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Tuesday January 7, 1997

Kohen gene pioneers fear misuse

DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

NEW YORK -- A scientific discovery of what could be called the "Kohen chromosome" may have religious implications that the scientists never anticipated.

After about four years of work, Michael Hammer, a geneticist who works at the University of Arizona at Tucson, and Karl Skorecki, a scientist based at Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, found that the Jewish priestly lineage can be genetically traced back to the progenitor of all Kohanim, the biblical Aaron.

The lineage is visible in two markers on the Y chromosome that is transmitted from father to son.

Hammer warned, however, that the research is not complete, and that only 20 percent of the men who might be descendants of Aaron had those particular markers.

Several days after the findings were published in the London-based scientific journal Nature and were picked up in the Jerusalem Post, Skorecki has been inundated with phone calls by Orthodox Jews in Israel who want to be tested to prove scientifically that they are descendants of Aaron, Hammer said.

In the time of Israel's First and Second Temples, the priests, or Kohanim, had special religious responsibilities for performing holy rites at the site where God was believed to be made manifest.

Since the destruction of the Second Temple, in 70 C.E., the priests' role has become transformed into one that is purely ceremonial, with special blessings recited by those of the priestly class during services.

According to an Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law, a Kohen may not marry a woman who has been divorced, and may not go near a dead body or into a cemetery.

And some rabbis have expressed concern that the genetic testing could be used to define who is and who is not a Kohen.

"That is a far-out possibility," said Orthodox Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, who is a Kohen.

Hammer, an unaffiliated Jew whose most recent religious connection has been with the Indian guru Sri Chinmoy, said he pursued locating the Kohen chromosome for historical, scientific reasons, but worries the results could be misused.

"We can't prove or disprove very easily if someone is a Kohen from this data. Do we want to?" he wondered.

"If we don't, will somebody else come along, a genetic testing company, and do it, or would the Orthodox rabbinate hire some company to do it for them?"

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