Ros. 1889 B 9(1) a

Ros. 1889 B 9(1) a

Yibum

1885

Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana

Abraham Samson Onderwijzer

Onderwijzer

Orah Haim

TRUE

A Cohen thought he was disqualified because his mother had undergone Halitsah; later learns the ceremony was unnecessary. May he return to act as a Cohen?

A son of a Cohen, born in Amsterdam, was considered for many years to be a disqualified Cohen - Chalal, because his father had married a woman who had undergone Halitsah. This woman was Rachel bat Isaak, widow of Shimon ben Naftali Shapira, who had been taken some years ago from Philadeplhia to Holland. And the son moved away to a city far from his hometown, and there he would not perform the priestly blessings, nor accept any of the honours normally extended to a Cohen. And one day people from his hometown came and asked him why he was refraining from performing the Torah commandments of blessing the people? And he answered that he wished he could perform his holy duties, but unfortunately he was removed from the honour, because he had become disqualified as a result of the marriage of his father to the widow of Shimon ben Naftali, who had undergone Halitsah when her husband died without children. They heard and exclaimed that it is for naught that he stepped back from accepting the Cohen honours, for they were also from his hometown community, and two years before someone from Philadelphia came to visit for a few days, who told them that his father Shimon ben Naftali Shapira and mother Rachel bat Isaak, had left some years after his birth from Philadelphia to Amsterdam, and he remained behind with friends of his father abroad, and never saw his parents again. If so, the Halitsah of his mother was for naught and meaningless. His parents were no longer alive. The son of the Cohen then came forward to ask the rabbi if he should return to his priestly duties and honours.