Askmoses-A Jews Resource
Why is a child circumcised on the eighth day of his life?
Browse our archives

The Scholar is ready to answer your question. Click the button below to chat now.

Scholar Online:

Type in your question here:

Am I a Kohen if my Kohen father and mother were not married in an orthodox ceremony?

  

Library » Jewish Identity » Kohains and Levites » The Holy Tribe | Subscribe | What is RSS?

PRINT EMAIL COMMENT

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: Shalom-Welcome. I'll be with you in a moment. You can start typing your question if you like.

Elie: Shalom Rabbi

Elie: Above is my question or predicament

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: Yes.

Elie: My father is a Kohen, my mother is jewish. They were not married in the orthodox way. Am I a Kohen in the Orthodox Shul

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: As long as your parents' marriage didn't violate any "kohen prohibitions"... then yes. you are a full fledged kohen. No problem whatsoever.

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: in other words, as long as your mother is not a convert, and wasn't a divorcee at the time of her marriage to your father, you are fine.

Elie: She was born Jewish, and her marriage to my father was her first

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: (You should still speak to a rabbi, who will ask you for more details, but I gave you the basic info)

Elie: I ask because I want to marry a divorcee and am trying to find out if there is any possible way this will be allowed

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: It doesn't seem so, as long as your father is really a Kohen and your mother is really Jewish.

Elie: They are. So if I were to live with this woman, as husband and wife, then I would be in a state of sin

Elie: And would I then still be considered a kohen?

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: Yes. A "defective" kohen and you would not be entitled to any kohen privileges until you divorced her, but still a kohen.

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: It must be a message from Heaven that this is not really the woman for you, even if it seems so at he time.

Elie: Perhaps you are right. I need to think about this very carefully

Elie: Rabbi, I thank you for your advice and your time.

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: Mat G-d be with you and guide you.

Elie: Thank you. Shalom

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: I am always impressed when someone says "I need to think about this very carefully"

Elie: Rabbi, I am torn between the heart and the mind. It is very difficult but I assure you that I will think about everything and hopefully make the right decision - one I can live with

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: Be blessed.

Rabbi Yrachmiel Tilles: Believe me. I understand your difficulty.

Elie: Thank you. Shalom

All names, places, and identifying information have been changed or deleted in order to protect the privacy of the questioners. In order to preserve authenticity, the chat sessions have been posted with a minimum of editing. Please excuse typographical errors, missing punctuation, and/or grammatical mistakes which naturally occur in the course of informal chat sessions.

ADD A COMMENT

Please email me when new comments are posted (you must be  logged in).

COMMENTS

Am I a Kohain if my Kohain father and mother were not married in an orthodox ceremony?

Posted by: Cassidy Levin, Baltimore, Maryland on Nov 22, 2005

I am not positive about this, but Eli, I don't even know if you count as being born under wedlock or not- i'm not sure if this helps your case. But I suppose it depends on how observant you are. You see, my parent's first wedding was reform, and as they became more religious, they relized that, well, it didn't really count as marrige. They then married a second time, with a conservative service. Later, they found that this, too, was not proper marrige, and were married a third, and last, time. Look into if you are still considered a Kohen if you were born into a not-quite-so proper marrige, as I was.

Best of Wishes,

Editor's Comment

The son of a kohain who was born out of wedlock is a 100% kohain.

RELATED CATEGORIES

Life Cycle » Marriage » About
Shul
(Yiddish) Synagogue.
G-d
It is forbidden to erase or deface the name of G-d. It is therefore customary to insert a dash in middle of G-d's name, allowing us to erase or discard the paper it is written on if necessary.