Levites ( ; ) or Levi are

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from

Levi Levi ( ; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron ...

, the third son of

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

and

Leah Leah () appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son Reuben. She has thr ...

. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew

definite article In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" ...

"" ''Ha-'' ('the') plus ''Levi'' ('Levite'), is not conclusive regarding being a Levite; a titular use of HaLevi indicates being a Levite. The daughter of a Levite is a (''Bat'' being Hebrew for 'daughter'). The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political (administering cities of refuge) and educational responsibilities as well. In return, the landed tribes were expected to support the Levites with a

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

(), particularly the tithe known as the

First tithe The first tithe () is a positive commandment in the Torah requiring the giving of one tenth of agricultural produce to charity, after the giving of the standard terumah, to the Levite (or Kohen). This tithe is required to be free of both monet ...

, ''ma'aser rishon''. The Kohanim, a subset of the Levites, were the priests, who performed the work of holiness in the Temple. The Levites, referring to those who were not Kohanim, were specifically assigned to: * Singing and/or playing music in the Temple * Serving as guards * Carrying When

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

led the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

into the land of

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

(), the Sons of Levi were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel Himself is their inheritance" (). In modern times, Levites are integrated in Jewish communities, but keep a distinct status. There are estimated 300,000 Levites among

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

communities, and a similar number among Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews combined. The total percentage of Levites among the wider Jewish population is about 4%. Levites reading the law to the people

Most scholars view the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

as projecting the origins of the Levites into the past to explain their role as landless cultic functionaries.

In contemporary Jewish practice

Today, Levites in

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...

continue to have additional rights and obligations compared to lay people, although these responsibilities have diminished with the destruction of the Temple. For instance, ''Kohanim'' are eligible to be called to the Torah first, followed by the Levites. Levites also provide assistance to the ''Kohanim'', particularly washing their hands, before the ''Kohanim'' recite the Priestly Blessing. Since Levites (and Kohanim) are traditionally pledged to Divine service, there is no Pidyon HaBen (redemption of the firstborn) ceremony for: * the son of a Kohen's or a Levite's daughter * the son of a Kohen or a Levite. Orthodox Judaism believes in the eventual rebuilding of a Temple in Jerusalem and a resumption of the Levitical role. A small number of schools, primarily in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, train priests and Levites in their respective roles.

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, also known as Masorti Judaism, is a Jewish religious movements, Jewish religious movement that regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people through the generations ...

—which believes in a restoration of the Temple as a house of worship and in some special role for Levites, although not the ancient sacrificial system as previously practised—recognizes Levites as having special status. Not all Conservative congregations call Kohanim and Levites to the first and second reading of the

, and many no longer perform rituals such as the Priestly Blessing and Pidyon HaBen in which ''Kohanim'' and Levites have a special role. Reconstructionist and

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...

do not observe distinctions between Kohanim, Levites, and other

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Relationship with Kohanim

The Kohanim are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

of the Tribe of Levi. The origins of the name/term "Levy" in Hebrew remain unclear. Some hypotheses link this name with the Hebrew root ''lwh'', the Aramaic root ''lwy'', or the Arabic root ''lwy''. The

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

''kohen'' is used in the

to refer to

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

s, both Israelite and non-Israelite, such as the Israelite nation as a whole, as well as the priests (Hebrew ''kohanim'') of Baal. During the existence of the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

, Kohanim performed the daily and holiday ( Yom Tov) duties of sacrificial offerings. Today ''kohanim'' retain a lesser though somewhat distinct status within

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, and are bound by additional restrictions according to

. During the Priestly Blessing, the Levites traditionally wash the hands of the Kohanim prior to the blessing of the House of Israel. ("A first-born son washes the Kohen's hands if there is no Levite".)

Bat Levi

In Orthodox Judaism, children of a Bat Levi, like those of a Bat-Kohen, regardless of the child's father's tribe or the mother's marital status, retain the traditional exemption for their children from the requirement of being redeemed through the Pidyon HaBen. Conservative Judaism permits a Bat Levi to perform essentially all the rituals a male Levi would perform, including being called to the

for the Levite

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

in those Conservative synagogues which have both retained traditional tribal roles and modified traditional gender roles. In Israel, Conservative/Masorti Judaism has not extended Torah honors either to a bat Kohen or to a bat Levi.

The Levites and the Holocaust

In 1938, with the outbreak of violence that would come to be known as Kristallnacht, American Orthodox rabbi Menachem HaKohen Risikoff wrote about the central role he saw for Priests and Levites in terms of Jewish and world responses, in worship, liturgy, and ''teshuva'', repentance. In ''The Priests and the Levites'' (1940), he stressed that members of these groups exist in the realm between history (below) and redemption (above), and must act in a unique way to help move others to prayer and action, and help bring an end to suffering. He wrote, "Today, we also are living through a time of flood, Not of water, but of a bright fire, which burns and turns Jewish life into ruin. We are now drowning in a flood of blood. ... Through the Kohanim and Levi'im help will come to all Israel."

Levite population

Levite Y-chromosome studies

A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar et al. pointed to multiple origins for

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Levites, who comprise approximately 4% among the Ashkenazi Jews. It found that Haplogroup R1a1a (R-M17), uncommon in the Middle East or among

Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

, is present in over 50% of Ashkenazi Levites, while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites' paternal lineage is of certain Middle Eastern origin, including Y-chromosome haplogroups E3b, J2, F, R1b, K, I, Q, N and L. Haplogroup R1a1a is found at the highest levels among people of Eastern European descent, with 50 to 65% among

Sorbs Sorbs (; ; ; ; ; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Germany, states of Saxony and Brandenburg. Sorbs tradi ...

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, and

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

. In

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, R1a1a has often been observed with high frequency in a number of demographic groups, reaching over 70% in West Bengal Brahmins in India and among the Mohani people in

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

, Pakistan. Behar's data suggested a founding event, involving an 'introgression' of anywhere from one to fifty non-Jewish European men, occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation. As Nebel, Behar and Goldstein speculate: A 2013 paper by Siiri Rootsi et al. confirmed a Near or Middle Eastern origin for all Ashkenazi Levites, including the R1a Y-chromosome carriers, and refuted the Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry: In a later 2017 study Behar et al. revised their initially mitigated position, concluding that a "Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazi Levite lineage based on what was previously a relatively limited number of reported samples, can now be considered firmly validated", precising that a "rich variation of haplogroup R1a outside of Europe which is phylogenetically separate from the typically European R1a branches", referring to the R1a-Y2619 sub-clade.

Lineage

Having a last name of Levi or a related term does not necessarily mean a person is a Levite, and many well-known Levites do not have such last names. Levitical status is passed down in families from father to child born from a Jewish mother, as part of a family's genealogical tradition. Tribal status of Levite is determined by patrilineal descent, so a child whose biological father is a Levite (in cases of adoption or artificial insemination, status is determined by the genetic father), is also considered a Levite. Jewish status is determined by matrilineal descent, thus conferring levitical status onto children requires both biological parents to be Israelites and the biological father to be a Levite. Accordingly, there is currently no branch of Judaism that regards levitical status as conferrable by matrilineal descent. It is either conferrable patrilineally with a Jewish mother, in the traditional manner, or it does not exist and is not conferred at all.

Levite surnames

Some Levites have adopted a related last name to signify their status. Because of diverse geographical locations, the names have several variations: * ''Alouwi'' – Arabic variant, of Sephardic origin * ''Aguiló'' – surname to the Jews from Mallorca ( Xuetes) * ''Bazes'' – a Levite surname. * '' Benveniste'' – a Sephardic Levite surname. * '' Epstein'' – one of the European lineages descended from Zerahiah Ha-Levi of Sepharad * ''HaLevi'', '' Halevi'' and ''Halevy'' – Hebrew, meaning 'the Levi' or 'the Levite' * '' Horowitz HaLevi'', or simply ''Horowitz/Hurwitz/Gurvich/Gurevich'' – a European Levite surname, tracing to Isaiah Horowitz HaLevi, a descendant of Zerahiah Ha-Levi of Sepharad * ''Lavi'' – a common Levite surname * ''Leefsma'' – Frisian surname * ''Leevi'' – Finnish variation * ''Lev'' – simplified Russian variation of ''Levi'' * ''Levai'', ''Lévai'' and ''Lévay'' – a Levitic surname, originally meaning "a person from ''

Levice Levice (; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Church Slavonic, Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left One". The town is located i ...

''" but subsequently used by

who were forced to change their name during the Holocaust * ''Leven'' – Swedish variation * ''Levente'' – Hungarian variation * '' Lévi, Levi'', '' Lévy or Levy'' – Hebrew for "Levite", equally common in Ashkenasic and Sephardic groups * ''Levian/Livian/Benlevi/Liviem'' – Persian-Jewish variations * ''Lević'', also ''Levinić'', '' Prelević'' – Croatian or Serbian variations * '' Levin'' –

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n variation, also '' Levine'', ''Lavin'' or ''Lavine'' (, rhyming with "ravine", or in some cases further anglicised to , rhyming with "divine") and '' Lewin'' a Polish variation. Sometimes supplemented with German "thal" (valley) to ''Levinthal'' or ''Leventhal'' and -sohn and -son to ''Levinson'' or ''Levinsohn'' as a patronymic, and with Slavic -ski and -sky suffixes ''Levinski'', ''Levinsky'', ''Lewinski'' and ''Lewinsky'' (the "e" often replaced with "a" in German areas). * ''Levit'', also ''Levitt'' – typically from the Bessarabia region of Romania, Moldova and southern Ukraine * ''Levita'' – Elia Levita, an ancestor of

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

* ''Levits'' – the surname in Latvia (adding the ''s for men or a for women''), president of Latvia Egils Levits. * ''Leviyev'' – the Russified surname (adding the ''yev/ev'') that many

Bukharian Jews Bukharan Jews, also known as Bukharian Jews, are the Mizrahi Jews, Mizrahi Jewish sub-group of Central Asia that dwelt predominantly in what is today Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. The group's name is derived from the E ...

of Central Asia have. Sometimes spelled ''Leviev'' or even ''Levaev''. * ''Lewi'' or ''Lewj'' (Polish, ''Levi'' and ''Levy'') * ''Lewicki'' – Polish "of the Levites", also ''Lewicka'', ''Lewycka'', ''Lewycki'', ''Lewycky'', ''Lewicky'', ''Levicki'', ''Levicky'' (can also originate from placenames in Poland) * ''Lewita'' – Polish ''Levite'' or ''Levita'' Latinized, with Slavic suffix -an/in ''Lewitan'', ''Levitan'', ''Levitin'', ''Lewitin'', ''Lewitinn'', and with additional suffix -ski/sky ''Levitanski'', ''Lewitanski'', ''Levitansky'', also ''Lewitas'', ''Levitas'', Lithuanian, Belarusian, ''Leyva'' Spanish Sephardic, also but rare ''Lefite, Lafite, Lafitte'', of French Sephardic origin. * Variants from

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

''Leyvik'', a pet form of Leyvi: ''Levitch'' Ukrainian variant, also ''Levicz'', ''Levis'', ''Levitz'', ''Lewicz'', ''Lewitz'', ''Lewis'', and with -ski and -sky suffixes ''Leviczky'', ''Levitski'', ''Levitsky'', ''Lewitski'' and ''Lewitsky'' ("e" and "s" often replaced with "a" and "z" in German areas) * ''Loewy'', ''Löwi'', ''Löwy'' and ''Loewe'' German or Swiss variations (although the usual origin for these names is Löwe, the German word for "

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

"). *Moss (Hebrew for Moses) (Descendant of Moses God's most important prophet according to the torah) also ancient Gaelic for Devotee, which Moses was a Levite devoted to his mission to free the Hebrew. * ''Segal'' – shortened "Segen Levi" (secondary Levite) * ''Urfali'' or ''Levi Urfali'' (also ''Levi Abud'', ''Levi Aslan'', ''Levi Hamami'') – an Urfalim community surname, which was mostly Levite in origin * ''Zemmel'' – shortened "Zecher mi-Shevet Levi" (descendant of the Levite tribe)

Modern Levites

The following are some Levites with non-Levite-like last names in modern times: * Frank Gehry * Chaim Herzog * Norman LearPBS Show ''

Finding Your Roots ''Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'' is an American documentary television series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that premiered on March 25, 2012, on PBS. In each episode, celebrities are presented with a "book of life" that is com ...

'' broadcast January 26, 2016

Notable Levites

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

* Yehoshua ben Levi * Judah Halevi * Aharon HaLevi * Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz * Maharsha * Shlomo Wahrman * Issachar Berend Lehmann * Avraham Bromberg *

Max Letteris Meïr Halevi (Max) Letteris (; 13 September 1800 – 19 May 1871) was an Austrians, Austrian poet, editor, and translator of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Galician Haskala. He translated into Hebrew language, Hebrew works by Virgil, Lucian ...

* Joseph ibn Migash * Zerahiah Ha-Levi * Yechezkel Landau * Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin * Luis de Torres * Abraham Fraenkel * Shmuel Wosner * Meir Abulafia * Samuel ibn Naghrillah * Yehuda Ashlag *

Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik (), also known as Velvel Soloveitchik ("Zev" means "wolf" in Hebrew, and "Velvel" is the Diminutive#Yiddish, diminutive of "wolf" in Yiddish language, Yiddish) or the Brisker Rov ("rabbi of/from Brest, Belarus, Br ...

* Pinchas Horowitz * Hillel Paritcher * Yechezkel Levenstein * Yisroel Belsky * Baruch ha-Levi Epstein * Chaim Herzog * Yosef Dov Soloveitchik * Chaim Soloveitchik * Joseph B. Soloveitchik * Mordechai Willig

Explanatory footnotes

References

External links

Twenty-four places in tanach where the Kohanim are called Levi'im
– Kehuna.org

LeviteDNA.org
– website on R1a Ashkenazi Levites {{Ark of the Covenant Hebrew Bible words and phrases Jewish ethnic groups Jewish religious occupations Book of Numbers people