thePriestly Blessing.[9][10]
Since Levites (and Kohanim) are traditionally pledged to Divine service, there is noPidyon HaBen (redemption of the firstborn) ceremony for:
Orthodox Judaism believes in the eventualrebuilding of a Temple in Jerusalem and a resumption of the Levitical role. A small number of schools, primarily inIsrael, train priests and Levites in their respective roles.[13]
Conservative Judaism—which believes in a restoration of the Temple as a house of worship and in some special role for Levites, although not the ancient sacrificial system as previously practised—recognizes Levites as having special status. Not all Conservative congregations call Kohanim and Levites to the first and second reading of theTorah, and many no longer perform rituals such as thePriestly Blessing and Pidyon HaBen in whichKohanim and Levites have a special role.
Reconstructionist andReform Judaism do not observe distinctions between Kohanim, Levites, and otherJews.
The Kohanim are traditionally believed andhalachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from thebiblicalAaron of theTribe of Levi. The origins of the name/term"Levy" in Hebrew remain unclear. Some hypotheses link this name with the Hebrew rootlwh, the Aramaic rootlwy, or the Arabic rootlwy.
Thenounkohen is used in theTorah to refer topriests, both Israelite and non-Israelite, such as the Israelite nation as a whole,[14] as well as the priests (Hebrewkohanim) ofBaal. During the existence of theTemple in Jerusalem, Kohanim performed the daily and holiday (Yom Tov) duties ofsacrificial offerings.
Todaykohanim retain a lesser though somewhat distinct status withinJudaism, and are bound by additional restrictions according toOrthodox Judaism. During thePriestly Blessing, the Levites traditionally wash the hands of the Kohanim prior to the blessing of the House of Israel.[15] ("A first-born son washes the Kohen's hands if there is no Levite".[16][17])
In Orthodox Judaism, children of a Bat Levi, like those of aBat-Kohen, regardless of the child's father's tribe or the mother's marital status, retain the traditional exemption for their children from the requirement of being redeemed through thePidyon HaBen.[18]
Conservative Judaism permits a Bat Levi to perform essentially all the rituals a male Levi would perform, including being called to theTorah for the Levitealiyah in those Conservative synagogues which have both retained traditional tribal roles and modified traditional gender roles.[19] In Israel, Conservative/Masorti Judaism has not extended Torah honors either to a bat Kohen or to a bat Levi.[20]
In 1938, with the outbreak of violence that would come to be known asKristallnacht, American Orthodox rabbiMenachem HaKohen Risikoff wrote about the central role he saw for Priests and Levites in terms of Jewish and world responses, in worship, liturgy, andteshuva, repentance. InThe Priests and the Levites (1940),[21] he stressed that members of these groups exist in the realm between history (below) and redemption (above), and must act in a unique way to help move others to prayer and action, and help bring an end to suffering. He wrote, "Today, we also are living through a time of flood, Not of water, but of a bright fire, which burns and turns Jewish life into ruin. We are now drowning in a flood of blood. ... Through the Kohanim and Levi'im help will come to all Israel."[22]
A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar et al. pointed to multiple origins forAshkenazi Levites, who comprise approximately 4% among the Ashkenazi Jews. It found thatHaplogroup R1a1a (R-M17), uncommon in the Middle East or amongSephardic Jews, is present in over 50% of Ashkenazi Levites, while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites' paternal lineage is of certain Middle Eastern origin, including Y-chromosome haplogroups E3b, J2, F, R1b, K, I, Q, N and L.[23] Haplogroup R1a1a is found at the highest levels among people of Eastern European descent, with 50 to 65% amongSorbs,Poles,Russians, andUkrainians.[24] InSouth Asia, R1a1a has often been observed with high frequency in a number of demographic groups, reaching over 70% inWest Bengal Brahmins in India and among the Mohani people inSindh, Pakistan.[citation needed] Behar's data suggested a founding event, involving an 'introgression' of anywhere from one to fifty non-Jewish European men, occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation.[23] As Nebel, Behar and Goldstein speculate:
although neither the NRY haplogroup composition of the majority of Ashkenazi Jews nor the microsatellite haplotype composition of the R1a1 haplogroup within Ashkenazi Levites is consistent with a major Khazar or other European origin, as has been speculated by some authors (Baron 1957; Dunlop 1967; Ben-Sasson 1976; Keys 1999), one cannot rule out the important contribution of a single or a few founders among contemporary Ashkenazi Levites."[25]
A 2013 paper by Siiri Rootsi et al. confirmed a Near or Middle Eastern origin for all Ashkenazi Levites, including the R1a Y-chromosome carriers, and refuted theKhazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry:
Previous Y-chromosome studies have demonstrated that Ashkenazi Levites, members of a paternally inherited Jewish Levite caste, display a distinctive founder event within R1a, the most prevalent Y-chromosome haplogroup in Eastern Europe. Here we report the analysis of 16 whole R1 sequences and show that a set of 19 unique nucleotide substitutions defines the Ashkenazi R1a lineage. While our survey of one of these, M582, in 2,834 R1a samples reveals its absence in 922 Eastern Europeans, we show it is present in all sampled R1a Ashkenazi Levites, as well as in 33.8% of other R1a Ashkenazi Jewish males and 5.9% of 303 R1a Near Eastern males, where it shows considerably higher diversity. Moreover, the M582 lineage also occurs at low frequencies in non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations. In contrast to the previously suggested Eastern European origin for Ashkenazi Levites, the current data are indicative of a geographic source of the Levite founder lineage in the Near East and its likely presence among pre-Diaspora Hebrews.[26]
In a later 2017 study Behar et al. revised their initially mitigated position, concluding that a "Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazi Levite lineage based on what was previously a relatively limited number of reported samples, can now be considered firmly validated", precising that a "rich variation of haplogroup R1a outside of Europe which is phylogenetically separate from the typically European R1a branches", referring to the R1a-Y2619 sub-clade.[7]
Having a last name of Levi or a related term does not necessarily mean a person is a Levite, and many well-known Levites do not have such last names.[27]
Levitical status is passed down in families from father[c] to child born from a Jewish mother, as part of a family's genealogical tradition. Tribal status of Levite is determined bypatrilineal descent, so a child whose biological father is a Levite (in cases of adoption or artificial insemination, status is determined by the genetic father), is also considered a Levite. Jewish status is determined by matrilineal descent, thus conferring levitical status onto children requires both biological parents to be Israelites and the biological father to be a Levite.
Accordingly, there is currently no branch of Judaism that regards levitical status as conferrable by matrilineal descent. It is either conferrable patrilineally with a Jewish mother, in the traditional manner, or it does not exist and is not conferred at all.
Some Levites have adopted a related last name to signify their status. Because of diverse geographical locations, the names have several variations:[28]
The following are some Levites with non-Levite-like last names in modern times:
Synonyms for Levite... noun a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi… the branch that provided male assistants to...
tractate Arachin (11a) that oral music was never to be uttered by anyone other than a Levite
In preparation for Duchaning, the Kohen has his hands washed by a Levi
The son of a Levi's daughter does not have a pidyon haben
Pidyon Ha'Ben, the "redemption of the first born son," takes place when a… 4) The father of the baby is not a Kohen or a Levi, and the mother's father is…
The Temple Institute, dedicated to reestablishing the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, announces school for training Kohanim. ... on the Temple service
The general procedure of the Priestly Blessing is: After *Kedushah the priests prepare themselves, removing their shoes and washing their hands with the assistance of the levites, whereafter they ascend the platform before the Ark.
Levi not only has variations like Lewita (Polish) and Loewe (German/Swiss), but also Segal and Zemmel. They sound nothing like the original name, and that's because they're acronyms in the Hebrew alphabet – a great way to hide your Jewish heritage while keeping true to the family identity. Segal stands for 'SeGan Leviyyah', which is roughly translated as 'deputy Levite', since Levites served as deputies to kohanim. Segal itself has variations too, like Chagall (French).
Joseph ben Ephraim ha-Levi Benveniste
The son of the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog