One of the great gifts of the Jewish tradition is that it often provides just the texts to speak to the enormous power of unconditional love when our own words and actions may feel insufficient. Tucked into Parsha Naso — our Torah Portion for this week, which details many of the ceremonial responsibilities the first priests are to assume in the Temple — is just such a text: short, simple and one of the most ancient well-known blessings in Jewish liturgy. We still recite it preserved in the exact wording found in Parsha Naso:
Yevarechecha adonai veyishmerecha.
May God bless you and protect you;
Ya’er adonai panav elecha ve-yichunecha.
May God’s face shine radiantly on you and be gracious to you;
Yisa adonai panav elecha veyasem lecha shalom.
May God turn God’s face toward you and give you peace. (Num. 6:23-27)
We learn in Naso that, as part of the ancient Temple Service ritual, the Priests would stand before the ark twice daily to recite this prayer, making their fingers into little window slits for God’s light to peek through, even though God’s face was hidden from the people. Now, in a post-Priesthood world, this blessing is often offered at weddings, ordination and graduation ceremonies, and around the Shabbat table between parents and children.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs offers us a beautiful teaching on the inward traveling nature of this blessing, from the first to the last of these three lines, and how we as humans enact them together.
The first verse, “May God bless you and protect you,” refers to material blessings: sustenance, physical health, etc. WE need that essential first layer of blessing to have the courage to leave our homes every day and engage in the world safely.
The second, “May God’s face shine on you and be gracious to you,” refers to moral blessing. Chen, the Hebrew word used for “gracious,” is what we show to other people and they to us. Here, we are asking God to instill us with the ability to communicate the terms of conditional love for each other that makes all sorts of human relationship possible.
The third verse takes us most inward, to the intimate space of unconditional love — the love I know I crave most innately, and often struggle to convey or feel. We learn about God’s unconditional love for us in its most simple sense, from the line, ”May God turn God’s face toward you.” Essentially, may God notice you, uniquely you.
What blessings or phrases help you connect to a source of unconditional love when you most need it?
Rabbi Laura Rumpf