Geri Newburge
This week’s Torah portion is Shemini: Leviticus 9:1 — 11:47
In 1693, clergyman Thomas Manton published the “Book of Sermons.” In this compilation was a phrase that would become a popular adage, “actions, which speak much louder than words.” But what if we could have both?
In this week’s parasha, Shemini, we read “Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings (Leviticus 9:22).” This verse begs the questions: 1) Why does Aaron lift his hands? 2) What is the blessing? 3) Is there a connection with the offerings?
Considering the answer to the first question, tradition teaches us that the priests regularly lifted their hands when offering a blessing. It is a sign to all that their efforts to uplift the people are an extension and continuation of their holy service in the Temple.
The blessing Aaron offers is not specified in the Torah portion, but many of our sages submit the words he shared when he came out of the Mishkan were the 15 words of the Priestly Blessing. This is a bit of a conundrum, as those words have not yet been given in the Torah (that happens in the Book of Numbers). And these same sages draw upon the sequencing of the verse for inspiration. Rabbi Jacob Ben Asher, a medieval Spanish scholar, teaches that the three lines of the Priestly Blessing correspond to the three types of offerings articulated, the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings. The first blessing corresponds to sin offerings, “and may He guard you” — from sin, as it says (Samuel I 2:9), “The feet of the Eternal One pious ones He will guard”; the second blessing, “May he cause His face to shine,” corresponds to the burnt (olah — to go up) offering, as it says (Exodus 34:24), “When you go up [ba’aloscha] to see”; and the third blessing of peace corresponds to the peace offerings.
Though the Temple no longer stands and there is not an active priesthood in the biblical sense, the connection remains, as we bless our children and our congregations with those uplifted hands.
The Kohen never served as a miracle worker or magician. Rather, as we discover from a reading of our sacred text, the priesthood, with all its hierarchical and hereditary features, was intimately connected with the concept of teaching, especially Torah. We find evidence of this in our liturgical practice, in the daily morning service. At the very beginning of the service, one of the first things we recite is the Birkhat HaTorah, the blessings over the study of Torah. After we thank the Eternal for giving us the Torah, we immediately proceed to perform the mitzvah: we study Torah. And what passage of the Bible is it that we choose to recite as part of the study of Torah? — the Birkhat Kohanim, the blessing recited by the priests.
To Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first chief rabbi in pre-state Israel, this is a profound symbol, which also connects back to the raising of the hands for the blessing. When the priest raises his hands, it is aspirational, it points to the future and is a moment for transcendence. It is an act that invites a reaching out to something beyond oneself. For Rabbi Kook, the priests’ extended arms are a bridge, from promise to fulfillment, from small beginnings to great achievements, from what he is to what he can and ought to be. But this lesson is not reserved for only the priests — it is true of all Jews with regard to Torah.
For me, the sacred act of blessing the Jewish people is the fulfillment of both word and deed. We share the beautiful Priestly Blessing with the hope that the words bring comfort and inspiration, and when recited with the outstretched hands, it produces a sacred connection with each person to something greater than her or himself.
As we read Shemini this year, may Aaron’s blessing and his reaching out to the people bring us closer together, so that we too may feel God’s presence in our lives.
Geri Newburge is the senior rabbi at Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim.