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KOHEN Origin of surname

KOHEN

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from lineage (priestly, Levite, convert).

Kohen is the Hebrew for "priest". The oldest and probably the most common Jewish family name in existence, Cohen indicates descent from the biblical priestly family, Cohanim. According to tradition, the Cohanim are descendants of Aaron, the first high priest. The Cohanim performed consecrated duties in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem until the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE and still have certain duties and prerogatives in religious life.

A great many variants of the name are documented all over the world. In many cases Cohen was transformed into vernacular-sounding names. This enabled Jews in the Diaspora both to maintain their Jewish tradition, as well as to become part of their host society. Among the forms frequent in the Mediterranean region are Kahin, Al-Kuhen, El-Kohen, Kouihen, Choen, Xohen and Cof(f)en. Variants documented in Europe include: Cowen and Cowan (England); Cohn, Conn, Kahn, Kohn(e) and Kohner (Germany and Austria); Cahn, Cahen, Cahon, Caen and Cain (France); Coen (Italy); Cahan, Cahona, Kahana, Kahano, Kahane, Kon, Koihen, Kagan, Kogan, Kaplan, Kohnowsky, Koganovitch, Kahanow, Kahansky, Konstamm (Eastern Europe). Cohan, Cohane, Cohne, Cone, Coon, Kan and Koon are recorded in the United States. The old title Kohen Tzedek, meaning in Hebrew "authentic priest" (a more accurate translation than the more common term "righteous priest"), indicated authentic lineage. It was abbreviated to Katz, literally "cat" an animal name, in Yiddish and German, and became the source of numerous family names. Cohanim/Cohens who had broken one of the sacred laws or special rules applying to them were sometimes known as Halal and no longer called Cohen. Some took different family names, among them the North African Bettan and Ben Kessous.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Kohen include the Lithuanian-born Hungarian Rabbi Ephraim Kohen (1616-1690) and the 20th century Turkish journalist Samuel Kohen.

Alexander Suslin Ha-Kohen. Talmudist.

He taught in his native Efurt and also in Worms, Cologne and Frankfurt on Main. He was living in Frankfurt in 1345 but then resettled in Erfurt where he died the death of a martyr. He is the last of the early German halakhic authorities.His best known work is Agudda, which collects his legal decisions and arranges them according to the order of the tractates of the Talmud. Under the pressures of the expulsions and persecutions of his time, it is written very concisely.

Anan Ben Marinus Ha-Kohen (11th-12th century), poet, born in Siponto, Italy, he handed down his decision concerning the order in which one is to be called to the reading of the Torah. He ruled that a Kohen should be called when there is no Levite and a Levite when there is no Kohen.
Anan composed a poem to be recited at the end of Sabbath services. The poem is directed to Elijah and asks him to come because a thousand years have already passed since the destruction of the Temple, the Messiah has not yet come and times are bad. He died in Italy.

Jerez de la Frontera

A city in Andalusia, southwest Spain.

It had an important Jewish community. Jerez was captured from the Muslims by Alphonso X of Castile in 1255. His register of the apportionment of property (repartimiento) there shows that in 1266 Jews owned 90 buildings given to them by the King. Among those who received properties, there were Jewish inhabitants of Toledo and other towns in northern Castile who had already received similar grants in Seville. They included Todros Abulafia, his son Joseph, and Judah b. Moses Ha-Kohen. Several of the beneficiaries are described as ballestero ("archer", "guard", "constable"). The Jewish quarter was situated near the Calle de San Cristobal and ran parallel to the city wall. There were two synagogues, almshouses, and a house for the rabbi. The principal occupations of the Jews were commerce and viticulture, as well as the crafts customarily pursued by Jews. In 1290, the community paid an annual tax of 5,000 gold coins, a small sum in proportion to its means. The Jews of Jerez were exempted from various customs duties and enjoyed additional privileges, which were confirmed by Ferdinand IV and Alfonso XI (1332). The community of Jerez, which then numbered 90 families, was attacked during the persecutions of 1391. Those who survived as Jews sold part of their cemetery to the Dominican monastery. The names of 49 Jews who abandoned Judaism during that period are known.

The community was, however, to regain its strength. In 1438 it paid an annual tax of 10,700 maravedis in old coin.

About 1460, an accusation was brought against the Jews by the monks that they had interred a converso within the cemetery precincts. Solomon Ibn Verga gives a description of his relative Judah Ibn Verga, one of the last Jewish tax collectors, who saved the Jews of the town by enlisting the help of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. The community still paid 1,500 maravedis in 1474 and 1482. In 1481, the inquisition in Seville sent emissaries to confiscate the property of conversos who had fled the town. Information that the Jews were to be expelled from Andalusia reached Jerez as early as January 1483. The corregidor and council requested a postponement since they considered that the decree would bring about the economic ruin of the town. The Jews began to sell their property, but the municipal authorities prohibited people from buying it. The expulsion was postponed for six months. In 1484, some Jews are still mentioned as inhabitants of the town, but by 1485 the community had ceased to
exist.

Several autos-da-fe, each lasting some days, were held in Jerez in 1491 and 1492. Some sanbenitos (penitential garments) of repentant conversos were still hanging in the parochial Church of San Dionisio in the 18th century. After the edict of expulsion of 1492 Jews passed through Jerez on their way to exile in North Africa. In 1494, after an outbreak of plague, Christians were ordered to refuse shelter or admittance to their homes to any stranger in the town who had formerly been a Jew.

Tarrega

Town in Catalonia, N.E. Spain.

Like others in that region, the community of Tarrega reached its greatest prosperity in the 13th century. There is little data on the Jews of Tarrega up to the days preceding the black death (1348-49). In 1346 a new synagogue was built there, but the community then suffered heavily from the black death persecutions. In his book Emek Ha-Bakha, Joseph Ha-Kohen tells of the riots which broke out there on the tenth of Av. Three hundred Jews fell on that day, and the survivors were left destitute after giving all their money in exchange for shelter. Pedro IV strove with the utmost energy to quell the rioting and punish its instigators; but he pardoned all the rioters in April 1350. The same month the town council was requested to build the Jewish quarter anew within two years at the place called la font. In order to defray the expenses caused by the riots, Pedro allowed the town council to impose a special tax on foodstuffs.

Also in 1350 the community of Tarrega paid 400 solidos in Barcelona currency as annual tax. As the black death epidemic did not cease, the Jews of Tarrega were never completely out of danger. In 1362 Pedro ordered that measures be taken to protect the community, with guards being selected by the community's trustee (ne'eman). No data is available concerning the condition of the Jews in Tarrega following the persecutions of 1391. At any rate, there was a Jewish community there throughout the 15th century, probably existing until the general expulsion from Spain in 1492, as shown by the fact that in the late 1470s the physician Abraham Shalom was asked to come and settle in Tarrega from nearby Cervera.

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KOHEN Origin of surname
KOHEN

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from lineage (priestly, Levite, convert).

Kohen is the Hebrew for "priest". The oldest and probably the most common Jewish family name in existence, Cohen indicates descent from the biblical priestly family, Cohanim. According to tradition, the Cohanim are descendants of Aaron, the first high priest. The Cohanim performed consecrated duties in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem until the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE and still have certain duties and prerogatives in religious life.

A great many variants of the name are documented all over the world. In many cases Cohen was transformed into vernacular-sounding names. This enabled Jews in the Diaspora both to maintain their Jewish tradition, as well as to become part of their host society. Among the forms frequent in the Mediterranean region are Kahin, Al-Kuhen, El-Kohen, Kouihen, Choen, Xohen and Cof(f)en. Variants documented in Europe include: Cowen and Cowan (England); Cohn, Conn, Kahn, Kohn(e) and Kohner (Germany and Austria); Cahn, Cahen, Cahon, Caen and Cain (France); Coen (Italy); Cahan, Cahona, Kahana, Kahano, Kahane, Kon, Koihen, Kagan, Kogan, Kaplan, Kohnowsky, Koganovitch, Kahanow, Kahansky, Konstamm (Eastern Europe). Cohan, Cohane, Cohne, Cone, Coon, Kan and Koon are recorded in the United States. The old title Kohen Tzedek, meaning in Hebrew "authentic priest" (a more accurate translation than the more common term "righteous priest"), indicated authentic lineage. It was abbreviated to Katz, literally "cat" an animal name, in Yiddish and German, and became the source of numerous family names. Cohanim/Cohens who had broken one of the sacred laws or special rules applying to them were sometimes known as Halal and no longer called Cohen. Some took different family names, among them the North African Bettan and Ben Kessous.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Kohen include the Lithuanian-born Hungarian Rabbi Ephraim Kohen (1616-1690) and the 20th century Turkish journalist Samuel Kohen.
Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People
Alexander Suslin Ha-Kohen

Alexander Suslin Ha-Kohen. Talmudist.

He taught in his native Efurt and also in Worms, Cologne and Frankfurt on Main. He was living in Frankfurt in 1345 but then resettled in Erfurt where he died the death of a martyr. He is the last of the early German halakhic authorities.His best known work is Agudda, which collects his legal decisions and arranges them according to the order of the tractates of the Talmud. Under the pressures of the expulsions and persecutions of his time, it is written very concisely.

Anan Ben Marinus Ha-Kohen

Anan Ben Marinus Ha-Kohen (11th-12th century), poet, born in Siponto, Italy, he handed down his decision concerning the order in which one is to be called to the reading of the Torah. He ruled that a Kohen should be called when there is no Levite and a Levite when there is no Kohen.
Anan composed a poem to be recited at the end of Sabbath services. The poem is directed to Elijah and asks him to come because a thousand years have already passed since the destruction of the Temple, the Messiah has not yet come and times are bad. He died in Italy.

Jerez de la Frontera

Jerez de la Frontera

A city in Andalusia, southwest Spain.

It had an important Jewish community. Jerez was captured from the Muslims by Alphonso X of Castile in 1255. His register of the apportionment of property (repartimiento) there shows that in 1266 Jews owned 90 buildings given to them by the King. Among those who received properties, there were Jewish inhabitants of Toledo and other towns in northern Castile who had already received similar grants in Seville. They included Todros Abulafia, his son Joseph, and Judah b. Moses Ha-Kohen. Several of the beneficiaries are described as ballestero ("archer", "guard", "constable"). The Jewish quarter was situated near the Calle de San Cristobal and ran parallel to the city wall. There were two synagogues, almshouses, and a house for the rabbi. The principal occupations of the Jews were commerce and viticulture, as well as the crafts customarily pursued by Jews. In 1290, the community paid an annual tax of 5,000 gold coins, a small sum in proportion to its means. The Jews of Jerez were exempted from various customs duties and enjoyed additional privileges, which were confirmed by Ferdinand IV and Alfonso XI (1332). The community of Jerez, which then numbered 90 families, was attacked during the persecutions of 1391. Those who survived as Jews sold part of their cemetery to the Dominican monastery. The names of 49 Jews who abandoned Judaism during that period are known.

The community was, however, to regain its strength. In 1438 it paid an annual tax of 10,700 maravedis in old coin.

About 1460, an accusation was brought against the Jews by the monks that they had interred a converso within the cemetery precincts. Solomon Ibn Verga gives a description of his relative Judah Ibn Verga, one of the last Jewish tax collectors, who saved the Jews of the town by enlisting the help of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. The community still paid 1,500 maravedis in 1474 and 1482. In 1481, the inquisition in Seville sent emissaries to confiscate the property of conversos who had fled the town. Information that the Jews were to be expelled from Andalusia reached Jerez as early as January 1483. The corregidor and council requested a postponement since they considered that the decree would bring about the economic ruin of the town. The Jews began to sell their property, but the municipal authorities prohibited people from buying it. The expulsion was postponed for six months. In 1484, some Jews are still mentioned as inhabitants of the town, but by 1485 the community had ceased to
exist.

Several autos-da-fe, each lasting some days, were held in Jerez in 1491 and 1492. Some sanbenitos (penitential garments) of repentant conversos were still hanging in the parochial Church of San Dionisio in the 18th century. After the edict of expulsion of 1492 Jews passed through Jerez on their way to exile in North Africa. In 1494, after an outbreak of plague, Christians were ordered to refuse shelter or admittance to their homes to any stranger in the town who had formerly been a Jew.

Tarrega

Tarrega

Town in Catalonia, N.E. Spain.

Like others in that region, the community of Tarrega reached its greatest prosperity in the 13th century. There is little data on the Jews of Tarrega up to the days preceding the black death (1348-49). In 1346 a new synagogue was built there, but the community then suffered heavily from the black death persecutions. In his book Emek Ha-Bakha, Joseph Ha-Kohen tells of the riots which broke out there on the tenth of Av. Three hundred Jews fell on that day, and the survivors were left destitute after giving all their money in exchange for shelter. Pedro IV strove with the utmost energy to quell the rioting and punish its instigators; but he pardoned all the rioters in April 1350. The same month the town council was requested to build the Jewish quarter anew within two years at the place called la font. In order to defray the expenses caused by the riots, Pedro allowed the town council to impose a special tax on foodstuffs.

Also in 1350 the community of Tarrega paid 400 solidos in Barcelona currency as annual tax. As the black death epidemic did not cease, the Jews of Tarrega were never completely out of danger. In 1362 Pedro ordered that measures be taken to protect the community, with guards being selected by the community's trustee (ne'eman). No data is available concerning the condition of the Jews in Tarrega following the persecutions of 1391. At any rate, there was a Jewish community there throughout the 15th century, probably existing until the general expulsion from Spain in 1492, as shown by the fact that in the late 1470s the physician Abraham Shalom was asked to come and settle in Tarrega from nearby Cervera.