Letter to the Kohanim of Tunisia

[ . . . ] Any priest who displays haste and exerts pressure to obtain the priestly gifts and sanctified bread, one may be sure that he is essentially of the sons of Eli, as it is said: Even before the fat was made to smoke, the priest’s servant came and said to the man that sacrificed. . . (1 Samuel 2:15). By rights, he ought to be removed from affairs of the priesthood until he reverts to good behavior.

Any priest who is fake, a liar, and a hypocrite, one may be sure that he is the son of a woman who lost her virginity through injury or a woman of damaged lineage. If it is established that she was a virgin [at the time of her marriage], this could not be [determined] for her other female ancestors, for we have learned in a mishnah: “One who marries the daughter of a priest must investigate the pedigree of four generations of her maternal ancestors, which are eight” [m. Kiddushin 4:4], since most of those who are unfit for the priesthood come into the world on account of women.

Any arrogant priest with a proud heart and of haughty demeanor, one may be sure that he is from the slaves of the house of the Hasmoneans, who were haughty, as R. Judah stated in the name of Samuel: Anyone who says: “I come from the house of the Hasmoneans” is a slave and requires investigation; and “from the house of Herod” is a slave! [b. Kiddushin 70b]

Any priest who searches after secret matters, investigates family lineages, and desires to disqualify other priestly brethren, one may be sure that he is no priest, and the establishment of his ancestors as priests was in error. [ . . . ]

Any priest who pursues dissension and disagrees with the words of his colleagues, one may be sure that he is not from the seed of Aaron the priest but a descendant of On [the son of] Peleth, and some say that he is of the Nethinim, descendent of Sanballat the Horonite, from the enemies of Judah.

Any priest who is liberal in dispensing gifts to women, a joker and frivolous, one may be sure that he is steeped in immorality. If you have seen that his ancestors were modest, you may be sure that they committed harlotry and caused others to commit harlotry in secret, and that there is an element of unfitness for the priesthood within them. Regarding them, the sages declared: “Joking and frivolity acclimate a person to sexual immorality and cause his demotion from the priesthood.” [ . . . ]

As for any priest with a smooth tongue, one may be sure that he is the son of a betrothed woman who fell pregnant, for flattery emanates only from a beautiful [non-Jewish] woman [captured by an Israelite in battle], or from a woman who has been raped, or seduced, or from a betrothed woman who has fallen pregnant. [ . . . ]

As for any priest who is preoccupied with his profits throughout the year, and on Sabbaths and festivals, coming into the city, and glorifying himself over his brethren, and disputing with them over matters relating to the priestly blessing and the [sacred] loaves, one may be sure that he is [descended] from the priests of the high places of Baal who went astray, and led Israel astray, concerning whom it is written explicitly in the prophetic literature: The priests did not say: “Where is the Lord?” (Jeremiah 2:8)—for they were preoccupied with their [personal] affairs all the year round, and neglected the study of the Torah, and set at nought the work [to be performed for the sake] of Heaven on account of their monetary [gains]. [ . . . ]

As for any priest who is stricken with leprosy and is not healed, one may be sure that his father sinned with his mother while she was a menstruant, since leprosy comes only as a consequence of [intercourse with] a menstruating woman, and of an arrogant spirit, and of a slanderous tongue, and of envy. [ . . . ]

Any priest who teaches two laws in the morning and two laws in the evening, who speaks truthfully with his brethren, who behaves in an upright manner with his people, who admonishes Israel to observe the Torah and commandments, who benefits the many, [and] who occupies himself with the needs of the community, one may be sure that he is a priest of righteousness, descendant of Phineas ben Eleazar ben Aaron the priest. [ . . . ]

Any priest who is pure in his ways, distinguished in his paths, and upright in his deeds, who rises early and stays late in the synagogues and houses of study, and who preserves himself from all evil things and from all impurity, such a one is a descendant of Zadok the priest and Jehoiada the priest. It is fitting that the holy spirit rest upon him.