[Avodah] How to become a kohein

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

Rav Teitz wrote:

> The Netziv, in B'midbar 26:5, writes that the sh'vatim
> undoubtedly had children in Mitzrayim, but they were not given
> "family names" because they were not born in EY; rather, they
> were subsumed into the existing families of that shevet. I
> would imagine that the same would be true of the non-kohanim:
> they were attached to assorted mishmaros of Levi'im, perhaps on
> a basis of geographical proximity.

Yaakov and his family arrived in Mitzrayim in the year 2238. According to
Mizrachi, cited by ArtScroll Rashi on Shemos 6:16, the last of his sons to
die was Levi, in the year 2332.

If I'm understanding Rav Teitz correctly, this leaves almost a hundred
years during which Levi lived in Mitzrayim and could have had other
children. These other children, however, were not as significant, precisely
because of their foreign birth, and only Gershon, Kehas and Merari were
named in the later censuses, such as in Bemidbar 3. The others were
legitimate Leviim, but their genetic lineage is not explicit, and they
assimilated into the other families of leviim, and got counted accordingly.

I am fascinated by this, and I have to wonder: Can we extend this logic to
Yaakov himself? Is it possible that he had additional children in Mitzraim,
and they simply aren't listed?

Akiva Miller
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