Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear Anna,

Yes, priests who had any deformity, permanent of temporary, were not allowed 
to perform sacrifices. Obviously, a priest who cannot perform sacrifices is 
also disqualified from the office of High Priest. In fact, Josephus recounts 
that one of the later Hasmoneans, I think Aristobolus III, chopped off his 
uncle's ear, thus disqualifying him for the High Priesthood, so that he 
could have the job. If I remember correctly, he was later drowned by King 
Herod in a swimming pool. In any case, a list of these disqualifying 
deformities is written in Lev. 21:17-23. "Left-handedness" (Hebrew "Itter") 
is not among them. But I would not be surprised if later halakhah (Jewish 
law, such as the Talmud and Rambam) included left-handedness in the list. 
Just a generation ago, left-handed people were considered handicapped. My 
father is left-handed. I remember him telling me that when he was in school, 
his teachers forced him to write with his right hand.

Yigal
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <C60605 AT aol.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: <C60605 AT aol.com>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 5:34 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] high-priests ..... left-hand


> '
> '
>        j      anna.          ..do we agree with  this site
> _http://www.ou.org/torah/tt/5764/bereshit64/mikdash.htm_
> (http://www.ou.org/torah/tt/5764/bereshit64/mikdash.htm)  that  appears to 
> be saying that left-handed men could
> NOT serve as temple high-priests  ?
> -
> -
> j    anna
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew