Rabbi Norman Roman

Temple Kol Ami

Most of us are familiar with the classic interpretation of the Birkat Cohanim (Priestly Benediction) that teaches:

May God bless you and guard you - May you be blessed with affluence, and may you be guarded from that wealth corrupting your life.

May God cause light to shine upon you and be gracious unto you - May you appreciate the light of Torah, be constantly enlightened by it and not forget it, and as a result, you will find grace in the eyes of all who share life with you.

May God lift up the Divine Presence upon you, and grant you peace - may the goal of your life in Torah be Shalom, not only peace for your community, but peace within yourself, i.e. contentment and wholeness.

But a wise and discerning student of mine (now a Doctor!!!) many years ago, discovered the following Midrash about this blessing while she was preparing her D'var Torah in anticipation of becoming a Bat Mitzvah:  How do we know that the Children of Israel have the z'chut (the merit) of being blessed with these words?  The answer, our Rabbis taught, is in the phrase from the Torah portion, "Co t'varachu . . . Thus shall you bless" (Num. 6:23).  We are privileged to be blessed this way, because of z'chut avot, the merit of our fathers.  For the simple term "Co" (thus) was used with or by each of our Patriarchs.

One Rabbi commented that God said to Abraham: "Thus shall it be for your descendants" (Gen. 15:5).  The merit of Abraham was that he promised to raise his children to follow in his faithful path.   Furthermore, Isaac joined in the merit of blessing by displaying trust in his father and sanctifying God's name in the face of personal danger: "The lad and I will proceed to there ('Co')" (Gen. 22:5).  And finally, we receive the Priestly blessing because of the merit of Jacob: "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob" (Ex. 19:3).  Jacob, though knowing that they would be living in Egypt, still taught his sons the faith and values of the Israelite people.

My student shared the lesson that if we inspire each other to follow in the faithful path of Abraham, if we emulate the sincerity and preparation for sacrifice of Isaac, and if we strengthen our children's understanding of and commitment to 'Am Yisrael, then we will truly merit the blessing of Shalom.  May we all have that confidence!