Maya strapped on her seatbelt as her mother started the engine and they waited for her father to get into the car. It was Sunday afternoon and they were about to go to visit their cousins, who lived just outside the city.

Soon they were on their way. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Maya let the air rush through her hair as the car sped down the highway. She had been looking forward to this as her cousins had only recently moved to England. It would be the first time that Maya would be visiting them in their new home.

Soon they were out of the city, off the highway, driving along a beautiful winding country road. "Ah, the scenery is so pretty!" exclaimed Maya. "And the air is so fresh," she added, opening her window wide and inhaling deeply.

"Yes," agreed her mother from the driving seat, "we will be coming out here on holiday in the summer, to get some more of this fantastic air." She too was a fan of country air and country landscape.

The car, driven by Maya's mother, was moving down a delightful narrow lane, sporadically overhung with trees. Suddenly Maya's father, sitting in the passenger seat at the front and looking at a map, sat up straight. "Hey! I'm sorry!" he called out.

"What's the matter?" asked his wife.

"We have to turn off this road. Quick, stop the car!"

Maya's mother smoothly brought the car to a halt. "What"s the problem?" asked Maya, now feeling annoyed. She thought to herself: Parents! They always have some kind of problem! Sitting in the back seat, she snorted audibly.

"I"m sorry," said her father from the front, "but we cannot go along this route. We will have to go back and find another road."

 "Why?" asked Maya, "what is wrong with this lovely road? Mummy was just saying how beautiful it is here."

Her mother peered at the map which Maya's father was showing her. "Oh, a cemetery!" she said. "Sorry, I didn't realize. It's so good that you noticed it," she said to Maya's father as she began turning the car round, doing a neat three-point turn.

"The problem is," she said, glancing back at Maya, "that on this road we will soon pass a cemetery. The map shows it very clearly."

"What's the deal with the cemetery? Why shouldn't we go near it?" asked Maya, her annoyance gone and her interest sparked.

"We are a family of kohanim," her mother replied. "That means we have special rules. Further along this road there are trees hanging over the road and creating a kind of canopy over the graves and us. Since Daddy is a kohen that is not allowed."

"Oh, I remember," said Maya. "In fact it's in the sedra this week. But it doesn't apply to a girl, does it, Mummy?"

"No, you are quite right. But it does apply to Daddy, and to your brother Chaim, if he would be here instead of being on holiday in Israel."

"It's good to remember about being a kohen," said Maya. "Even out here in the country, the fact that you are a kohen matters. And when Moshiach comes, and there is a beautiful Temple again in Jerusalem, then the fact that you and Chaim are kohanim and can serve in the Temple will be fantastic."