07 Jun NASO: THE BLESSINGS ARE NOT FOR FREE

One of the mitzvos in

Parshas Naso is the

positive Biblical

commandment for the

Kohanim to bless the

Jewish people on a

daily basis. We in

Chutz L’Aretz only

practice this mitzvah on Yom Tov (the

Shalosh Regalim, Rosh HaShannah, and

Yom Kippur), but in Eretz Yisrael, there is

Birkas Kohanim every single day. In fact,

you do not need to travel to Eretz Yisrael to

see this. The Kohanim also bless the people

on a daily basis at Sephardic congregations

who follow the Psak of the author of

Shulchan Aruch (Rav Yosef Karo). In fact,

on Shabbos at Ner Yisroel, where all the

Iranian young men together with other

Sephardic young men have their own

minyan, they say Birkas Kohanim. When

Rav Simcha Zissel Brody, zt”l, (the

Chevroner Rosh Yeshiva) spent several

years here as a “Visiting Rosh Yeshiva,” he

missed the Birkas Kohanim that he was used

to on a daily basis in Eretz Yisrael, so he and

Rabbi Neuberger ran into the Iranian minyan

every Shabbos to grab an opportunity to be

blessed by the Kohanim. This is a positive

Biblical commandment – at least for the

Kohanim. The Sefer Akeidas Yitzchak from

Rav Yitzchak Arama [1420-1494] asks

several fundamental questions on the

mitzvah of Birkas Kohanim. His answer

provides an absolutely new understanding of

what exactly Birkas Kohanim is about. He

asks five different questions. 1. Why do we

need the Kohanim to give us blessings? The

Ribono shel Olam is the source of all

blessings! Why should we need Kohanim to

be a conduit for blessing? In today’s efficient

society, the primary rule of business is “cut

out the middle man.” Let’s go directly to the

source! 2. The Gemara teaches [Rosh

Hashana 28b] that the Kohanim may not add

any personal blessings to the Birkas

Kohanim recorded in Parshas Nasso. The

Gemara cites the pasuk, “Do not add to the

matter that I command you and do not detract

from it…” [Devorim 4:2] as a Biblical pasuk

which prohibits any Kohen from deviating

from the specific text proscribed in this

week’s parsha. If the Almighty is already

giving the Kohanim license to bless the

nation, then why limit them? Why do we not

say, “Whoever increases is praiseworthy?”

Poskim in fact discuss this matter. The

Minhag Yisrael (Jewish custom) is that when

the Kohanim descend from the platform after

having blessed the people, the non-Kohanim

who were blessed say to the Kohanim

“Y’asher Kochacha” [Good job!] and the

Kohanim typically respond “Baruch

Ti’heyeh” [You should be blessed]. The later

rabbinic authorities discuss whether they are

in fact allowed to say that. Is it not a violation

of adding, so to speak, a non-authorized

personal blessing to the Jewish people? 3.

The Sefer Charedim holds (as the Mishna

Berura brings in the Biur Halacha) that not

only is it a Mitzvah for the Kohanim to bless

the Jewish people but there is also a Mitzvah

for the Jewish people to be blessed by the

Kohanim! This, too, seems odd. Is there a

need to command anyone to receive a

blessing? It seems superfluous to “require”

such an action on the part of the

non-Kohanim. 4. The text of the 3 Priestly

Blessings is such that the Name of Hashem is

repeated by each blessing. (Yevarechecha

HASHEM…; Ya’er HASHEM…; Yisa

HASHEM…. In the Bais Hamikdash they

actually pronounced the explicit Name of

Hashem. Why is this necessary? It seems

redundant! 5. Finally, what is the meaning of

the last line of Birkas Kohanim? “And they

shall place MY Name upon the Children of

Israel and I will bless them.” Who is blessing

Israel here – the Kohen or Hashem? It is

unclear! The Akeidas Yitzchak explains that

every single blessing begins with the words

“Baruch Ata Hashem“. What do these three

words mean? Older English translations use

the expression “Blessed art Thou” and newer

translations that are more “contemporary”

use “Blessed are You”. However, these

translations do not reflect the true meaning

of “Baruch Ata Hashem“. Both Rabbeinu

Bachya on Chumash, the Akeidas Yitzchak

over here and many other early

commentaries write that the expression

“Baruch” comes from the Hebrew word

“Bereicha” (meaning a pool or reservoir of

water). “Baruch Ata Hashem” means

“Ribono shel Olam, You are the source of all

blessing.” When I say “Baruch Ata Hashem

Elokeinu Melech haOlam Borei Pri Ha’Etz,”

I am declaring that I recognize that You the

Master of the Universe are the source of all

blessing and therefore if not for You, I would

not have this apple. The Ribono shel Olam

wants us to do this because He wants us to

know that every single apple and every

single piece of salami and every single piece

of bread we eat comes from Him. It is not

me. It is not my money. It is not my talent. It

has nothing to do with me. It all comes from

You! That is what the declaration “Baruch

Ata Hashem” teaches. If we acknowledges

the present we received from Hashem, He

will keep giving us presents. If someone

gives you a present and you do not say thank

you; you do not show appreciation, he may

stop giving you presents. That is only

natural. If we want more apples, we want

more salami, and we want more cake or

bread, then we must say “Baruch Ata

Hashem…” each time. That is what Brochos

are about and that is what Birkas Kohanim is

about as well. It is not a blessing from the

Kohanim. Kohanim do not give blessings.

Only the Ribono shel Olam gives blessings.

Rather, Birkas Kohanim is a ‘Mussar

Shmooz‘: Yevarechecha Hashem

v’Yishmerecha – You should know that

blessing – and everything else — comes

from Hashem. Ya’er Hashem Eilecha

vy’Chuneka – Yisa Hashem Panav Elecha…

Do you want anything in this world? Know

that it comes from the Master of the World.

That is why the text repeats and emphasizes

the name of Hashem with each sentence.

With this understanding, it becomes very

clear why the Kohanim cannot “add another

blessing of their own.” No sir! We cannot

give the impression that it is the Kohanim

who are the source of the blessing. A Kohen

who would say, “I will go ahead and give

another bracha” is defeating the whole

purpose of Birkas Kohanim. On the contrary

– the lesson of Birkas Kohanim is that there

is no other source of brachos other than

HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This also explains the

opinion of the Chareidim that there is a

mitzvah on Klal Yisrael to hear Birkas

Kohanim. Previously, we did not understand

this opinion. Why should it be necessary to

“command” anyone to go receive blessings?

The answer is – Yes, it is necessary –

because people do not like to hear mussar.

The Kohanim are not getting up on the

platform and dispensing blessings. They are

dispensing mussar! They are telling the

audience “Listen, you may be a millionaire,

you may be sitting on top of the world now –

but it did not come from you! You are a

klutz! As easily as you are the millionaire

and he is the pauper, he could be the

millionaire and you could be the pauper!

Things are the way they are because the

Ribono shel Olam wanted it that way. Do I

need to hear a mussar shmooz every single

day? I am not interested in that! The

Chareidim teaches that it is a mitzvah to hear

this mussar shmooz every single day. “It is a

mitzvah to “be blessed.” Finally, this

explains why Birkas Kohanim ends with the

words, “And you will place My Name upon

the Children of Israel and I will bless them.”

Once they repeatedly hear Yevarechecha

Hashem…; Ya’er Hashem…; Yissa

Hashem… and they understand what

“Baruch” means, and they know what a

“Breicha” is, then I will be able to bless

them. This is a whole different

understanding of Birkas HaKohanim. They

are not giving free gifts. They are not giving

out blessings. They are teaching us that we

need to know the source of all blessing in this

world and that is only the Ribono shel Olam

and no one else. So says the Akeidas

Yitzchak in this week’s parsha. A

Depression That Impresses Parshas

Behaaloscha The beginning of Parshas

Beha’aloscha, which deals with the kindling

of the Menorah, immediately follows the

lengthy section at the end of Parshas Nasso,

which deals with the gifts of the Nesseyim

[Tribal Princes] to the Mishkan. Rashi

explains this juxtaposition: Aharon was

chalsha da’ato [depressed] that neither he nor

his tribe (Shayvet Levi) participated in the

inauguration ceremony of the Tabernacle.

Therefore, the Almighty told him, “By your

life, your lot is greater than their lot – for you

(and your descendants) will kindle and

prepare the lamps of the Menorah.” We have

spoken numerous times in the past about this

Rashi and analyzed how exactly the lighting

of the Menorah served as a “consolation

prize” for not having participated in the

inauguration. Rather than repeating our prior

discussions, I will make another observation

about Rashi’s comment. Rashi says that

Aharon was “weakened” or depressed by the

fact that he and his tribe did not participate

with the Nesseyim. Aharon was depressed

because he could not participate in a

mitzvah. This is an admirable quality. It is a

measure of a person as to what upsets him

and gets him dispirited. Some people get

depressed over the stock-market. Some

people get depressed when their sports team

loses. What gets Aharon depressed? When

does he feel deprived? “I could not

participate in a mitzvah.” That depressed

him. We find another example of this in our

parsha as well: “We are impure as a result of

human corpse impurity – why should we be

left out, unable to sacrifice the offering to

Hashem in the midst of the Children of

Israel?” [Bamidbar 9:7]. The setting is the

offering of the first Paschal sacrifice in the

Wilderness, one year after the exodus. A

group of people were unable to participate

because they were Tameh Mes. They

protested before Moshe – Lamah Nigarah

(why should we be deprived)? Again, it is

praise-worthy to feel deprived because you

could not do a mitzvah, because you could

not offer the Korban Pessach. Usually what

do we think of when someone says, for

example, “I had a deprived childhood”?

Typically, it means he did not get a bike; he

could not go to camp, etc. Usually “I am

deprived” refers to materialistic deprivation

– I cannot go on vacation, I cannot afford

this, I cannot afford that. People who are

depressed because they could not do a

mitzvah or who feel deprived because they

could not bring a Korban Pessach are very

special people. Such emotions say a lot about

who they are. This is in stark contrast to

another group of people in this parsha: “And

the rabble that were in their midst cultivated

a craving, and the Children of Israel, also

turned, and they wept, and said, ‘Who will

feed us meat? We remember the fish that we

would eat in Egypt free of charge; the

cucumbers, and the melons, the leeks, the

onions, and the garlic…’” [Bamidbar

11:4-5]. What were they crying about? They

felt deprived because they did not have meat!

These are two opposite ends of the spectrum.

Aharon is depressed because he cannot bring

a Korban. The carriers of Yosef’s coffin felt

deprived because they could not bring a

Korban Pessach. And then there is the other

end of the spectrum: “Who will feed us

meat?” That which makes one depressed is a

measure of the man.