Shalom everyone and thank you very much for joining me in studying Parashat Nash. Parashat Naso contains many different subject matters that we can discuss. But I chose for this class Birkat Kuhanim, the priestly blessing. It's a bit of a mysterious enigmatic blessing that I would like all of us to try to gain a little bit more insight into the words that comprise this blessing. So when we hear that blessing, it might be here in Israel, every day in Jerusalem, or outside of the state of Israel, in Chutznar, it's abroad, when you hear it only during the holidays. Let's try to gain some insight into this beautiful blessing. So the Torah says, This is the priestly blessing. May Hashem bless you and protect you. I will leave that word without a translation yet. And Hashem will basically bestow upon you shalom. I will say the truth that I'm hesitating to use the translation peace for shalom because it just capture only one aspect of shalom. The word shalom in Hebrew is not only peace, meaning no war, it's harmony, it's completeness, it's wholesomeness. It's much more than just okay, we are not fighting. So I will try to translate some of those words here based on their meaning and not only literal translation. So, what does it mean? If you look, you see that the priestly blessing is divided into three parts. And the third part ishempa na velecha biasem lecha shalom. Hashem will lift his face to you and will bestow you with shalom, with harmony, completeness, wholesomeness, peace. What I would like to do today is to invite you to try to understand some of the words that are in this priestly blessing and to try to understand what exactly is their meaning and what does it mean to us. So Rashi, the commentator from France, 11th century, says, what does it mean that Hashem will shine his face to you? Rashi says, What does it mean that Hashem will shine his face to you? We know that God has no face, no shape, and no form. So what does it mean? He will shine his face to you. Says Rashi, he will show you panim suchakot. What is panim suchakot? A smiley face. A face that smiles upon you. What does that mean? It means that you in a way will be in God's grace. Meaning when God looks upon you, he will smile. And what does that mean? When do we smile? When we see someone that we like, when we see someone that we didn't see for a while, when we see someone that might be sad and we want to make him or her happy, to cheer them up, this is when we smile. And also when you smile, you also send a message of everything is good, everything is fine, or everything will be fine. Basically, according to Rashi, he suggests that when it says, Hashem will lift his face towards you or to you, basically, God will look at you with this desire, with his love and compassion, of care, of I'm happy to see you. And I think this is an incredible insight to really to the beginning of this priestly blessing. To know that God is happy to see me. It's I think an incredible feeling. Because sometimes we come to Shul, we come to Daven, and you don't know what Hashem really thinks about you. And in this priestly blessing, Hashem says to us, Yaer Hashem Panav Eilecha. Me, the Kohen, I bless you, and I'm the conduit of the blessing from heaven to you to tell you God is really happy to see you. And I think that gives a tremendous feeling of being in a shool, being in a place where there is a priestly blessing, that you feel that God really is happy to see me. If God is happy to see me, I don't want to disappoint him. Obviously, there is something on me, something on my end that I need to do, but it's a wonderful feeling that is being created with that blessing. Rabi Avram ibn Ezra says something a bit different. He says the following. What does it mean that Hashem would lift, sorry, Hashem will shine his face to you? What does that mean? It means that the light, the o it's not about the light from a light bulb or from a candle. The light is a source of life. Meaning, when Hashem says in that blessing he would shine his face to you, it means that his divine presence, his shinah, which is obviously compared to light, is with you. Which means God says, Don't worry. I'm with you. Not only that I am with you, my divine presence is with you. You will see me clearly in your life. And the reason for that. Meaning every time you will seek God, every time you will try to find God, you need to know that He is there. Meaning, according to the Ibn Ezra, it's not only that God smiles at you and He shows that He cares about you and that He's happy to see you, it's more than that. It's not only that I'm happy to see you, I am at your side. I am always with you. And I will fulfill your heart wishes. Just ask for it. And so that's the blessing. It's not a it's not a guarantee, it's not an obligation. It's just if you will do what I'm asking you to do, and I'm giving you that blessing that what? That if you will reach that level of being blessed, you need to know that whatever your heart wishes are, God is going to fulfill them. God is going to grant them. So that's the Ibn Ezra. Rabi Yosef Bechorchou, another French commentator from the 13th century, he says the following. So what does it mean, viekhuneka? We didn't translate it yet. So he says like that. Sometimes a friend give another friend of his a gift, but he doesn't do it really with too much happiness. What he called sever panimia fot, which means he gives it with like not a smile, he doesn't give it willingly, he gives it because he needs to give it. For example, the niphrameem kidihtiv vehassar odenu bein shinehem. If you remember that story, when the Jewish people complained and God gave them the slav, that those birds, the meat, God gave it to them, so he gave them a gift, but at the same time, he punished them for asking that meat and the way they asked it, and a number of Jews were punished with death, and they were killed with a plague. Which means sometimes I can give you a gift, but the gift is really not for your benefit. It's really going to destroy you, it's going to ruin you, it's going to damage you, or it's going to cause me, the risk the giver, some kind of frustrations or animosity towards you. Therefore, so Abiyose says this is why Hashem says, So when God will give you a gift, he would do it with A, with love, and B, it will be for your own good. God is not going to use that gift, God forbid, against you. But rather, it's a gift that will help you. And this is an interesting thing, because we always view a blessing as something good. But you know what? Sometimes what we view, oh, we are, this is a blessing, it might be to our demise. As a side note, I would say that many people who win a lottery does not mean that their life changes for the better. Many of them end up even worse than they were before. The idea is that a blessing, a bracha, needs to be something that is really good for you, not only in the short term, but rather in the long term. And according to Abi Yosef Bekhosh, he says that this is the idea of the priestly blessing. It's not just a blessing, it's a blessing for your own good. And then he says, And sometimes he says that people give gifts, and everyone is very sad that that gift was given. But here, why? Because they didn't receive the gift, which means they are jealous. But here says the Bhosho, al Tovatha. This is such a deep psychological analysis of a gift. Think about it. Sometimes you receive a gift and you are the most happiest person on earth. You got the gift, but everyone around you, they are jealous. And jealousy causes hate, and hate causes many other things. And then what do you do? You try to hide the gift. You cannot go with that gift everywhere because you are embarrassed, you don't want to create animosity. The idea of the priestly blessing, says the Bechol Show, is vihuneka. It will give you grace. The word chen, grace, which means you will receive a gift, you will receive God's own blessings, and you can wear them on you publicly. No one will say anything. Everyone will be, not only that they will not say anything against you, not only they will not be jealous at you, they will be happy for you. This is the ultimate giving. That you receive something and you know that when you will go out with it, no one will say any negative comments, no one will make any comments on you, but rather they will say, We are so happy for you. So the word vihuneka is one is grace, and the other one is the other interpretation of the word vihuneka, that he will give you he will give you a matana, he will give you a gift. So now if we take the Bekhosho, we basically can suggest that the priestly blessing, at least at this part, Ya echashem panav elecha vihuneka. Hashem will shine his face towards you, he will give you a gift, but what kind of a gift? A gift that will give you grace, a gift that no one will be jealous, a gift that everyone will recognize that you well deserve that gift. This is the idea of a priestly blessing according to the Bechosho. The Orachim suggests a different angle to the idea of Yahir Hashem, meaning Hashem will shine towards you. Perush, the explanation israel aviem shebashamaimatoadisrael. I will need to give a bit of an introduction. The Orachim says that God will shine his face towards you and it will basically infiltrate this mechitzah, this wall between Hashem and us. What exactly is he talking about? The Talmud states that in a way after the destruction of the temple, there is what they call a mechitzah, a barrier, a wall between us and God. There are certain ways to infiltrate it, tfila, prayer, Torah, tzdaka. But the relationships are not the same anymore. However, birkat kuanim, the priestly blessing, was done at the temple, but also was done everywhere else out of the temple outside of the temple, and even after the temple was destroyed. The priestly blessing continued to be recited even thousands of years after the beta Migdash, after the temple was destroyed. And basically, according to the Orachim, the blessing of the priestly blessing, or the idea of the priestly blessing, at least in that specific part of Yah Hashem Panav Elecha, that Hashem will shine his face to you, towards you, is basically that Hashem says to you, I am willing to drill a little hole, a window in that wall that separates us, and to bring my light to you. But you, you also need to open up the window. You, if you want that light to come in, the light can be incredible outside, but if you have basically a window that you can't see anything, you can't see the light. Open the window. In a way, the Presley blessing says two things according to the Oakheim. On one, God's initial request and initial will to what? To shine his face again. He cares about us, he has longing for us. But now we need to open up the window. We need to let that light in, into our Neshamot, into our souls, into our brains, into our bodies. So that's what the Orachim says. Rabovadias Fono from Italy, 16th century, suggested another angle. What does it mean? He will enlighten you. This is amazing how every commentator basically tried to suggest a different understanding and a different idea. Most of the times, when we use that word in our tradition, it's about Torah. The light in the Torah brings people back. The Torah is like neer or it's like esh, it's like fire, it's like light. So basically, he says like that. I am going to give you a blessing, which is a physical blessing. You will be healthy, you will be wealthy, everything will be taken care of. Meaning after you will accomplish all your needs with his blessing, and then you know what's the ultimate blessing? Not just to have all the needs or the things that we need, that you have them. But it's to have the insight, the light of the Torah that you will be able to accomplish. This is a very, I will call a practical, realistic uh insight into that blessing. Basically, God says to us, look, the ultimate goal that you will study Torah, that you will learn Torah, that you will see the light in the Torah, but I am well aware. You are human beings. You need to eat and you need to drink and you need to have a job and you need to have money and you need to have funds and you need to support the family and you need to go to the grocery store. And I know that sometimes if you have all those needs and all those concerns, you will not be able to concentrate on my ultimate goal, says God, to find the light in the Torah. Therefore, I am going to bestow upon you this beautiful blessing. I will take care of all your needs, and now you will have more time, you will be more free, time-wise and mind-wise, to concentrate on finding the light of the Torah and to implement it in your life. So it's almost like a two-tier bracha, a two-tier blessing. One is God will take care of all your needs and will bless you. And the second tier is what? Do what I really would like you to do. Engage in Torah, immerse in Torah, find the light in the Torah. So that's what Svono suggested. The Natsiv, and we are moving along the centuries, suggested a different idea. And he says the following. So first and foremost, when Hashem bless you, people can see that as, you know, I was just a lucky person, I was just there at the right time, at the right place, and you know, I just did well. Says the Nativ, no, no, no, no, no. God's blessing upon you will be so clear that everyone will see and understand and internalize. It's not because you are just a lucky person to be at the right time, at the right place, at the right moment. No. It's because God's blessing. Which means God's blessing will be apparent, it will be vivid, it will be clear, everyone will see it, no one will be able to deny the fact that this person is blessed. To some extent, I would suggest the Natsif does not say that, so I'm just adding. It's very similar to what God says to Avraham. Everyone who will bless you will be blessed. Everyone who will curse you will be cursed, and all the other people will be blessed by you. What does that mean? It means that if you see God's blessing on someone, you want to imitate them. You want to imitate their behavior because everyone wants God's blessing. In a way, God's blessing is going to be so clear that people will understand it's not luck, it's God's divine blessing. And therefore, it will create some kind of a movement that people will be attracted to that person and will ask that person, how come you God's blessing is upon you? And he will say, you know, I learned Ta'a, I believe in family, I believe in values, I give tzakah, I do good things, I do kindness, and people will follow him as well. So according to the Nativ, the first part is what? People will see it. U mashma'ut panav. What does it mean that God will shine his face? We know God has no face. So what does it mean, face? Says the Natsiv. Ainu Hajgachato. It means God's providence. Hajgacha pratit. Meaning Hashem will bless you. The blessing itself will be very apparent. And not only the blessing, but also the Hajj, God's providence upon you, will be clear. Which means, and this is a very interesting thing. God bless everyone, everyone. But it's not that apparent with everyone. And also Hashem provided providence to everyone, but sometimes this providence is not that evident. It's not that clear. Hashem's blessing in the priestly blessing is that not only that the bracha, that the blessing will be recognized by everyone that that came from God, but also the Hajjakha. God's providence upon this person will be so apparent. Everyone will know that this person, God takes care of him. And it will be be'ara. It will be so clear. The light like is coming down, and you can see it. You can see how that person has this hajjaka, platit, has this providence, and how this person is blessed. So again, the Natsif in a way reads the Pasuk in a way that Yah Shempa Navelecha vihuneka. It's not that the blessing is the new idea. The blessing God blessed everyone. The idea is what? Is the visibility of the blessing. The blessing will be so visible that people will not be able to deny that this person is being blessed. By the way, it's not only for individuals, it's also Amisrael. We hope, we pray, we anticipate, we believe that that time will come and it will be visible that we are blessed. Last week we spoke about the chosen people, we spoke about the flags, we spoke about visibility, we spoke about the idea that you can go in the public domain and say we received a gift, and this gift will be well known to everyone else, and people will be attracted to that gift. People will see the light. That's what, in a way, the Nazif claims. Now, the midrash in Bamid Baraba, which, as I mentioned last week, it's a very late midrash, in few words, I think gives us a tremendous insight into the blessing of Yah Hashem Panav Eilecha. Hashem will shine his face to you. The midrash says, Itelcha me'o e nine. He will give you the ability to see. Now, if we just take this midrash on face value, it's very challenging to understand it. What does it mean? It will give me the ability to see. I mean, thanks God I can see. If you tell me that it's only a blessing for blind people, then I can understand it, that the blind people will be able to see, which will be wonderful. But that's not what the midrash said. The midrash says God will give you me'ol aim. I would like to suggest that perhaps the midrash gives us and provides us with something that sometimes we are lacking. Me'ol a9. Most of us can see. But there is always a question, what do you see? And how do you see things? And I'm not only talking about short term versus long term. Some people can see only the short term and it's very dark, and they are not able to raise their eyes and lift their eyes and to see the long term. I'm not talking only about that. I'm talking in the most simple basic level. Yourself. The people around you. Do you have me'or a9? I will call it do you have the goodness and the kindness when you see yourself or when you see others? Can you see the positive? Can you give the benefit of the doubt? Can you see things with some kind of me'or panim, with a smile, with more of a happy perspective, more of a joyful way? Do you have a me'or e nine? Can your eyes see within the darkness? Can you see the ma'or? Can you see the light? The priestly blessing maybe according to the Midrash says, Yah Hashem Panav Elecha. Hashem will shine his face to you and he will give you, quote unquote, his with a capital H, God's light, so you can use it in your own eyes and to see things in a divine way. And I'm not talking about being a prophet, I'm talking about seeing things in a spiritual way as well. The midrash, a different midrash, says that when Avram and Isaac and Ishmael and Eliezer were walking together to where at the end Avraham did the Akeidah when he bind Isaac on the altar. Avram lifted his eyes and he saw a cloud over a mountain. And he understood that that cloud is the divine presence. A cloud, he understood it's the divine shinite, the divine presence. He called his son Isaac and he says to Isaac, Isaac, do you see what I see? Isaac lifted his eyes and said, Sure Abba, sure, Father. I see a cloud and I know that's the divine presence. He asked Ishmael and Eliezer, do you see what I see? They looked around and they said, We don't see anything. Says Avram, Isaac, you come with me. Ishmael, Eliezer, you stay here, we will come back. The idea is I'm sure that Ishmael and Eliezer, they saw a cloud, but they just saw a cloud. Avram and Isaac, they saw the divine presence. We all know that. Different people can look at something and see different things. Seeing has a lot of to do with your brain, your thoughts, your education, your imagination. The idea of me'or enine is to look at yourself in a positive way, believe in yourself, but also to push yourself to see more than the eye meets, to lift your eyes, to see if you can see above the horizon, to see the spiritual effect of something. And perhaps this is the meaning of what the midrash says will give you me or what does it mean, vihuneka? So now we are moving to the next word, vihuneka. So Raji says it, it will give you grace. What is grace? Grace is, I think it will be a little bit even difficult to explain, even in English or in Hebrew, is like to be likable, but not to be likable in a way that you know I ignore all your issues or your deficiencies. Is that despite your deficiencies, you always find favor, meaning you always want, for example, in the story with Esther and Achashvirosh, this word, Matchenbeenai, you find favor in my eyes, meaning even though Esther came into the inner garden of Akashvirosh, and everyone who goes into the inner garden basically will be executed. Only what? Only if she finds favor in the king's eyes. And she does. And Esther obviously is not being executed, but rather lead the redemption. So the idea of Vitel Khachen is that whatever you're going to do, you will find favor. It may be the best parable is that when you have a little child, a little baby, he can wake you up in the middle of the night, and you need to change his or her diaper, and you need to feed them, and they cry, but when they smile to you, you cannot resist it. Sometimes it can be even more than love. This is this grace that someone has that you just cannot, cannot overcome it. So that's according to Rashi. The Orachim says, Perush, it'll give you grace, but also khanina. What is khanina? Which means, according to the Orachim, God says in his priestly blessing, look, if you did something that you deserve punishment, I will exonerate you. I will shine my face to you, and with that, I will exonerate you. How exactly does it work? So obviously there is some kind of repentance that you need to do. But also it might be that if you have a lot of light and your eyes do not have sunglasses, you need to what? You need to start squeezing your eyes a little bit. You can't let keep them open. And then it means what? That you can't really see as well as you saw before. Perhaps God says, I know you committed a sin, I know you deserve a punishment, but you know how am I going to overcome it? I'm going to shine my face on you. So there is going to be so much light. So your sins, it will be very hard to detect. In any way, I will exonerate you from all the sins you committed. So that's the idea of Khanina. The midrash in Yalkuchim Oni brings another explanation. What does it mean? Ya era Shem Panavelecha. Shem will shine his face to you. Zeme or Shina. This is the divine presence. Shine as it says, Kumi Uri. Kumi, the nation of Israel. Stand up, rise. Uri, there is a light. Kiva or because your light is coming. Meaning the or the light that we are talking about, we are talking about on a national scale. God is going to shine his face on the entire Jewish people. Am Israel is going to wake up to this different light, to this new light. Meaning everything that has anything to do with the shem is about light. And this light will be part, will be rooted, will be imbued in who we are. Light. This is the light of the Torah. Mitzvah is compared to a candle. What does it mean, Vihuneka? It's like when we say during the Shwunaisra, the silent prayer, ata chonenle adamdat, which means we are asking for knowledge. What kind of knowledge? Not only an intellectual knowledge, not only about different cognitive abilities, but rather it will give you awareness, sensitivity to do what? That will you will show sensitivity to each other. And you will show compassion to each other, love, care for each other. Meaning, I will shine my face towards you. I will show my care to you. So you, vihuneka, you will be able to take that blessing and to take this image and this role modeling of what? Of God is has compassion towards us, and you will implement it in your own life between you and your friends. So the blessing in a way is almost like role modeling, what I expect of you to do to your friends, to the other people. And now let's conclude with the last blessing. So Rabbi Himon, the son of Halafta, says, Hashem did not find any vessel that can contain the blessing. So the blessing will not pull over or will not diminish, but will find a vessel that really can contain the blessing, but rather the shalom. Shenamar, as it says, Hashem oz leamoiten, Hashem will give strength to his people. What is shalom? What is that word shalom? First and foremost, the word shalom is one of the names of God. God has many multiple names. One of his names is shalom. Secondly, the word shalom, as I mentioned before, does not mean peace. It means much more than that. It means it comes from the word shlymut, wholesomeness, completeness. When all the parts are coming together, when all the parts create this beautiful tapestry of different parts, but they create one picture. This is the idea of shalom. This is what God is. God can contain all different types of things that even contradict each other. But he is one entity. This is his blessing to us. When you look at Jewish history, when you read Tanakh, when you read history, you see that one of the most challenging things for the Jewish people through the history was always to find this formula that will be able to intertwine and integrate all the tribes together. Whenever there was a year or a time, an era that one tribe thought that he is the leader, it brought destruction. Every tribe, every family, every individual has something that only he or she can contribute. And the only way to bring them together is to know that they have something to contribute. And they need to recognize that you have something to contribute. Only when you understand that without someone you will be lacking, that without this person or the other person, with this tribe or the other tribe, you will not be able to create this wholeseness. We will never be able to accomplish true shalom. This bracha, the end of the priestly blessing, is not only a blessing, but it's also in a way a call for action. It's a challenge for us. In order for us to achieve this shalom, we need to find this shalom from within us. To find this formula that can bring all the tribes together, all the different segments and groups. But it starts with understanding, with the internalization. Truly to internalize the fact that I am lacking something because I'm not friendly with this person. And he needs, he or she needs to have the same feeling. It's that band that we need to feel, that we need each other. Truly, desperately, we need each other. We need everyone to contribute. Everyone to sit around this round table. No one sits in the head, everyone around this round table contributing to the center, understanding that together we can shape our future. This is the ultimate blessing. May it be that Hashem gave strength to his people. Hashem will bless his people with shalom.