הלכות תפילה וברכת כהנים פרק י״ד

Laws of Birkat Kohanim – Chapter 14 of the Laws of Prayer

Introduction: Structure of the Laws of Prayer and the Connection to Birkat Kohanim

Speaker 1: So, gentlemen, we’re going to put away the TikTok, we’re going to sit down and learn. And we’re learning the Laws of Birkat Kohanim, Laws of Prayer, Birkat Kohanim, Chapter 14. Finally we’ve arrived at Birkat Kohanim.

And there was a yasher koach for our donor, Rabbi Yoel Wertzberger. The donor is in our shiur, and in this shiur, and in all the other shiurim, and everyone should follow his segulah, that when everyone supports the shiur, one will also become wealthy, as it goes. And also if one follows the scholar, one will become a scholar, and everyone should follow whatever they want. Yes.

So what have we been discussing? Yes, the Laws of Birkat Kohanim. So we’ve been learning the fourteenth chapter of the Laws of Prayer, it’s the last two chapters of the Laws of Prayer. What does prayer have to do with Birkat Kohanim? And we learned something nice, the first nine or ten chapters there were about prayer, and afterwards there were a few about the reading of the Torah, and now we’re going to learn about Birkat Kohanim.

I think it’s three chapters about the reading of the Torah, let’s see. From… from 8, let’s see. Wait, I’m jumping here. Ah, sorry. What is it? Ah, I didn’t say that I don’t have a list, no? I didn’t say that I don’t have a list. The Rambam made a chart, what is what. We’ll see, from 11, sorry. Ah, it was more, it covered more. Laws of the Synagogue. The order of the synagogue.

Until Chapter 10 was the Laws of Prayer. Afterwards from 11 is the synagogue. From 12 to 13, it’s only two chapters, are the Laws of Reading the Torah. 14 and 15 are the Laws of Birkat Kohanim.

The Connection of the Community: Synagogue, Torah Reading, Birkat Kohanim

So the connection really, the connection is the community, that the community prays together in the synagogue. Because as long as one prays individually, there’s no Torah reading, no Laws of the Synagogue, no Birkat Kohanim. The Kohanim need to bless the people there where they are, and the Torah reading needs to be there where the people are. The people come to synagogue to pray, and then one includes it.

Or perhaps the opposite, perhaps one comes to read, and prays then, I don’t know. Perhaps one comes for Birkat Kohanim. But by us, when we duchenen on Yom Tov, the people come for the duchenening, no? It’s more like, one comes to receive the blessing.

Speaker 2: I meant in synagogue, but yes, one brings the children.

Speaker 1: It’s very interesting, and the commentators don’t ask this way, we also ask our own questions without the commentators, one doesn’t need to wait for the commentators to ask, that the Rambam doesn’t begin that there is a positive commandment to bless Israel, it says in the Sefer HaMitzvot, in the list of commandments, a commandment to bless Israel. Here in the enumeration of commandments at the front of the laws it also says to bless Israel every day. In other places it doesn’t say every day, in some places it says yes, in some places it doesn’t say.

Question: Why Doesn’t the Rambam Begin with the Commandment?

It’s similar to the Laws of Prayer, seemingly he could have brought in the Laws of Prayer that there is a commandment to bless Israel, perhaps it’s even a commandment every day, and he placed it in prayer. But one doesn’t see, one doesn’t see from the inside, he begins immediately when one says Birkat Kohanim at Shacharit it’s a commandment for such and such a day. It seems somehow that he’s not explaining the connection, the true connection of Birkat Kohanim with prayer in general. What’s going on here?

Discussion: Answer of the Radbaz and Questions on It

Speaker 2: And you don’t know, you know, right? You know yes? Or did you already tell me, because the people are there.

Speaker 1: Okay, the people are there, but it’s interesting that he doesn’t begin with the verse as you say, as he begins many commandments. He does begin as you know, that you’ve already been in synagogue, yes, he’s speaking to the worshippers, you’ve been in synagogue and you’ve seen the Kohen read, you also think, and he tells you such and such is the law, the Kohanim stand at Shacharit.

So says the Radbaz, it’s a whole, it doesn’t fit with the way of the Rambam, I don’t agree. The Radbaz argues, he says it also by the reading of Shema, right? He doesn’t begin with a positive commandment to read the Shema, he begins with the reading of Shema, twice daily morning and evening, whatever he begins. And the Radbaz has an answer about this, you spoke about responsa, he has a commentary on the Rambam, a piece from his responsa, and he says that sometimes when the Rambam, when it’s something that everyone knows, he only begins with the detailed laws, but it’s strange.

The Mishnah one can tell you, because the Mishnah says novel teachings, but the Rambam would tell you every commandment. So, I know, but the fact is, one sees that he assumes that you already know that there is a Haftarah for example, he never said that there is a Haftarah, he only said details about it.

I’m not sure how to explain this. It could be he was simply tired and he didn’t have everything, the Rambam was also flesh and blood.

Speaker 2: The Rambam is allowed to say such an explanation?

Speaker 1: One must think, one must think. Can’t it be that the Rambam was also flesh and blood and he didn’t organize everything one hundred percent according to his plan? No, if you want to say the way, you can say the opposite. The Rambam wanted to show that a person can be flesh and blood and still become a Rambam. It’s certainly to teach a lesson to the rabbi, that one shouldn’t simply sin because he was a human being. There’s a difference.

Speaker 2: Okay, that’s already deep Torah.

Speaker 1: No, he shows the world his vulnerability, to show that… why further should he really?

Speaker 2: Okay, no, that’s completely different.

Speaker 1: Okay, let’s learn but inside.

Speaker 2: Yes, learn from there forward. Different before that.

Is Birkat Kohanim a Daily Biblical Obligation?

Speaker 1: Okay, so, in the Torah it says that the Kohen is commanded to bless Jews. And many times when it says in the Torah that there is a commandment that must be done, and it doesn’t say a time when it should be done, one does it every day. Like tzitzit, tefillin, Kriat Shema. Kriat Shema it says clearly, because it says “when you lie down and when you rise.” But also prayer and all these other things are every day, because every day the person does everything every day, like one puts on clothes and goes out of the house.

But still, it could be as we learned by prayer, it’s not simple that there is a daily obligation. It could be that the fact that one must do it every day could even be rabbinic. It’s not simple that if one missed one day of Birkat Kohanim it’s simple that he’s nullifying a commandment, the same way that one nullifies the commandment of matzah on Pesach. It’s a commandment, and the maximum that one can do it is every day when Jews come to synagogue. And the Jews do indeed come to synagogue.

It could be that sometimes there weren’t synagogues and study halls, and there was only the Temple, and only in the Temple did one duchen, and in the other places it was indeed clear that it didn’t come out.

Proof from Ashkenazic Custom

Let’s say clearly, the great proof from the Sephardim who duchen, it’s not really an obligation like a positive commandment every day, is from us Ashkenazim who have conducted ourselves for a long time not to duchen except on Yom Tov, only on the occasion of Yom Tov. So it says in the war what does the commandment do, how it looks up above. In any case, we held that it’s not a daily obligation. It’s an obligation that when you can, and the Ashkenazim said, “We can’t, we are in exile, we don’t have the strength to give a blessing to Jews.” Can you give a blessing to another Jew?

Can a Kohen Bless a Jew Privately?

But it has to do with another question, that if a Kohen blesses a Jew not when it’s Yom Tov when he says Birkat Kohanim, he meets a Jew and he says to him “may you be blessed,” is he thereby fulfilling a positive commandment? Seemingly one would say yes. Seemingly. I don’t know what the law is. There’s a verse that says “thus shall you bless,” it must be at a certain time, it must be that the verse says “and I will bless them,” it must be with the raising of hands, it must be in the holy tongue. The approach should be a certain in this way, in this style. It’s not that you say once, you should be blessed, also a commandment to bless a Jew, I already know which commandment is blessed.

No, if I remember in halacha, I think one can make the blessing and bless, if one wants to bless Jews. A Kohen may, it’s not an unnecessary blessing or something.

Speaker 2: Which blessing? You mean “to bless His people Israel”?

Speaker 1: Yes, without the blessing. And the world in, I don’t know. But it could be that this is the order. But conversely, as a minority it could be yes that it’s when one can, not really an obligation every day.

The others, those who instituted it later in the Land of Israel, one conducts oneself today in places that one says Birkat Kohanim every day. They do look at it really like a daily commandment.

Customs of Duchenening: Satmar and Others

Satmar Rebbe on Duchenening in Exile

It’s very interesting, the Rebbe of blessed memory, the Satmar Rebbe, after whom I’m named Yoel, writes that there were those who wanted to institute that one should indeed begin in exile to say every Shabbat, every day, or every Shabbat, but the Maharil Shasportas, who was the great one of his generation, the Satmar Rebbe mentioned him several times as the great zealot, was concerned that the new enactment comes from Sabbateans, or I don’t remember the details, and it was nullified. And from this he brings out that we are like minimizing in such a matter of permission, I don’t know, we don’t do the commandment of Birkat Kohanim so many times because we want to make a statement that we won’t take from any wicked people.

Satmar’s Custom – Shabbat Chol HaMoed

It’s interesting, Satmar has one time when only Satmar duchenens, and that is Shabbat Chol HaMoed. The Satmar Rebbe was in the Land of Israel, and he saw the duchenening, and he was in Jerusalem, he held himself like a Jerusalem rabbi, he held himself in a few things as he held that he’s a Jerusalem rabbi, therefore he celebrated Purim, he only celebrated Purim in Jerusalem, Purim Meshulash. He began duchenening. It’s very interesting, because on one hand he’s the great zealot, he’s the rabbi of the zealots, may one indeed sometimes duchen. It’s not such a great sin.

Discussion: Custom When Yom Tov Falls on Shabbat

Speaker 2: I once heard that there’s a difference regarding Shabbat Chol HaMoed, I don’t remember. Something with the mikveh, something with a Torah scroll.

Speaker 1: I also once heard such a thing, that this is a… I don’t remember, but some piece of Torah. Okay, it’s not important. Something because Yom Tov if it falls on Shabbat one doesn’t duchen, so is the custom.

Speaker 2: Why not?

Speaker 1: One just doesn’t say the… one duchenens, yes, one doesn’t say the… there’s a custom not to duchen. And one isn’t lengthy. One duchenens Shabbat, Yom Tov that falls on Shabbat.

Speaker 2: Really? I remember that one doesn’t duchen at all.

Speaker 1: One doesn’t complete at the end of duchenening, but… no, one duchenens yes. One doesn’t ask for a dream, but one duchenens.

Speaker 2: Perhaps in Satmar? Perhaps not everywhere?

Speaker 1: Could be? I remember that there is, there is the custom of most of Ashkenaz that one doesn’t duchen when it’s Shabbat. And the answer is, because one can’t go to the mikveh before duchenening, and on Shabbat one may not go to the mikveh, so one doesn’t duchen when it’s Shabbat.

Speaker 2: Yes, it could be in Satmar there’s a different procedure, yes.

Speaker 1: But so is the custom for the most part. And something, what is the law with Shabbat Chol HaMoed? I’m not sure.

Speaker 2: Ah, he says that today the Chassidim go to the mikveh anyway before Shabbat, so one can already duchen even on Shabbat.

Speaker 1: Why does one duchen on Yom Tov? Because it’s more calm, it’s a thing, it’s a reasoning. Shabbat Chol HaMoed is also calm, perhaps that’s the reasoning. It makes sense.

Law 1: When Does One Duchen – Shacharit, Musaf, Neilah, Not Mincha

Speaker 1: Okay, we’re learning well. And the Chassidim in Tzfat, the Chassidim need to duchen only at Shacharit and Musaf. So, there’s a verse, “thus shall you bless.” But already, this is the law.

Okay, but regarding the essence, I think the Rema rules that one must indeed conduct oneself to duchen every day, as is the law. It’s an Ashkenazic custom. Shacharit, Musaf and Neilah, but not any raising of hands. Shacharit, Musaf, Neilah one duchenens. It’s a bit, when one can, except when there’s a chance that one has already gotten drunk.

But at Mincha there is no raising of hands, lest at Mincha he has already drunk to the point of lightheadedness. Mincha is usually after the meal of Shabbat afternoon or Yom Tov afternoon, and perhaps he drank to the point of lightheadedness.

Speaker 2: He’s talking about a whole week.

Speaker 1: He’s talking about a whole week.

Speaker 2: Ah, every day. Ah, only at Shacharit, but not at Mincha.

Speaker 1: Wow, even on a fast day when one may not drink, there is no raising of hands at Mincha, a decree regarding Mincha of a fast day because of Mincha of every day. Yes, on a fast day more people keep the order of Mincha in the study hall, and they will think that… yes, so much so that one has already made an enactment that at Mincha one doesn’t duchen even on a fast. In which place do they say… on which fast does one not duchen at Mincha? And this is the reason why at Mincha on a fast there is Yom Kippur with a public fast, but a private fast doesn’t have this matter.

Raising of Hands at Mincha and the Order of Raising of Hands Outside the Temple

Raising of Hands at Mincha — Continuation of Discussion

Mincha of Yom Kippur vs. Mincha of Other Fasts

Speaker 1: Shacharit, Musaf, Neilah, one duchenens. But, it’s figured out when one can, except when there’s a chance when one has already gotten drunk. Ah, at Mincha, one raising of hands? Only at Mincha, the congregation, all the people. Mincha is usually after the meal of Shabbat afternoon, or Yom Tov afternoon. He’s talking about a whole week, ah, every day. Ah, only at Shacharit, what not at Mincha. Oy, even on a fast day when one may not drink, there’s no campaign at Mincha, a decree regarding Mincha of a fast, and at Mincha of every day. On a fast day more people keep the order of Mincha in the study hall, and they will think that… yes, that’s how it is. One has already made an enactment, that at Mincha one doesn’t duchen on fasts. We’re talking about them. When on which fasts does one not duchen at Mincha, and on which fasts does one not duchen at Mincha specifically…

Speaker 1: Yom Kippur and a public fast, like David’s fast on the 17th of Tammuz at Neilah, like the fast of the 9th of Av and the 17th of Tammuz, and the Mincha prayer of peace, the fast of the 9th of Av and the 17th of Tammuz, one prays Mincha late. The point is this, Neilah is a prayer that one adds between Mincha and the sunset, the simple shall put, where a monk from the land, because the Rambam said which gently need to pray Mincha before the closing of Mincha? But you can mean to say, the point is that it’s the last prayer. It should be the last prayer! There’s no prayer between Mincha and… at night! Like at least, it comes out at least lights no nights. It doesn’t look like the rule at Mincha. Above, it doesn’t look exchanged with Mincha of a weekday. It looks like the night of the fast. It’s like at least from… from the ninth were from the ninth were, and there used to be such a night… we still have, and the place with during the two. And it’s interesting, because it seems that the rabbi didn’t think to conduct ourselves that one places the prayer at Mincha. Not to claim, at least treatment to pray a bit early, not at close to sunset. He tells you, I mean what he means that it must be close to sunset. The word is that there’s no prayer between this and the sunset. And it seems at Mincha of a fast, our custom is to say Anenu at Mincha, so it’s already a Mincha of a fast. So one catches, when it says here Mincha and Neilah, that’s really Mincha. Everyone knows clearly that this is Mincha, it’s not the prayer of the fast and Neilah.

I said it a bit differently, that when it’s the sort where there are many prayers, Neilah, one sits in the study hall a lot. But on another fast one comes to the study hall for Mincha and Maariv, one doesn’t want to come fasting, they’ve gotten tired. Even if one usually comes to Mincha earlier, as the Rema says that one should preferably do Mincha earlier, but on a fast one comes to the study hall at the end of the day to pray Mincha and Maariv, and afterwards to break the fast.

Speaker 2: No, the distinction is, when it’s anyway before the Neilah prayer, Mincha happened earlier, because you have to do Neilah afterwards. Yes, there aren’t few people. On the contrary, the problem is the people.

Speaker 1: The point is that it’s as if, he brings the expressions from the Geonim, one extends Mincha with supplications. The Mincha of a fast day, one makes a bit of a situation, because it is a fast day. It should look like Neilah, so that it shouldn’t be confused with the Mincha of the entire year. When there is indeed a Neilah, then it’s just a regular Mincha, because at Neilah one makes the Neilah sermon, and not at Mincha. That is, as it were, the distinction.

“Anyone Who Transgressed and Went Up to the Platform at Mincha of Yom Kippur”

Speaker 1: Now, but since the whole thing with the platform at Mincha on Yom Kippur is only like a regulation, it’s only like the Mincha of the entire year, therefore the law is that “anyone who transgressed and went up to the platform at Mincha of Yom Kippur”, a Gaon didn’t know, he transgressed, he does go up. “To the platform” means apparently, I mean that a platform is the… a platform is a stage, the steps of the stage. Why did one go to “duchen”? Ah, if there is where you’re locked in, what does a stage mean? A platform is a sort of stage.

But what is the platform here? What does “on the platform” mean? I don’t know. A specific place? I don’t know. But we didn’t learn in the laws of the synagogue that there is a platform. I don’t know. Because it should say in the building, that one should build some kind of platform, I don’t know.

Anyway, if since on Yom Kippur we know that he doesn’t get drunk, it’s a great priestly blessing, because once Jews lift up their heads at the time, we don’t say disqualifications apply to his fear. Since if it were truly a normal day, a drunk kohen goes and we remove him, we don’t remove him, even just so, because the reason is that we remove him. Simply that we remove him from drunkenness, there is a concern about drunkenness. On Yom Kippur we know that he’s not drunk. Eh, let him also be removed, it’s all confused, because we don’t need to make an extra law. But there is a prevalent removal, because one might think he’s disqualified, and they’ll suspect me of this afterwards, so we’ve seen my weakness in Torah. Ah, a kohen, they’re good. Yes, there is a virtue in not removing him. At least you shouldn’t remove him this time, because you know that he’s not… it’s also not a deficiency! See, so it’s actually a deficiency to think in your mind at Mincha every day. But also there’s a concern with thinking that he’s not a kohen, and the kohanim, so that they should see, are the kohanim, they’re not a Jew, and not any congregation, a kohen, one needs to be able to still be so disqualified, and a desecration, I know we were, he wasn’t a kohen. So, at least, duchen, yes.

The Order of Priestly Blessing in the Diaspora — Law 3

Terminology: Birkat Kohanim / Nesi’at Kapayim / Duchening

Speaker 1: Good. Now, you want the order, when duchening, and how does it work? How is nesi’at kapayim? By the way, the Rambam doesn’t call it, he calls it birkat kohanim, nesi’at kapayim? Lifting up the hands? Because then one lifts up the hands. Interesting. So we call nesi’at kapayim with certainty. They, but we’ll learn that there is a… there a… inserted another minute, the real thing is birkat kohanim, the blessing that the kohanim give to the Jews. Nesi’at kohanim is how one holds the hands, and duchening is the place where one stands. We call it duchening. He calls it nesi’at kohanim.

But apparently the correct… what is the best definition is birkat kohanim, the blessing of the kohanim blessing. This is not the blessing of the commandments that he says! But, the blessing I alone, is like for kohanim from this. But I don’t know, this is all expressions of how one calls a thing. It’s not any issue. The point is this, we’re going to learn soon, that here is an order of birkat kohanim in the Temple. How it goes. But it’s interesting that apparently the main thing is the Temple already later became, or outside of this there is also in the diaspora, but the Rambam begins with the order of birkat kohanim in the diaspora, that is, how his laws arranged prayer in a general way in the entire world, and afterwards he goes to say how the order is in the Temple.

The Order of Nesi’at Kapayim

Speaker 1: So he says like this, how the order is like this, “How is nesi’at kapayim in the diaspora?” How is it?

It goes like this, “At the time when the prayer leader reaches the service”, the prayer leader comes to the blessing of service, when he says “Retzeh”. “To the service, when he reaches ‘Retzeh'”, that means the same thing, right? The blessing of Retzeh is the blessing of service. Perhaps he means to say right at the beginning of the blessing, perhaps that’s the word, when he reaches “Retzeh”, the first word.

Then he does this, “all the kohanim who are standing in the synagogue uproot themselves from their place”, all the kohanim who are standing in shul go away from their place, “and they go and ascend to the platform”, they go up to the known platform. What is the platform? We don’t know. The Rambam says that there is a platform, some kind of place where one stands there and blesses the Jews.

Speaker 2: Do you want to check the word platform?

Speaker 1: No, I don’t have time. I’m telling you, everyone knows what this means.

Speaker 2: No, I know what it means, but surely… we’re soon going to be able to see how it says “opposite the sanctuary”, we’ll see how it is, yes?

Speaker 1: “And they stand there”, they stand there, “their faces toward the sanctuary”. We see that the platform is next to the sanctuary, in front of the sanctuary, “and their backs toward the people”, they stand opposite the sanctuary.

It could be platform simply means where one duchens, I don’t know, where one blesses. It’s not a law that one must stand on some kind of stage or something like that.

Speaker 2: He means some kind of certain partition, I mean it’s not an expression of platform.

Speaker 1: Everything could be, but it’s certainly not indispensable, because the way the world stood in the Rambam’s times one needs to have a sanctuary. It can’t be. So he calls it that, perhaps because in the Temple there was a platform, I know, they made it in shul that there is a platform.

And he says like this, “and they stand there, their faces toward the sanctuary”, they stand there, yes, “and their backs toward the people, and their fingers are bent into their palms”, their fingers are folded together. That’s the point, he’s not yet doing nesi’at kapayim, that’s what he means to say, right? They’re closed, right? It’s still closed. He’s specifically not doing nesi’at kapayim. Nesi’at kapayim is done with open fingers, and also with raised hands, but he doesn’t even open the fingers before the congregation before arriving.

“Until the prayer leader completes the blessing of thanksgiving”, until he finishes the blessing of thanksgiving, which is the blessing of Modim. Then “they turn their faces toward the people”, they turn around to the congregation, “and they spread out their palms”, they open their fingers, “and they raise their hands opposite their shoulders”, they lift up their hands opposite their shoulders, that high, “and they begin to bless”, and they begin to say “Yevarechecha”.

During prayer there were also laws that the leader didn’t say how one should hold the fingers. We notice so strongly by birkat kohanim, but actually… but it’s not… it’s more a matter of the evil eye. And here it’s very unclear what the reason is. In any case, one opens the fingers. Okay.

Now, in today’s kohanim they have customs how exactly they open the fingers.

Discussion: What is “Platform”?

Speaker 2: I mean, there are those who want to say that it’s probably actually on the word platform. Perhaps when one wants to make a Temple-like regulation, one should indeed make a special stage, as you want, like “Levites on their platform”. It should be a special place where one has a chair of Elijah and one has a stand for the head. It’s certainly not a sin to make, but if it were a service it would have been stated in the Rambam. There is what is called “platform”, like the platform… it’s not at all such a simple explanation. Platform is a certain place.

Speaker 1: No, it could be that it’s already accepted. I can only say that in the Temple there was a platform. But you say “Levites on their platform”. For that one says… hello, for that one cries, “Levites on their platform”. The platform is one of the many things that they took away the benches. On the festival he says “Levites on their platform”. What about the kohanim? I don’t know. Okay.

Speaker 2: Didn’t you find the meaning of platform? It was some kind of place. Platform? You didn’t find an explanation?

Speaker 1: Okay.

Speaker 2: No, they stood in a special place. I didn’t see any… no one says that there is such a place.

Speaker 1: You’re a better researcher.

Speaker 2: No, no, do a search “platform in the Temple”. It doesn’t say.

Speaker 1: No, I don’t want to, I don’t have time. I don’t have time. I can’t… perhaps he brings it, the Rambam.

Speaker 2: No, no, it’s not true. Take quickly, tell me there was. Aha. That he says, that he holds it. When you have the Rambam, you go quickly over. Okay, he opened the internet, it’s still part of the games. I can’t stop you. He says “shoot him”, he doesn’t say. He should have brought. He says, “platform is the place of standing of the kohanim”. So he brings from the commentary on the Mishnayot. They don’t bring, they still always bring commentary on the Mishnayot. Ah, but others interpret that the platform is the stage, but it doesn’t fit, so it’s not clear. Well good, so let them know. In short, Rabbi David, who is Rabbi David? Rabbi David the Rema? Rabbi David Ein Pat Amud HaAyin? Didn’t know. Okay, in short, it’s not clear, one needs to do better research. It seems that in the Temple there was such a place, and it doesn’t seem that there should be such a place in our study halls.

Speaker 2: Ah, very much so.

Birkat Kohanim: Order of the Blessing, Regulations, and Laws of Nesi’at Kapayim

Law 10 (Continued) — The Prayer Leader Reads Word by Word

The Rambam’s Words:

“And the prayer leader reads to them word by word, and they answer, as it says ‘say to them’, until they complete the first verse, and all the people answer Amen.”

Explanation: The Prayer Leader Says Each Word

In the Temple, it occurs to me to say. Later he says about this, he speaks about the Temple. “A place that is called upon that it is a world”, and they say this. There is something that is called platform, but what platform means no one knows. There are explanations in the matter.

Okay, in short, now, why does it go that the “Yevarechecha”? They don’t say it themselves. The prayer leader “reads to them word by word”, he says to them word by word, and they answer. “As it says ‘say to them'”, say the Sages. The simple meaning of “say to them” means that Moshe should say to Aharon how the text he should bless. The Sages learn from this that every time one should say in advance to the kohanim each word. They say “Yevarechecha”, and they say “Yevarechecha”.

Innovation: The Prayer Leader as Moshe Rabbeinu

I understood that it’s as if the prayer leader acts like Moshe Rabbeinu. Because it’s the same way that Moshe Rabbeinu said to the kohanim, the… because the prayer leader is the goal of the congregation, and he is the substitute for them. He says after Moshe Rabbeinu.

Question: “Say to Them” — To the Kohanim or to Israel?

If you want to ask a question, I thought of the question, how does it say “Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, say to them”? Means the kohanim should say to them, not you should say to the kohanim. “Say to them to Israel”, doesn’t that mean that’s the meaning?

Others interpret. “Thus shall you bless”, they should now pray. They don’t necessarily… “Thus shall you bless”, “say to them”, this is how Moshe speaks to Aharon. He says, “say this, the text, with the language”. “Say to them” is like “saying”, says the Zohar.

Anyway, the exposition says that this is that one should say to the kohanim what to say.

Innovation: A “Chevra-like Explanation” — The Kohen is Only a Channel

Apparently, it occurs to me to say a chevra-like explanation. There is something that one is afraid he will make a mistake, there is a matter of repetition. One wants him to know that he is not the one blessing. It’s only Hashem who gives the blessing. He is only the channel. He will say, he doesn’t even know the words, the kohen. One says the words to him. He shouldn’t think anything, he doesn’t do anything.

I don’t know. It could also be that it has something to do with the prayer leader. Some kind of job the prayer leader must have. They didn’t put you in for no reason. Like what happens in the repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei? Will it be somehow not relevant? Something is so connected with the prayer leader.

“In the Name of Hashem” and the Connection to “Sim Shalom”

Anyway, when they say “in the name of Hashem”, because the Rema says later that they should say it “in the name of Hashem”. When one goes… yes, the last blessing, that is… ah… “Sim Shalom”.

I mean that one says on a simple level, this is “Sim Shalom” seems to be connected to birkat kohanim. One says that this is like “and grant you peace”, it ends “and grant you peace”, one requests a blessing that the peace should actually be fulfilled. What connects the same expressions, “turn His face”, which are similar expressions from “Sim Shalom” with… “life and kindness in Your presence”, yes… this is the “Hashem lift up His countenance to you”, these are all the expressions.

Law 10 (Continued) — The Kohanim Remain Until “Sim Shalom”

The Rambam’s Words:

“And the kohanim turn their faces toward the holy, and afterwards they bend their fingers, and they stand there in attachment until he blesses the blessing of Sim Shalom, and they return to their place.”

Explanation: The Kohanim Turn Back and Remain Until “Sim Shalom”

“And the kohanim turn their faces toward the holy”, the kohanim turn back their faces toward the holy, already toward the holy ark, “and afterwards they bend their fingers”, they turn around still with the fingers open and they close themselves in front, “and they stand there in attachment until he blesses the blessing of Sim Shalom”, yes, until the end of the blessing of Shemoneh Esrei, “and they return to their place”, they go back.

Innovation: Parallel to Stepping Back After Shemoneh Esrei

It’s very similar to the law of when one wants to step back after the silent Shemoneh Esrei. One must somehow take leave from the place of prayer, not run away, not like “a child fled”.

But it could still be what I said, that “Sim Shalom” is actually a blessing on birkat kohanim, so they’re both connected, so that’s why one remains there still until the end of the whole thing.

Every time one calls it, isn’t it so? One place it was stated one shouldn’t abandon a matter, and one place it was stated as if one goes away from a king. But the matter is… okay.

Law 11 — Order of Birkat Kohanim: Who Waits for Whom

Afterwards further, similar laws that they learned by the Torah reading.

(1) One Calls “Kohanim” Until the Congregation Finishes Shemoneh Esrei

One, “calling kohanim”, “one may call the kohanim until the standing prayer is completed by the congregation”. Until we haven’t yet learned this, one shouts “kohanim”, yes, and by us this comes with a text, and one doesn’t always say, one shouts “kohanim”. One calls them up that they should go up to the Torah. Yes, and one must wait that the standing prayer should finish from the congregation.

And when does one shout this? Ah, after the service. It says “kohanim”. When the kohanim come, so that the reader should already be there waiting. It’s like when one says “say”, the caller is the prayer leader. It’s the same thing.

Innovation: One Must Call the Kohanim — They Don’t Come on Their Own

One calls the kohanim, one shouldn’t think that they come on their own, one must call them. And the kohanim are not permitted to ascend until the prayer leader calls them. There is a matter of a prophet, so that one should be awakened, one shouts that one takes already, one requests. Yes, this is a matter, a dissonance.

(2) The Kohanim Wait Until the Reader Finishes His Word

And the kohanim are not permitted to begin the blessing until the speech is completed from the mouth of the reader. He must say “Yevarechecha”, and they wait until it finishes. Not that he should say “Yevarechecha” and they already begin.

(3) The Congregation Answers Amen After the Kohanim Finish

And the congregation does not answer Amen until the blessing is completed from the mouth of the kohanim. Everything, one gives time.

Innovation: We Say Amen on the Kohanim’s Blessing, Not on the Prayer Leader

No, but this is also very important to show that we say Amen on the kohanim’s blessing, and the prayer leader is only the one who says in advance to the kohanim. And we say Amen on the prayer leader also. Are they two times a blessing? They’re not two times a blessing, they’re one time a blessing. But in short, there should be an order, one shouldn’t interrupt one another. Very important.

Perhaps one will make a law for friendships, that one shouldn’t, I don’t know how it will work. That we also shouldn’t begin to speak until the second one finishes the blessing. It’s not implemented.

(4) The Kohanim Wait Until the Congregation Finishes Amen

And the kohanim do not begin another blessing until the Amen is completed from the mouth of the congregation. Yes, also. Ah, he says “Yevarechecha”, the congregation says Amen, he waits until they finish saying Amen.

What if there is someone who says a very long Amen? I don’t know, one doesn’t need to wait for him.

(5) The Prayer Leader Does Not Say Amen

And the prayer leader is not permitted to answer Amen after the kohanim. Ah, here is a refined thing. The prayer leader doesn’t say Amen.

Why? “Lest his mind become confused and he won’t know which blessing to read to them, whether the second or third verse.” Amen is the same in all blessings. So he’s going to say amen, and precisely this blessing is actually still for him, it turns out he’s answering amen. But he’s going to say amen, he’s going to forget to stop at “yevorechecha” or at “ya’er”, and therefore he shouldn’t say amen.

Innovation: This is Mutual Responsibility (Arevut Hadadit)

It’s very much our concern that perhaps the kohanim won’t be able to, so one must have the shaliach tzibur. This is mutual responsibility. What happens if the kohanim aren’t allowed to be drunk? What happens if the shaliach tzibur also isn’t drunk? Okay.

(6) The Kohanim Don’t Turn Around Until “Sim Shalom”

Ah, another law, another law. “The kohanim are not permitted to turn their faces from the congregation until the shaliach tzibur reaches ‘sim shalom’.” That means they don’t turn around until he begins “sim shalom”.

Also, so that the congregation shouldn’t run away.

General Principle: One Should Be Calm

Everything is part of this, the sum total of all these laws is that one should be calm. One doesn’t run, one finishes, next step, next step.

“And until the wicked don’t strike strangers, they remain – a person’s agent is like himself”, meaning he doesn’t leave. Yes, we’ve already learned this once, perhaps the Turei Zahav says it’s a positive commandment, now he makes it from “and saviors shall ascend”, “and one doesn’t say to the wicked go take for yourselves the deed of the pig internally”, we’ve already learned this too. He doesn’t open, he doesn’t close his fingers until he turns around.

Earlier he said what one doesn’t do, very interesting.

Law 12 — Kohanim Go Barefoot (Enactment of Rabbi Yochanan)

The Rambam’s words:

“Rabbi Yochanan enacted that the kohanim should not ascend the platform in their sandals, but rather stand barefoot.”

Simple meaning: Enactment of Rabbi Yochanan — Kohanim Go Barefoot

“Rabbi Yochanan enacted that the kohanim should not ascend the platform in their sandals”, he shouldn’t go with his shoes, “but rather stand barefoot”, they should go naked, barefoot.

Reasons from the Gemara

The reason for this is because it’s also an honor for the congregation, first of all because there might be torn shoes, and also because he might have rubbed his shoe, and one will, in short.

Isn’t there anyone who says it’s because in the Beit HaMikdash the kohanim went barefoot? It doesn’t say so here, here it says that it’s so as stated in the Gemara, it’s an honor for the congregation.

And Rav Ashi said another reason, that he’ll bend down, and meanwhile people will think he has a disqualification. It doesn’t say, it doesn’t look, I don’t know.

Anyway, that’s the custom that one goes without shoes. I mean this is an enactment of Rabbi Yochanan. Very good.

Law 13 — Kohanim and Congregation Should Not Look

The Rambam’s words:

“When the kohanim bless the people, they should not look at the people, nor should they divert their attention, but rather their eyes should be toward the ground like one standing in prayer. And likewise the people should not look at the faces of the kohanim when they bless, so that they don’t divert their attention, but rather all the people should lower their heads and direct their faces toward the faces of the kohanim, but they don’t look at their faces.”

Simple meaning: Kohanim Look Down, Congregation Doesn’t Look at the Kohanim

Now, when the kohanim bless the people, it’s like this, “they should not look at the people”, very interesting, they shouldn’t look at the crowd, “nor should they divert their attention”. But you just said their faces toward the congregation, but they shouldn’t look at the crowd. One stands opposite them, but he doesn’t look directly.

Well good, he doesn’t look directly, “nor should they divert their attention, but rather their eyes should be toward the ground like one standing in prayer”, he should look at the ground.

The Rambam’s Reason: So That They Don’t Divert Their Attention

Well, it’s simply from the Rambam that this is so they don’t divert their attention. So he says here in the next line explicitly, he shouldn’t look at the crowd, he’ll start thinking about the crowd too much. He’s blessing them, but he doesn’t look, he’s praying, he looks down.

“And likewise the people should not look at the faces of the kohanim when they bless so that they don’t divert their attention”. So it says, so that they shouldn’t be diverted, they shouldn’t look at the kohanim, “ah, this kohen has nice peyos”, God forbid.

“But rather all the people should lower their heads and direct their faces toward the faces of the kohanim, but they don’t look at their faces”, they don’t look at their faces.

Other Sources: The Shechina Rests on the Fingers

In other places it says what everyone knows that the Shechina rests on the fingers, one shouldn’t look.

Innovation: The Rambam Doesn’t Bring the Reason of Shechina

It’s very nice, it fits very much with what you’re saying that the Almighty blesses. It comes through the kohanim, but it’s not about the kohen. It’s not that Moshe Yankel the kohen gives you a blessing and he gives you over good things. The Almighty gives you. He’s the one who is the master reader.

But the Rambam didn’t bring the thing that there must be Shechina here. The Rambam brings the reason simply that it’s “don’t divert attention”.

It could be it’s connected, because the Shechina lies in the kehuna. But it could be that the Shechina… distracted I mean, from the words and looking at the kohen. Yes.

Custom of Tallit on the Head

The custom is that the kohanim put their tallit on their heads and so on, and people do so. But this is already… so that one shouldn’t look. But according to the Rambam this is a different thing. According to the Rambam it’s more that one should concentrate, one shouldn’t become distracted. Okay, it could also be it helps for that.

Law 14 — One Kohen vs. Multiple Kohanim

Now, let’s go further.

The Rambam’s words:

“If the kohen who blesses is one, he begins to bless on his own, and the shaliach tzibur reads to him word by word. When they are two, they don’t begin to bless until the shaliach tzibur calls to them ‘Kohanim’, and they answer and say ‘yevorechecha’.”

Simple meaning: One Kohen Begins Alone, Multiple Kohanim Wait for the Call

“If the kohen who blesses is one”, there’s only one kohen, “he begins to bless on his own”. He begins by himself.

What does “begins to bless” mean? He says the blessing himself, or he begins to say “yevorechecha”? He makes the blessing “to bless His people Israel with love”.

No, yes, I didn’t say that. Yes, I didn’t say that. It’s simple.

“And the shaliach tzibur reads to him word by word when they are two”. Ah, what if there are more than two kohanim?

“They don’t begin to bless”, they don’t say the blessing, “until the shaliach tzibur calls to them ‘Kohanim’, and they answer and say ‘yevorechecha'”.

Difficult passage: “And they answer and say ‘yevorechecha'”

I don’t understand. We were talking about him having to wait for him to read. This is a beginning. He begins the blessing. What does “and they answer and say ‘yevorechecha'” mean? They say “yevorechecha”?

Perhaps they simply say, they say the first word they say themselves?

No, when there’s one kohen, the baal tefilla doesn’t call out “Kohanim”, and he begins to say the blessing. He begins himself, because he carries the yoke alone.

What does that mean? When there’s a choir, there must be someone who should control it. Again the shaliach tzibur must say “Kohanim”.

Yes, but this is with the… write the language, “and they answer and say ‘yevorechecha'”. It appears from the Rambam that the first word “yevorechecha” is not read. They say “yevorechecha”, only from “Hashem” does the shaliach tzibur begin to say it ahead.

That means “and they answer and say”, they say it themselves. He doesn’t say they say the blessing “Baruch Ata Hashem”. But it also appears that the baal tefilla only says “Kohanim”, and the kohen says “yevorechecha” himself, and he only says further from “Hashem”.

But the sound isn’t in, I don’t know why. It’s not clear. But the sources “word by word in the order we said”, I don’t know what the simple meaning is, what the sound is. I don’t know.

—

Summary: What We’ve Learned Until Now

Okay, so until here we’ve learned how Birkat Kohanim works at home, in the beit midrash. About what? About the blessing of “to bless His people Israel with love”. What? He didn’t say.

Birkat Kohanim in the Beit HaMikdash, the Explicit Name, and Laws of Birkat Kohanim

Order of Birkat Kohanim in the Beit HaMikdash

That’s how it sounds from the Rambam, it’s not clear. And the reader says to him “word by word in the order they say”. I don’t know what the simple meaning is, but that’s how it sounds. I don’t know.

Okay, so until here we’ve learned how Birkat Kohanim works at home, in the beit midrash. About what? About the blessing of “to bless His people Israel with love”. What? He didn’t say. “To bless” means I will say “yevorechecha”. That’s how it sounds, as soon as it says in the second piece. He didn’t say anything yet about that blessing. There are those who bring that those who learn this way, that it means the blessing, but it’s not clear. It could be that those who say there isn’t any… the Rambam doesn’t bring the blessing at all. He doesn’t tell you “yevorechecha” at all. It’s perhaps not, perhaps the Rambam holds altogether that there’s no blessing on this, I don’t know. Does he bring a blessing on it at all? It doesn’t say. Until now we don’t know. The Rambam said one should only learn his book. Until now we don’t know at all that there’s a blessing on it.

Okay, now it’s like this. How does Birkat Kohanim go in the Mikdash? In the Mikdash it goes a different order. In the borders it goes a whole order, and after Modim one says Birkat Kohanim. In the Beit HaMikdash it goes differently. “The kohanim ascend the platform after they complete the service of the morning tamid”. After the morning tamid, immediately comes the platform.

“They raise their hands above their heads”. That means, in the borders one only raises to shoulder level, but in the Beit HaMikdash one raises above the head. This is the simple meaning that we’ve learned. “Except for the Kohen Gadol who doesn’t raise his hand above the tzitz”. The Kohen Gadol does only to his shoulders, because he doesn’t want the hands to be higher than the tzitz. “And there is no reader reading to them”. Ah, there is also a reader. “One”, not a bad reasoning. It’s simply one of the kohanim, or one of… I don’t know who the “one” is. “One”, someone, someone is the reader. Yes. It’s certainly not important who it is. It’s the same one who stirs the blood on Yom Kippur “so that it doesn’t congeal”. Okay. A Kriat Shema anyway word by word generally there is Kriat Shema with borders, as we know it, until he completes the three verses.

But here it’s different, there’s one difference, by us in the borders one says amen after each verse, but in the Mikdash one doesn’t answer amen but rather one blessing, and one answers amen but rather one blessing, until one blessing, until he finishes, when he finishes one says amen, instead of amen one says “Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever”. It’s a longer version.

The Explicit Name in the Mikdash

Okay, now, and another thing that one does in the Beit HaMikdash, that one does it as written, the ascent is not only in the Beit HaMikdash, it also goes up to most of the Mikdash. In the Mikdash, and this is a word, an explicit word that is pronounced, from yud-hei-vav-hei, and this is the Explicit Name that they say in the Mikdash. This is the opinion of the Rambam, not according to the opinion of Rashi and others who held that the Explicit Name is the 42-letter name, or other names. The Rambam says that when it says Explicit Name it means the name of the four letters. He doesn’t say how one says it, he only says that it’s something where one pronounces the letters, not with a substitute name.

But in the province however, in the rest of the city, not in the Beit HaMikdash, they say it with a substitute name, and this is A-donai, that means as we say A-donai. That one only mentions the Name as written in the Mikdash alone. In the Beit HaMikdash one only pronounces the Name as it’s written.

From the Death of Shimon HaTzaddik — They Stopped Blessing with the Explicit Name

And from the death of Shimon HaTzaddik, already a very long time ago, Shimon HaTzaddik was from the remnants of the Great Assembly, the kohanim stopped blessing with the Explicit Name even in the Mikdash. Why? So as not to teach it to one who is not worthy. It’s interesting, it’s some kind of secret. One is afraid of the destructive power like… It’s not clear. Because the Rambam, what does it mean? A simple explanation would say that it appears that one can do things with names and sorcery, kill with a name, one can do things.

But the holy Rambam, the holy Rambam in his book Moreh Nevuchim Part 1 Chapter 61, if I remember, elaborates at length that it’s not true, there’s no such thing as a name that one says and something happens. Normally it’s only from understanding things. One must understand that it’s more a matter of respect. That’s how the Rambam explains, the Rambam will explain that it’s a matter of respect. “And the early sages would only teach this name to their wise and worthy students once every seven years, and even one who is worthy”, even one who is worthy, “it’s necessary that only one of them teach him”. The Rambam says, you shouldn’t think it was actually a little song, you shouldn’t think it’s because one can do something, “all this is greatness for this honored and awesome Name”, one respects it, one doesn’t speak of it much, one conceals it, one shouldn’t think it’s for simple people. But the Rambam doesn’t learn apparently that it can be harmful, because that doesn’t appear from his language here. What’s the matter of respect that one doesn’t speak of it? One doesn’t know clearly, one understands this like the prohibition of pronouncing God’s name in vain. The Rambam himself says, even the same family, that if a simple person will learn it he’ll start saying the holy names in vain, he shouldn’t know about it at all.

But the word, the Rambam learns, the essence isn’t the word, the essence is the understanding, understanding what it means, and that too one may also not teach out, yes, just like that, one doesn’t teach out just like that. Moreh Nevuchim one only teaches once in seven years. That’s what it means, that’s what the Rambam understands. I have on the Tzurei Chinuch, this is my shiur that I teach every week. Look, this is a greatness for the Great Name, that one says it only once in seven years. All the other years they should think it’s terrible.

Laws of Birkat Kohanim — In the Holy Tongue

Another law, an important law. Ah, until here we’ve learned the order of recitation, the order of Birkat Kohanim. Now we can learn laws, basic laws of the conditions of Birkat Kohanim. So it is, one law is that it must be, yes, in every place, meaning even, that means that one must say the Name as written, that’s only in the Beit HaMikdash. But in every place, anyway, it must be in the Holy Tongue, as it says. “Ko” means thus. Thus I learned from those who heard the tradition, Moshe Rabbeinu heard. Interesting, “those who heard the tradition” it says here, other Rishonim say “from the mouth of tradition”. Ah, perhaps he means to say, because it doesn’t say anything in “ko”. It means “ko” means as Moshe showed, as if “ko”, as he shows. It means “ko tevarchu”, and he makes a whole list of “ko”, yes? “Ko tevarchu standing”, meaning standing, how did one learn it? Because Moshe Rabbeinu showed. The kohanim stood and when he said it, “ko tevarchu”, it was too much.

But further, from where does one know at all that one raises the hands? There’s a verse “and Aharon raised his hands”, but how does one know that this is a law?

“Ko tevarchu in the Holy Tongue, ko tevarchu face to face, ko tevarchu in a loud voice”. Now “in a loud voice” doesn’t mean shouting, it means not “to exclude whispering”. “Ko tevarchu with the Explicit Name”. Ah, with the Explicit Name, further, “in the borders as in the Mikdash, as we said”, but in the borders, because one doesn’t mention the Explicit Name except in the Beit HaMikdash.

Discussion: Holy Tongue by Birkat Kohanim

Another thing that perhaps has to do with ko, or another law: “The kohanim are not permitted in any place…” Wait, regarding the Holy Tongue haven’t we already seen in prayer, that in prayer, if one can pray in a pure language, in one language… Yes, but you didn’t explain this to me, we learned explicitly… The Rambam didn’t really bring it, but by Kriat Shema the Rambam said explicitly that one fulfills in any language. He says prayer in any language, but only Birkat Kohanim must be in the Holy Tongue. Are there other things that must specifically be in the Holy Tongue? Yes, there are, the Gemara says in Sotah. But the Rambam doesn’t make a list, the Rambam brings each thing in its place. Yes, “these are the things said in the Holy Tongue”.

Lo Tosifu — Not to Add to Birkat Kohanim

“The Kohanim are not permitted anywhere to add to this blessing beyond the three verses.”

Says the Rambam, when the Kohanim bless the Jews, and it occurs to them that they want to add more good blessings, for example a verse. Yes. “Hashem Elokei avoseichem” (God of your fathers), or what is the verse with which Moshe Rabbeinu blessed the Jews? “Hashem Elokei avoseichem yosef aleichem kachem” (May Hashem, God of your fathers, increase you a thousandfold). You see, it fits very well. “Yivarechecha Hashem” (May Hashem bless you), they blessed, that you should multiply, and indeed, baruch Hashem (thank God), just as one concludes with praise and thanksgiving after requests. Not praise and thanksgiving, that they should add “yosef aleichem”. Ah, “yosef”, they should add, they should give blessings. “Uverach eschem ka’asher diber lachem” (And bless you as He promised you). He says, that verse they should not add. No, no, you’re talking about the enlightenment. The enlightenment, the fourth is “Hashem Elokei avoseichem yosef aleichem kachem elef pe’amim” (May Hashem, God of your fathers, increase you a thousandfold), that they should become more, they should add. He brings a verse that strengthens the addition of blessing. Okay, it comes out from this, he says, one should not add it, not aloud and not silently, as it says “lo tosifu al hadavar” (Do not add to the matter). Interesting, this is like… like it’s a mitzvah (commandment), one should not add to a mitzvah. Yes, it’s roughly similar to five prayers. The usual Rambam learned that “lo tosifu” means to say that a new thing is a mitzvah. Here we see that the Rambam rules yes on the “lo tosifu” of the Sages, that one should not add things to a mitzvah. I already know, he transgresses a prohibition. He says so, I actually remembered. Rav Moshe has a responsum to the people who add “nachem makom yenachamuch” (may the Omnipresent comfort you), that one should not know of any sorrow or whatever it is. There one goes against the formula that the Sages established. It’s a bit similar. Okay, it has no connection, because this is actually Birkas Kohanim (Priestly Blessing).

Discussion: “Yehi ratzon” that we say in the machzor

But here there is no law from the Sages, this is from the Gemara. How does it stand? I already know, it’s a custom, I already know. I already know that it’s a custom, a law. Okay. It’s that people had some giant, I already know. Yes, it’s not that people like to add, not always. Yes, many times it’s good, it’s good, there’s a good blessing, you don’t need to make it better. Yes. The Rambam says further, “at the end of each and every blessing”.

But it says yes, it’s very interesting, because we do have in our machzor, he says that it’s brought in a Gemara, one adds a “yehi ratzon milfanecha k’shem sheshama’ta es tefilasi” (May it be Your will just as You heard my prayer), “k’shem sheshama’ta es tefilasam” (just as You heard their prayer), we see yes that one adds. It appears that the Rambam held that one may not do this. Because this is adding a piece from the Torah. Because his problem is “lo tosifu”. My problem is “lo tosifu” is that you add a third species, you add another verse. The Almighty commands that one should say a verse, you say, but only that begins to say the things, language, or like a language that the Sages established, that one should say a language, he doesn’t mean that it’s in error. He doesn’t say in error, what he says to the Jews.

The prayer of the Kohen during duchening

The Rambam brings it, yes, look, “at the end of each and every blessing the people say: May it be Your will, Hashem our God, that this blessing which You commanded us to bless Your people Israel be a complete blessing, and that there be no stumbling block or sin in it from now until forever”. This according to him is literally “lo tosifu”. First “yehi ratzon”, he doesn’t bring from the Jews at all, he says a prayer to the Almighty. Ah, here stands the blessing, ah, finally here stands the blessing. He says three times a new law. Okay, one must request that one make a new law, it’s a new prayer surrounding Birkas Kohanim. The blessing of the Torah. Yes, this is the blessing of Birkas Kohanim. The blessing of prayers. It’s a prayer and a blessing.

So it is, there are three pieces, he says so, “when he lifts his feet to ascend”, when he begins to go to the duchan (platform), he says a prayer, may it be Your will that this blessing which we desire to bless Your people Israel be a complete blessing, and that there be no stumbling block, sin or deed in our generation, and I should not ruin it. It should succeed, the Almighty sends three pieces, and I should not ruin it. My blessing should succeed, it should be a good prayer, I should not ruin it. Just as the word prayer says many times, in “we are not brazen”, that sort of prayer. It’s a concept.

Blessings and prayers of the Kohanim during Birkas Kohanim

The blessing of the mitzvah: “Who sanctified us with the holiness of Aharon”

Speaker 1:

When he lifts his feet to ascend, when he begins to go, he says a prayer: May it be Your will… He says a blessing thus, that there be no stumbling through me, so that I not be ashamed of my holy ancestors, that my holy ancestors not be ashamed of me, and that I not be ashamed of them in the World to Come. I should not cause stumbling.

And another blessing he says first, first he turns apparently even around, still before blessing, but the blessing is already when he is turning… No, no, first is blessing. First is turning to bless the people. “Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu melech ha’olam asher kidshanu bikdushaso shel Aharon vetzivanu levarech es amo Yisrael be’ahavah.” (Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with the holiness of Aharon and commanded us to bless His people Israel with love.) This means that every Kohen has the holiness of Aharon to be able to bless. “Vetzivanu levarech es amo Yisrael be’ahavah.” (And commanded us to bless His people Israel with love.)

“The holiness of Aharon” is a designation for the holiness of the Kohen.

“Vetzivanu levarech es amo Yisrael be’ahavah.” The “with love” corresponds with the “complete blessing, and let there be no stumbling block in it”.

Mention of righteous people in blessings

It’s interesting, there are two more blessings where we mention a righteous person in the blessings. Here is bris milah (circumcision), “in the covenant of Avraham our father”, and here is “with the holiness of Aharon”. And normally there is “the Torah of Moshe” in every blessing of the Torah.

Why do you say Moshe? Doesn’t it say “the true Torah”? We don’t mention. Here simply Aharon came in as part. Perhaps he means it should lead you like Aharon, it should be a lover of peace, and one can bless the Jews. Anyway, “with love”.

Why the blessing is said while not yet facing the congregation

And then, yes, it could be that both things are said while not yet facing the congregation, because we’re talking here to the Almighty, as you say, so that there shouldn’t be a disqualification of “lo tosif”, that this is not a blessing.

Very good.

Prayer after blessing: “We have done what You decreed upon us”

And the last thing also, he says here that he says, after turning his face toward the congregation, and after they answered Amen to all the blessings, then he says another piece: “Asinu mah shegezarta aleinu” (We have done what You decreed upon us), we have followed, “aseh atah imanu mah shehivtachtanu” (You do with us what You promised us), You follow Your part, “hashkifah mim’on kodshecha min hashamayim uvarech es amcha es Yisrael” (Look down from Your holy dwelling from heaven and bless Your people Israel). It’s a kind of thing, that one asks the Almighty, look down and bless them too.

The question of the commentators

The reason “Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us” is the “May He bless you”. He asks you, the commentators ask the question, apparently the Ba’al HaTosafos, I don’t know exactly who asks first. I don’t know, I only know that you turn away from the congregation, I only know that you’re now talking to the Almighty. I hear, I don’t know how to say this.

Parallel to the blessing of Shema and the blessing of the Torah

As you say, that you should pray properly. And one says that he is already engaged in “mitzvos vetzivanu”, and one says another blessing. You say that it’s very similar to the blessing of Krias Shema and the blessing of the Torah, all have such a blessing before and after and one says a Torah matter.

The Gemara makes it so, a Gemara, the “yehi ratzon”, just a “yehi ratzon” doesn’t stand anywhere that someone used to say it. It’s not exactly a blessing. A blessing is apparently an obligation that the Sages instituted in the blessings of mitzvos.

Okay. You say “May He bless you” is also a Torah verse that they read, just as Israel reads the Shema Yisrael or another verse. And you say indeed after the blessing of the Torah, you say that you see indeed that it has something to do with it. I hear. Okay.

Derech yemin — how the Kohanim turn

Now, another interesting law, when they turn, yes, when the Kohanim turn their faces to the congregation to bless them, when one turns to the people, or when one turns away from the people, when they turn their faces from the congregation, when they turn, when one turns away, one has already finished blessing, they should only turn through their right in every place. The Kohanim must always turn to the right. Ah.

The principle of “all turnings”

Why turn? Because “all turnings”, turnings? Ah, everywhere where one must turn to a certain right or left, and both are the same, if you need to arrive at the left you must go left, but when you turn around you should turn through the right.

The symbolism of right

It’s a beautiful thing, right is important. There is a thing, laws that the poskim (halachic authorities) have authorized no one. You don’t want to give away the left side, right? No, but right simply means important, that’s the translation. “The right hand of Hashem is exalted”, right is, most people are right-handed, it became a symbol. It’s not such a problem. Right is a symbol of strength, of good things.

Correct. It appears that it’s more when it’s a symbolic thing, when the Kohanim do it there’s no problem, and so too “and so all turnings” means simply also. When one escorts the child to the chuppah (wedding canopy), one should make a first… one doesn’t mean the whole time to the chuppah.

Application to other holy matters

When one turns, it comes from the Gemara of the Kohanim, every time one turns in public, but one turns for a mitzvah, but when one descends from being on the altar for example, yes, for a holy matter, one goes to the altar, not let’s turn, not let’s turn. What here if someone doesn’t know the way, they make rights until they arrive. Yes, that’s a different topic.

The dispute about what “derech yemin” means

Yes, there is actually a great dispute about what “derech yemin” means. Anyway, let’s not go into this.

Understand, the right side, this can already be, he turns to the right, derech yemin. Perhaps he must turn to the right, the right of the room, to the right. Understand, it doesn’t say “on the right path”. Anyway. Or must each one pass through the right. In short, one can interpret different ways. The main thing is that one should speak about the right.

How often is Birkas Kohanim done — in the provinces versus in the Temple

Now we learn an interesting thing, how often does one do Birkas Kohanim? We learned that in the… an interesting thing, in the provinces they bless Birkas Kohanim at Shacharis and at Musaf and at Ne’ilah, but in the Temple one didn’t say it, or even if it’s during the day, but Minchah and Ma’ariv basically, because Shacharis is during the day, but in the Temple they bless Birkas Kohanim once a day, after the morning Tamid offering. Look, one stands, ah, one didn’t say it at any Musafs. Very good. And on what do they rely? They bless His words, hear me. But in the provinces they bless it after every prayer except for Minchah.

More in the provinces than in the Temple

See, this is one of the things that one does more in the provinces than in the Temple. One must understand why. I already know why.

The Kohanim it’s a bit different.

The prompter — who calls out the words?

Ah, earlier I asked, I remembered from here, I asked who is the prompter in the Beis HaMikdash (Temple)? Says the Rambam, “In every place they endeavor that the one who prompts them should be a Yisrael, as it says ‘say to them'”. Apparently one of the Kohanim is the sayer, and not “say yourself”, but “say to them”. So even in the Beis HaMikdash there is an effort that it should be a Yisrael, or there is something to reconcile that a Yisrael should be the prompter.

Until here is the main discourse.