Re: CHAT: Cowan again (was: jokes (was: Fdnyldjikyl Inglyx))

On Tue, 14 Dec 1999 17:17:09 -0500 John Cowan <jcowan@...>
writes:
> > > > even though she
> > > > is 'up there in the caste system' as we call it. :-)
> > > In other words, a Republican?  :-)
> I didn't know what you meant by "caste system", so I mapped it to
> the
> class system in this country, where the rich tend to be Republicans.
> --
> Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan
> <jcowan@...>
Oh...
I was refering to the traditional breakup of the Jewish population into
three groups, _kohein_, _leivi_ and _yisra'eil_.  The _leviyim_ are one
of the Tribes, who were in charge of various technical and ritual aspects
of the Temple of Jerusalem.  The _kohanim_ were the actual "priests" who
performed the sacrifices, a subset of the Leivi tribe.
Since it's hereditary, and even today there are some perks and
responsibilities that go along with the titles, i've heard one or two of
my friends refer to it as "(the damn) Jewish caste system" in jokingly
derogatory terms.  For instance, my friend Evi said that when at a small
party of friends Adam, whose place it was at, offered Jon, a kohein,
first choice of drinks, in accordance with the rule that kohanim get
first dibs on good stuff that's being distributed.  Another time, one of
my friends asked Ilana, a bat-kohein/kohenet, why she always got cholent
early on in the line, and i answered "because she's higher up in the
caste system then the rest of us! :-) "

Btw, i've never ever seen it refered to as a caste system anywhere, it's
probably just a joking description.  Although that is sort of what it
comes down to :-).  I'm not sure why i mentioned Ilana's caste status
along with her difficulties in getting people to pronounce her name
correctly, though.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "Eze-guvdhab wa'hrikh-a tze, / "zhoutzii wa'esh," i eze-mwe."

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