1799-] 
ef exemption from the evils of imagina- 
tion, to which the favage ftate feems the 
neareft approach, and from which the 
moft accomplifhed ftate of fociety is per- 
haps the fartheft remove; ftill the en- 
larged views ‘of fcience lay open to the 
mind a ftate of exiftence, the refult of fuch 
a curious and profound contrivance, that 
we cannot but feel anxious to ftudy and 
implicitly obey the tendency of nature, 
our incomprehenfible lawgiver. 

- To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
SHOULD have offered you an anfwer 
| to the Queries of W. H. P. laft month, 
but that I had not then been able to col- 
Jeét all the neceffary information, which I 
have fince chiefly procured from a very 
intelligent and worthy friend of the He- 
brew nation. 
Tt has. often occurred to me, that if we 
were more intimate in our affociations with 
the Jews, we fhould fee how capable they 
are, as well as ourfelves, of every friend- 
fhip and efteem; and ow much more 
fuitable to our own profeffions it would 
be to unite with them as with all mankind 
in brotherly love ; it is unfortunate forus 
all that we muft wait for fome fngular 
example of benevolence, before we -can 
perfuade ourfelves that thofe who differ 
trom us may neverthelefs be worthy of 
every regard ;—we learn in this too gene- 
ral prejudice, to forget the precepts of 
fuim we pretend to ferve, who has told us, 
that all are formed by the hand of one 
Almighty benefastor; and we need not 
an .example, that the virtues of our faith 
may be found even in a Samaritan, and 
that good may really come out of Naza- 
reth. Therefore the more we affociate 
with the Jews, the more we fhall benefit 
sone another. 
Q: 1. Ts the .divifion of the Fews into twelve 
tribes a diftinGion fill kept up by that nation ; 
if fo, has each family a knowledge of the particu- 
lar tribe to which it helongs—and is .the office of 
the priefibood frill a difiiné? appendage to that of 
Levi ? : 
Aafwer to 2. 1.—The divifion of the 
‘twelve tribes is not now kept up among 
the Jews—they confift chiefly of two tribes 
—and I believe no other tr:bes are known 
amoneft them, viz. the Dutch and Ger- 
‘-man jevs are fuppofed to be defcendants 
of Benimmin—and the Portuguefe and 
Spanifh Jews cf Judah:—Each fami- 
ly knows to which of thefe tribes it be- 
longs, though they have intermarried very 
Anfwers to Queries on the Fews. 
One 
much, and in many inftances have not any 
clear and decided judgment of an exagt 
diftinétion. 
The office of priefthood is always pre- 
ferved to 'thofe who are de‘cendants of 
Aaron—many of whom are diftinguifhed 
by the furname of ‘ Cohen,’’ which fig- 
nifies prieft ; all the Cohens are, or fup- 
pofe themfelves to be, lineal defcendants of 
Aaron, and retain in their families the 
right to the priefthood, and the privileges 
of Aaren’s family, amongft which is that 
of not interfering in matters relative to 
_ the dead—they do not perform any offices 
or attend the burials. 
about the body 
Ali Jewifh prietts are of thefe defcendants 
of Aarons Andthe Elders of thefe fa- 
milies pronounce once or oftener every 
_year, in the fynagogue, the bleffing upon 
‘their families, which is recorded in Num- 
bers vi, v. 22, which they maintain as an 
ordinance from God. peculiarly to them, 
as follows + 
‘¢ And the Lord fpake unto Mofes, faying, 
—Speak unto Aaron and unto his fons, faye 
ing, On this wife ye fhall blefs the children 
of Ifrael, faying unto them,—The Lord blefs 
thee, and keep thee:—the Lord make _ his 
face fhine upon thee and be gracious unto 
thee :—-the Lord lift up his countenance upon 
thee, and give thee peace !—And they fhall 
put my name upon the children of Ifrael, and 
I will blefs them.” . 
Thus it appears, that the office of 
priefthood is not in the family of Levi, as 
W.H.P. feems to imagine; but on the 
contrary, the Levites are, and were only 
attendant upon the Priefthood, and in 
fome ot the lefler offices,ot the Temple— 
for it will be remembered, that Levi, and 
his brother Simeon, fons of Jacob and 
Leah, were f{cattered over all Ifrael, and 
had no .fhare in the divifion of Canaan, 
bat only fome cities in the portions of 
other tribes ; for having united in the fin 
and mifchief of an unjuft war; and there- 
fore when their father Jacob bleffed Levi's 
fons, he rebuked Levi and Simeon for their 
combination and cruelty ; adding, “ Cur- 
fed be their anger, for it was fierce; and 
their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide 
them in Jacob, and fcatter them in I{rael.”? 
Gen. xlvi.qve 11, and xix. Vi. 1c, 6. 
It has been generally believed, that the 
priefthood was in the family of Levi; but 
if we turn to the hiftory of Aaron, we 
fhall find that the title to it was confirmed 
by a miracle to Aaronalone. For in the 
revolt of Korah, Dathan and. Abiram 
againft Moles and Aaron’s government, it 
was afferted by Korah, that the priefthood 
belonged to him as much as to Aaron, 
4K 2 beth 
+ 
