Earlier this week, the Jewish People celebrated Chag HaShavuot, the Festival of Weeks, and the celebration of the Giving of the Torah. One of the rituals that occurred in many synagogues on Shavuot and occurs on the other two Jewish Festivals: Pesach and Sukkot, is the ceremony known as Duchening. The Kohanim of the congregation stand upon the bimah and with Talis covering them, the make blessing known as Birkat Kohanim. In Israel, the Duchening ceremony occurs every Shabbat. On Friday night, before sitting down to the Shabbos dinner, the father makes the Birkat Kohanim upon his children. When I have attended my first church wedding, I was surprised that the Catholic Priest made the Birkat Kohanim, in both Latin and English. When I made the Birkat Kohanim this past Friday, our dinner discussion included the recent events in Gaza and Hamas call for Gazans to march toward the security wall in the hopes of breaking it down. There were reports of Gazans flying kites with incendiary devices to be dropped upon the other side of the fence in Israel. Our daughter asked if there was an Islamic equivalent of Birkat Kohanim that a parent offers his/her child, or to the community for that matter.
This Shabbat we read from Parsha Naso. The Parsha’s 176 psukim make it among the longest parsha in the entire Torah. Its length is also reflected in the wide variety of topics covered including: the census for the tribe of Levi, the Priestly tribe, the responsibilities for the maintenance and operation of the Mishkan, the purification of the camp, the treatment of the wayward wife (the Sotah), the vow of the Nazir ( a vow that limits the behavior of the individual as a means of elevating oneself to a higher level of holiness for only a limited time), the identical tribal offerings made by each leader in order on twelve successive days that celebrated the fact that the Mishkan was “open for business”. Inserted in these seemingly disparate rules and narratives are the priestly benediction. A quick glance at the different components of Parsha Naso suggests that each is connected to each other because of the idea of Naso – “lift up”. Indeed each component discussed issues of how we can raise ourselves up in holiness, either through our own actions or the actions of the other.
The Priestly benediction is an example of a third party elevating us, or at least offering a supplication to God on our behalf that we indeed are worthy of blessing. From that perspective, I can’t imagine a more powerful ritual for parents to do with their children. Yevarechecha Adoshem VaYishmarecha, May Hashem bless you and keep you. Ya' eir Adoshem Panav Eilecha VaYichuneka, May Hashem make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you Yisa Adoshem Panav Eilecha VaYaSem Lecha Shalom May Hashem lift his countenance upon you and give you peace.( Num 6:24-26). What does it mean that God should “keep" our children or “guard” our children? Naturally as parents invoking Hashem to protect our children seems like a great idea given all the tsuris in the world. Yet Rashi, the great 11th-century French commentator explains that this first blessing is not Hashem protecting our children. Rather the “blessing” should be the blessing enumerated in the Torah, that our children should be materially well off and Hashem should “protect” our children and their material blessings from those who might take such blessing. The second blessing which speaks of “shining Hashem’s face upon” our child is our desire for our children to become enlightened by Torah and a meaningful relationship with Hashem. The “gracious” is the subliminal understanding that all we can ask for is that our children have an intellectual and spiritual ability to learn Torah and connect to Hashem; we hope Hashem was gracious in giving our children plenty of ability in order to receive such “light”. The third blessing is perhaps the most relevant for parents and children. Rashi explains that “lifting His countenance to you” means that Hashem should suppress His anger. One could also understand that that the light or the enlightenment we seek is the gift of God raising his face up towards us so that we can cast aside or let go of our anger and hatred in order that our souls shall be at peace in this world. Both interpretations suggest that we desire for our children to at peace, to be Shaleim, to be whole and complete. Anger and hatred prevent Shleimah – wholeness, harmony, peace.
I thought about our daughter’s question, I thought about my own childhood dutifully walking towards my father and receiving this blessing. I thought about the blessing itself with its invocation of peace, of God’s shining his glory about the person receiving the blessing. I thought about God raising his face towards the person receiving the blessing. Maybe I am ignorant, however, I remain unfamiliar with any equivalent in Islam where a priest stands before the community and issues Birkat Kohanim or an equivalent. I even looked to see if there was an equivalent. I couldn’t imagine why parents of Gaza would listen to Hamas and place their children in harm’s way. I can’t imagine hating so much that I am willing to harm my own children in order to feed that hatred. I thought about the words that Golda Meir purportedly said: Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” When the Palestinian people stop listening to Hamas, when they stand up to Hamas rather than offer their own children to Hamas’ hatred, then Israel will know there is a partner for peace in Gaza.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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