A
t 176 verses, Naso
is the longest of
the parshiyot. Yet
one of its most moving
passages, and the one that
has had the greatest impact
over the course
of history, is
very short
indeed and
is known by
almost every
Jew, namely
the priestly
blessings:
The Lord said to Moses:
“Tell Aaron and his sons,
‘Thus shall you bless the
Israelites. Say to them, ‘May
the Lord bless you and
protect you; May the Lord
make His face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
May the Lord turn His face
toward you and give you
peace.’ Let them set My name
on the Israelites, and I will
bless them.” Num. 6:23–27
This is among the oldest
of all prayer texts. It was
used by the priests in the
Temple. It is said today by
the Kohanim in the reader’s
repetition of the Amidah,
in Israel every day, in most
of the diaspora only on fes-
tivals. It is used by parents
as they bless their children
on Friday night. It is often
said to the bride and groom
under the chuppah. It is the
simplest and most beautiful
of all blessings.
It also appears in the old-
est of all biblical texts that
have physically survived till
today. In 1979, the archae-
ologist Gabriel Barkay was
examining ancient burial
caves at Ketef Hinnom, out-
side the walls of Jerusalem in
the area now occupied by the
Menachem Begin Heritage
Center. A 13-year-old boy
who was assisting Barkay
discovered that beneath the
floor of one of the caves
was a hidden chamber.
There the group discovered
almost 1,000 ancient artifacts
including two tiny silver
scrolls no more than an inch
long.
They were so fragile that
it took three years to work
out a way of unrolling them
without causing them to
disintegrate. Eventually
the scrolls turned out to
be kemayot, amulets, con-
taining, among other texts,
the priestly blessings.
Scientifically dated to the
sixth century BCE, the age
of Jeremiah and the last days
of the First Temple, they are
four centuries older than the
most ancient of biblical texts
known hitherto, the Dead
Sea Scrolls. Today, the amu-
lets can be seen in the Israel
Museum, testimony to the
ancient connection of Jews to
the land and the continuity
of Jewish faith itself.
What gives the priest-
ly blessings their power is
their simplicity and beauty.
They have a strong rhythmic
structure. The lines contain
three, five and seven words,
respectively. In each, the
second word is “the Lord.” In
all three verses the first part
refers to an activity on the
part of God — “bless”, “make
His face shine” and “turn
His face toward.” The second
part describes the effect of
the blessing on us, giving us
protection, grace and peace.
They also travel inward, as
it were. The first verse, “May
the Lord bless you and pro-
tect you” refers, as the com-
mentators note, to material
blessings: sustenance, phys-
ical health and so on. The
second, “May the Lord make
His face shine on you and
be gracious to you” refers to
moral blessing. Chen, grace,
is what we show to other
people and they to us. It is
interpersonal.
Here we are asking God
to give some of His grace
to us and others so that we
can live together without the
strife and envy that can so
easily poison relationships.
The third is the most
inward of all. There is a
lovely story about a crowd
of people who have gathered
on a hill by the sea to watch
a great ship pass by. A young
child is waving vigorously.
One of the men in the crowd
asks him why. He says, “I am
waving so the captain of the
ship can see me and wave
back.” “But,” said the man,
“the ship is far away, and
there is a crowd of us here.
What makes you think that
the captain can see you?”
“Because,” said the boy, “the
captain of the ship is my
father. He will be looking for
me among the crowd.”
That is roughly what we
mean when we say, “May the
Lord turn His face toward
you.” There are over seven
billion people now living
on this Earth. What makes
any of us more than a face
in the crowd, a wave in the
ocean, a grain of sand on
the seashore? The fact that
we are God’s children. He is
our parent. He turns His face
toward us. He cares.
The
Blessing
of Love
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
36 | JUNE 13 • 2024