Dear TBZ community:
This week's parasha, Nasso, includes the priestly blessings. The Torah commands Aaron and the priest to bless the people of Israel. This very same blessing is traditionally recited by the parents over their children at the Shabbat table, and at TBZ we end many of our shabbat services by putting a tallit over all our TBZ children and blessing them. We also make sure to bless each other, no matter what our age.
Before the blessing itself we read:
These are the words of the blessings in our parasha:
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהֹוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
Adonai spoke to Moses:
דַּבֵּר אֶל־אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל־בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר כֹּה תְבָרְכוּ אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָמוֹר לָהֶם
Speak to Aaron and his sons:
Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to them
Rashi explains these words:
אמור להם. שֶׁיִּהְיוּ כֻלָּם שׁוֹמְעִים
Say to them…so that all of them should hear the blessing
The act of reciting the blessing does not suffice without them being there to hear the blessing. The blessing must be recited in their presence.
Rashi goes on to say:
אמור. מָלֵא — לֹא תְבָרְכֵם בְּחִפָּזוֹן וּבַהֲלוּת, אֶלָּא בְכַוָּנָה וּבְלֵב שָׁלֵם
אמור Emor is written plene (with ו after the מ) thus indicating: you shall not bless them hurriedly and hastily, but devoutly and with a whole heart.
Interestingly the words used by Rashi, בְּחִפָּזוֹן וּבַהֲלוּת “hurriedly and hastily” are the words used to describe how the people of Israel left Egypt - in a hurry.
These teachings and interpretations say something very profound about blessing and about relationships.
We may have a blessing, a good intention directed to someone, yet if that someone is not there to receive it, if I don’t communicate that which I want to pass on to the other person, it is as if I hadn’t done it at all. And even if that someone is there, but I offer a blessing hurriedly and hastily, it is also a sign of not being fully in relationship with the other.
Kavanah, intention, which we often think about in the framework of prayer or religious life is also a value for relationships and for the ways we show up in the world. How do we speak to someone else? Do we make sure they are present and ready to hear what we want to share, do we say it in words that can be heard. This is true in our personal relationships, with our spouses, children, parents, siblings, friends, and it is true in the ways we build community.
After the blessing in Parashat Nasso, the next verse reads:
וְשָׂמוּ אֶת־שְׁמִי עַל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַאֲנִי אֲבָרְכֵם
Thus they shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.
When the priest, the parents, the community, bless the people, God’s name is gifted and placed in those who are being blessed.
Rabbi Shefa Gold in her book Torah Journeys. The Inner Path to the Promised Land writes:
The privilege of carrying the Name/Essence of God into the world is the greatest blessing we can bear. It is giving and receiving at once. It is the pure state of becoming and being a blessing.
Each of us is created in God’s image, and each of us has the gift of passing God’s blessing to the other. When we live intentionally with kavanah, and in intentional relationships we all become blessings and we bless this world. I can’t think of anything more needed in the brokenness of our world, and as we witness so much suffering an injustice around us than to hold blessing, to pass blessing, to receive blessing, not hastingly, and not alone, but with others and with intention.
יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהֹוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
May Adonai bless you and protect you
יָאֵר יְהֹוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
May Adonai deal kindly and graciously with you
יִשָּׂא יְהֹוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
May Adonai bestow God’s favor upon you and grant you peace
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful, sweet, and peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom,
