Ketubot 25: Challenges to Presumptive Status

But if we can't allow men who call themselves priests to claim their priestly lineage, then what good is the notion of presumptive status?  The rabbis argue about the determining factors.  What is decreed by Torah law and what is decreed by the rabbis?  Are we only speaking about the very special parts of an animal, or are we referring to access to all teruma?  And what about in other places, where taking challah from bread or raising ones hands offers priest full access to priestly benefits?  Perhaps receiving teruma directly from the threshing floor establishes one's lineage as a priest. Or perhaps partaking of challah confirms presumptive status.  Bottom line: does what allows a priest to access teruma allow him to claim his lineage?

The rabbis debate over these different traditions in different places, at different times.  And, as a reminder, they are discussing something that has not existed in earnest for some time.  Just like us, the rabbis were debating a topic that held little actual meaning in their lives.  However, every word of Torah was critical.  Thus every word of Talmud, interpreting and bringing Torah to life, must be understood - at least in halacha, if not in its larger meaning.  And so they continued to debate.

The Gemara offers another baraita as an authority: Lifting hands (to recite the priestly blessing), taking of teruma from the threshing floor, and testimony all establish presumptive status.  Yes, even testimony - for example, if a kohen has the first aliyah, he is assumed to be a kohen from then on.  Similarly, a person who has the second aliyah is assumed from that day forward to have the presumptive status of a levite.  

But what if they were just great men?  We learn that first reader is a kohen and second reader is a levite unless there is a prominent Torah scholar present.  Such a great man is given the honour of reading first or second from the Torah. 

The rabbis continue to argue based on a number of different but similar cases.  In each case, a man with questionable linage is permitted to claim his presumptive status as a priest.  Often the rabbis want to know if these men also have been seen on the threshing floor to take their teruma (a common argument is that not all places offer teruma from threshing floors!).  Does the testimony of a father offer his son presumptive status?  What about a brother?

Close to the end of our daf, some rabbis seem to become frustrated with this argument.  If he's good enough for teruma, why isn't he good enough to marry a kohenet?

It is amazing to witness the rabbis arguing about who is 'in' and who is 'out'.  Today, our rabbis continue the same arguments.  And all of this is a scrap of memory, a testament to the stratifications that have long ago become meaningless.