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The Paradox of the Priestly Blessing – Parashat Naso

The biblical Priestly blessing is the center of this week’s Torah portion: Naso. Why do the Cohanim put out their hands? Dr. Shulamit Laderman investigates. 

The biblical priestly benediction, also known as “the raising of the hands” (Nesiat Kapa’im), is found in our parasha, Naso.

During Temple times the priests recited this blessing daily, and after the destruction of the Temple it was carried over to the synagogue.

Today in the land of Israel the kohanim in the congregation recite the blessing daily, and more than once on Shabbat and holidays, whereas outside of Israel they recite it only on holidays.

The blessing is made up of three verses, with the name of God included in each verse, clearly indicating that these blessings, recited by the priests, are coming from God:  “The Lord bless you and protect you. The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you. The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace” (Num. 6: 24–26).

Interestingly, the biblical text mentioned here does not relate at all to the priests’ posture of raised hands in a given manner.  Why then is the priestly blessing called Nesiat Kapa’im (“the raising of the palms”) when no reference is made to hands at all?   

How did Nesiat Kapa’im become such an important part of the very performance of this blessing?

Let us view the artistic visual description that Avner Moriah chose for Parashat Naso. 

Avner Moria, Parashat Naso

The picture portrays two separate, but jointly presented scenes. On the left we see a line of priests with Aaron, the High Priest, at the far end wearing his High Priest headdress. The priests are presented against a background of brown hills, perhaps alluding to the desert were they are. On the right side of the picture Aaron appears again, this time without a headdress, but facing Moses who is raising his hands over Aaron’s head, thus referring to the verse that introduces the Priestly blessings:  “The Lord spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel; say to them…” (Num. 6: 22–23). Here Moses is seen not only speaking, but also raising his arms over Aaron. What is Moses alluding to when he does that?  

The act of Moses raising his arms takes us back to the story of the war against Amalek, when Moses had to climb to the top of a hill in order to help Joshua and the Israelites repel the Amalek attack. There we are told: “Then whenever Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed.…But Moses’ hands grew heavy…” (Exod. 17:11, 12). At that point, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit down on a stone and helped him hold up his arms until the war was won.

Moses had to keep raising his arms so as to convey to the people that the victory against the Amalekites was associated with the raising of his hands. The victory was possible only through God’s assistance.

Further on, in the Book of Leviticus, we read: “Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them” (Lev. 9:22). Here too the raising of the hands was associated with consigning the Lord’s blessing.

In the picture, Aaron is standing with his sons, forming a tightly bound unit of priests.  This is a paradigm of the powerful symbol of the need to call upon God’s love for the people of Israel. The blessings physically uttered by the priests are God’s blessings.  Just as Moses had to raise his hands in order to receive God’s help for winning the battle, and just as Aaron had to raise his arms while blessing the people in prayer, so as to emphasize that it is God who is blessing the Israelites as it is said: “they shall link My name with the people of Israel and I will bless them” (Num. 6: 27).

Shavua Tov from Schechter

Dr. Shula Laderman worked for many years as a computer programmer and planner at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. While working there, she studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem towards her Ph.D., which she received in 2000. Her topic of research is the “Artist as an Interpreter” – visual interpretation of the Bible in Jewish and Christian Art. She is the author of Images of Cosmology in Jewish and Byzantine Art-God’s Blueprint of Creation and is co-author with the artist Avner Moriah of The Illuminated Torah. She taught for many years at Bar Ilan University as well as at the Schechter Institute, where she continues to teach in the Judaism and the Arts track (which she directed in the past).

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