Destruction of Levites – Rationale of the Rabbis

In the very disturbing post http://tanakhemet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/more-orthodox-reform-after-kohanim-were.html

We see the mode of construction of the Mishnah.  It is  something like this:

1)    The puppet High Priest is systematically destroying the Temple service, and annuls a Torah law  regarding the Levites.

2)    Since this is a radical departure from Judaism, there is an attempt to appease some of the more conservative Pharisees or other religious leaders.

3)    A spurious claim is made to justify and present a historical precedent for this action.  Thus a reference to Ezra, which is entirely fictional, is given by the Mishnah (or the Gemara as per Bartenura's commentary)

It is instructive to see what Deut. 26 says about the role of the Levites:

11 And thou shalt rejoice in all the good which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in the midst of thee

12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be satisfied,

13 then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God: 'I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Thy commandment which Thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed any of Thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them.

The Levites are an integral part of the Torah based religion of Israel, and they receive tithes from the people of Israel.    The motive for their removal from this position is entirely self serving, for the rabbis.   Just as they are creating a New religion, a New Israel, they are creating also a new ecclesiastical leadership, to replace the Levites, and to misappropriate the tithes, for their own benefit. Indeed, it was a similar  accusation that Josephus made at the Pharisees, who he said were both manipulating Alexandra Salome as their political puppet, and living off her wealth.

And this is how they continued to treat Israel in general. It should be noted also, that many of the Pharisees had gentile ancestry and hence were not fit to be counted in the Priesthood or Temple services, and this animosity has been demonstrated previously here.

Josephus Wars 1:

"[110] G   And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist her in the government. These are a certain sect of the Jews that appear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the laws more accurately. [111] Now Alexandra hearkened to them to an extraordinary degree, as being herself a woman of great piety towards God. But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselves into her favour by little and little, and became themselves the real administrators of the public affairs: they banished and reduced whom they pleased; they bound and loosed [men] at their pleasure; and, to say all at once, they had the enjoyment of the royal authority, whilst the expenses and the difficulties of it belonged to Alexandra. [112] G   She was a sagacious woman in the management of great affairs, and intent always upon gathering soldiers together; so that she increased the army the one half, and procured a great body of foreign troops, till her own nation became not only very powerful at home, but terrible also to foreign potentates, while she governed other people, and the Pharisees governed her."

- http://www.attalus.org/old/bj_1a.html#111