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r
The one
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value:
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THE JEWISH NEWS
CELEBRATION CONNECTION
DIRECTORY
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9/19
1997
22
A New Yorker aims
to unite the priestly class.
Since 1959
In The Market Place
For Your Entertaining Needs!
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
StaffWriter
S
ince the international out-
pouring over the untimely
death of Diana, Princess of
Wales, Abe Hirschfeld's royal
inspiration may have taken on a new
meaning.
The real estate developer and
Republican candidate for Manhattan
borough president met with
Prince Charles on a trip to
Great Britain a few months
ago. Struck by how much
Britain — and, it now
seems, the world — reveres
the English royals,
Hirschfeld got an idea: Jews
should know more about
their own royal lineage.
You may have heard the
term Kohane but may not
know what it means or to
whom it refers. Kohanim,
the Jewish high priests who
were allowed into the inner
sanctum of the Temple, had special
privileges and rights. The priestly lin-
eage came from the father; if your
father was a Kohane, you are, too.
Hirschfeld, a Levi who is also
known as New York City's parking-lot
king, has established a non-profit
organization to link Kohanim and
Leviim, the direct descendants of
Aaron and Moses. His intent is to
stem assimilation and intermarriage
among this group of Jews.
Some Jews still follow the Torah-
based instructions for Kohanim: the
Jewish high priests are not allowed to
marry divorcees or converts, and
Kohanim cannot come in contact with
a dead body. Orthodox funeral homes
typically have a special room for
Kohanim, where they pipe in goings-
on through loudspeakers. Many syna-
gogues continue to perform the ritual
of the Kohanim bestowing congiega-
tional blessings on some festivals.
In the Reform movement, "there's a
divergence of opinion about the rele-
vance of the title," according to Rabbi
Dannel Schwartz of Temple Shir
Shalom in West Bloomfield.
"-What is the purpose [of the title:
If it's just historic, it's one thing. If it's
a holdover from a time period of the
sacrificial cult, then why have one sta-
tus above another, for any reason? All
Israel is one, all Israel is equal," he
says.
Some Reform synagogues, however.
including Shir Shalom, perform the
pidyan ha-ben service, redemption of(
the first-born. Many search for a
Abe Hirschfeld with Rabbi Shlomo
Riskin: Trying to unite the Jewish
priestly class.
Kohane to officiate, according to tra-
dition.
Eventually, Hirschfeld's group, the
Keter Kehuna Shevet Levi (House of
Levi), will publish a "who's who of
Kohanim all over the world," says
Hirschfeld, once the publisher of the
New York Post. He is backed by Chief
Rabbi of Efrat Shlomo Riskin (a
Kohane); Rabbi Simcha Krauss ( a
Kohane) of Young Israel of Hillcrest,
Queens, N.Y.; and Tim Boxer (an
Israelite), a syndicated columnist.
If your name is Cohen, Cohn,
Kohen, Kahn or Kahane, its likely
that you are a Kohane. Of course,
your name could be Smith and you
could still be descended from the
priestly lineage. How do you know?
Hirschfeld says, "Scientists have
proven that all Kohanim share the
same gene that can be traced back
3,300 years to Aharon, the first Kohen
Gadol." The Y chromosome may hold
some clues to Jewish priestly descent.