this to that

We are in a season of simchas at Kol Tzedek - B’mitzvah, baby namings, graduations etc.  Siman Tov u’Mazal Tov’s abound. Given the profound suffering in our midst, I am so grateful for so many reasons to celebrate and remind ourselves – cosi revaya - our cups overflow.

One thing that connects almost every single one of these simchas is that we conclude by inviting the community to recite the priestly blessing. It feels particularly auspicious that tomorrow we will recite it several times, because we will also get to hear the very words read from the Torah itself. The priestly blessing comes directly from this week’s Torah portion, Naso (fun fact: the longest Torah portion!). 

Numbers 6 reads,
יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃        
יָאֵ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ׃ 
ישָּׂ֨א יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ פָּנָיו֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְיָשֵׂ֥ם לְךָ֖ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ 
May God bless you and protect you! 
May God deal kindly and graciously with you!  
May God bestow favor upon you and grant you peace! 

I still remember the first time someone asked me to offer them the priestly blessing, and their surprise when I confessed I had never before said the words before. It felt like a rite of passage to recite such ancient words, to have them come not only from me, but through me. 

At the time it felt less about the words and more about the practice of blessing another human. It struck me as an intimate invitation. I honestly had no idea how familiar the biblical verses would become. How often we would come to recite them at Kol Tzedek. At baby namings and B’nei Mitzvah, new member orientations and weddings, under a tallit canopy on Yom Kippur and everything in between. 

What is so uniquely powerful about these words is their poetry – the rhythm, the sparseness, the room for interpretation. It’s almost a theological rorschach test, and always has been. The medieval rabbis had vastly different interpretations of the priestly blessing, ranging from a blessing for the actual priests to an amulet that would protect one from robbery. 

At KT, we most often bless each other with the priestly blessing. Inviting the whole community to extend out our hands in the spirit of the high priests. It has become an invitation to offer each other our deepest wishes for protection, for sustenance, for contentment. 

Over the past 10 years, I have made a home in the priestly blessing. Such that I now contain within me different translations for different moments in life. 

Take just the middle verse:
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
For a B’nei Mitzvah I often say, “May you feel seen in this world and let your light shine.” While for a wedding couple I say, “May you glow in each other’s light, and see each other clearly.” At once the same and also so different. 
One of my favorite adaptations is Marcia Falk’s blessing for children:
Be who you are –
and may you be blessed
in all that you are. 

The priestly blessing is also a bit like a cat; she falls out of a window and just needs to land on her feet. In this case, to stick the landing is to arrive at the final word “shalom.” A word that defies translation. But land it does, with gravity. What more can we hope for ourselves and each other. To experience wholeness, contentment, peace, in our hearts and in our world. 

In its essence, the priestly blessing responds to our longing to feel safe, to feel seen, to feel whole. It is an affirmation of our deepest longings. I have come to appreciate that these ancient words are like water, they can take any shape, meet any moment. 

Today I hear the essence of the priestly blessing in the words of Lucille Clifton:
blessing the boats
(at St. Mary's)

may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back     may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that

As you enter Shabbat, may you feel the wind of community at your back, praying you sail from (whatever) this (is in your life) to that (which you long for).