ברכת כהנים

The famous ברכה, which the Kohanim where instructed by Hashem to bless the Bnei Yisroel each day, consists of three short sentences. They appear in Torah in the middle of Parshas נשא.

Much has been written about these famous brochos, there are numerous medrashim and all the meforshim comment and elaborate on the blessings.

I would like to add a few of my own thoughts.

The first sentence of ברכת כהנים consists of three words. The second has five words and the third, seven words. There are fifteen words in total. Accordingly, the last word of the middle sentence, ויחנך, is the middle word altogether, being the eighth word, having seven words before and seven after it.

The root of the word ויחנך is חן, namely grace. What we are saying is that the פנימיות, the inner core of all the brochos which the Kohanim gave, is that Hashem will give us חן. But what is the definition of that word?

We find that the last verse at the end of sedra Beraishis reads as follows.
ונח מצא חן בעיני ה', Noach found grace and favour in the eyes of Hashem.

What I suggest is that he found that particular חן because he, unlike the rest of his generation, adhered to the original righteousness with which Odom Harishon was created. If we go back to the story of the sixth day of creation when Odom Harishon was created, we find that the 58th word, נח = חן, from the beginning of that parsha is בצלם אלקים, in the image of Hashem. What I am suggesting is that in the same way as נח has this חן by retaining the צלם אלקים, the Kohanim are blessing us all, that Hashem should, once again, enable us to have it , and not lose the צלם אלקים.


If we look at the first posek, which reads as follows, יברכך יהו - ה וישמרך, we find that first letters are י, י and ו which add up to 26. This is a hint to the numerical value of יהו'. The end letters are ך, ה and ך which themselves add up to 45. That is equivalent to the numerical value of אדם, namely 45. It is also equivalent to the name of Hashem written out as follows יוד = 20, הא = 6, ואו = 13 and הא = 6. This totals 45.

I believe that this comes to emphasise the fact that Hashem, יהו', will bless and guard all of us, אדם, from all angles and in all ways.


ברכת כהנים is a מצות עשה a positive command which is supposed to be carried out by the Kohanim every day. This is actually done in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and the general southern part of our Holy Land. In the Galilee, I believe that the custom is only to make ברכת כהנים on Shabbos and Yom Tov. In the Diaspora, the custom is that the ברכת כהנים is only carried out on Yomim Tovim.

There are various reasons given as to why these important brochos are not given every day in גלות. Furthermore, if there is no Kohen at a particular minyan, the brocho is not made wherever this minyan is praying, being Jerusalem, Haifa or London for example.

The ברכת כהנים are included in the Shemona Esrai for Shacharis and even if there is no Kohen it is recited. We ask Hashem to bless us immediately before the last brocho, namely שים שלום.

Why do we not leave out that section if there are no Kohanim present, or in golus if we are talking about any time other than Yom Tov?

May I suggest that the last two words of the whole parsha, ואני אברכם, and I will bless them give us the clue.. I believe that these two words can be interpreted to mean that if in the event of the Kohanim not actually physically blessing the Yidden, Hashem will do it himself, ואני אברכם.

May we all be gebentched.

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The Parshios of Vayikra

The parshios of Vayikra are known as תורת כהנים. This is because many of the mitzvos given in the parshios between Vayikra and the end of Behokosai are specifically to do with the Kohanim or the Mishkon and Bais Hamikdosh. Nevertheless, there are numerous parshios which are not to do with Kohanim specifically, for example, virtually the whole of the sedra Kedoshim and a considerable amount of Behar-Behokosai as well as parts of Shemini and Emor.

Looking at the five parshios commencing אחרי מות, carrying on with קדשים, אמר, through בהר and finally בחקתי, I think we can find a common thread running through all these parshios, namely, that a person has to try to acquire the quality of kedusha. In order to be able to do this, one has to not only keep to the strict mitzvos of Torah but one also has to build extra walls and fences to assist in obtaining kedusha and increasing it.

The word קדושה comes from the root קדש. This is translated in English as Holy. But what does it mean? We have visions of angels up in heaven saying קדוש קדוש קדוש ה' צבאות Holy, holy, holy is Hashem of the legions. We need to define what is meant by this holiness. It is broadly speaking, setting oneself aside from the mundane and becoming more spiritual and near to Hashem.

Rashi at the beginning of Kedoshim states as follows:-
כל מקום שאתה מוצא גדר ערוה אתה מוצא קדושה. A negative concept, wherever you find a fence against lewdness you will find holiness.

The Ramban goes one further and states that one can keep all the mitzvos of Torah and still be what is called a נבל ברשות התורה. I intend going into that concept in greater detail a little later.

קדושה has been translated as הבדלה and פרישות, setting oneself aside and perhaps even leading an ascetic life. That is only part of the concept.

We must, however, always remember that the רבונו של עולם’s קדושה His sanctity and holiness is much higher than any holiness that we can aspire to. קדושתי למעלה מקודשתם

The seforim Hakedoshim say that there are three parallel levels on which one has to work. They are known as עולם, the world, שנה, time, and נפש, the soul, the human being. In each department one has to create, retain and aspire to kedusha.

Let us commence with the sedra אחרי מות. This gives detailed instructions for Aharon and subsequent Kohanim Gedolim to go into the Holy of Holies, the Kodesh Kodeshim, once a year. This is firstly a reflection of kedusha in time, namely the 10th Tishrei every year. It is also kedusha of עולם, the world, because it is the one place in the world, originally the Mishkon and subsequently the Bais Hamikdosh, which had this special kedusha. In addition, the Kohan Godol had to set himself aside for seven days before Yom Kippur and on Yom Kippur itself, immerse himself five times in the mikvah. We see here all three headings of kedusha, עולם, שנה, נפש. The particular place in the world, in time and in the person. Furthermore, the Kohen Godol only had the opportunity to go into the Kodesh Kodeshim just once a year.

The next parsha in Torah talks about שחוטי חוץ, that is a sacrifice, a korban, may not be brought (when there was a Mishkon or the Bais Hamikdosh standing) except at that very place, again this is קדושת המקום, a place in the world. This is followed by the parsha stating that one may not eat blood under any circumstances. This being קדושת הנפש, in a human being. In fact, the Torah itself uses the word נפש in this connection.

We begin to see that in order to create, retain and aspire to kedusha, one has to have these restraints and much more.

This is followed by the parsha of עריות, the ultimate in physical kedusha, namely, that certain relationships are completely forbidden. So much so, that the Torah says that the transgressing of those mitzvos can cause the opposite of kedusha, and lead, in the extreme, to the Bnei Yisroel being exiled from our Holy Land. As we know, unfortunately, this did happen on more than one occasion especially after each Beis HaMikdosh was destroyed.

Immediately after that, commences the sedra קדשים. Where we are enjoined to be spiritually holy.

Interestingly, if one goes carefully through all the mitzvos in that sedra, they appear to be a jumble of commands. There are relationships between one man and his fellow man and at the same time other mitzvos between man and his maker. I should like to enumerate a few of the general principles

We can climb the ladder of holiness by being kind and charitable, honest and fair, upright and just, practising self control over our words, our thoughts and our actions and by avoiding spiritually destructive things, relationships and also by atoning for all our mistakes. We have to behave in a holy manner with regard to agriculture, personal conduct and appearance, child rearing, inter-personal relationships, commerce and life in general. This is all mentioned in the sedra קדשים. Of course, there are numerous other mitzvos mentioned including שבת, פיגול and נותר, ערלה etc. which are mitzvos בין אדם למקום.

All these help in and are part of ascending the ladder of holiness.

As we can see kedusha, holiness, does not just mean putting our heads in the clouds and having mitzvos between ourselves and Hashem. It is very much also about inter personal relationships בין אדם לחבירו.

As I mentioned fleetingly earlier on, the Ramban at the beginning of Kedoshim goes one step further in trying to define and discuss kedusha.

The Ramban says that one can keep all the mitzvos and still be what he refers to as a נבל ברשות התורה, namely being very lowly without breaking any of the mitzvos. To illustrate, if somebody sits all day long eating and drinking like a glutton, even though he can be eating absolutely kosher foods and drinking nothing which is prohibited, it is very far from kedusha and in fact it leads to the opposite happening. The person can become very coarse and degenerate, instead of refined and holy.

You may have noted when reading the sedra last week, that it is the second verse of קדשים which states קדשים תהיו, you shall be holy. The second verse from the end of the sedra repeats this. The Torah says והייתם לי קדשים You should be holy to Me, כי קדוש אני ה' because I am Holy. Meaning that you should try and emulate Me, as far as is humanly possible, of course. I don’t know whether anybody has noticed that the word Kedoshim is spelt without a ו, קדשים, whereas the word קדוש is spelt with the ו, when referring to Hashem.

I have discovered that this is a general rule in Torah, namely, wherever we are referring to the kedusha of Hashem, the holiness with reference to the Al-mighty, the word is spelt קדוש. This is because His Holiness, sanctity, separation etc. is beyond and above anything that we can aspire to, it is מלא, complete, in the same way it is spelt fully, קדוש. When the Torah refers to human beings theו is omitted because we can only go so far.

Turning to the next sedra, אמר, if you look at פסוק ח', the 8th verse, we are talking about the Kohanim, and their level of kedusha. וקדשתו כי את לחם אלקיך הוא מקריב you should sanctify him because he brings the sacrifices to Hashem. The Torah carries on as follows קדש יהיה לך he should be holy to you כי קדוש אני ה' מקדישכם because I am Holy, and sanctify you. Please note that the first קדש, referring to the Kohen, is spelt חסר, without a ו, whereas the second one, referring to Hashem, is spelt מלא, with a ו, קדוש.

As I mentioned the kedusha of the Kohanim is given in detail at the beginning of Emor and the Kohan Godol’s kedusha is at a higher level. We are talking there of קדושת הנפש, the human being.

The Torah then continues, all Jews have to be careful not to touch or to eat of קרבנות when they are in a state of טומאה. Then we have the parsha about the animals themselves that could not be sacrificed if they were not perfect, without any blemish. This is followed by an injunction that an animal cannot be sacrificed for the first seven days of its life. This, in turn, is followed by the various parshios all concerning the different קרבנות brought in the Mishkon or the Bais Hamikdosh on Yomim Tovim.

Harking back to the three parallel levels of kedusha that I mentioned above, one can see that again עולם, שנה, and נפש are mentioned time and time again. There was even a kedusha in respect of the oil that was utilised for the menorah, of course, in the Holy part of the Mishkon and that it had to be replenished each day. We then go to the parsha of the לחם הפנים, the special bread that was brought once a week and placed on the shulchan, on the table, once again in the Holy part of the Mishkon.

We can see that apparently mundane objects in the world, including animals, oil, bread etc. are utilised as a means of spiritual uplift and kedusha.

The Torah then comes to another parsha where there was an incorrect relationship between an Egyptian man and a Jewish woman and the son was caught blaspheming and what happened to him and others in similar circumstances. Obviously, the opposite of kedusha, to be avoided at all costs.

The sedra of בהר commences with the mitzvah of שמיטה, here we have קדושת הארץ, the holiness, the sanctity of the actual Land of Israel. Once in seven years, work on the fields stopped, קדושת הזמן. We know that the farmers and their families were supposed to spiritually elevate themselves as well in that sabbatical year, קדושת הנפש.

The Torah then goes one further and states that once in 50 years there is a special jubilee יובל, so that in effect one has two years of complete rest of the fields, the 49th year and the 50th year, to the extent that even Jewish servants had to be allowed to go home then and the leasehold properties which had been sold reverted to their owners.

Do I have to keep on mentioning the interplay between עולם, שנה,and נפש, Eretz Yisroel being holier than the rest of the world, the years mentioned in and the individuals as well.

The Torah then continues for the whole of בהר with a poor person selling part of his inheritance and selling a house and eventually selling himself, not only to a fellow Jew but in extremity to a Non Jew. Rashi tells us that this was all because originally שמיטה was not kept properly and this was a downward spiral, the opposite of kedusha.

Finally, in בחקתי we are enjoined to keep all the mitzvos properly and we will have great ברכה blessings showered upon us.

If, חס וחלילה we do the opposite, there are a series of קללות which unfortunately over the ages did occur in previous generations.

However, the Torah then, at the end of בחקתי comes back to kedusha, the elevation of people and animals and possessions by declaring them קודש, holy, ending finally with the mitzvah of taking a tithe, מעשר from all flocks, the tenth one being, as the Torah states קדש לה'.

I think that you will agree that there is a common thread going through these sedras from אחרי מות right the way through to בחקתי. This is a lesson for all of us, male and female, to try and adhere to קדושהand spiritually uplift ourselves. This, of course, includes keeping the mitzvos בין אדם למקום between ourselves and Hashem, and בין אדם לחבירו between ourselves and fellow Jews.

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טעמי המקרא - שלשלת

At the same time as Moshe Rabbenu was given the Torah by Hashem, he was not only given the actual words to write down, but the vowels, the way to pronounce words, were given to him at the same time, for example, when to use a קמץ, חיריק, חולם etc. Also at the same time, he was given the טעמי המקרא, the cantillations, trop, the notes to be sung on each word.

You will note that these are called טעמי המקרא, they are not just fanciful musical accompaniments they are, in fact, deeper hints and guidance to understanding some further depth in Torah which does not appear by just reading the words even with the vowels.

There are two types of טעמי המקרא. They are known as מלכים and משרתים, kings and servants.

Basically, a servant is a note or series of notes leading to a final note, where there is then a distinct pause. The final note is known as a מלך, melech, a king.

There are a number of these notes known as melech but the greatest one is the שלשלת, the “King of Kings”.

The note only appears a few times in the whole of Torah and its significance is, therefore, even greater.

I would like to go through the various places that a שלשלת is found and discuss the matter in some depth.

The first time we come across a שלשלת is in the sedra וירא. Lot was told to get out of Sedom fast, in order that he should not be destroyed with Sedom. The Torah continues, ויתמהמה, and he tarried. On that word there is a שלשלת.

In order to understand why there is this “King of Kings” special note at this juncture, let us go back a little while. Avrohom Avinu was told to leave his homeland and go, in fact, to the land of Canaan, and Lot joined him. When they arrived, there was immediately a famine and they went down to Egypt. They were very poor at that time. Avrohom Avinu had to borrow money to keep going.

When they came out of Egypt three months later, not only Avrohom was rich but Lot also. We then see that Avrohom on his way back, as Rashi states, פרע הקפותיו, paid up his debts. Avrohom was not affected by the sudden wealth he received, he ruled his money and not his money ruling him.

Lot, however, did not have the same attitude. Immediately afterwards we find that his shepherds were involved in a squabble with Avrohom’s shepherds. Rashi tells us that Lot’s shepherds were feeding from the pastures of individual people and when Avrohom’s shepherds objected, the rejoinder was, “Well Avrohom has no children and, therefore, Lot will, in due course, inherit his lands and these lands have been promised to Avrohom. Therefore we are doing no wrong.”

Very bad thinking. Obviously, this was coming from Lot himself. Not only had he acquired wealth, he wanted to acquire even more wealth in whatever manner he could, not caring too much about the means. Avrohom said to Lot “We must part company even though we will remain brothers.” What did Lot do? Instead of making up with Avrohom, promising to improve and that his shepherds would not do this in future, he looked out at the best part of the land, namely Sedom and its environs (now the site of the Dead Sea) and decided that that was the place for him to live.

The Gomorra in Sanhedrin ק''ט and in particular, in even more detail, in the Sefer Hayosher, a famous medrash sefer, goes into great details as to how beautiful and lush that particular part of the country was. Because of this, the effect on the citizens was that they became very miserly and did not want anybody to share their good fortune. They passed draconian laws to stop people even passing through their land.

This was the place that Lot wanted to go and live and he did go there. His character was flawed and his eagerness for the good life and luxury, leading to his latent bad middos being brought forth at full blast, was the consequence.

He was once taken away from Sedom by the four kings who rampaged through the area. Avrohom chased the four kings and released him, but Lot went back to Sedom. He could not keep away from the fleshpots of luxury together with the licentiousness.

When finally, the angels came to save him, in the merit of Avrohom, despite the fact that he was told that if he did not leave, he would be destroyed together with the inhabitants and everything else in Sedom. ויתמהמה, he tarried. The שלשלת is a treble note as the word שלשלת implies because it comes from the root of שלש, three. He Tarried, and Tarried and Tarried and the angels had to turn themselves into men and take himself and his wife and daughters by the hand to physically eject them from Sedom.

We can see the importance of the שלשלת.

This was not only a lesson for what happened in the past, history repeats itself. Nowadays, we are in the midst of a major world financial upheaval. The monies which have been made over the past years, one could almost say the obscene monies made over the past years by fair means and foul have unfortunately, in many case, led to people doing almost anything in order to increase their wealth. The money, unfortunately, has been ruling the person and the chickens have now come home to roost, as is well known.

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Turning to the next שלשלת we find, it appears in חיי שרה. Eliezer had just reached ארם נהרים having been sent to look for a shidduch for Yitzchok, and he tethered the camels and then he prayed to Hashem for success. On the word ויאמר there is a שלשלת.

Once again the background leading up to this is very important. Avrohom and Soroh were fortunate enough, after many years of not having children to, at the age of 100 and 90 respectively, to have a son called Yitzchok. When Yitzchok was 37 years of age, the story of the עקידה took place and Soroh died. Subsequently, Avrohom thought to himself that he must look round for a suitable wife for his son as a matter of urgency.

This was a major problem because of various factors. Avrohom was, of course, known as the standard bearer of the new revolution proclaiming that there was a one and only Hashem in the world. People had got used to him and he was even known as אב המון גוים, father of all the nations. He and his wife were known as people of great kindness, אנשי חסד.

Yitzchok, however, concentrated on serving Hashem in a different way, namely with fear of heaven and strength of purpose. There were no compromises, no easy way. He was very strict on himself.

Furthermore, he had to stay in our Holy Land and, in fact, never went out of it for all his life.

Eliezer was faced with three major problems. He had to look for a wife who was suitable for such a person as Yitzchok and also the prospective Choson would not come to visit her or her family and Eliezer realised that in order to create a good marriage, the wife for Yitzchok had to be somebody with utmost kindness, similar to Avrohom and Soroh. He, therefore, started off his plea to Hashem to show him a girl who would fit this task and also belong to the family of Avrohom and so they would be able to continue the dynasty commenced by Avrohom and Soroh.

The Torah emphasises the Tefilla of Eliezer, with the שלשלת on ויאמר.

He was, of course, successful as we all know.

This is also a lesson relevant to shidduchim in our times. People have been known to arrange marriages with an eye on the יחוס of the family, the wealth and prestige and what the world will say, etc.

My Rebbe, the Bais Yisroel, used to quote the verse כי יקח איש אשה חדשה נקי יהיה, When a man takes a new wife he should be נקי, which is normally translated as free or unencumbered. However, if one looks at the three letters, a נ has a numerical value of 50, a ק has a numerical value of 100 and י is 10. The hint, that the Bais Yisroel used to quote, I believe in the name of his father, the Imrei Emess, was how to approach a shidduch. People usually look for three things, first there is the נדן, dowry represented by the letter נ. If only 50% of the figure originally floated is actually forthcoming, be satisfied.

ק represents קרן, the prospective Choson or Kallah themselves. This has to be 100%, it is the most important part of a shidduch.

י represents the יחוס, if this is only 10% of that which is mentioned, that is enough.

The most important thing in a shidduch is that the boy and girl should be of first class quality. They should be compatible and be able to live together happily and bring up future generations in the correct manner. The rest is bonus.

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The next time we find a שלשלת is in וישב. Yosef had been purchased by Potiphar, one of Pharoh’s ministers and he became his “head of the household”. Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him and Yosef refused. ויאמן (“He refused”) has a שלשלת, once again a three fold note, No, No, No.

If we look at the background of the whole story, we will see how great this act was.

Yaakov finally had a son by his beloved wife Rochel. Yosef grew up to be a special lad, the apple of his father’s eye. At the age of 17 he was suddenly torn away from all this and sold by his brothers and eventually was sold to Potiphar a minister of Pharoh in Egypt. Yosef had gone from a household of righteousness, of Yaakov as well as Yitzchok who was still alive and the great matriarchs, into a degenerate society in Egypt. He was depressed and broken. He could easily have been influenced the wrong way and have done the wrong thing. The Chochomim tell us אין אפוטרפוס לעריות

As our Chazal tell us, Yosef saw the face of his holy father and had the strength of character not to be influenced. He emphatically said “No” whatever the consequences. And there were consequences. We all know that he ended up in prison for many years, but the end of the story was that he came out of prison and became the second in command in Egypt and eased the path of Yaakov and his children and the Bnei Yisroel in their going down to Egypt.

Not for nothing, is there a שלשלת at ויאמן.

Today, this is also very relevant to ourselves.

We live in a society where media in general, and the internet in particular, are trying to seduce many people, righteous, naïve etc. with very attractive filth. We must have the strength of character to say “No, No, No”.

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The final שלשלת is in פרשת צו. Once again the background here is very important. Aaron and his sons had been appointed to be Kohanim and the Torah tells us the procedure that was carried out to complete the investiture. After they had put on special clothes and in particular Aaron with the eight special vestments, the Torah continues with the korbonos, the sacrifices which were specially brought all on the 1st day of Nissan, the day the Mishkon was consecrated. The final sacrifice was the איל המלאים, the inauguration ram. Then, Moshe having carried out the final acts that Hashem commanded to do to Aaron, he became the Kohen Godol. On the word וישחט, “he slaughtered” (the איל המלאים) there is a שלשלת. This is because it was the culmination of the investiture of Aaron as Kohen Godol and his children as Kohanim.

This was a great event at the time because it was in the merit of Aaron that the Shechina came down and dwelt in the Mishkon. Aaron blessed the Bnei Yisroel and it was the inauguration of a new way of life for the Bnei Yisroel which has continued ever since.

Once again, it was not just for that particular time, it was for all generations including ours.

Furthermore, the word שלשלת nowadays is applied to a family tree, in the same way as the Kohanim have a separate family tree.

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You may have noted that all the four places mentioned above are leyned in the winter months (צו is actually read before פסח). This is a רמז, hint, to us that even when things look dark, one can overcome difficulties בס''ד.

As one can see the use of a שלשלת highlights very important matters that are not to be glossed over.

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