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June 14, 2024 - 8 Sivan 5784 Parasha Naso: The Power of Prayer
I hope this correspondence finds you well, in good health, and in good cheer having enjoyed a successful Shavuoth earlier this week. While recovering from cheesecake and blintzes, we look forward to welcoming you yet again, this Shabbat, to our in-person services, which will take place in our beautiful sanctuary on Saturday morning. Additionally, we want to thank our dear friends and members, Diana and Avi Yacobi, for sponsoring this Shabbat’s Kiddush in celebration of the high school graduation and upcoming move to Israel of their grandson, Erez. We wish a hearty Mazel Tov to Erez on his accomplishment and his commitment to the State of Israel and wish him success in all his future endeavors. This Shabbat, we are pleased to welcome Rabbi Lindsey Healey-Pollack, who will lead services and be available after the Kiddush for an Ask the Rabbi session. She is the first of a number of great candidates, who are eager to lead CBIOTP in its next exciting chapter. In this week’s Torah portion of Naso, we are introduced to one of the most well-known sections of the liturgy, the Birkat Kohanim. This 15-word blessing, from Numbers 6:24-26, was adapted into the Siddur’s final section of the Amidah. The text dictates the Divine blessing that the Kohanim direct towards us, the people Israel. It is a powerful prayer. Many of us likely have memories of seeing Kohanim ascend to the Bimah on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well as the Shalosh Regalim (the Three Pilgrimage Festivals), to chant the antiphonal mysterious devotion. With prayer shawls draped over their heads, the Kohanim hold their hands in a strange, separated-manner and recite the blessing, prompted, word-by-word, by the Hazzan. This cacophony of untrained priestly “singers,” while liturgically unique, can be shocking to the ear! Nonetheless, I can remember, as a youngster, seeing friends hiding underneath their father’s Tallit, as all were warned not to look directly at the Kohanim. Some even went as far as to turn their backs to the Bimah so as not to meet eyes with those blessing us. Given this strange staging, it is fair to ask how we are to understand the choreography of the prayer. Ironically, the Amidah itself is intended to offer the opportunity of direct communication between God and each individual worshipper. The simple grammar of the text, in the second person singular, intimates that during the silent devotion, we are speaking directly to God. Every time that we recite, “Baruch Ata Adonai” (Blessed are YOU, our God), we are communicating directly with our Maker. This informal exchange mimics grammatically the way we would speak to someone immediately next to us. Some suggest that the Birkat Kohanim, situated at the end of the Amidah, then represents God’s response to us - a direct reciprocal address to the people - albeit mediated through the descendants of His chosen priestly class. This is to say, as we pray to God at the beginning of the Amidah (or elsewhere), Hashem speaks to us at the end. So, if I am speaking to God, and God is speaking to me, which way should I face? Talmud Bavli Sotah 38a teaches that the Kohanim should bless the children (e.g. us) face-to-face. The scriptural designation of “Say to them” means like a person who speaks to their fellow. In other words, we are meant to receive this blessing while directly facing the Bimah and the Kohanim. Our relationship with God, as expressed in prayer, is therefore one in which we stand and face each other, as opposed to the humbling positioning of prostration or bowing, or even, God forbid, facing the other way. So, the next time you receive this blessing, there is no need to turn around! In a fantastic Midrash (Tanchuma Naso 8), God is ever more present in the synagogue. The text teaches that Israel said to HaShem, “You told the priests to bless us, but we need your blessing, directly from your mouth.” God responds, “Even though I told the priests to bless you, I will stand with them, directly behind them, and bless you at the same time.” In this Midrash, the priests spread their fingers because Hashem is standing behind the Kohanim and looking subtly and lovingly at his devoted followers. As a lover scopes out their intended through a latticework fence (Shir HaShirim), here, Hashem peers through the fingers of the Kohanim to get a glimpse of the object of his eternal love, the Jewish people. Seeing us, He then answers our praise and gives thanks by blessing us. How powerful to think of congregational prayer as a direct back-and- forth between us as a holy community and Hashem as a compassionate, caring, listening, and immanently present deity. We praise. We request. God listens. God looks. God responds. As we enter Shabbat, we should take strength from last week’s successful miracle of Operation Arnon. As you surely know by now, Brigade 98, joined by elite paratroopers, courageously rescued Noa Argamani, Shlomo Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov from the Nuserat refugee camp in Central Gaza. Friends, while we have prayed each day for the hostages’ release, we understand that our prayers were not, and never should be considered, in vain. Rather, as noted above, we prayed, we requested, and God listed, looked, and responded. I hope that the “holiness in time” of the Sabbath will give us each the chance to pause and consider the power of prayer and limitless potentialities when encountering a God, not only transcendent but directly immanent and compassionate. Am Yisrael Chai! Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD, Hon DM.
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