There was once a Jew that went to a visit a Baba (A person that gives blessings to people). He asked the Baba for a blessing for Children. The Baba closed his eyes tightly and waved his hands in the air and asked for the names of his father, mother, grandfather and grandmother. He was just about to bless him when he suddenly stopped and said that because his situation is so complicated he needs to pay the Baba 1,800 dollars. The amazed Jew answered angrily that the Kohanim in shul bless me with love and they never ask for money. The Baba answered that that is probably why those poor Kohanim have to walk barefoot.
In this week’s parasha, we learn about the special positive commandment that the Kohanim should bless Bnai Yisrael. The Kohanim’s blessing is split into three parts. The first part is the blessing itself and the protection for the blessing because money and wisdom can be lost without protection. The second part is a blessing that HaShem should reveal his presence upon us and love us and show his grace to us. Finally, the third part is that HaShem should bestow favor upon us and grant us peace.
One of the most interesting things in shul is the phenomena of Birkat Kohanim. A second before he starts to bless, the Kohen is like everyone else. And then, he suddenly gets a spiritual promotion and rises up to the Bimah with complete seriousness. He spreads out his hands and starts to bless us, as we all pay attention and listen carefully to every single word.
Chazal teach us that there are two ways we receive the blessing. One way is entirely by HaShem, and the Kohanim are used as a mediator to give this bracha. That is why the Pasuk says ואני אברכם that HaShem is the one that will give the blessing. This is the first Perush.
The second way of looking at it is that HaShem gives the spiritual energy to the Kohanim to bless others. This is why the Pasuk says כה תברכו you should bless.
From Midrash Tanchuma we learn that both interpretations are correct, which brings us back to the previous question, why are they so special? The answer to this question is in history. We see that there were four fights between two brothers. The first one was Kayin against Hevel that ended through Kayin killing his brother. The second was Yishmael against Yitzchak, that ended through each having their own separate land. The third fight between Yaakov and Esav which ended with a kiss and a hug and each go their own piece of land. The fourth fight between Yosef and his brothers which ended with peace and forgiveness.
The fifth and final round, between Moshe and Aharon, no fight ended or started. They were in peace with each other from day one. Aharon hugged Moshe Rabbeinu and was happy for him when he got his new position as the only prophet of G-d. This character trait started with Aharon and continued to his descendants. This is why they give us the bracha. This is also why in the bracha that the Kohanim say before giving Birkat Kohanim, it says באהבה with love. This is the only bracha that say “with love”. We don’t say
המוציא לחם מן הארץ באהבה
We don’t say
להדליק נר של שבת באהבה
The blessing will only work with love since the Kohanim were chosen to give this bracha specifically because of their lineage of an abundance of love all the way from Aharon HaKohen. If a Kohen doesn’t like someone in the shul, Halachically, he is not allowed to bless. There was a commercial in Israel that said, “Hummus is made with love, and if not with love, don’t make it.” On a deeper level, other Mefarshim explain that the Kohanim are really praying for us and not blessing us. No one has the actual power to bless someone, only to pray for HaShem to bless someone.
The reason why the Kohanim were chosen to pray for us is because they pray out of love for us. As the Baal HaTanya says, when a father sees his child pray for their siblings the father is happy and helps them. So to HaKadosh Baruch Hu sees Am Yisrael praying for each other and wants to help us.
This is why the custom in Etz Ahaim to take a moment during the services to mention all the sick people that need recovery is a great custom that we should continue. We recently started to do it on the weekdays because when a person gives a few minutes of his time to think about others who are in need, HaShem will first help the one that thinks about others.