Making Israel a Vessel for Blessing

1“And Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from performing the sin offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings.”¹ Rashi explains “and blessed them” as the priestly blessing: Yevarechecha, Ya'er, Yisa, the opening words of its three verses.² The Ramban asks how Rashi knew that this was the priestly blessing. The priestly blessing appears only later, in Parshas Naso, and Aharon may have blessed them in words of his own, not necessarily in the wording of the priestly blessing. So the Ramban disagrees with Rashi and suggests that it may have been a blessing like Shlomo HaMelech's. Of him we read, “And he spread out his palms toward the heavens,” and later, “And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel in a loud voice.”³ The commentators, the Chizkuni and the Ohr HaChaim, raise another question: why does the verse say “and he blessed them” first, and only afterward “and he came down”?⁴ By the order of events it should have said “and he came down” first and “and he blessed” afterward.

2Let us first cite the words of my holy father and teacher, zt"l, on the verse “And Aharon lifted up his hands.” He explained that the tzaddik of the generation needs two qualities. The first is what the verse calls “to teach the sons of Yehudah the bow,”⁵ meaning to teach them Torah and mitzvos. The second is to bring down to them an abundance of mercy and blessing, as Chazal said, “The whole world is sustained for the sake of Chanina My son.”⁶ But how can the two go together? When the tzaddik rebukes Bnei Yisrael, an accusation against them is stirred up in Heaven; how, then, can he also bring them blessing and success? So part of a true tzaddik's task is this: when he must bring abundance down to Israel, he should come down, hold back from rebuking the people, and devote himself only to praying to Hashem for them. This is the meaning of “And Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people.” When Aharon the Kohen wanted to bestow every good on Israel, “he came down from performing the chatas,” the sin offering, whose name also means “sin”: he came down from seeing any wrong in Israel, Heaven forbid.

3aTo understand the whole matter, we can explain it this way. The holy sefarim, among them the Maor VaShemesh, ask a question about the priestly blessing.⁷ The verse says, “So shall you bless Bnei Yisrael,” implying that the Kohanim do the blessing; yet afterward it says, “and I will bless them,” implying that Hashem is the One Who blesses.⁸ The answer is that the tzaddik's true task is to make a vessel for the blessings. He must see to it that Bnei Yisrael become fit to receive them, returning in teshuvah to do the will of their Maker; then they will receive an abundance of blessing from the Holy One, blessed be He, as a matter of course. This is the meaning of “So shall you bless”: act in such a way that Bnei Yisrael are blessed, by becoming a vessel fit to receive the blessing. The way to do this is in the spirit of the verse “They shall place My Name upon Bnei Yisrael”: the Name of His glorious kingship should rest upon them, so that they do His will. Then comes “and I will bless them”: through this Hashem will bless Israel with love.

3b[⁹This is also the foundation of a tzaddik's blessing. The tzaddik's task is to make Bnei Yisrael a vessel fit to receive blessing, as Chazal said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, found no vessel that holds blessing except peace, as it says, ‘Hashem will give strength to His people …’”¹⁰ And “strength” means the Torah:¹¹ when they walk in the way of the Torah, they become a vessel to receive the blessing.]

4This lets us explain our verse as well. “And Aharon lifted up his hands”: Aharon wanted to bestow blessing as the work of the Mishkan came to a close, as the next verse says, “And Moshe and Aharon came into the Tent of Meeting, and they came out and blessed the people.”¹² So the verse first tells us how he was privileged to make Israel a vessel that holds blessing: by coming down to Bnei Yisrael, drawing them close to their Father in Heaven and atoning for their sins. That is “and he came down from performing the sin offering.” And this is “and he blessed them,” which Rashi explains as the priestly blessing: the blessing he gave them first was like the priestly blessing, whose whole purpose is to make a vessel for blessing. Only afterward does the verse say, “and they came out and blessed the people,” for where the honor of Heaven is present, blessing follows of itself. And then, as a matter of course, the light of His Shechinah was revealed to them, as the verse says, “And the glory of Hashem appeared to all the people.”

5This also helps us understand the wording of the blessing the Kohanim say before they bless the people: “Who has sanctified us with the holiness of Aharon.” It teaches that a Kohen blessing Israel must be like Aharon. We find that Aharon would go from door to door, teaching anyone who did not know how to learn,¹³ and Chazal also said, “Be among the disciples of Aharon the Kohen, loving peace … and drawing them close to the Torah.”¹⁴ That is how he blessed Bnei Yisrael: as we said, he prepared them to be fit for blessing. Every Kohen must be like this, and this is “with the holiness of Aharon.” The Kohanim must also see to it that Bnei Yisrael love Hashem. This is hinted in the blessing's closing words, “to bless His people Israel with love”: they must work to increase Bnei Yisrael's love of Hashem. The same hint lies in the words of the Baal HaTurim on the verse “Koh, so, shall you bless.” Koh, he writes, alludes to the Shema, for the verse Shema Yisrael has twenty-five letters, the numerical value of koh.¹⁵ Through reciting the Shema with love, a person is privileged to become a vessel that holds blessing, ready to receive the priestly blessing.

6We can now also explain why Rashi spells out at length here that the priestly blessing consists of the verses Yevarechecha, Ya'er, Yisa. At first glance this needs explaining: everyone knows the wording of the blessing, so why did Rashi need to write it here? On the word Ya'er, “May He shine,” Rashi explains in its place, “May He show you a smiling face, a beaming face.”¹⁶ And on “May Hashem lift up His face toward you,” Chazal expounded: “How could I not lift up My face toward Israel, when they are stringent with themselves over an olive's measure?”¹⁷ Our verse hints at this. How will Israel be privileged to receive the blessing of a shining face spoken of in the priestly blessing, Yevarechecha, Ya'er? By doing the mitzvos with love, which is hinted in our verse's word Vayisa, “and he lifted up,” [which shares its root with Yisa, “May Hashem lift up His face,” the verse Chazal expounded about Israel's stringency over an olive's measure].

7All this explains the Gemara: “From where do we know that a Kohen should not say, ‘Since the Torah has given me permission to bless, I will add a blessing of my own: “May Hashem, the God of your fathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are”’? The verse teaches, ‘You shall not add.’”¹⁸ We need to understand why the Gemara chose this blessing in particular. According to what we said, the priestly blessing is not only meant to bestow blessing on Israel; the Kohanim must also make Israel a vessel to receive the blessing. The verse “May Hashem … add to you,” by contrast, implies that a plain blessing over Israel is enough. That is what the Gemara means: a mere blessing is not enough, for the blessing must be bound up with the spiritual.

8May the good Hashem grant that we become a vessel to receive the blessing, and may we be privileged to see all good forever and the coming of Moshiach. Amen, may it be His will.