Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00490)

In a message dated 03/22/04 2:46:52 PM, bartl@sprynet.com writes:

>leonmaurer@aol.com wrote:
>> That's not surprising. Many Kohanim have little or no idea of their 
actual 
>> heritage. My information comes from a Kohane Rebbe and Kabbalist who
>>claimed to be descended from both Moses and Aaron. He explained it as the 
>>result of an early intermarriage between cousins before it was forbidden, 
>
> Where is intermarriage between cousins forbidden?
>
> Bart

I don't know. He didn't tell me. But I heard from another Talmudic scholar 
that first cousins might have been forbidden to marry for a short time after 
Moses left to wander the desert. I assume this interdiction could be part of 
the early changes or interpretations of the Mosaic Laws after they took the 
priesthood away from Moses family and decided it would inhere to the descendants 
of Aaron. (I suppose, that's because the council assumed that Moses was too 
holy to be a priest, or they might have just wanted to get rid of his family's 
domination, or Moses just said the hell with it and retired to the country.) 
But, maybe his sons and even grandsons were a bit miffed because they couldn't 
be priests and have their descendants wield any power, or that the priests 
were doctoring the ancient teachings, and might have started marrying into 
Aaron's family and claiming that their sons were Kohanim. From what I heard, the so 
called Mosaic Laws went through many changes before the time of Ezra. And, 
there were implied laws or rules even before Moses. Also, who can say what 
happened when near relatives without direct male linkage to Aaron moved to 
another community, changed their names and claimed their sons to be Kohanim. I 
think there could have been some finagling of the records since Moses' time... 
And, surely, some chicanery along the priestly lines can't be ruled out. I also 
understand that there are a number of claimed Kohan's today who's DNA tests do 
not show a common y chromosome linking them to Aaron. But, most of that's 
all hearsay, and open for interpretation -- as still is the Talmud and the 
Torah. :-)