What Does a Kohen Have to Do with the Protocols of the Ashkenazic Community of Amsterdam? A Conflict between Community Sanctity and the Righteousness of the Ancients

Abstract

This article deals with an incident in the Ashkenazic community of Amsterdam in 1772 that was documented in the protocols of the community. A member of the congregation confessed to the rabbi after the death of her husband, a kohen, that she was in fact a convert. The rabbi informed her son that as the son of a kohen married to a convert he was defined as a ḥalal (disqualified), and thereby lost his status as a kohen. A few weeks later, the rabbi and his bet din (Jewish tribunal) were required to reconsider the halakhic significance of the mother’s testimony about herself and the status of her children and came to the opposite conclusion, that the mother was not a convert and her son was indeed a kohen. The article discusses the possible reasons for re-examining a halakhic question that had already been decided and for reversing the decision, while clarifying the founding ethos of the community, its style of conduct, and the nature of its records. Finally I speculate about what lay behind the mother’s admission.