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The tribe is named for Levi one of the twelve sons of Jacob (also called Israel.) Levi had three sons, Gershon , Kohath , and Merari (Genesis 46:11).
Kohath's son Amram was the father of both Moses and Aaron. The descendants of Aaron: the Kohanim ("Priests"), had the special role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also in the Temple in JerusalemThe Jerusalem Temple ( Hebrew: beit ha-mikdash was the center of Israelite and Jewish worship, primarily for the offering of sacrifices known as the korbanot''. It was located on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. According to the Bible, the First Temple was built. The remaining Levites (Levi-im in HebrewThe Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. What makes it unique is that the original Bible, the Torah, by Orthodox Jews held to be recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years ago, was written in Biblical Classical), divided into three groups (the descendents of Gershon, the descendants of Kohath, and the descendants of Merari) each filled different roles as "assistants" to the Kohanim in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple services.
Today, the Kohanim are eligible to read the rolls of TorahTorah [] is a Hebrew word meaning teaching instruction or especially Law''. It primarily refers to the first section of the Tanakh, i. the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. These books are Genesis Bereishit []), Exodus Shemot []), Leviticus Vayikra [] in synagogues firstly, followed by the Leviim.