 | We use the word "blessing" routinely, but the experience we call a blessing is far from routine. Blessings don't come from nowhere, and don't happen by themselves. This week's Torah portion includes the Threefold Blessing, a Judeo-Christian cornerstone of liturgy so familiar that we might intone its words unthinkingly. But just under the surface of these words is radical stuff – as radical and revolutionary as a blessing itself. |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Parashat Nasso 5784 (2024)
"G'bless you!" We hear someone sneeze, and automatically the words roll off our tongues.
Debbie Friedman's healing song begins: Mi shebeirakh la'avoteinu, m'kor ha-berakhah l'imoteinu / "The One who blessed our forefathers, Source of Blessing for our foremothers." We sing these words with comfort and for comfort, yet the more second-nature any words become, the more they risk becoming empty.
So it's worth asking: What's a blessing, anyway?
It's a question Avraham didn't think to ask when he first heard a Voice tell him, “Go forth from your native land, from your ancestral house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing" (Gen. 12:1-2). Avraham (back then, "Avram") heard the Voice and went – no questions asked. Maybe prehistory's folks already knew what we moderns forgot.
As an eternal reminder, this week's Torah portion (Nasso) offers some answers in its Threefold Blessing, also called Birkat Kohanim, or Kohenic/Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:22-27):
Parashat Nasso 5784 (2024)
"G'bless you!" We hear someone sneeze, and automatically the words roll off our tongues.
Debbie Friedman's healing song begins: Mi shebeirakh la'avoteinu, m'kor ha-berakhah l'imoteinu / "The One who blessed our forefathers, Source of Blessing for our foremothers." We sing these words with comfort and for comfort, yet the more second-nature any words become, the more they risk becoming empty.
So it's worth asking: What's a blessing, anyway?
It's a question Avraham didn't think to ask when he first heard a Voice tell him, “Go forth from your native land, from your ancestral house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing" (Gen. 12:1-2). Avraham (back then, "Avram") heard the Voice and went – no questions asked. Maybe prehistory's folks already knew what we moderns forgot.
As an eternal reminder, this week's Torah portion (Nasso) offers some answers in its Threefold Blessing, also called Birkat Kohanim, or Kohenic/Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:22-27):
| וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖''ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּ֤ר אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן֙ וְאֶל־בָּנָ֣יו לֵאמֹ֔ר כֹּ֥ה תְבָרְכ֖וּ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אָמ֖וֹר לָהֶֽם׃ יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖''ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃ יָאֵ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧''ה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ׃ יִשָּׂ֨א יְהֹוָ֤''ה ׀ פָּנָיו֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְיָשֵׂ֥ם לְךָ֖ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ וְשָׂמ֥וּ אֶת־שְׁמִ֖י עַל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַאֲנִ֖י אֲבָרְכֵֽם׃ | YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to Aharon and his sons: Bless the Children of Israel thusly. Say to them: YHVH bless you and keep you! YHVH's countenance light you and grace you! YHVH's countenance uplift you and give you peace! Put My Name on the Children of Israel and I will bless them. |
A blessing is something we give ("Bless the Children of Israel..."), except we don't really give it: God gives it ("and I will bless them"). A blessing is something that connects us with God's keeping, countenance, light, grace, uplift and peace, by words that put God's Name on us.
These words are radical – revolutionary, really. They suggest that we who bestow blessing do these things for God, as partners with God: God depends on us, and so we have the power to invoke God.
Who's "we"? Nowadays "we" means more than just me or any clergy. "We" means parents for children, and children for parents. "We" means spouses, lovers and friends for each other. "We" means anyone who can summon feeling deeply, anyone who cares and especially loves.
"We" means that each of us can be a partial stand-in for God as m'kor ha-berakhah, Source of Blessing. By caring, we channel care beyond ourselves. By loving, we channel love. And as any parent knows, our own care and love can transform us into caring and loving far more than we ever might have thought possible. We become more, and in a benevolent feedback loop, becoming more channels more.
To me, that's spiritual relationship in a nutshell.
Are the words of Birkat Kohanim magic, or the exclusive ways to bless? Not to me – far from it. I don't believe in spiritual magic words. But I do believe in the total Presence we call God – whether a Being, or Beingness Itself, Eternity, Love, Mind, Ethics, Rightness. To give or receive blessing evokes an experience, a hint, a tiny reminder of this Presence. To give or receiving blessing is to awaken to this Presence within us and among us.
These words are radical – revolutionary, really. They suggest that we who bestow blessing do these things for God, as partners with God: God depends on us, and so we have the power to invoke God.
Who's "we"? Nowadays "we" means more than just me or any clergy. "We" means parents for children, and children for parents. "We" means spouses, lovers and friends for each other. "We" means anyone who can summon feeling deeply, anyone who cares and especially loves.
"We" means that each of us can be a partial stand-in for God as m'kor ha-berakhah, Source of Blessing. By caring, we channel care beyond ourselves. By loving, we channel love. And as any parent knows, our own care and love can transform us into caring and loving far more than we ever might have thought possible. We become more, and in a benevolent feedback loop, becoming more channels more.
To me, that's spiritual relationship in a nutshell.
Are the words of Birkat Kohanim magic, or the exclusive ways to bless? Not to me – far from it. I don't believe in spiritual magic words. But I do believe in the total Presence we call God – whether a Being, or Beingness Itself, Eternity, Love, Mind, Ethics, Rightness. To give or receive blessing evokes an experience, a hint, a tiny reminder of this Presence. To give or receiving blessing is to awaken to this Presence within us and among us.
Some years ago, I wrote an article about Birkat Kohanim. in which I try to titrate centuries of Jewish wisdom about what blessings are and how we bless. I invite you to read it and take in whatever may resonate. For now, observe that the letters YHVH, when arranged vertically, evoke a human form – which makes sense because each of us is made b'tzelem Elohim, in the Divine Image.
What if our blessings were so loving, so caring, that they put the Divine Name on people? What if we saw others already having the Name on them, reminding them to see themselves and others likewise? The world would change. God truly would bless, and we all would be a blessing.
What if our blessings were so loving, so caring, that they put the Divine Name on people? What if we saw others already having the Name on them, reminding them to see themselves and others likewise? The world would change. God truly would bless, and we all would be a blessing.
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