Priestly Blessing


The Priestly Blessing or priestly benediction, also known in rabbinic literature as raising of the hands, rising to the platform, dukhenen, or duchening, is a Hebrew prayer recited by Kohanim. The text of the blessing is found in Numbers. It is also known as the Aaronic blessing.
According to the Torah, Aaron blessed the people, and YHWH promises that "They will place my name on the Children of Israel, and I will bless them". Chazal stressed that although the priests are the ones carrying out the blessing, it is not they or the ceremonial practice of raising their hands that results in the blessing, but rather it is God's desire that the blessing should be symbolised by the Kohanim's hands.
Even after the destruction of the Second Temple, the practice has been continued in Jewish synagogues, and today in most Jewish communities, Kohanim bless the worshippers in the synagogue during shacharit prayer services.

Biblical source and text

and Deuteronomy and mention Aaron or the other priests blessing the Israelites.
The text to be used for the blessing is specified in :

"And the spoke unto Moses, saying:

This is the oldest known Biblical text that has been found; amulets with these verses written on them have been found in graves at Ketef Hinnom, dating from the First Temple Period.
The Hebrew text of the blessing is:
The triple invocation of YHWH in the three verses gave rise to various interpretations, which connect them to the three Patriarchs, or to three attributes of God: Mercy, Courage, and Glory.

Use of the blessing to ward off evil

Extrabiblical evidence such as the two silver Iron Age amulets found at Ketef Hinnom, contemporary Phoenician and Punic amulets and bands, and blessing inscriptions from the southern Levant have shown that the language of the Priestly Blessing derived from a broader tradition of apotropaic text, which was often inscribed on metal and worn in order to provide protection against evil.
Variations of this blessing are frequently encountered in mortuary and religious settings, foreshadowing early Jewish commentaries linking the blessing to the concept of death. Although specific words in the Priestly Blessing are commonly found in the Bible, the syntactic sequences in which they occur suggest parallels not to other biblical passages, but to blessing inscriptions from late Iron Age southern Levant. In particular, it has been suggested that the enigmatic instruction to "put name on the Israelites" in reflects an ancient practice of physically wearing the deity's name and blessing for protection against evil.

In Hebrew law and custom

Details of the Priestly Blessing

  • Only Kohanim may perform the Priestly Benediction. The blessing should be performed only in the presence of a minyan – even if the Kohanim themselves must be included for a total of ten.
  • All Kohanim present must participate, unless disqualified in some way. If a Kohen does not wish to participate, he must leave the sanctuary for the duration of the blessing. A Kohen may be disqualified by, e.g., being under the influence of alcohol, having a severe speech impediment, blindness, having taken a human life, having married a disqualifying wife, or the recent death of a close relation.
  • A Kohen who is on bad terms with the congregation or who is unwilling to perform the ritual should not perform it.
  • It is customary that, once the Kohanim are assembled on the platform, the cantor or prayer leader will prompt them by reciting each word of the blessing and the Kohanim will then repeat that word. Apparently this prompting is done to avoid errors or embarrassment if any of the Kohanim should be ignorant of the words of the recitation. However, if there are a number of kohanim, they may say the first word of the blessing without the prompting, presumably to demonstrate their familiarity with the ritual.
  • If the prayer leader is a Kohen himself, he does not prompt the other Kohanim in the blessing. Instead, a non-Kohen is designated with that task, and the leader remains silent.
  • The Gemara advises that a person who is troubled by a dream should reflect on it when the Kohanim recite their blessing. This practice is still done in many Orthodox communities, primarily in communities that perform the ritual only on Festivals. It is also recited at bedtime. Both uses derive from the, telling of 60 armed guards surrounding Solomon's bedchamber to protect him from "night terrors"; the 60 letters in the Hebrew text of the Priestly Blessing are similarly said to defend against night terrors.
  • In many communities, it is customary for congregants to spread their tallitot over their own heads during the blessing and not look at the Kohanim. If a man has children, they will come under his tallit to be blessed, even if they are quite old. The basis of this custom is to deemphasize the role of the Kohanim: they are simply a vehicle by which God "place name upon the children of Israel". A tradition common among Ashkenazim rests on the basis that during the recital of this blessing the Shekhinah becomes present where the kohanim have their hands in the "shin" gesture, so that gazing there would be harmful.
  • In the case where no Kohanim are present in the synagogue, or in communities where the kohanim do not bless the community in this prayer, the hazzan will read the prayer verse by verse, and the congregation will respond after each verse with "ken yehi ratzon". This response is used instead of "Amen", because the hazzan is merely "mentioning" the blessing, essentially quoting it rather than actually performing the ritual. However, some congregations do indeed respond "Amen". This response is also employed on days and times when the Amidah is repeated but the Kohanim do not recite the priestly blessing. However, according to Abudirham, since the Priestly Blessing is not a conventional benediction, but rather a prayer for peace, ken yehi ratzon is the more appropriate response at all times.
As with many Jewish practices, customs regarding many of the above points may vary widely between countries, communities, and even synagogues.

Other uses of the text

  • The text of the Priestly Blessing is also used by Jewish parents to bless their children on Friday night before the Shabbat meal. It is usually prefaced, for boys with a request for God to make the children like the sons of Joseph—Ephraim and Manasseh—who are remembered because they never fought with each other, according to tradition. For girls the traditional request is God to make them like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, the Matriarchs of the Jewish people. Similarly, some rabbis will say the blessing to a boy at his bar mitzvah or to a girl at her bat mitzvah.
  • It also may be said before a long journey, and some people will write it out and wear/keep it as an amulet. It is often used in the liturgy as the first section of Torah to be read in the morning after reciting the blessing before studying Torah.

    Times performed

Among Jews in Israel, and among most Sephardic Jews worldwide, the ceremony is performed every day during the repetition of the Shacharit Amidah, and it is repeated on Mussaf on days that include this prayer. On Yom Kippur, the ceremony is performed during the Ne'ila service as well. On fast days other than Yom Kippur, it is performed at Mincha, if said in the late afternoon; when Mincha is recited earlier in the afternoon, most communities in Jerusalem omit the blessing, but in Bene Berak it is generally recited in accordance with the ruling of the Chazon Ish. The reason for offering the blessing in the afternoon only on fast days is that on these days Kohanim cannot drink alcohol prior to the ceremony.
In the Diaspora in Ashkenazic Orthodox communities, as well as some Sephardic communities such as many Spanish and Portuguese Jews, the Jewish ceremony is performed only on Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. This Ashkenazic practice is based on a ruling by the Remoh, who argued that the Kohanim were commanded to bless the people "with joy", and that Kohanim in the diaspora could not be expected to feel joyful except on the above-mentioned holidays where all Jews are commanded to feel joy. Many German communities perform the blessing in Shaharit, Musaf, and in Neilah. Eastern European congregations only perform it at Musaf. Spanish and Portuguese Jews generally perform the blessing only in Shacharit. On Simchat Torah, some communities recite it during Musaf, and others during Shacharit, to enable Kohanim to eat or drink during the Torah reading between Shacharit and Musaf. Customs vary as to whether the blessing is delivered outside Israel on a holiday when it falls on Shabbat.
When the blessing is omitted from a prayer in which it could be recited, the text of the prayer is recited by the hazzan instead, without any special chant or gestures.

Procedure

At the beginning of the Jewish ceremony, Levites in the congregation wash the hands of the Kohanim and the Kohanim remove their shoes and go to the area in front of the Torah ark at the front of the synagogue. The use of a platform is implied in Leviticus 9:22. They cover their heads with their tallitot, recite the blessing over the performance of the mitzvah, turn to face the congregation, and then the hazzan slowly and melodiously recites the three verse blessing, with the Kohanim repeating it word by word after him. After each verse, the congregation responds Amen. If there are more than one Kohen performing the blessings then they wait until someone in the congregation calls out "Kohanim" before starting the blessing over performing the blessings ; the hazzan then continues the procedure. However, if there is only one Kohan performing the blessings, he starts the blessing over performing the blessings without any prompting from the congregation; the hazzan then continues as normal. In the Yemenite tradition when there is a solitary Kohen, he says the first word of the blessing without prompting after having said the preparatory blessing.