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| Priest's hands giving the Aaronic blessing. |
Let me start by saying something about my process. Blogging for me is a thought process. It begins with a thought, often just a single word. It begins with something I want to think about, rather than something I want to say.
For me, when I am blogging (writing an article I intend to post on my blog), the process of writing is "creative" in the true sense that I am creating. If it goes well, the post becomes a blessing; first for me because my original "word" has developed into a much deeper understanding. Then, when I publish what I have written, it becomes a blessing for the reader, you. In effect I pray to receive a blessing in order to be a blessing. This blog post started with the word "blessing." Let's see how it goes.
Last night I recieved the "priestly blessing" from a man who grew up an Orthodox Jew and became a Pastor. After his teaching on the prophet Ezekiel, he finished by giving all of us listening a "Thanksgiving blessing" in the words Aaron, the brother of Moses.
Numbers 6: -- 22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:
Numbers 6:27 -- “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”
In the Book of Exodus, God places Moses in a cleft of a rock to protect him from His full glory, which would be deadly for a mortal to see. While God passes by, He covers Moses with His hand, and afterward, Moses is allowed to see God's "back," but not His face. God's Light, His Glory is to bright to look up at.
Image you want to look at the sun. Even during an eclipse when the sun is almost entirely covered, it is still to bright to look at. Picture yourself holding up your hand and looking through a gap between your fingers. You have just made the shape of the Priest's 馃枛. Except that when the preist is giving the blessing his palms are facing the one's recieiving the blessing. The direction of the palm is in the direction of giving the blessing.
Imagine you are in an ancient time. Picture giving something to someone. Picture receiving something. Picture the palm of your hand. This is the Hebrew letter Kaf 讻.
讻祝 (Kaf) is Hebrew for the palm of your hand. It also symbolizes a spoon, or even a wing. Kaf is the letter of actualization--the process of making something real or turning an idea into reality. If "something" is real we have the ability to grasp it. If we can grasp it, we can recieve it. If we can recieve it we can give it.
A blessing represents the lowering of divine potential into the world of action. The hand that bestows is God’s.
We ask for a blessing. We ask to be a blessing. We pray to bring down blessing.
Hebrew Word for Blessing
The Hebrew word for "blessing" is 讘专讻讛 (bracha). The verb "to bless" is barak (讘ָּ专ַ讱ְ). Both words are connected to the Hebrew word for "knee" (berekh), symbolizing humility and the act of receiving a blessing.
2+20+200+5=227
- 讘ּ (Bet) - The first letter of the Torah. House, container, vessel receives the flow of divine abundance from above and brings it into creation
- 专 (Resh) - Head, beginning, leader. The Rosh (head) is the source or primordial point of thought
- 讻 (Kaf) - Palm of the hand, spoon, wing
- 讛 (He) - Behold, reveal, breath
There is a deep mystical (Kabbalistic) relationship between 讘-专-讗 brah (He created) and 讘-专-讻讛 (berakhah) blessing.
My Christian friends should appreciate that Rabbi Jesus's teaching were very mystical. One needs the Ruach (Spirit) hakodesh (Holy) to understand.
Both words, 讘-专-讗 brah (He created) and 讘-专-讻讛 (berakhah) blessing are rooted in the same letters.
The word 讘专讗 (“He created”) consists of the three letters 讘-专-讗. When you add the letter 讻 (kaf) inside it, it becomes 讘专讻讛 (“blessing”). This is not accidental — 讘-专-讻讛→ 讘-专-讗 is one of the most important letter-transformations in the entire Torah. “Creation” receives the 讻 (Kaf) and is transformed into “blessing.”
By inserting the 讻 into 讘专讗, the raw act of creation (讘专讗) is crowned and transformed into an act of giving and increase — which is the very definition of blessing.
The Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidic Judaism, said, “Every thing in the world contains the letters 讘-专-讗. The spiritual task of a Jew is to insert the 讻 of holiness into it through Torah, mitzvot, and intention, thereby transforming the raw ‘creation’ into ‘blessing.’”
[Note: Hasidism is a mystical Jewish movement founded in Poland in the 18th century in reaction to the rigid academicism of rabbinical Judaism. The Baal Shem Tov is a "Master of the Good Name," who is able to work miracles using the secret name of God. Numbers 6:27 -- “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”]
Another great sage, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, said “When a person blesses God or blesses another person with a full heart, he literally inserts the 讻 (kaf) into the 讘专讗 of the world and draws down the original Light of Creation (in Genesis 1) overflowing blessing (berakhah). "Every 讘ְּ专ָ讻ָ讛 that a person says with kavanah (intention) he inserts the 讻 into the primordial 讘ָּ专ָ讗 and draws down the Or Ganuz (Hidden Light) that was hidden on the first day…"
It is said in the Jewish spiritual movement of Hasidism that “Creation (讘专讗) was never finished on the sixth day; it is completed in every generation when a human being, through love, Torah, and kindness, inserts the 讻 of the open hand and transforms the world into 讘专讻讛.”
The hand gesture people instinctively make when looking at the sun, spreading the fingers and then parting them slightly to let thin beams of light through while shielding the eyes, is mystically identical to the mechanism of the Priestly Blessing and the letter 讻. Which in turn is deeply rooted to God holding up his hand to make it safe for Moses to get a glimpse of His Glory.
When the priests raise their two hands, with 5 fingers on each, to shoulder height and form that very specific hand gesture it is none other than the physical shape of the letter 讻 (kaf)** repeated ten times (five fingers on each hand).
'The fingers are split into two branches. There is a space (an open “window”) between the two groups of fingers on each hand. That window let's the Light through. That is symbolic of the Hand God held up to shield Moses from his full Glory, which would be too bright for him to survive.
This scene is of course at Sinai when Moses was accepting the Ten Commandments. (5 & 5). No coincidence.
The overall silhouette created by both hands together is a large 砖 (shin) (the letter on the mezuzah and on tefillin), but each individual hand is unmistakably the shape of the 讻 kaf, the Palm of God's hand. (No coincidence!)
Prayer is an Act that Requires Humility
The letter 讻, is the open palm that bestows. We bring the hallow of our hands together to make a cup. That cup sustained us. When God provided the rain, we would knell down to the water and use it to drink. The Hebrew 讘ְּ专ָ讻ָ讛 / berakhah) comes from the root 讘-专-讱 meaning “to bend the knee, to bow, to kneel in homage,” and secondarily “to bestow goodness from a higher to a lower position.”
There is so much more to the word "blessing," but that is enough for this blog post. May you be blessed.
The first time a human being blesses God in the Torah is in the story of Noah. “And Noah said: Blessed (讘ָּ专讜ּ讱ְ) be Hashem, the God of Shem…” (Genesis 9:26)
This is the secret of ‘On the day that Hashem blessed the world, Noah blessed Hashem’ — the two verses are locked together forever.”
We are given a blessing to be a blessing!
Chag Thanksgiving Sameach...have a joyful Thanksgiving!
