[Avodah] Chezkas Kohanim

[jew at when.com]

"There is much in this post I wouldn't have felt comfortable raising in

public. I'm not sure if you're admitting that you duped a rabbi in order

to get his opinion on kohanim, or just said something about a real

person's history...



However, now that the post was approved and the damage done...



The Rav in question did not assume every kohein is a safeiq. Rather, he

tried to find grounds for creating a specific sefeiq in your case. Both

in the kohein's geneology, and in the wife's story about college life.":



Rav Elyashiv has a teshuva regarding when slighting the truth is permitted and not permitted. He says, "if you have a delicate package and need it to be treated sensitively, you are allowed to write "glass"on the box even if no glass is present."

If you know that you are entitled to a certain variable, though people will not grant you this variable unless you use a specific phrase, it is permitted to write this phrase. This metaphor is perhaps not 100% applicable to my case, though I believe it is sufficiently applicable (the variable: having the right to a completely unbiased answer. The phrase; "kohen"). I spoke about this issue with other people as well. I don't know if you got my "cluck like a rooster" reference; see kiddushin (somewhere between 30 and 31) and you will know what I am referring to.

Yes, this is true, he did not imply that EVERY kohen in the world is safek- though he did say that I could be a chalal when all I told him was that my mom dormed at a secular university for several years and my paternal grandmother was a holocaust surivor.  



The problem I have with it is the following; Kohanim have chezkas kehuna because....

1) They duchen; and being that duchening is a deoreita, this proves that they must be kohanim. 

The problem is that I told the Rabbi I was a kohen who duchend, to which he then originally said I was a chalal.

He literally said "you are a chalal" (I will make a neder on this if you want me to) and eventually said I was only a safek kohen, to go on with my life in happiness, keep shalom bayis, and not bring this issue up again.   

Again- he also said that since she did not feel pain, it "probably never really happened". 

Regardless; if I was a chalal or if I was safek cohen.... who has always duchened, then how could the Rabbis use the fact that kohanim duchen to prove that they are not safek kohanim or chalalim!? 

Perhaps this Rabbi is in the minority. Don't take my word for it, try it with your own Rabbi- though be honest and unbiased about it when you speak to him. 

I am interested to know what other Rabbis have to say. I have read that this is a common technique that Rabbis will use. 
Though I do not quite understand the last part of your statement and it's relevance. 


I come across articles all the time quoting the Rambam saying "In our times, all kohanim have a chazakah"; as if, since it came from the Rambam, the chazakah is good for hundreds of years regardless of other variables- when the Rivash says that all kohanim are safek kohanim only 300 years later. 



 -Josh S 


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