In 1938 , with the outbreak of violence that would come to be known as Kristallnacht , American Orthodox rabbi Menachem HaKohen Risikoff wrote about the central role he saw for Priests and Levites in terms of Jewish and world responses , in worship , liturgy , and '' teshuva '' , repentance . In '' The Priests and the Levites '' , he stressed that members of these groups exist in the realm between history ( below ) and redemption ( above ) , and must act in a unique way to help move others to prayer and action , and help bring an end to suffering . He wrote , " Today , we also are living through a time of flood , Not of water , but of a bright fire , which burns and turns Jewish life into ruin . We are now drowning in a flood of blood ... Through the Kohanim and Levi'im help will come to all Israel . " A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar '' et al. '' pointed to multiple origins for Ashkenazi Levites , who comprise approximately 4 % among the Ashkenazi Jews . It found that Haplogroup R1a1a ( R-M17 ) , uncommon in the Middle East or among Sephardi Jews , is present in over 50 % of Ashkenazi Levites , while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites ' paternal lineage is of certain Middle Eastern origin , including Y-chromosome haplogroups E3b , J2 , F , R1b , K , I , Q , N and L. Haplogroup R1a1a is found at the highest levels among people of Eastern European descent , with 50 to 65 % among Sorbs , Poles , Russians , and Ukrainians . In South Asia , R1a1a has often been observed with high frequency in a number of demographic groups , reaching over 70 % in West Bengal Brahmins in India and among the Mohani tribe in Sindh province in Pakistan . Behar suggested a founding event , probably involving one or very few European men , occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation . As Nebel , Behar and Goldstein speculate , " although neither the NRY haplogroup composition of the majority of Ashkenazi Jews nor the microsatellite haplotype composition of the R1a1 haplogroup within Ashkenazi Levites is consistent with a major Khazar or other European origin , as has been speculated by some authors ( Baron 1957 ; Dunlop 1967 ; Ben-Sasson 1976 ; Keys 1999 ) , one can not rule out the important contribution of a single or a few founders among contemporary Ashkenazi Levites . " A 2013 paper by Siiri Rootsi '' et al. '' confirmed a Near or Middle Eastern origin for all Ashkenazi Levites , including the R1a Y-chromosome carriers , and refuted the Khazar origin : In a later 2017 study Behar '' et al. '' revised their initially mitigated position , concluding that a " Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazi Levite lineage based on what was previously a relatively limited number of reported samples , can now be considered firmly validated " , precising that a " rich variation of haplogroup R1a outside of Europe which is phylogenetically separate from the typically European R1a branches " , referring to the R1a-Y2619 sub-clade
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Levite