Monday, January 09, 2006

Which Tribe of Israel is our Donor?

I mentioned in my December 22nd post that my children's Jewish priestly / tribal class follows that of the donor under the views of the Conservative Jewish Movement (under which my immediate family practices). Well this past Friday I asked our cryobank to ask the donor if they find him (due to our lifetime photo request) which tribe he descends from if he knows.

This is important to me because before my wife became pregnant with our son I made a promise to go to morning prayers, Shacarit, everyday if she became pregnant. Once she did become pregnant I started and for about a year I kept this promise. During that year my own connection to my religion strengthened.

Originally there were 12 tribes of Israel. Of these 12 only the Levites were called upon to become G-d's servants among the Israelites. Of the Leviim only Aaron (the brother of Moses) and his children were called upon to act as the priests or Kohenim. The remaining Leviim became servants to G-d in the Temple. Not subservient to the Kohanim but posessing different roles in the Temple. As time went on the remaining tribes disappeared (a simple and inexact explanation) and came to be jointly referred to as Israel or Yisroel. The word Jews by the way is derived from the tribe of Judah.

In the present day the distinction between the tribal designations is nominal outside an individuals participation in actual services or prayers. But as I have stated in my prior post I want to try to get the correct info before a time comes that my children are active participants in their religion.

The cryobank stated, upon confirming that they received this new request, that if they make contact with our inactive donor they will ask my question but as of yet he has not responded to their inquiries.

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