Are Levites and Cohens Jews even though they are not descended from Judah?

Answer 1

Being descended from Judah is not a requirement for being a Jew. Judah is considered to be the founder of the Kingdom of Juda, one of two Hebrew kingdoms and the one to last longest into recorded history. The other was the Kingdom of Israel, located just north of Juda.

Putative descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) is what defines a Jew if you are looking at ancestry as a definition. Both Levis and Cohens are Jews, without question, if you are talking about biblical ancestry and Biblical Israelite tribes.

The Cohens (Kohens or Kohanim), Jewish priests, are considered to be descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses and are certainly Jews.

The Levis (Levites) are associated with the Kohanim, as Levi, founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi, is considered to have been the great grandfather of Aaron and Moses. Thus all Cohens are Levites but not all Levites are Cohens. Levites who are not Kohanim are cousins of the Kohanim.

It is important to recognize that the modern surnames Levi and Cohen may have no connection with the above. When Jews took surnames in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, some who were not Kohanim or Levites took those names as surnames for the secular authorities. Further, Levi has been a popular Biblical name to be taken by Christians, mostly as a personal name but sometimes as a surname.

Since remaining a Kohan in religious terms requires both a mother and a father who are Jewish, and the father must be a Kohan, even those who are from Kohanic families may not have that status in modern times. Further, in modern times some Jews adopted other religions but retained the Cohen and Levi surnames.

And finally, there are other cultures in which the surname Cohen appears as a result of evolution of another name but has no connection with Judaism. The Irish Catholic Cohen or Cohan is most notable in that regard.

Answer 2

Yes. The term Jew is derivative of Judean, not Judah, and therefore, referred to all of members of that Kingdom who observed the same religious practices. As a result, even though Levites and Cohens are not descended from Judah, they were a constituent part of Judean society and are Jews.

Answer 3

Yes.

1) After the exile of the Ten Tribes (some 2600 years ago), the few of the Ten Tribes who remained behind were subsumed into Judah, as was Benjamin. That's why we're all called Jews. 2) At first, we were called Israelites. Later, when the remaining members of all twelve Israelite tribes became called Jews, this name was often applied retroactively to their Israelite ancestors.

See also:

Are Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews the same people?