Mitzvah #212 - Replicating the Anointing Oil

It's forbidden to make scented oil using the recipe used for the Anointing Oil as described in Shemot Ch. 30, which was used by Moshe Rabbeinu to anoint the Mishkan and the Cohanim.

This is forbidden only if one intends to use the oil as lotion. If one simply wants to learn how the Anointing Oil was made, then it's permitted to make it.

Applies to everybody, always, everywhere

Verse: "..and it's recipe do not replicate" (Shemot 30:32)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Prohibition 145

- Danny
Monday, 6 Elul 5770

Mitzvah #206 - Keep the Cohen away from corpses

A Cohen is not allowed to become ritually impure - except for his parents, his father's sons and unmarried daughters, his own children and his wife.

He may not touch nor carry corpses, nor be under the same roof nor hover over a corpse.

The same applies to body parts as well as to blood from a corpse.

A Cohen who becomes ritually impure deserves 39 lashes by Bet Din.

A Cohen may help in the burial of a מת מצוה - if the burial will not happen without his assistance.

Applies everywhere, always, to Kosher male Cohanim, but not to a Chalal

Verse: "He may not become impure for a non relative" (Vayikra 21:1)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Prohibition 141

- Danny
Sunday, 28 Av 5770

Mitzvah #205 - A Cohen cannot marry a divorcee

A Cohen is not allowed to marry a divorcee; if he does then their children are Chalalim and he deserves 39 lashes by Bet Din.

By Rabbinic decree a Cohen is prohibited from marrying a widow whose husband died without offspring and she underwent Chalitza by a surviving brother.

Applies to Cohanim, everywhere, always

Verse: "And a woman divorced from her husband he may not marry" (Vayikra 21:7)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Prohibition 140

Shabbat Shalom

- Danny
Thursday, 25 Av 5770

Mitzvah #203 - Can a Cohen marry a Chalala?

If a Cohen has a daughter from a woman he is not allowed to marry, that daughter has the status of Chalala. (The sons have the status of Chalal.)

Any woman who may not marry a Cohen yet has relations with a Cohen gets the status of Chalala.

A Cohen is not allowed to marry a Chalala.

Applies to Cohanim, everywhere, always.

Verse: "A Chalala... they [the Cohanim] may not marry" (Vayikra 21:7)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Prohibition 139

- Danny
Tuesday, 23 Av 5770

Mitzvah #202 - Who can a Cohen marry?

A Cohen may not marry a Zonah.

A Zonah being defined as:

- A woman who was not born Jewish, or

- A woman who had relations with a man she may not marry, or

- A woman who had relations with a Challal; a child born from a Cohen marrying a Zonah

A child born out of wedlock may marry a Cohen if her parents were permitted [by Halacha] to get married.

Applies to Cohanim ,everywhere, always

Verse: "A Zonah... they [the Cohanim] may not marry" (Vayikra 21:7)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Prohibition 138

- Danny
Monday, 22 Av 5770

Mitzvah #184 - Cohen to become ritually unclean

Even though a Cohen is not usually allowed to become Tameh - ritually impure - by being in contact or under the same roof as a corpse, it's a Mitzva for him to do so for his close relatives.

The close relative are: parents, his father's sons and unmarried daughters, his own children and his wife.
Applies to male Cohanim, everywhere, always

Included in this Mitzva is the obligation for all Jews to "sit Shiva" and mourn their close relatives for a day.

By Rabbinic decree "Shiva" is extended to 7 days, 30 days for lesser mourning and 12 months of mourning for parents.

Verse: "To his mother, father, son, daughter, bother and unmarried sister... he shall become ritually impure" (Vayikra 21:2-3)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Positive Mitzvah 59

- Danny
Tuesday, 24 Tamuz 5770

Mitzvah #181 - Bless the nation

Every Cohen has a Mitzva to bless the Jews with the blessing:

יְבָרֶכְךָ ה' וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ:  יָאֵר ה' פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ: יִשָּׂא ה' פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם

"May Hashem bless you, and guard you: May Hashem shine His face on you, and be gracious to you:  May Hashem lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace." (Bemidbar 6:24 - 26)

If a Cohen does not go to up to bless the congregation when the leader calls out "Cohanim" (before the last Bracha in the Amida) he has missed doing this Mitzva.

Applies to Cohanim, always, everywhere.

Verse: "So shall you bless the children of Israel..." (Bemidbar 6:22)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Positive Mitzvah 58

Shabbat Shalom

- Danny
Thursday, 19 Tamuz 5770

Mitzvah #178 - Separating Challah

It's a Mitzva to separate Challah from dough and give it to a Cohen. (Nowadays, since the dough is impure, the Challah is burned, and not given to a Cohen.)

Applies to dough made of the 5 types of grains: wheat, barley, oats, spelt or rye.

Applies to dough the size of at least 43 1/5 eggs. (Opinions vary between 1.2 Kg and 2.5 Kg)

Applies to everybody, always, in Israel, and by Rabbinic decree outside of Israel, where it is burned.

Verse: "The first of your dough you should separate " (Bemidbar 15:20)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Positive Mitzvah 57

- Danny
Monday, 16 Tamuz 5770

Mitzvah #168 - Redeeming the firstborn

Thirty days after a firstborn son is born, his father needs to redeem him, by giving 5 Shekalim (~117 grams of silver) or items of equivalent value to a Cohen.

The Cohen can use the money for anything he wants, it has no Kedusha - sanctity.

One who had no father at the time, needs to redeem himself when he becomes an adult.

If the firstborn's father or mother are Cohanim or Levi'im, he does not need to be redeemed.

Applies to Israelites, everywhere, always

Verse: "..redeem the firstborn male son. Redeem him at one month old." (Bemidbar 18:15-16)

Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Positive Mitzvah 54

- Danny
Monday, 2 Tamuz 5770