Balanced Blessings
This week’s portion, Parshat Naso, includes one of the most iconic passages in the Torah: The 3-fold Birkat Kohanim—the priestly blessing for peace. Because of both its significance and its seemingly redundant ambiguity, many have sought to interpret its meaning as transcending far beyond its simple words. I am partial to the insights of the modern commentator Nehama Leibowitz, who understands the first blessing to convey material well being, the second spiritual uplift, and the third a hybrid of both. The lesson is clear and often shared by the rabbis: A complete and whole life consists of a judicious balance between the needs of the world and the needs of the soul.
Rabbi Daniel Weiner
