Levi ( LEE-vy; Hebrew: לֵוִי, Modern: Levī, Tiberian: Lēwī) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and Miriam. Certain religious and political functions were reserved for the Levites. Most scholars view the Torah as projecting the origins of the Levites into the past to explain their role as landless cultic functionaries.
