Yonatan Miller
The story of Phinehas’ zealous slaying of an Israelite man and the Midianite woman with whom he dared consort in public (Numbers 25) is perhaps the most notorious of a number of famed pentateuchal narratives that are marked with vigilante violence. Significantly, these narratives feature members of the Israelite priesthood or their eponymous ancestors. When reading these texts together, we uncover a consistent literary undercurrent which associates the priesthood with acts of interpersonal violence –– a phenomenon which I refer to as the motif of priestly violence. This dissertation examines the origins and discursive functions of this motif, and, employing the violence of Phinehas as a test-case, explores its interpretive afterlife in biblical and Jewish literature.
I argue that likely impelling the motif of priestly interpersonal violence is the cultural memory of the violence of the sacrificial cult –– be it the violence inherent in the slaughter of animals, or the possible Israelite prehistory of human sacrifice. Despite these seemingly negative associations, the discourse of priestly violence functions as a critical legitimating component of the priestly imagination in the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, numerous biblical texts insinuate that it is violence, not the right lineage, that generates priestly identity. Exploring the Nachleben of Phinehas’ famed violence, I demonstrate how ancient readers of the Hebrew Bible recognized and were sensitive to these facets of the motif.
My findings reveal that the legitimating function of Phinehas’ priestly violence continues in the Jewish literary tradition. From the literature of the Second Temple period through the rabbinic canon and continuing through the medieval midrashim, Jewish authors employed Phinehas’ violence in the service of their own discourses of group (de)legitimation. Priestly groups with questions about their pedigree, such as the Hasmonaeans, appropriated the discourse of Phinehas’ violence as a bulwark against the contestation of their priestly identity. But we also find subversive uses of Phinehas’ violence, particularly in Palestinian rabbinic texts, which question the integrity of Phinehas’ priestly lineage as well as the propriety of his lethal zeal. This serves to delegitimize the priesthood and effectively quash any lingering priestly claims to ritual leadership.
(יב) יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ שֶׁתְּהֵא הַבְּרָכָה הַזֹּאת (שֶׁצִּוִּיתָֽנוּ) (שֶׁצִוִּֽיתָ) לְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּרָכָה שְׁלֵמָה וְלֹא יִהְיֶה בָּהּ שׁוּם מִכְשׁוֹל וְעָוֹן מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם:
(יד) כֹּהֲנִים
(טז) עַם קְדוֹשֶֽׁךָ כָּאָמוּר:
(יח) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בִּקְדֻשָּׁתוֹ שֶׁל אַהֲרֹן וְצִוָּֽנוּ לְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאַהֲבָה:
(כ) אָמֵן
(כב) יְבָרֶכְךָ. יְהֹוָה. וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ.
(כו) יָאֵר. יְהֹוָה. פָּנָיו. אֵלֶֽיךָ. וִיחֻנֶּֽךָּ.
(ל) יִשָּׂא. יְהֹוָה. פָּנָיו. אֵלֶֽיךָ. וְיָשֵׂם. לְךָ. שָׁלוֹם.
(10) Priestly Blessings
(11) The congregation and Kohanim say the following prayer silently.
(12) May it be Your will Adonoy, our God and the God of our fathers, that this blessing
When said by the kohanim:
which You have commanded us
When said by the Congregation:
which You have commanded to bless Your people Yisrael, be a perfect blessing; that there be in it neither stumbling nor iniquity from now, forever.
(13) The Chazzan then says:
(14) kohanim
(15) The Congregation responds:
(16) Your holy people, as it is said.
(17) The Kohanim begin:
(18) Blessed are You, Adonoy, our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us with the holiness of Aharon and commanded us to bless His people, Yisrael, with love.38The kohanim are commanded to bless the people out of their feeling of love for the congregation of Hashem.
(19) The Congregation but not the Chazzan answer:
(20) Amein
(21) The Chazzan chants each word of the Birchas Kohanim and the kohanim pronounce it after Him. The Congregation should concentrate on their words, but not repeat them.
(22) May [He] bless you Adonoy and guard you.
(25) After the kohanim pronounce the word וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ, the Congregation and the Chazzan say: אָמֵן
(26) May [He] shine Adonoy His countenance upon you and be gracious to you.
(29) After the kohanim pronounce the word וִיחֻנֶּֽךָּ, the Congregation and the Chazzan say: אָמֵן
(30) May [He] turn— Adonoy— His countenance toward you and grant you peace.
(33) After the kohanim pronounce the word שָׁלוֹם, the Congregation and the Chazzan say: אָמֵן
Origins of Old Testament priests
Mark G. Thomas, Karl Skorecki, Haim Ben-Amid, Tudor Parfitt, Neil Bradman & David B. Goldstein
According to Jewish tradition, following the Exodus from Egypt, males of the tribe of Levi, of which Moses was a member, were assigned special religious responsibilities, and male descendants of Aaron, his brother, were selected to serve as Priests (Cohanim). To the extent that patrilineal inheritance has been followed since sometime around the Temple period (roughly 3,000-2,000 years before present), Y chromosomes of present-day Cohanim and Levites should not only be distinguishable from those of other Jews, but — given the dispersion of the priesthood following the Temple's destruction — they should derive from a common ancestral type no more recently than the Temple period. Here we show that although Levite Y chromosomes are diverse, Cohen chromosomes are homogeneous. We trace the origin of Cohen chromosomes to about 3,000 years before present, early during the Temple period.
וּלְלֵוִ֣י אָמַ֔ר תֻּמֶּ֥יךָ וְאוּרֶ֖יךָ לְאִ֣ישׁ חֲסִידֶ֑ךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר נִסִּיתוֹ֙ בְּמַסָּ֔ה תְּרִיבֵ֖הוּ עַל־מֵ֥י מְרִיבָֽה׃ הָאֹמֵ֞ר לְאָבִ֤יו וּלְאִמּוֹ֙ לֹ֣א רְאִיתִ֔יו וְאֶת־אֶחָיו֙ לֹ֣א הִכִּ֔יר וְאֶת־בנו [בָּנָ֖יו] לֹ֣א יָדָ֑ע כִּ֤י שָֽׁמְרוּ֙ אִמְרָתֶ֔ךָ וּבְרִֽיתְךָ֖ יִנְצֹֽרוּ׃
מִכָּאן אָמְרוּ: שִׁבְעַת יָמִים קוֹדֶם יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים מַפְרִישִׁין כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל מִבֵּיתוֹ לְלִשְׁכַּת פַּרְהֶדְרִין. וּכְשֵׁם שֶׁמַּפְרִישִׁין כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל, כָּךְ מַפְרִישִׁין כֹּהֵן הַשּׂוֹרֵף אֶת הַפָּרָה לַלִּשְׁכָּה שֶׁעַל פְּנֵי הַבִּירָה צָפוֹנָה מִזְרָחָה. וְאֶחָד זֶה וְאֶחָד זֶה מַזִּין עָלָיו כׇּל שִׁבְעָה מִכׇּל חַטָּאוֹת שֶׁהָיוּ שָׁם.
From there the Sages said in the mishna: Seven days prior to Yom Kippur the Sages would remove the High Priest, who performs the entire Yom Kippur service, from his house to the Chamber of Parhedrin; and just as the Sages would remove the High Priest, so do they remove the priest who burns the heifer, from his house to the chamber that was before the bira at the northeast corner of the courtyard on the Temple Mount. And with regard to both this priest whom the Sages sequester prior to Yom Kippur and that priest whom the Sages sequester prior to engaging in the burning of the heifer, one sprinkles upon him, for all seven days of sequestering, the purification water with ashes from all the previous red heifer sin-offerings that were safeguarded there in the Temple.
מַתְנִי׳ מָסְרוּ לוֹ זְקֵנִים מִזִּקְנֵי בֵּית דִּין, וְקוֹרִין לְפָנָיו בְּסֵדֶר הַיּוֹם, וְאוֹמְרִים לוֹ: אִישִׁי כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל! קְרָא אַתָּה בְּפִיךְ, שֶׁמָּא שָׁכַחְתָּ אוֹ שֶׁמָּא לֹא לָמַדְתָּ. עֶרֶב יוֹם כִּפּוּרִים שַׁחֲרִית מַעֲמִידִין אוֹתוֹ בְּשַׁעַר מִזְרָח, וּמַעֲבִירִין לְפָנָיו פָּרִים וְאֵילִים וּכְבָשִׂים כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא מַכִּיר וְרָגִיל בַּעֲבוֹדָה. כׇּל שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים לֹא הָיוּ מוֹנְעִין מִמֶּנּוּ מַאֲכָל וּמִשְׁתֶּה, עֶרֶב יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים עִם חֲשֵׁיכָה לֹא הָיוּ מַנִּיחִין אוֹתוֹ לֶאֱכוֹל הַרְבֵּה, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהַמַּאֲכָל מֵבִיא אֶת הַשֵּׁינָה.
MISHNA: The Sages provided the High Priest with Elders selected from the Elders of the court, and they would read before him the order of the service of the day of Yom Kippur. And they would say to him: My Master, High Priest. Read the order of the service with your own mouth, as perhaps you forgot this reading or perhaps you did not learn to read. On Yom Kippur eve in the morning, the Elders stand him at the eastern gate of the courtyard and pass before him bulls and rams and sheep so that he will be familiar with the animals and grow accustomed to the service, as these were the animals sacrificed on Yom Kippur. Throughout all the seven days that the High Priest was in the Parhedrin chamber, they would not withhold from him any food or drink that he desired. However, on Yom Kippur eve at nightfall, they would not allow him to eat a great deal because food induces sleep and they did not allow him to sleep, as will be explained.
Panel with the Angel Appearing to Zacharias