Currently, the world is saying about us: that we have no real connection to Eretz Yisrael; that we are colonialist usurpers; that Ashkenazim are non-indigenous “White Europeans” and descendants of Khazar converts who colonized settlements in the Middle East with the intent to dispossess the natives; that Hebrew was a dead language until the Zionists began reviving it 150 years ago, etc. The people who spout this nonsense say they’re not antisemites because they believe that they, not the Jews, are the “real” Semites.
All this is refuted with the simple word “Levi.” It’s an ancient Hebrew name, a tribal affiliation, that also confers social status and serves as a surname. This status is meticulously preserved through the generations – a non-Levi would not dare claim this status to obtain the second aliyah, and if one did, he would soon be discovered. The name appears in every Jewish community – Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and everything else. Those who have the title “Levi” not only gain some modest privilege in the present, but can trace their lineage back to those who served in the two Batei Mikdash in Jerusalem, and it’s this pedigree that will also determine who serves in the third Beit HaMikdash.
I’m not a Levi, but my mother is (her maiden name is Levi). While I can’t claim much privilege (except exemption from pidyon haben), it remains a point of pride and an easy, obvious answer to anyone who claims that I have no business living where I live.
