Kohen or cohen is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood. Levitical priests or kohanim are traditionally believed and halakhically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the biblical Aaron, brother of Moses. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, kohanim performed the daily and holiday duties of sacrificial offerings. Today, kohanim retain a lesser though distinct status within Rabbinic and Karaite Judaism, are bound by additional restrictions according to Orthodox Judaism. In the Samaritan community, the kohanim have remained the primary religious leaders. Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders are sometimes called kahen, a form of the same word, but the position is not hereditary and their duties are more like those of rabbis than kohanim in most Jewish communities; the noun kohen is used in the Torah to refer to priests, whether Jewish or pagan, such as the kohanim of Baal or Dagon, though Christian priests are referred to in Hebrew by the term komer.

Kohanim can refer to the Jewish nation as a whole, as in Exodus 19:6, part of the Parshath Yithro, where the whole of Israel is addressed as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation". The word kohen derives from a Semitic root common at least to the Central Semitic languages; the cognate Arabic word كاهن‎ kāhin means “priest“, or "soothsayer, augur". Translations in the paraphrase of the Aramaic Targumic interpretations include "friend" in Targum Yonathan to 2 Kings 10:11, "master" in Targum to Amos 7:10, "minister" in Mechilta to Parshah Jethro; as a starkly different translation the title "worker" and "servant", have been offered as a translation as well. The status of priest kohen was conferred on Aaron, the brother of Moses, his sons as an everlasting covenant or a covenant of salt. During the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and until the Holy Temple was built in Jerusalem, the priests performed their priestly service in the portable Tabernacle, their duties involved offering the daily and Jewish holiday sacrifices, blessing the people in a Priestly Blessing also known as Nesiat Kapayim.

In a broader sense, since Aaron was a descendant of the Tribe of Levi, priests are sometimes included in the term Levites, by direct patrilineal descent. However, not all Levites are priests; when the Temple existed, most sacrifices and offerings could only be conducted by priests. Non-priest Levites performed a variety of other Temple roles, including ritual slaughter of animals, song service by use of voice and musical instruments, various tasks in assisting the priests in performing their service; the Torah mentions Melchizedek king of Salem, identified by Rashi as being Shem the son of Noah, as a "priest" kohen to El Elyon Genesis 14:18. The second is Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis Jethro, priest of Midian both pagan priests of their era; when Esau sold the birthright of the first born to Jacob, Rashi explains that the priesthood was sold along with it, because by right the priesthood belongs to the first-born. Only when the first-born sinned in the incident of the golden calf, the priesthood was given to the Tribe of Levi, which had not been tainted by this incident.

Moses was supposed to receive the priesthood along with the leadership of the Jewish people, but when he argued with God that he should not be the leader, God chose Aaron as the recipient of the priesthood. Moses is, referred to as a priest in Psalms 99:6 - according to tradition, this refers to his service in the first seven days of the dedication of the Tabernacle. Aaron received the priesthood along with his children and any descendants that would be born subsequently. However, his grandson Phinehas had been born, did not receive the priesthood until he killed the prince of the Tribe of Simeon and the princess of the Midianites. Thereafter, the priesthood has remained with the descendants of Aaron; the Torah provides for specific vestments to be worn by the priests when they are ministering in the Tabernacle: "And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for dignity and for beauty". These garments are described in detail in Exodus 28, Exodus 39 and Leviticus 8; the high priest wore eight holy garments.

Of these, four were of the same type worn by all priests, four were unique to the Kohen Gadol. Those vestments which were common to all priests, were: Priestly undergarments: linen pants reaching from the waist to the knees "to cover their nakedness" Priestly tunic: made of pure linen, covering the entire body from the neck to the feet, with sleeves reaching to the wrists; that of the high priest was embroidered. Priestly sash: that of the high priest was of fine linen with "embroidered work" in blue and purple and scarlet. Priestly turban: that of the high priest was much larger than that of the priests and wound so that it formed a broad, flat-topped turban; the vestments that were unique to the high priest were: Priest

The Jay White House is a single-family home located at 1109 W. Genesee Street in Lapeer, Michigan, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Phineas and Enoch White were two of Lapeer's original pioneering settlers. Jay White, one of their descendants, was born in 1869; this house was constructed for him and his wife, Emma Gale, in 1899 or 1900, when the couple was in Hanover, serving as US Consul. It was sold to George H. Cary, the owner of the Marshall Hotel and Livery. A owner was Raymond T. Carpenter, a clothing merchant; the Jay White House is a two-story shingle residence. It is a unique and individualized architectural style, with Romanesque Revival influences; the roof of the house is steeply pitched in the front, running upward from above the front entrance between two side towers. The recessed front entrance porch is reached through a wide but shallow arch, framed with split fieldstones; the massive, squat towers are topped with conical roofs and copper finials.

The first floor level is clad in brick, which changes to shingles on the upper portions of the side facades. The windows in the house are all double-hung with the upper sash one-half the height of the lower

A herdshare is a contractual arrangement between a farmer and an owner of livestock - the shareholder or member - through which the shareholder is able to obtain raw milk, meat and other profits of the livestock proportionate to the shareholder's interest in the herd. Herdshares include cowshares and sheepshares, are sometime referred to as "farmshares" or "dairy-shares," although the term "farmshare" can refer to an entire farm held in joint ownership. A herdshare enables consumers to obtain raw milk in a jurisdiction that may otherwise prohibit the sale of raw milk. Parties may choose to enter into herdshare agreements in jurisdictions that do permit some type of raw milk sale because a herdshare may provide a more economically secure business model for a dairy farmer than conventional dairy farming otherwise would provide for. Under the terms of a herdshare agreement, the shareholder purchases a share of a dairy farmer's herd and receives a portion of either the product or the profit of the herd proportionate to the shareholder's corresponding interest.

Unlike a direct sale of raw milk for consideration, a shareholder pays a one-time fee in exchange for her undivided interest in the herd. This is the bill of sale. In addition to the bill of sale, the shareholder pays a monthly boarding fee that covers the farmer's cost for labor and maintenance of the herd. For example, if the farmer has one cow valued at $800, the shareholder may purchase a 1/25 undivided interest in the herd for $32.00. The parties would execute a bill of sale transferring a 1/25 ownership stake in the cow from the farmer to the shareholder in exchange for $32.00. If the cow produces 30 gallons of milk per week, the shareholder may choose to receive up to 1 and a 1/5 gallons of milk per week. If the cow is slaughtered the shareholder may be entitled to 1/25 of the meat or the value of the meat. If the cow is shown at a competition and wins a prize, the shareholder may choose to receive up to 1/25 of the value of that award. In addition to both the bill of sale and the boarding fee, the herdshare agreement may include terms for a trial period and storage of the milk, care of the herd, maintenance of the farm, liability and risk of loss.

Terms for the boarding, care of the herd, handling of the milk may be separate documents. Advocates of herdshare arrangements argue that herdsharing is rooted in the common law tradition of agistment. Agistment is "a type of bailment in which a person, for a fee, allows animals to graze on his or her pasture." References to agistment in England can be traced as far back as 1305. Agistment is still practiced in the countries that make up the Commonwealth of Nations and in the western United States for the grazing of beef cattle. Herdshare advocates maintain that the dairy farmer operating a herdshare is an "agister" who holds the cows in bailment for the cow's owners, the shareholders. However, some courts in the United States reject this interpretation of the herdshare agreement refusing to find that the shareholder has a legitimate claim to ownership in the herd; the Weston A. Price Foundation, an organization that encourages raw milk consumption and advocates for increased consumer access to raw milk, claims that the first example of an arrangement bearing some similarity to a herdshare occurred in 1627 when Captain Myles Standish of the Plymouth Colony purchased a 1/6 share of a "red cow."The first herdshare began in the United States in 1995 in Loveland, Colorado at Guidestone CSA Farm and Center for Sustainable Living.

In 2013, the Weston A. Price Foundation listed 365 herdshares operating in 31 states. Researchers at Michigan State University Department of Large Animal Clinical Studies interviewed 56 individuals all of whom obtained raw milk for personal consumption through a herdshare arrangement. Shareholders drove an average of 24 miles 4 times per month to pick up their raw milk from the farm. Half of the respondents lived in the "country" while the remainder lived in the city. 64 % of respondents had higher. 91% of respondents believed that raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk and nearly 80% disagreed with the claim that drinking raw milk would increase their risk of contracting a foodborne illness. All respondents had visited the farm where their milk was produced. Respondents drink raw milk for the following reasons: No jurisdiction in the United States bans either the production or the consumption of raw milk. However, a few states restrict to varying degrees the sale of raw milk. Twelve states in the United States permit herdshare arrangements via legislation, policy, or court decision: The federal government of the United States prohibits the interstate sale or transfer of raw milk.

No person shall cause to be delivered into interstate commerce or shall sell, otherwise distribute, or hold for sale or other distribution after shipment in interstate commerce any milk or milk product in final package form for direct human consumption. While not expressly prohibiting herdshares, the language "otherwise distribute... in interstate commerce" would appear to bar herdshares from operating across state lines. Indeed, in 2012, the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania convicted a dairy farmer for unlawfully entering raw milk into interstate commerce; the farmer cla