30 Sep MAY A YISRAEL DUCHEN?
I. Who May
Duchen?
The Torah
commands kohanim,
male descendants of
the priestly families,
to bless other Jews
while raising their hands and reciting a
specific formula, i.e. to duchen, to do
Nesi’as Kapayim. “Speak with Aharon
and with his sons, saying: In this way you
shall bless the children of Israel; you shall
say to them…” (Num. 6:23). For reasons
that are not completely clear, Ashkenazim
outside of Israel only do this on holidays.
It seems from this verse that only kohanim
may duchen. We see this explicitly from a
Gemara about lineage.
How much proof does a kohen need
to possess to be considered a verified
descendant of Aharon (a blue-check
kohen)? Even in the times of the Mishnah,
over a thousand years after Aharon died, it
could not have been easy to have a family
tree going back that far. The Gemara
(Kesubos 24b) suggests different options.
If you can trace your lineage to a kohen
who served in the Temple, that is sufficient.
If you can trace your lineage to someone
who ate terumah, that also works. And if
you can trace your lineage to someone who
did Nesi’as Kapayim, that verifies you as a
kohen. Why? The Gemara explains that it
is a violation of a positive commandment
for a non-kohen to duchen. Rashi (ad loc.,
s.v. de-isur) explains that the positive
commandment is from the verse above
(Num. 6:23), that the kohanim should do
the blessing and not anyone else.
However, a statement by R. Yossi
complicates things. The Gemara (Shabbos
108b) quotes R. Yossi as saying that even
though he is not a kohen, if his friends tell
him to go up to duchen, he does what they
say. How could R. Yossi do that in violation
of the positive commandment? Further
complicating things, Tosafos (ad loc., s.v.
ilu) quotes Ri (12th cen., France) as saying
that the reason a non-kohen may not
duchen is reciting an unnecessary blessing.
What about the positive commandment?
Later commentators and authorities offer a
number of ways to reconcile the positive
commandment mentioned in Kesubos, R.
Yossi’s behavior mentioned in Shabbos,
and Ri’s seeming lack of awareness of
the problem. Rav Moshe Isserles (Rema;
16th cen., Poland; Darkei Moshe, Orach
Chaim 128:1) suggests
tentatively that the positive
commandment is only
a barrier if there are no
kohanim. A Yisrael or Levi
may not go up alone and do
Nesi’as Kapayim. However,
if kohanim are already going
up to bless the people, a
non-kohen may join them.
However, both in Darkei
Moshe and in his gloss to
Shulchan Aruch (ad loc., par.
1), Rav Isserles concludes
with tzarich iyun, this
requires further study.
II. Unnecessary Blessing
Rav Avraham Gombiner (17th cen.,
Poland; Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim
128:2) questions Rav Isserles’ distinction
between a non-kohen saying the blessing
on his own and with others. From where
does this distinction emerge? Rav
Gombiner suggests that perhaps this is
what Ri means when he says that there
is a problem of an unnecessary blessing.
This unnecessary blessing is the positive
commandment mentioned in Kesubos.
Rav Yechezkel Landau (18th cen., Czech;
Noda Bi-Yehudah, vol 1, Orach Chaim,
no. 6) discusses whether Rav Gombiner’s
reference to an unnecessary blessing
means the blessing before doing Nesi’as
Kapayim (“asher kideshanu bi-kdushaso
she Aharon…”) or the actual Nesi’as
Kapayim itself. He concludes that it
probably means the latter, reciting the
blessings contained in the biblical verses.
Rav Ovadiah Yosef (Ma’or Yisrael,
Shabbos 118b) asks how there could be a
problem reciting an unnecessary blessing
by saying biblical verses. Anyone can say
a full verse with G-d’s name.
However, Rav Yosef of Trani (17th cen.,
Israel; Responsa Maharit 1:149) explains
that the problem of a non-kohen doing
Nesi’as Kapayim is the unnecessary
recitation of G-d’s special name, which
was only said in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The kohanim would use the special
name in Nesi’as Kapayim. If a non-
kohen said that name, he would violate
the positive commandment to fear G-d’s
name. Therefore, during the Temple,
only a kohen was allowed to do Nesi’as
Kapayim. After the Temple’s destruction,
a non-kohen is allowed to do Nesi’as
Kapayim because even the kohanim no
longer use G-d’s special name. R. Yossi
lived after the Temple’s destruction
and that is why he would do Nesi’as
Kapayim under pressure from his friends.
According to Maharit’s approach, we can
understand why the problem is saying the
biblical verses — if he uses G-d’s special
name.
III. Limited Blessings
Rav Gombiner (ibid.) offers another
resolution between the two Gemara
passages, setting aside Ri’s comment
in Tosafos. Perhaps R. Yossi went up
to duchen, in deference to his friends,
but just stood there silently so as not to
violate the positive commandment that
only kohanim may bless the people in that
way. Following Rav Yoel Sirkes (17th cen.,
Poland; Bach, Orach Chaim 128), Rav
Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer (19th
cen., Hungary; Responsa Kesav Sofer,
Orach Chaim, no. 13) says that a kohen
only fulfills the mitzvah if he lifts his hands
while reciting the blessings. That is why it
is called Nesi’as Kapayim. As long as a
Yisrael or Levi does not lift his hands, he
is not fulfilling the mitzvah and therefore
not violating the positive commandment.
Rav Sofer suggests that this is why the
Gemara in Shabbos says that R. Yossi went
up to duchen while the Gemara in Kesubos
discusses tracing lineage based on Nesi’as
Kapayim. Anyone may say the blessings
(duchen) but only a kohen may do it with
raised hands (Nesi’as Kapayim).
May a Yisrael duchen? According to
Rema’s suggestion, if there are kohanim
doing Nesi’as Kapayim, a Yisrael can join
them completely. According to the Magen
Avraham‘s second answer, a Yisrael may
go up to duchen but he must remain silent.
According to the Bach and Kesav Sofer, a
Yisrael may also recite the biblical verses
but he may not recite preceding blessing
nor may he raise his hands. According to
Maharit, outside the Temple, anyone can
do Nesi’as Kapayim. However, due to the
different and contradictory opinions, in
practice a non-kohen is never allowed to
do Nesi’as Kapayim.