Kohen Who Married Convert

Question

In the 1960s, my grandfather who apparently was a kohen fell in love with a convert to Judaism. He knew he was not supposed to marry her, but they were madly in love, and he married her under the auspices of a Conservative rabbi, who was open to such a marriage. He remained orthodox otherwise, and he and his wife moved to a new community and kept this secret, not admitting the truth. His surname was not one associated with kohanim and he didn’t tell anyone he was a kohen. He went on to have five children and many grandchildren, myself included, and many great grandchildren, with more likely in the future.
Earlier this year, my grandfather died at a ripe old age. My uncle went through some of his belongings and discovered the truth. I always knew my grandmother was a convert, but I didn’t know until recently that my grandfather was a kohen who violated Jewish law. What impact does this have on me and my family?

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Answers

  1. For any males coming from your grandfather, they are what are known as Chalalim (chalal in the singular). What does that mean practically? That they do not any rights that are normally afforded to a Kohen and they are not considered to be Kohanim. Unlike Kohanim, the male descendants of a Chalal also have less restrictions as to who they can marry, which means that they can marry a divorcee. For female descendants, the only restriction is that they cannot marry a Kohen.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team