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==In contemporary Jewish practice== Today, Levites in [[Orthodox Judaism]] continue to have additional rights and obligations compared to lay people, although these responsibilities have diminished with the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of the Temple]]. For instance, [[Kohen|''Kohanim'']] are eligible to [[Torah reading|be called to the Torah]] first, followed by the Levites. Levites also provide assistance to the ''Kohanim'', particularly washing their hands, before the ''Kohanim'' recite the [[Priestly Blessing]].<ref>{{cite web |website=YUTorah.org |url=https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/880673/rabbi-isaac-rice/the-levi-washing-the-hands-of-the-kohen |title=The Levi Washing the Hands of the Kohen |author=Rabbi Isaac Rice |date=June 22, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2313791/jewish/Kohanim-and-Leviim.htm |author=Nissan Dovid Dubov |title=Kohanim and Leviim - Jewish Essentials |website=chabad.org |quote=In preparation for Duchaning, the Kohen has his hands washed by a Levi}}</ref> Since Levites (and Kohanim) are traditionally pledged to Divine service, there is no [[Pidyon HaBen]] (redemption of the firstborn) ceremony for: * the son of a Kohen's or a Levite's daughter * the son of a Kohen or a Levite.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/929263/jewish/Who-Is-Obligated-in-Pidyon-Haben.htm |title=Who Is Obligated in Pidyon Haben? โ Lifecycle Events |quote=The son of a Levi's daughter does not have a pidyon haben}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pidyon Ha'ben โ Redemption of First Born |date=15 February 2010 |url=http://www.aish.com/jl/l/b/Pidyon_Haben_-_Redemption_of_First_Born.html |quote=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 ...}}</ref> Orthodox Judaism believes in the eventual [[Third Temple|rebuilding of a Temple]] in Jerusalem and a resumption of the Levitical role. A small number of schools, primarily in [[Israel]], train priests and Levites in their respective roles.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 8, 2016|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/215910|title=Temple Institute announces school to train Levitical priests โ Israel|quote=The Temple Institute, dedicated to reestablishing the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, announces school for training Kohanim. ... on the Temple service}}</ref> [[Conservative Judaism]]โwhich 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 practisedโrecognizes Levites as having special status. Not all Conservative congregations call Kohanim and Levites to the first and second reading of the [[Torah]], and many no longer perform rituals such as the [[Priestly Blessing]] and Pidyon HaBen in which ''Kohanim'' and Levites have a special role. [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] and [[Reform Judaism]] do not observe distinctions between Kohanim, Levites, and other [[Jews]]. ===Relationship with Kohanim=== {{main|Kohen|Priesthood (Ancient Israel)}} The Kohanim are traditionally believed and [[halacha|halachically]] required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the [[Bible|biblical]] [[Aaron]] of the [[Tribe of Levi]]. The origins of the name/term [[Levy (surname)|"Levy"]] in Hebrew remain unclear. Some hypotheses link this name with the Hebrew root ''lwh'', the Aramaic root ''lwy'', or the Arabic root ''lwy''. The [[noun]] ''kohen'' is used in the [[Torah]] to refer to [[priest]]s, both Israelite and non-Israelite, such as the Israelite nation as a whole,<ref>MamLeChes KoHaNim โ ืืืืืช ืืื ืื</ref> as well as the priests (Hebrew ''kohanim'') of [[Baal]]. During the existence of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]], Kohanim performed the daily and holiday ([[Jewish holidays|Yom Tov]]) duties of [[korban|sacrificial offerings]]. Today ''kohanim'' retain a lesser though somewhat distinct status within [[Judaism]], and are bound by additional restrictions according to [[Orthodox Judaism]]. During the [[Priestly Blessing]], the Levites traditionally wash the hands of the Kohanim prior to the blessing of the House of Israel.<ref>{{cite web |quote=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.|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_16089.html |title=Priestly Blessing |work=Jewish Virtual Library |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427010612/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_16089.html |archivedate=2014-04-27 |url-status=deviated}}</ref> ("A first-born son washes the Kohen's hands if there is no Levite".<ref>{{cite book |title=Let's Ask the Rabbi |page=163|author=Raymond Apple |year=2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.woodsideparksynagogue.org.uk/duchening-the-basics |title=Duchening: The Basics}}</ref>) {{Anchor|Bat Levi}} ===Bat Levi=== <!-- This section is linked from [[Kohen]] --> In Orthodox Judaism, children of a Bat Levi, like those of a [[Bat-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 the [[Pidyon haben|Pidyon HaBen]].<ref>"Rivash" 15; "Divrei Yatziv" by R' Y. Halberstam, E.H. 6; "Yechaveh Da'at" by R' O. Yosef, V 61)</ref> Conservative Judaism permits a Bat Levi to perform essentially all the rituals a male Levi would perform, including being called to the [[Torah]] for the Levite [[aliyah]] in those Conservative synagogues which have both retained traditional tribal roles and modified traditional gender roles.<ref>[http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/19861990/roth_daughtersaliyot.pdf Joel Roth, The Status of Daughters of Kohanim and Leviyim for Aliyot, Rabbinical Assembly]</ref> In Israel, Conservative/Masorti Judaism has not extended Torah honors either to a bat Kohen or to a bat Levi.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.responsafortoday.com/vol3/3.pdf |title=See: Robert A. (Rafael) Harris, Rabbinical Assembly of Israel's Law Committee Teshuvah: "The First Two Aliyot for a Bat Kohen and a Bat Levi." pp. 31โ33 in ''Responsa of the Va'ad Halacha of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel'' 5748โ5749 (1989). Volume 3. Jerusalem: The Rabbinical Assembly of Israel and the Masorti Movement (Hebrew; English Summary, viiโviii). |access-date=2013-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926141046/http://responsafortoday.com/vol3/3.pdf |archive-date=2013-09-26 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ===The Levites and the Holocaust=== {{Main|Holocaust theology}} In 1938, with the outbreak of violence that would come to be known as [[Kristallnacht]], American Orthodox rabbi [[Mnachem Risikoff|Menachem HaKohen Risikoff]] wrote about the central role he saw for Priests and Levites in terms of Jewish and world responses, in worship, liturgy, and [[Repentance in Judaism|''teshuva'']], repentance. In ''The Priests and the Levites'' (1940),<ref>[https://www.hebrewbooks.org/36377 ืืืื ืื ืืืืืื HaKohanim vHaLeviim (1940)]</ref> 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."<ref>Gershon Greenberg, "Kristallnacht: The American Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Theology of Response," in Maria Mazzenga (editor), ''American Religious Responses to Kristallnacht'', Palgrave MacMillan: 2009, pp. 158โ172.</ref>
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