Naso

God tells Moses to instruct Aharon to bless the children of Israel but the words of the blessing pronounced by the Kohanim  are prescribed and dictated by God Himself.

The blessing comes directly from God and the Kohanim are  only the intermediaries, the channel to convey the blessing, which  must be delivered with love.  According to the Midrash, the children of Israel were at first unhappy saying : «  We want you Hashem  to bless us directly » .

The Blessing by the Kohanim comes in 3 parts :

• Yevarehekha Hashem veyshmerecha ( The Lord bless you and keep you)
• Yaer Hashem panav elekha vihuneka( ( The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you)
• Isa Hashem panav elekha veyasem lekha Shalom (The lord lift up his countenance and give you peace. )

The first blessing corresponds to material welfare, health and success. The second blessing corresponds to spirituality especially through the wisdom of Torah.The final blessing culminates with the gift of Peace.

When they have completed their blessing, God himself blesses the Kohanim.

Not only peace means absence of war, but inner peace and harmony in our personal life, in our society ,and peace to all humanity. The word shalom  ( in Hebrew) is often used by non-Jews to express their sympathy and solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people.

The desire for peace runs through all our liturgy and pervades our life 

We say shalom to greet somebody.  The Amida concludes with Sim Shalom. We welcome the Shabbath with the song Shalom Halekhem. We conclude the Kaddish with Ose shalom Bimromav and the same for Birkat Hamazon.

Peace is very important and certainly one of the strongest themes and tenets of  Judaism.

By Edmund Ouaknin