Recently a gentleman with the same surname as mine inquired of me
whether I was a Cohen, Levy, or Israel. When I replied I was an
Israel, he responded there would be no family relationship because he
was a Levy.

Questions
1. Is there a proper term or phrase related to Cohen, Levy and
Israel, which I call categories? I wish to do an Internet search on
the subject.
2. Is it a fact that if one family is say a Levy and the other is
an Israel that there could be no relationship between these two
families?
3. I have been told that females do not have an assigned category.
That is, a category is passed >from fathers to sons only. Is that
true?
4. If females do not have an assigned category then sons of Jewish
marriages always have the category of the father even if the mother
came >from a Cohen family. Is that true?
5. If a Jewish man was never told his category, what category can
he use if any?
6. Assuming these categories were developed *after* the creation of
man, how were they originally assigned?
7. Are there any records in which the person's category might be
found? Birth, marriage, death, synagogue membership, e.g.?

Alan Weiser, Coordinator
Kolomea Research Group & Website
alanboy@...
Silver Spring, MD USA

MODERATOR NOTE: You will find many messages about Cohen and Levite
status in the Discussion Group archive at
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~archpop