Blog

In the Torah the story of the consecration of the Mishkan, the Wilderness Tabernacle, is told more than once, with a different emphasis each time. At the end of Exodus, we have the story told by the artisans who did the work. At the beginning of the Book of Numbers, the chieftains of Israel tell the story of bringing their gifts. Here in Leviticus, the book of the Torah focuses on the priests, the story is told from the point of view of the priests: what sacrifices are offered, what are the details of the consecration of the priests, how is the sacrifice accepted.  

One of the things that all the accounts of the consecration of the Mishkan agree about is that the ceremony took days to do everything. Sifra, an early Midrash on the Book of Leviticus, describes the time as one fraught with apprehension and anxiety. The goal they hope to reach is huge; they are trying to build a Wilderness Tabernacle for God’s presence. What if God still hasn’t forgiven them for the incident with the Golden Calf? For seven days, the tension grows as Moses puts up and takes down the Mishkan each day, but nothing happens. The people approach Moses fearful that God does not accept the Mishkan. Moses reassures them saying that Aaron will be an excellent High Priest for them and that they will know that God’s presence rests on the Tabernacle when Aaron finishes the final offerings.  

In our Torah portion this week, Parashat Shemini, the eighth day of the formal ceremony has arrived. In the biblical text, there is no hint of emotion as we read of the sacrifices offered and the actions of the participants. As we reach the culmination of the service, when the Israelites will finally know whether or not God has accepted the Mishkan and Aaron as the High Priest, the text says: 

And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and came out, and blessed the people; and the glory of the Eternal appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before the Eternal, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces. [Leviticus 9:22 – 24]  

With God’s glory present to everyone and fire from the Eternal consuming the sacrifices, God’s acceptance is very clear. Moses was correct, it is obvious that God has accepted the sacrifice, that God has forgiven them for their flirtation with idolatry, and that God wants Aaron to be the High Priest.   

If we go back over the steps that Aaron takes as High Priest, leading up to the acceptance of the sacrifice it is unusual that he blesses the people not once, but twice. Why would the High Priest bless the people twice in the context of a very structured, very formal ceremony?  

Modern commentator Joseph A. Hertz, suggests that the first time Aaron is actually blessing the people and the second time he is merely greeting them, which is plausible, but seems like a stretch given that the verb used in both instances is the same.  

The medieval commentator Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, also known as Rashi, interprets Aaron’s actions as referring to two different blessings. The first time, when Aaron raises his hands, he is blessing the Israelites with birkat cohanim the priestly benediction that we read about in Numbers 6:22 – 27. This makes sense given that the gesture, the raising of hands, appears to be the same. The second blessing is distinct from the first. There is no raising of hands, and Sifra suggests that the blessing offered is “May the favor of the Eternal our God be upon us. [Psalm 90:17] May it be God’s will that the Shekhinah will rest on the work of your hands." If the people are blessed with birkat cohanim, why bless the work of their hands? If the work of their hands is blessed, why offer the priestly benediction?   

While birkat cohanim asks God to grant so many important things to the person being blessed, culminating in the blessing of peace, it is a benediction made in the second person singular, “The Eternal bless you and protect you! The Eternal deal kindly and graciously with you! The Eternal bestow God’s favor upon you and grant you peace!” Aaron’s second benediction is given in the plural. The first half of this blessing is said for the community as a whole, including Aaron, in the first-person plural “May the favor of the Eternal our God be upon us”. Aaron then makes the second half of the blessing for the community standing in front of him, in the second person plural, “May it be God’s will that the Shekhinah will rest on the work of your hands”. Immediately after Aaron says this blessing, God’s presence is seen by all present, fulfilling both halves of the blessing.  

We need both of Aaron’s blessings in our lives. Birkat Cohanim is a beautiful blessing that asks God to grant that the person being blessed is safe, secure, and whole. Yet, in a way, it is incomplete without the blessing of community. Just as each of us has an individual relationship with God, in a way, that too is incomplete without the relationship between God and the people, Israel. 

This Shabbat, “May the favor of the Eternal our God be upon us”, and may we be granted not only God’s blessing of peace, but the blessing of community.  

--

Watch the entirety of Friday’s service here. 

Temple Talk is a recap of sermons given from the Bimah for those who missed a Sermon or who wanted to revisit the words spoken at a previous sermon.