What Does a Kohen Have to Do with the Protocols of the Ashkenazic Community of Amsterdam? A Conflict between Community Sanctity and the Righteousness of the Ancients
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Abstract
This article deals with an incident in the Ashkenazic community of Amsterdam in 1772 that was documented in the protocols of the community. A member of the congregation confessed to the rabbi after the death of her husband, a kohen, that she was in fact a convert. The rabbi informed her son that as the son of a kohen married to a convert he was defined as a ḥalal (disqualified), and thereby lost his status as a kohen. A few weeks later, the rabbi and his bet din (Jewish tribunal) were required to reconsider the halakhic significance of the mother’s testimony about herself and the status of her children and came to the opposite conclusion, that the mother was not a convert and her son was indeed a kohen. The article discusses the possible reasons for re-examining a halakhic question that had already been decided and for reversing the decision, while clarifying the founding ethos of the community, its style of conduct, and the nature of its records. Finally I speculate about what lay behind the mother’s admission.
期刊介绍:
Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture aims to fill a gap that has become more and more conspicuous among the wealth of scholarly periodicals in the field of Jewish Studies. Whereas existing journals provide space to medium and large sized articles, they neglect the small but poignant contributions, which may be as important as the extended, detailed study. The Zutot serves as a platform for small but incisive contributions, and provides them with a distinct context. The substance of these contributions is derived from larger perspectives and, though not always presented in an exhaustive way, will have an impact on contemporary discussions. The Zutot covers Jewish culture in its broadest sense, i.e. encompassing various academic disciplines—literature, languages and linguistics, philosophy, art, sociology, politics and history—and reflects binary oppositions such as religious and secular, high and low, written and oral, male and female culture.