On Parasha Naso: Understanding Birkat Kohanim

One of the best-known passages in our parsha, and the entire Torah, is that of Birkat Kohanim:

“The L-rd spoke to Moses saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: This is how you shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them: ‘May the L-rd bless you and watch over you. May the L-rd cause His countenance to shine to you and favor you. May the L-rd raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace.’ They shall bestow My Name upon the children of Israel, so that I will bless them.” (Bamidbar 6:22-27)

The kohanim’s recitation of this three-fold bracha is simultaneously a holy, dramatic and auspicious moment within the cycle of the tefilot hayom (prayers of the day). In nearly all cases, adults suddenly become quiet and intensely focused upon what is to transpire, while young children run to their fathers to find temporary shelter under their prayer shawls - for even they sense that something quite special is about to take place. These behaviors naturally lead us to ask, “What is the true nature of Birkat Kohanim?” 

My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal, known as the “Rav” by his followers and disciples, discussed our question in one of his weekly drashot. He noted that the commandment of Birkat Kohanim entails two separate aspects: “the transmission of a direct blessing from G-d and hashra’at ha-Shechinah (the manifestation of Hashem’s presence).” Moreover, the Rav stated that Birkat Kohanim “is a direct meeting with the Shechinah that presents us with an intimate encounter in which we come [so to speak] face to face with G-d.” (These, and all following quotations of the Rav, are from “Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Darosh Darash Yosef: Discourses of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik on the Weekly Parashah,” Rabbi Avishai C. David, editor, pages 290-296, brackets my own.)