Question:
I have a Kohen question. My married name is Cohen. I don’t think one can be a Kohen by way of marriage. However, my mother’s maiden name was Cohen. Does that essentially make me a Kohen as well?
Answer:
According to the Torah, the priesthood (Kehunah) began with Aaron (Moses’ brother) and his sons, passing down through their male descendants. In biblical times, tribal affiliation and inheritance were determined by the father. For example, membership in an Israelite tribe and receipt of land or property were both patrilineal. The story of the daughters of Zelophehad is notable: after their father died without sons, they were granted the right to inherit his portion. However, the Torah later mandates that to retain their inheritance, they must marry within their father’s tribe (Menashe).
The Mishna adds that daughters of Kohanim (priests) had a special status—they could eat Teruma, the sacred priestly tithe. However, if a Kohen’s daughter married a non-Kohen, she lost this right.
It is debated when Judaism adopted matrilineal descent for determining Jewish status. Some scholars argue this shift happened in the 5th century BCE (the time of Ezra), others in the 1st century CE. By the end of the second century CE, Jewish identity was passed through the mother, but priestly status (Kohen or Levi) continued to be patrilineal.
If the daughter of a non-Kohen married a Kohen in biblical and post-biblical times, she was also permitted to eat Teruma. After the destruction of the Second Temple and the end of the sacrificial service, this law became purely theoretical. Today, a woman whose father is not a Kohen but who marries a Kohen has no special Kohanic status, nor is she or her children (other than sons) considered Kohanim. Kohen status is inherited only from one’s father. Thus, if your husband is a Kohen, your sons would be Kohanim, while your daughters would be called “bat-Kohen” (daughter of a Kohen)—a title that has some traditional but few legal implications today.
Traditionally, the first-born son of a Jewish mother participates in the pidyon ha-ben (“redemption of the first-born”) ceremony. This practice is based on Exodus 13:12–15 and Numbers 18:15–16: the first-born son is “redeemed” by giving five silver coins to a Kohen. However, the first-born son of a bat-Kohen is exempt from this ritual. Today, this exemption is effectively the only formal distinction associated with being a Kohen’s daughter.
