Levite

In contemporary Jewish practice

Today, Levites in Orthodox Judaism continue to have additional rights and obligations compared to lay people, although these responsibilities have diminished with the destruction of the Temple. For instance, Kohanim are eligible to be called to the Torah first, followed by the Levites. Levites also provide assistance to the Kohanim, particularly washing their hands, before the Kohanim recite the Priestly Blessing.

Since Levites (and Kohanim) are traditionally pledged to Divine service, there is no Pidyon HaBen (redemption of the firstborn) ceremony for:

• the son of a Kohen's or a Levite's daughter
• the son of a Kohen or a Levite.

Orthodox Judaism believes in the eventual rebuilding of a Temple in Jerusalem and a resumption of the Levitical role. A small number of schools, primarily in Israel, train priests and Levites in their respective roles. On November 28, 2025 Levites return to sing on the Temple Mount.

Conservative Judaism—which believes in a restoration of the Temple as a house of worship and in some special role for Levites, although not the ancient sacrificial system as previously practised—recognizes Levites as having special status. Not all Conservative congregations call Kohanim and Levites to the first and second reading of the Torah, and many no longer perform rituals such as the Priestly Blessing and Pidyon HaBen in which Kohanim and Levites have a special role.

Reconstructionist and Reform Judaism do not observe distinctions between Kohanim, Levites, and other Jews.

Relationship with Kohanim

Main article: Kohen, Priesthood (Ancient Israel)

The Kohanim are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the biblical Aaron of the Tribe of Levi. The origins of the name/term "Levy" in Hebrew remain unclear. Some hypotheses link this name with the Hebrew root lwh, the Aramaic root lwy, or the Arabic root lwy.

The noun kohen is used in the Torah to refer to priests, both Israelite and non-Israelite, such as the Israelite nation as a whole, as well as the priests (Hebrew kohanim) of Baal. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, Kohanim performed the daily and holiday (Yom Tov) duties of sacrificial offerings.

Today kohanim retain a lesser though somewhat distinct status within Judaism, and are bound by additional restrictions according to Orthodox Judaism. During the Priestly Blessing, the Levites traditionally wash the hands of the Kohanim prior to the blessing of the House of Israel. ("A first-born son washes the Kohen's hands if there is no Levite".)

Bat Levi

Bat Levi

In Orthodox Judaism, children of a Bat Levi, like those of a Bat-Kohen, regardless of the child's father's tribe or the mother's marital status, retain the traditional exemption for their children from the requirement of being redeemed through the Pidyon HaBen.

Conservative Judaism permits a Bat Levi to perform essentially all the rituals a male Levi would perform, including being called to the Torah for the Levite aliyah in those Conservative synagogues which have both retained traditional tribal roles and modified traditional gender roles. In Israel, Conservative/Masorti Judaism has not extended Torah honors either to a bat Kohen or to a bat Levi.

The Levites and the Holocaust

Main article: Holocaust theology

In 1938, with the outbreak of violence that would come to be known as Kristallnacht, American Orthodox rabbi Menachem HaKohen Risikoff wrote about the central role he saw for Priests and Levites in terms of Jewish and world responses, in worship, liturgy, and teshuva, repentance. In The Priests and the Levites (1940), he stressed that members of these groups exist in the realm between history (below) and redemption (above), and must act in a unique way to help move others to prayer and action, and help bring an end to suffering. He wrote, "Today, we also are living through a time of flood, Not of water, but of a bright fire, which burns and turns Jewish life into ruin. We are now drowning in a flood of blood. ... Through the Kohanim and Levi'im help will come to all Israel."

Levite population

Levite Y-chromosome studies

A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar et al. pointed to multiple origins for Ashkenazi Levites, who comprise approximately 4% among the Ashkenazi Jews. It found that Haplogroup R1a1a (R-M17), uncommon in the Middle East or among Sephardic Jews, is present in over 50% of Ashkenazi Levites, while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites' paternal lineage is of certain Middle Eastern origin, including Y-chromosome haplogroups E3b, J2, F, R1b, K, I, Q, N and L. Haplogroup R1a1a is found at the highest levels among people of Eastern European descent, with 50 to 65% among Sorbs, Poles, Russians, and Ukrainians. In South Asia, R1a1a has often been observed with high frequency in a number of demographic groups, reaching over 70% in West Bengal Brahmins in India and among the Mohani people in Sindh, Pakistan. Behar's data suggested a founding event, involving an 'introgression' of anywhere from one to fifty non-Jewish European men, occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation. As Nebel, Behar and Goldstein speculate:

A 2013 paper by Siiri Rootsi et al. confirmed a Near or Middle Eastern origin for all Ashkenazi Levites, including the R1a Y-chromosome carriers, and refuted the Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry:

In a later 2017 study Behar et al. revised their initially mitigated position, concluding that a "Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazi Levite lineage based on what was previously a relatively limited number of reported samples, can now be considered firmly validated", precising that a "rich variation of haplogroup R1a outside of Europe which is phylogenetically separate from the typically European R1a branches", referring to the R1a-Y2619 sub-clade.

Lineage

Having a last name of Levi or a related term does not necessarily mean a person is a Levite, and many well-known Levites do not have such last names.

Levitical status is passed down in families from father to child born from a Jewish mother, as part of a family's genealogical tradition. Tribal status of Levite is determined by patrilineal descent, so a child whose biological father is a Levite (in cases of adoption or artificial insemination, status is determined by the genetic father), is also considered a Levite. Jewish status is determined by matrilineal descent, thus conferring levitical status onto children requires both biological parents to be Israelites and the biological father to be a Levite.

Accordingly, there is currently no branch of Judaism that regards levitical status as conferrable by matrilineal descent. It is either conferrable patrilineally with a Jewish mother, in the traditional manner, or it does not exist and is not conferred at all.

Levite surnames

Some Levites have adopted a related last name to signify their status. Because of diverse geographical locations, the names have several variations:

• Alouwi – Arabic variant, of Sephardic origin
• Aguiló – surname to the Jews from Mallorca (Xuetes)
• Bazes – a Levite surname.
• Benveniste – a Sephardic Levite surname
• Epstein – one of the European lineages descended from Zerahiah Ha-Levi of Sepharad
• HaLevi, Halevi and Halevy – Hebrew, meaning 'the Levi' or 'the Levite'
• Horowitz HaLevi, or simply Horowitz/Hurwitz/Gurvich/Gurevich – a European Levite surname, tracing to Isaiah Horowitz HaLevi, a descendant of Zerahiah Ha-Levi of Sepharad
• Lavi – a common Levite surname
• Leefsma – Frisian surname
• Leevi – Finnish variation
• Lev – simplified Russian variation of Levi
• Levai, Lévai and Lévay – a Levitic surname, originally meaning "a person from Levice" but subsequently used by Jews who were forced to change their name during the Holocaust
• Leven – Swedish variation
• Levente – Hungarian variation
• Lévi, Levi, Lévy or Levy – Hebrew for "Levite", equally common in Ashkenasic and Sephardic groups
• Levian/Livian/Benlevi/Liviem – Persian-Jewish variations
• Lević, also Levinić, Prelević – Croatian or Serbian variations
• Levin – Russian variation, also Levine, Lavin or Lavine (, rhyming with "ravine", or in some cases further anglicised to , rhyming with "divine") and Lewin a Polish variation. Sometimes supplemented with German "thal" (valley) to Levinthal or Leventhal and -sohn and -son to Levinson or Levinsohn as a patronymic, and with Slavic -ski and -sky suffixes Levinski, Levinsky, Lewinski and Lewinsky (the "e" often replaced with "a" in German areas).
• Levit, also Levitt – typically from the Bessarabia region of Romania, Moldova and southern Ukraine
• Levita – Elia Levita, an ancestor of David Cameron
• Levits – the surname in Latvia (adding the s for men or a for women), president of Latvia Egils Levits.
• Leviyev – the Russified surname (adding the yev/ev) that many Bukharian Jews of Central Asia have. Sometimes spelled Leviev or even Levaev.
• Lewi or Lewj (Polish, Levi and Levy)
• Lewicki – Polish "of the Levites", also Lewicka, Lewycka, Lewycki, Lewycky, Lewicky, Levicki, Levicky (can also originate from placenames in Poland)
• Lewita – Polish Levite or Levita Latinized, with Slavic suffix -an/in Lewitan, Levitan, Levitin, Lewitin, Lewitinn, and with additional suffix -ski/sky Levitanski, Lewitanski, Levitansky, also Lewitas, Levitas, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Leyva Spanish Sephardic, also but rare Lefite, Lafite, Lafitte, of French Sephardic origin.
• Variants from Yiddish Leyvik, a pet form of Leyvi: Levitch Ukrainian variant, also Levicz, Levis, Levitz, Lewicz, Lewitz, Lewis, and with -ski and -sky suffixes Leviczky, Levitski, Levitsky, Lewitski and Lewitsky ("e" and "s" often replaced with "a" and "z" in German areas)
• Loewy, Löwi, Löwy and Loewe German or Swiss variations (although the usual origin for these names is Löwe, the German word for "lion").
• Moss (Hebrew for Moses; descendant of Moses God's most important prophet according to the torah) also ancient Gaelic for Devotee, which Moses was a Levite devoted to his mission to free the Hebrew.
• Segal – shortened "Segen Levi" (secondary Levite)
• Urfali or Levi Urfali (also Levi Abud, Levi Aslan, Levi Hamami) – an Urfalim community surname, which was mostly Levite in origin
• Zemmel – shortened "Zecher mi-Shevet Levi" (descendant of the Levite tribe)

Modern Levites

The following are some Levites with non-Levite-like last names in modern times:

• Frank Gehry
• Chaim Herzog
• Norman Lear

Notable Levites

• Levi
• Moses
• Aaron
• Samuel
• Yehoshua ben Levi
• Judah Halevi
• Aharon HaLevi
• Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz
• Maharsha
• Shlomo Wahrman
• Issachar Berend Lehmann
• Avraham Bromberg
• Max Letteris
• Joseph ibn Migash
• Zerahiah Ha-Levi
• Yechezkel Landau
• Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin
• Luis de Torres
• Abraham Fraenkel
• Shmuel Wosner
• Meir Abulafia
• Samuel ibn Naghrillah
• Yehuda Ashlag
• Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik
• Pinchas Horowitz
• Hillel Paritcher
• Yechezkel Levenstein
• Yisroel Belsky
• Baruch ha-Levi Epstein
• Chaim Herzog
• Yosef Dov Soloveitchik
• Chaim Soloveitchik
• Joseph B. Soloveitchik
• Mordechai Willig
• Moe Howard (Moses Harry Horwitz)
• Shemp Howard (Samuel Horwitz)
• Curly Howard (Jerome Lester Horwitz)

Explanatory footnotes

References

References

1. Bradman et al. 1999.
2. Ireton, Sean. (2003). "The Samaritans – A Jewish Sect in Israel: Strategies for Survival of an Ethno-religious Minority in the Twenty First Century". Anthrobase.
3. "Levite synonyms, Levite antonyms".
4. "Medical Definition of Levite". MedicineNet.
5. "The Holy Temple Music". Niqun.
6. Joshua 13:33, cited in {{CathEncy
7. (2017). "The genetic variation in the R1a clade among the Ashkenazi Levites' y chromosome". Scientific Reports.
8. Leuchter, Mark. (2017). "Who Were the Levites?".
9. Rice, Isaac. (June 22, 2017). "The Levi Washing the Hands of the Kohen".
10. Dubov, Nissan Dovid. "Kohanim and Leviim – Jewish Essentials".
11. "Who Is Obligated in Pidyon Haben? – Lifecycle Events".
12. (15 February 2010). "Pidyon Ha'ben – Redemption of First Born". aishcom.
13. (March 8, 2016). "Temple Institute announces school to train Levitical priests – Israel".
14. Berkowitz, Adam Eliyahu. (28 November 2025). "For the First Time Since the Temple's Destruction: Levites Return to Sing on Temple Mount".
15. MamLeChes KoHaNim – ממלכת כהנים
16. "Priestly Blessing". Jewish Virtual Library.
17. Apple, Raymond. (2011). "Let's Ask the Rabbi".
18. "Duchening: The Basics".
19. "Rivash" 15; "Divrei Yatziv" by R' Y. Halberstam, E.H. 6; "Yechaveh Da'at" by R' O. Yosef, V 61)
20. [http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/19861990/roth_daughtersaliyot.pdf Joel Roth, The Status of Daughters of Kohanim and Leviyim for Aliyot, Rabbinical Assembly]
21. "See: Robert A. (Rafael) Harris, Rabbinical Assembly of Israel's Law Committee Teshuvah: "The First Two Aliyot for a Bat Kohen and a Bat Levi." pp. 31–33 in ''Responsa of the Va'ad Halacha of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel'' 5748–5749 (1989). Volume 3. Jerusalem: The Rabbinical Assembly of Israel and the Masorti Movement (Hebrew; English Summary, vii–viii).".
22. [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/36377 הכהנים והלוים HaKohanim vHaLeviim (1940)]
23. Greenberg, Gershon. "Kristallnacht: The American Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Theology of Response," in Maria Mazzenga (ed.), ''American Religious Responses to Kristallnacht'', Palgrave MacMillan: 2009, pp. 158–72.
24. (2010). "Separating the post-Glacial coancestry of European and Asian Y chromosomes within haplogroup R1a". Eur. J. Hum. Genet..
25. (October 2003). "Multiple origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y chromosome evidence for both Near Eastern and European ancestries". American Journal of Human Genetics.
26. Goldstein, David B.. (2008). "Jacob's legacy: A genetic view of Jewish history". Yale University Press.
27. (2013). "Phylogenetic applications of whole Y-chromosome sequences and the Near Eastern origin of Ashkenazi Levites". Nature Communications.
28. Some examples of having the title HaLevi, but not in their last name are: [[Baruch Epstein]], [[Yisroel Belsky]], [[Abraham Fraenkel]], [[Shmuel Wosner]], [[Meir Abulafia]], [[Samuel ibn Naghrillah]], [[Yehuda Ashlag]], [[Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik]], [[Pinchas Horowitz]], [[Hillel Paritcher]], [[Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin. The Chozeh (seer) of Lublin]], [[Shmuel Schecter]], [[Joseph Weiler]], [[Yom-Tov Lipman Heller]], [[Abraham ibn Daud]], [[Salomon ibn Parhon]], [[Shlomo Wahrman]], [[Salomon Alkabetz]], [[Issachar Berend Lehmann]], [[Avraham Bromberg]], [[Max Letteris]], [[Joseph ibn Migash]], [[Yechezkel Landau]], [[Jacob Moelin]], [[Luis de Torres]], [[Chaim Herzog]], [[Avraham Gombiner]]
29. (18 October 2014). "What's in a name?".
30. "Benveniste".
31. PBS Show ''[[Finding Your Roots]]'' broadcast February 2, 2016
32. "Chaim Herzog". MFA.
33. PBS Show ''[[Finding Your Roots]]'' broadcast January 26, 2016