Nasso
The Blessing of Presence
Adapted from Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams and Nechama
Liebowitz
The most ancient words in
the Torah may be the priestly blessing:
May God bless you and
keep you. May God make the divine
face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you. May God lift the divine face towards you, and give you
peace.
In its original Hebrew form,
the priestly blessing is a highly stylized poem. The three Hebrew verses
contain 3, 5, and 7 words, respectively.
They contain 15, 10, and 25 letters. When the poem is arranged as a pyramid, the center words
contain the very heart of the blessing itself: God's face towards you.
The elegant language of the
blessing invokes God's presence using the metaphors of divine face and divine
light. But what are the results
when a human being is bathed in the light of God's presence? What does God's face look like to
ordinary human beings? Rabbinic
midrash answers those questions by interpreting the words of the priestly
blessing metaphorically.
When God blesses YOU and
KEEPS you, God graces you with individual talents, and sustains the wealth you
earn from them so you can use it for the highest good. God SHINES upon you with the light of
Torah and GRACES you with knowledge. God makes your environment a place of PEACE, so that
you may enjoy the fruits of all the other blessings.
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