Internal peace and quiet are very important, but we are not allowed to escape the burning social problems and pain of the other who lives among us. Happily, this is a message understood well by Rabbis for Human Rights, who work in its light in many fields.

On June 9, 2005 Rabbi Tzvi Berger penned this most timely dvar torah

Our weekly Parasha is the longest in the Pentateuch, and it covers many topics. I shall focus on three well-known verses, the Blessing of the Kohanim. We read:

“The Lord bless you and protect you! The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you! The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace.”

This is a well-designed blessing, based on the principle of ascension. Such, for example, is the external form of the blessing, with the three verses composed of three, five and seven words (in Hebrew). Each verse is two words longer than the previous, and all the numbers (including 15, the total number of words) are typological, with many associations in our holy literature. But beyond form, one recognizes ascension through the blessing in its content, and if we see the first verse as pertaining chiefly to material affairs, the last two verses are more spiritual in content. The blessing ends in “peace”, which includes both material and spiritual sides. With all the beauty of the Blessing of the Kohanim, and even with the knowledge that this is an ancient blessing with a respected place in Jewish prayer to this day, I have been wondering for years about why this blessing is mentioned in the morning “Torah Blessings”, of all places. This is a part of the Dawn Blessings in which we read a bit of Torah, a bit of Mishna, and a bit of Talmud. The parts from the Mishna and Talmud (Mishna Peah and Bavli Shabbat) are very similar: both have a list of practical mitzvoth, accenting social ones. But before these we read the portion of Torah - which is the Blessing of the Kohanim. Here there are no mitzvoth for a Jew to carry out, but the opposite - a blessing stating what we receive from God! How do we understand this?

Perhaps in choosing this bit the editors of the Siddur wanted to display a simple but meaningful principle… As the blessing itself begins with the satisfaction of physical needs, and only afterwards proceeds to the spiritual needs of the human being, also here the order is significant. First (in the Blessing of the Kohanim) we must deal with the legitimate needs of the individual, and only later to expect and even demand that that individual act on behalf of others (or on behalf of the society in which he or she lives). In addition, we know that the Oral Torah explains and deepens what we know from the Written Torah, and that is why the order of things here (Torah, Mishna, Talmud) makes sense. It also teaches us that at the end of the day, beyond our daily pleasures, there is no meaning to the blessings we want to gain from the Blessing of the Kohanim if we do not give in return to the weak and needy among us.

“Spirituality” is in fashion today, not just in Israel but also across the Western world. The combination of the Blessing of the Kohanim with the bits of Mishna and Talmud shows us that there cannot be a “Jewish spirituality” disconnected from the social context. Internal peace and quiet are very important, but we are not allowed to escape the burning social problems and pain of the other who lives among us. Happily, this is a message understood well by Rabbis for Human Rights, who work in its light in many fields.

Recent Articles by Rabbi Tzvi Berger

• Naso: Jewish spirituality and social context - June 1st, 2008
• Rabbi Tzvi Berger - June 8th, 2006

Categories: Bemidbar / Numbers, Naso
Tags: Bo, human rights, order, palestinians, peace, quiet, settlers