Cohen and Levi
The two most common surnames in Israel.
Cohen and Levi are the names of two familial lineages (dynasties) that signify a titular lineage, carrying religious status and prestige in Judaism in general, and in Israeli society specifically.
It is a "quiet status" that exists beneath the surface.
It is not discussed openly - It is an "internal matter" within Jewish society everywhere in the world, especially in the State of Israel, which is by definition the state of the Jewish people. It is not expressed in the daily routine of most Israelis, yet it is stable and enduring, with a life of its own for thousands of years.
The status passes from father to son, men only.
It includes rights and obligations with such strong religious significance that none of them can be canceled. This applies even to those no longer compatible with the reality of a democratic state and the ethos of Israeli society in the 21st century.
Between the two lineages—Cohen is the senior and more privileged.
Its descendants have duties and rights concerning their personal status and affecting their way of life.
The descendants of the Levi family have few rights, mainly in religious ceremonies.
Their status and lineage have accompanied the Jewish people since ancient times, from the period they crystallized as a nation.
Already in the Torah, the basis for the existence of the Jewish people, it was determined that the Cohen family (Kohanim) and the Levi family (Levi'im) were designated to manage the Jewish rituals, and are therefore privileged and elevated above the rest of the nation.
Their status peaked during the periods when the Holy Temple (in Jerusalem) existed—the most important spiritual and ritual center in the history of the Jewish people. There, in the Temple, the Kohanim were the performing religious class; they offered the sacrifices and performed all the services of the altar and the sanctuary. The Levi'im assisted them and also filled roles in song, playing instruments, guarding the gates, and managing storage within the Temple compound.
The last Temple was destroyed about 2,000 years ago.
The rituals are no longer performed, and the Jewish people dispersed into various communities around the world. The communal center of gravity shifted to the synagogue, where the ritual services were reconstructed by verbal means only—through prayers, study, and sermons. In every community, they continued to remember the destruction of the Temple and integrate into that memory the eternal hope for its rebuilding as part of the complete redemption of the Jewish nation.
Since the destruction of the Temple, the Kohen and Levi families have lost their power but not their status and lineage.
Throughout the generations, the Jewish sages (Chazal) and all the spiritual guides who followed them, left them in tense anticipation of the redemption and the building of the Third Holy Temple, and until that happens, they are required to maintain the "purity of lineage and status."
%2C%20artist%20unknown%2C%201692_%20Jewish%20Museum.jpeg)
Moses and Aaron the Kohen (the progenitor of the Cohen lineage) with the Tablets of the Covenant. Unknown artist, 1692. The Jewish Museum, London - Wikimedia.
Maintaining the purity of lineage and status grants them rights and imposes obligations upon them.
The rights are mainly symbolic, in the context of religious ceremonies, especially prayers held in synagogues. For instance, in a fixed ritual called "Aliyah LaTorah" (being called to the Torah)—where worshipers are invited to recite a blessing and read a passage from the Torah aloud—the Kohanim receive the right of first refusal to be honored with the reading. The Levi'im are second in line, and only after both have gone up and blessed the Torah does the turn of other worshipers, who do not have this status, arrive to be honored with the blessing and reading.
Also in the synagogue: the Kohanim customarily bless the congregation with a special "Birkat Kohanim" (Priestly Blessing) composed just for them. They also have special perks in religious ceremonies, such as the redemption of the firstborn son (Pidyon HaBen) and in the giving of tithes.
The Levi'im are less noticeable and enjoy slight privileges in religious ceremonies.
The obligations—that's a different story.
They are more practical, and they apply to Kohanim alone.
Every man in the Kohen lineage is obligated to remain "pure" and worthy, ready for the moment he is called to duty. Therefore, halakhic (Jewish legal) obligations apply to them on a personal level. The most prominent among them: the prohibition against marrying a divorcee, or a woman known to be promiscuous (a prostitute).
Another restriction: according to Jewish law, they are forbidden from entering a cemetery for fear of contracting ritual "impurity" from the dead. Religious and traditional Jews adhere strictly to this restriction and do not participate in burial ceremonies or memorial services held at the graves of the deceased.
A mass "Birkat Kohanim" ceremony at the Western Wall. The ceremony is based on the belief that a blessing delivered by a Kohen has special significance.
All the duties and rights of Kohanim and Levi'im are valid even in the 21st century, across all Orthodox streams in the Jewish world, including in Israel.
In the modern streams of Judaism, Reform and Conservative, these have been turned into optional symbols or abolished altogether.
In the Israeli reality, outside of synagogues, Cohen and Levi do not have special privileges. None of them receive priority in line, they are not entitled to job promotion just because of the name, they don't get commercial discounts or exceptional medical treatment, and they don't enjoy unique bank credit or preference in tenders...
Nevertheless,
The descendants of the Kohen and Levi families jealously guard their surname and do not change it. Even during the lengthy process when Israeli society members with foreign surnames changed their last names to Hebrew ones—they did not do so.
The religious and traditional—see this as a religious commitment, a quiet duty that must be preserved. For them, it is like a precious jewel passed down from father to son, or a valuable note that might be redeemed one day.
Among secular people, their status as a Kohen or Levi holds no significance, yet they hold onto their surname and do not change it. Anyone who carries such a surname can tell themselves: maybe it's not helpful, but it certainly isn't harmful. What's more, the name sounds completely Hebrew, so why change it?
Sometimes a descendant of a Kohen family pays a heavy personal price for his status. If he falls in love with a divorcee, he has a problem—there is no chance that the Rabbinical Court will approve him marrying her. Because the authority to register couples as married is granted by law to the Orthodox religious establishment, the only way to bypass them is to register the marriage in another country. Such a marriage certificate has legal validity in Israel.
Even then, the couple may be legally married, but this marriage will cast a religious stain on the children born to them. An unpleasant blemish that could harm them in the future when they wish to marry.
A foreigner, who is neither Jewish nor Israeli, cannot understand why so many people are willing to remain in a status that grants them no actual rights but imposes restrictions on them and could complicate matters with the religious establishment in Israel.
But this is a fact:
The names Cohen and Levi are the most common surnames in Israel. Since the establishment of the state, in all the tables published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, they are ranked in the first two places with a significant gap from the names that follow them in the ranking.
Cohen is not just Cohen
In the 18th century, when the process of adding surnames was established in continental Europe, Jews were also required to add a surname. Each family adopted a name they chose or that was chosen for them, according to various criteria.
The descendants of the Kohanim and Levi'im did not seek a unique name for themselves but adopted their titular lineage as a surname—Cohen and Levi. Sometimes they adapted it to the accepted transliteration in the local language: thus, names like Kahana, Kogan, and Kaplan emerged for the Kohanim; Levin, HaLevi, or Levi'an for the Levi'im.
In many cases, a verbal cleverness was used. For example: the surname Katz is composed of the acronym for Kohen Tzedek (Righteous Priest). Many members of the Kohen lineage adopted it, and to this day, it is one of the most common surnames in Israel and the Jewish world, ranked among the top ten by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Cohen, Judaism, and Democracy
The State of Israel was established as a Jewish and democratic state.
Sometimes, the values of Judaism clash with the values of democracy, creating debates and friction that reach the courts and even rise to the public agenda.
Descendants of Kohanim challenged the meeting points between these two values.
Kohanim who wished to marry a divorcee were refused registration as a married couple by the "Marriage Registrar," which is a religious body from the Orthodox stream. They sought relief from the court but encountered rulings that determined that marriage registration, according to Israeli law, is granted exclusively to representatives of the Orthodox religious establishment.
In the 1960s, a sensational attempt was made to challenge the system.
It was none other than a Supreme Court Justice, Haim Cohn, who decided to marry a Jewish woman with the status of a divorcee.
Justice Cohn, who by his family lineage was a member of the Kohen dynasty, was well acquainted with the law in Israel, but being an openly secular person, he insisted on marrying his partner and giving the marriage official validity. Instead of confronting the Orthodox religious establishment in Israel, the couple flew to New York and got married there by a Conservative Jewish rabbi. With this marriage certificate registered abroad, they were able to register as a married couple in Israel.
In the young Jewish state, which was not yet 20 years old, this was a real scandal.
Including: articles in the Hebrew press, statements of condemnation from the heads of the religious public, and a parliamentary question replied by the Minister of Justice that Justice Cohn had not broken the law.
The sensational news spread beyond the country's borders and reached the headlines of newspapers around the world, which reported on an Israeli Supreme Court Justice who could not marry in his own country.
Many pointed out Cohn's reputation as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee and the paradox implied by the event. Cohn submitted his resignation from the committee, but his colleagues asked him to retract it, and he did so.
Right: Haim Cohn, Supreme Court Justice.
Left: His wife, Dr. Michal Zmora Cohn.
This is part of "The Israeli Story 1948-2025" project.
What is "The Israeli Story"?
A curated selection of Israeli snapshots, those that were and still are with us. Each one deserves an updated definition with a few words of explanation along with a tiny bit of history. Just a little – and all of them together go into the virtual Israeli Story that will remain online for future generations. You can see what's included in it by clicking on the icon below.
