Our Rabbi's Message
May 8th 2009
By Rabbi Aaron KriegelThe idea of the Kohen is fascinating. It is locked into our tradition by revelation, but I wonder how often people think of the baggage the concept of priesthood carries. It speaks of another time and even another world. It teaches doctrine that we would never agree to in these post-modern times, and that the Western world has rejected for hundreds of years. The idea of the Kohen first teaches that the authority to rule is not only divinely ordained, but also runs through the Temple. It was that very idea that gave authority to the Popes who shared power with secular emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.
Secondly, the position of the Kohen shows in a period that existed long before even the inklings of Democracy that power was passed through generations by divine right, and that means that some people would never be able to have power. Indeed, that means that some people were slaves because the same divinity that made priests and kings also made slaves. The code begins by commanding us to be holy to God as a people and then speaks with particularity. The first of those particular commands instructs us to treat our parents with proper respect. In the Ten Commandments, which are presented first in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Exodus and then in the fifth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, we are instructed to: "Honor your father and your mother." That commandment is number five on a number scale, but really it is also number two. You see the first four commandments have to do with worshipping God and with capturing the holiness of the Sabbath and of all God related things and times. The first particular and not God-related Commandment is this one that requires that we honor our parents.
Thirdly, the appointment of the priest meant that the only people within the priestly class who were allowed power were those who had no deformity and no disability. It meant that women, because of their sex, were unequal with men.
Finally, the idea of divine selection meant that some people had a right to the property and even the food of others. Some people always were haves and others were damned to live their lives as have-nots.
The idea of the Kohen was once a useful concept, but we have long ago left behind the idea of castes and of divine selection of kings and priests. To the extent that we cleave to this concept that is certainly discriminatory, we cling to other traditions that discriminate between men and women, the disabled and the baled, between people of different ethnic origins and those who are chosen of God.
Our tradition should teach about the equality of all people before God. Such is a bedrock concept of Conservative Judaism.
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