Orthodox Jew Flies In Plane, Covered In Huge Plastic Bag

[Lipush]

Where in the law of Moses does it say you can't fly over cemetery airspace or you will be unclean?

He's a Cohen.

OK. But where do the Cohens derive this practice? What do they cite in the Torah as justification/demand for this behaviour?

In Judaism, Cohens require a special amount of purification, more than other Jews. One of the prohibitions is the entrance of cemeteries, Cohens are not allowed into cemeteries, because in Judaism those are considered unclean. ("And HaShem said unto Moses: Speak unto the priests (Cohens), the sons of Aaron, and say unto them: There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people"- Leviticus 21:1). It is called "Issur M'deRabbanan", 'Prohibition of the Rabbis'.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Answer Synthaholic requested:

The two tribes which have maintained their identities to this day, are the Cohanim and the Leviim, (Cohen and Levite) have been found to carry DNA which has identified both as in fact carry a specific gene which indicates their genetic membership in those tribes. Up until DNA discoveries of identifying genes, these tribal identities were passed down by word of mouth of parents to children.

Those who are identified as neither Cohen or Levite are known as Israelites, that is Jews who have, over the many centuries and due to wars, captivities, diaspora, alienation and so on, or those who have either converted into Judaism or have otherwise either lost or never had knowledge of their tribal origins or simply do not belong to the Cohan or Levite tribes, are Israelites. They are, of course, still Jews and during the holidays when the tribes are traditionally blessed, the three groups are all called upon to bless the communities. That is a Cohan, Levi and Israelite bless the entire congregation, so that all of the congregation, of whatever origin can be blessed.

To explain further, the Cohanim (the addition of "im" is the Hebrew equivalant of the "s" in English, the addition of "im" at the end of a word makes it plural) are, theologically speaking, the priestly tribe as they are, according to Jewish theology, the descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and were a separate tribe established in the desert to create a specific class of priesthood.

By birth, however, Moses, Aaron and their sister Miriam, were born of the Levite Tribe. Thus, those who carry the Cohan Modal Hapletite (a DNA gene discovered some 15 or 20 years ago) can actually trace their genetic ancestry back some 3500 years or so. Genetically speaking, since Moses, Aaron and Miriam were all the offspring of the same parents, they were originally all Levites at the time of the Exodus. But in the desert, the tribe of Cohanim was established specifically as priests, whereas the Levites became the singers and, writers, intellectual class. The rest of the tribes merely maintained their tribal identities as much as they could until historic occurrences such as invasions, occupations, and historical forces disbursed them to areas where they were absorbed into the local population and either disappeared or forgot their tribal origins and/or the gene pool became far more diversified simply by living among other peoples.

Remember, all this happened over close to 4,000 or more years of historical invasions, disruptions, slaughters, intermarriages, rapes and so on. Again, it is only with the advent of DNA discoveries has the lineage of the Cohanim and the Leviim actually been verified.


*** That makes this Jewish man utra, utra, utra orthodox and very rare. Something that should be respected. He is definitely not crazy.