Interesting Little Question...

I saw a post on Imamother, asking people to daven for a two-year-old boy who is currently suffering from swine flu and pneumonia. The name given on the thread is Yehoshua ben Miriam HaKohen. I hope he has a quick and complete refuah sh'laimah.

This reminds me of a long-standing (but not terribly important) question that I've always had. When someone's full Hebrew name is used the "HaKohen" title is added to it, does the HaKohen refer to the father or the son? IOW, if we call someone up with the name "Yankel ben Ploni HaKohen," are we attesting to the fact that Yankel is a Kohen, or that Ploni is a Kohen?

Of course, in most cases, it doesn't make a difference as they are both Kohanim. But that may not always be the case. It is certainly possible that the child could NOT be a kohen (imagine a non-frum kohanic father marrying a divorcee and the child -- a challal -- later becoming frum) or even that the child is a Kohen and the father is not (as in a case of adoption -- where I have seen teshuvos where the child should be called as the son of the adopted father).

In such cases, how would you call the person to the Torah? Suppose the son is a challal -- I suppose you could call him up as Yankel HaYisroel ben Ploni HaKohen (although I've never seen it done -- but then again, I don't personally know any challalim either). I would think that you shouldn't just call him up as Yankel ben Ploni since that could lead to a question of P'gam Kehunah (his father, despite his sin, is *still* a kohen and may have other, "legitimate" kohanic children). So, how would you call him up?

Likewise, in the case of an adopted kohen, how would he be called up (according to the opinions that hold that you can use the adopted father's name)? I suppose you could say "Yankel HaKohen ben Ploni." I might think that "Yankel ben Ploni HaKohen might be more problematic as it makes it sound like Ploni is a Kohen.

So, to whom does "HaKohen" refer to in someone's Hebrew name? And, if, in truth, it applies to the father, shouldn't this child be called simply Yehoshua ben Miriam? Or maybe Yehoshua HaKohen ben Miriam?*

The Wolf


* Yes, I suppose it's possible that Miriam is a bas Kohen. But I've never heard of a bas Kohen's daughter or son being davened for a ben/bas Plonis HaKohenes...

Okay, Sometimes It Takes A While To Come Up With The Follow Up Question...

Around Channukah 2007, I asked my Rav how we can make the bracha of "asher kidishanu... l'hadlik ner channukah" when, in fact, God never gave us such a commandment.*

His answer (which I belive is the classic one) is that we're commanded to listen to the words of the sages, so, in effect, it's as if God Himself did command us.

Okay, that's fine.

I finally thought of the follow up question (yeah, I know it's a year and a half -- I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer):

So, why then don't we recite the bracha of "asher kidishanu... lishmoa divrei chachamim" (to listen to the words of the sages) or some variant thereof. If that's the actual God-given commandment that we're following, then why not that bracha?

Anyone have any ideas?

The Wolf

*Of course, the same goes for the bracha before Hallel and the other mitzvos d'rabbanan.

Perplexing Question

I wonder why it is that people like to quote over the famous Talmudic dictum of

כל האומר דבר בשם אומרו מביא גאולה לעולם

("Anyone who says something over in the name of the one who [originally] said it brings redemption to the world") without attributing it to the person who said it (R. Elazar and R. Chanina)?

The Wolf