(Hebrew: “Aaronide priest”) Individual authorized by reason of birth to carry out Temple sacrifices and other rites. Aaron, brother of Moses, was consecrated as the first Israelite priest, and from him all Israelite priests trace their...

The Israelite Chief *Priest who served in the *Temple in *Jerusalem. According to *Leviticus, the High Priest must be a descendant of *Aaron, but as the office became increasingly political under the *Hasmonean kings, a Hasmonean High Priest was...

A hereditary *priest. After the destruction of the *Temple in *Jerusalem in 70 CE, *sacrifice no longer had a place in the Jewish religion. A priest’s duties were restricted to reciting the Priestly *Benediction on *festivals and redeeming the...

Hereditary *priests, descended from *Aaron the brother of *Moses. The descendants of Aaron ‘shall attend to your *priesthood for all that concerns the *altar and that which is in the veil’. (*Numbers 18:7). A distinction is made in the...

A kohen (or cohen, Hebrew כּהן, "priest", pl. כּהנִים, kohanim or cohanim), is assumed to be a direct male descendant of the Biblical Aaron, brother of Moses. Another term for the descendants of Aaron are the Aaronites or Aaronids. During the...