Ha Rav HaGadol Amnon Yitzchak Shlita

Mmmmmmmm... Kohainlicious

Yee ha!





Just got my DNA results back.

Turns out I am "J1" which is the Kohain Modal Haplotype. Even cooler... I happen to share exact DNA with my neighbor and friend who is also a Kohain!

Small world, small tribe.

Learn more about the DNA project HERE

REMINDER!

Please Join us!

February 20th - 8:00 pm

Rabbi Kleiman will be speaking in the Valley at:

Beis Midrash Toras Hashem
12422 Chandler Blvd.
Valley Village

First Temple seal found in Jerusalem

From the Jerusalem Post

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name "Temech" engraved on it, was found earlier this week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.

The seal, which was bought in Babylon and dates to 538-445 BCE, portrays a common and popular cultic scene, Mazar said.

The 2.1 x 1.8-cm. elliptical seal is engraved with two bearded priests standing on either side of an incense altar with their hands raised forward in a position of worship.

A crescent moon, the symbol of the chief Babylonian god Sin, appears on the top of the altar.

Under this scene are three Hebrew letters spelling Temech, Mazar said.

The Bible refers to the Temech family: "These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city." [Nehemiah 7:6]... "The Nethinim [7:46]"... The children of Temech." [7:55].

The fact that this cultic scene relates to the Babylonian chief god seemed not to have disturbed the Jews who used it on their own seal, she added.

The seal of one of the members of the Temech family was discovered just dozens of meters away from the Opel area, where the servants of the Temple, or "Nethinim," lived in the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said.

"The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible," she said. "One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find."

The find will be announced by Mazar at the 8th annual Herzliya Conference on Sunday.

The archeologist, who rose to international prominence for her recent excavation that may have uncovered King David's palace, most recently uncovered the remnants of a wall from Nehemiah.

The dig is being sponsored by the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research institute where Mazar serves as a senior fellow, and the City of David Foundation, which promotes Jewish settlement throughout east Jerusalem.

West Coast Kohain-Levi Conference!

''A Gathering of the Tribe"

Kohen -Levi mini- Conference

Aish HaTorah Los Angeles

1417 South Doheny Drive (at Pico Blvd)

Sunday Feb. 24

8-10 am at Aish Center - Morning Service and bagel brunch

10 am -1 pm - Kohen –Levi mini-Conference speakers and presentations

Kohen-Levy Conference in Jerusalem

Just one more reminder for all my Kohanic and Levitical brethren (and sisthren?) out there that the conference will be this July 15th-19th in Jerusalem, null.

Please go to The Tribe for more info.

I have asked Rabbi Kleiman to set up a video link for those of us who cannot attend. Hopefully this can be done.

Sure you can walk there, Kohain?

The Vaad HaKohanim has put out articles and maps of places forbidden to Kohanim due to tumas meis (contact with impurity of the dead).

It can be found HERE

One Step Closer to Redemption

Reishit HaGez - giving to the Kohain the first cuttings of the fleece of sheep grown in the Land of Israel.

Beit El Celebrates Wool-Shearing

(IsraelNN.com) Surrounded by hundreds of happy children, the last of a herd of five sheep had its wool shorn in Beit El Tuesday afternoon - not for profit, but to fulfill a Biblical commandment. Town elders said it was the first time in probably 2,000 years that the commandment had been fulfilled there.

The story began several years ago when Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, the rabbi of Beit El and the dean of the town's yeshiva, began to wonder when he might ever have the chance to fulfill the Biblical commandment (mitzvah) of Reishit HaGez - giving to the Cohen (the priest) the first cuttings of the fleece of sheep grown in the Land of Israel.

(click above for the rest of the story and pictures)

"So after cutting the fleece of one of the sheep and ritually slaughtering it, we are now ready to give these parts, as well as the wool, to a Cohen - and not just any Cohen, but to our great 'teacher and master,' and one who is of undisputed Priestly lineage, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Avraham Kahane-Shapira."

Kohen Convention

KOHEN– LEVI CONFERENCE

‘THE GATHERING OF THE TRIBE’

Rosh Hodesh Av, 5767 – IY’H - Sunday evening, July 15 - 19, 2007

Anna Nicole Smith found ALIVE!!!

Okay, it's not true. But now that I got your attention, I have an announcement to make.

I have gone off the derech. How so? Well, Ha-Mikdash is a blog that was intended to be a "meeting place... to discuss the history, law and current state of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount."

A lack of time and other factors have pushed me away from this goal and I have taken the easy road to become just another Pro-Israel conservative blog. What set Ha-Mikdash apart from all other blogs is that it focused just on Hilchos Kehuna, the Temple Mount desecration and the general sad state of Jerusalem today.

I apologize.

I have made a (bli neder) pledge to refocus and get back on the right path. The path for which this blog was intended. Most if not all posts will be content filled and not just links and videos. From now on when I find an interesting article I will direct you to it with one or two line maximum.

I am also going to try and revamp the template I am using. Surely I have moved past the generic "light house" theme. I no programmer so I will have to experiment and do it slowly. If anyone out there has expertise with building blog templates I would love to hear from you.

For those of my friends who are in the LA area, you know that I tried to start a Kohain learning group. Politics and a lack of enthusiasm pretty much put an end to that, but I am not giving up. I will press ahead to get this going and will attempt to connect Kohanim via video conferencing and see if we can make it a weekly event.

I also want to remind you that I maintain a Ha-Mikdash satellite site on MySpace.

I am not very versed in RSS feeds and other blog goodies. I am self taught, so I am trying to figure it out. I will also like to have a blog radio show once a month.

So much is happening with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount today. Israeli apathy, frum heads in the sand, Muslim revisionism and leftist meddling. It is time to stand up and do some ground roots activism to protect our Holiest site.

Lastly, I would like to share a thought.

The halachos in the Mishna Berurah are clearly spelled out by the Mechaber, the Rema and the Chafetz Chaim. It is clear and we have a mesora as to how to act like Jews and live our lives according to G-d's will. Many here, I'm sure, have read Guard Your Tongue and other halachos of Lashon HaRa. Truly the Chafetz Chaim was a great Torah Scholar, yet there is one of his writings that is disregarded by most if not all Jews.

The Holy Chafetz Chaim writes: "…Presently it is difficult to find Kohanim who know the laws and practices of the Temple Service fully. How disheartening and embarrassing. It sadly indicates that our prayers for the Temple and the Service are merely lip service, not real or heartfelt. For if we really desired it to come, we would prepare and make ready for it.

Therefore my brothers, it is incumbent upon us to…further the knowledge of the Temple and its Service. Particularly the Kohanim and the Levites, who are most directly involved in this Torah Mitzvah, for they will be the first to be asked, “why didn’t you prepare for the Temple Service?"

This is not some "Mashiach-nik" or an "end of days" fanatic. This is the Chafetz Chaim!

Is Mashiach's coming not imminent? Who among our brothers will stand up and pledge to dedicate themselves to learning the D'ORAYSA Halachos of Kehuna? Frum Jews learn Hilchos Shabbos, Kashrus, Taharas HaMishpacha. Are the G-d given Halachos set aside for us Kohanim any less important? Chas V'Shalom!

We enjoy the first aliya in shul. We are first to lead bentching. We duchan and are podeh the first born. We won't set foot in a cemetery, all important things. But why don't we know the Halachos of Kodshim, Teruma and Tuma and Tehara?

"Why didn't you prepare for the Temple Service?"

I remember growing up in NJ. My best friend, a non-Jew was the direct descendant of the French Royal Family. He had a title and special rights, though he was an American had not ever even been to France. I remember, when I heard about this I ran home crying, envious of my friend. I asked my father "Do we have any royalty in our family?" He apologized and said "no, we're just regular people." Then he said: "You know, we are Kohanim..."

As my parents were not religious, father could not really explain what that meant. I remember feeling like it was a consolation prize.

How sad! My friend had title and privileges bestowed by man and my family had been set aside by the Almighty to serve Him! All Jews are Royalty. We were all set aside to serve G-d and do His will. The Kohanim were separated from the Klal to perform special Mitzvos for Hashem. We need toask ourselves, do we perhaps take that a little too lightly?

"Why didn’t you prepare for the Temple Service?”

There is no Temple today. But there is Kehuna. Our responsibility to learn and teach has not been abrogated. Even more so, we know that Hashem will rebuild His House as He has promised. Even the nut jobs in the Neturei Karta believe this.

There is still time, and a vast library available to us. Will we be ready?