Have Blessing, Will Travel?

The purpose of this blog is to turn the Shabbat table into a journey... Please print and share...
In memory of my grandparents, Sima bas Mordechai Yaakov & Eliezer ben Zelig, whose yahrzeits are last night and tonight, respectively.

I'm assuming that no one who read last week's Galactic Torah Shavuot message made it to synagogue or any kind of celebration on the holiday?

A few days earlier, here in Baltimore, we had been given the green light to hold backyard services. On every block or so, neighbors started to get to know each other again. This neighborliness was, has been, quite a silver lining for me personally.

Yet one of the highlights of every Jewish holiday - including Shavuot - is the "Birchat Cohanim" at the climax of the morning service. This is where any cohanim present in the minyan go to the front, face the congregation, put a tallit over their heads and hands, and slowly chant the ancient blessings:

[May] God bless you, and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ ׳הוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
(Yevhārēkh-khā Adhōnāy veyishmerēkhā ...)

[May] God make His face shine unto you, and be gracious to you –
יָאֵר ׳הוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
("Yāʾēr Adhōnāy pānāw ēlekhā viḥunnékkā ...)

[May] God lift His face to you, and give to you peace –
יִשָּׂא ׳הוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
("Yissā Adhōnāy pānāw ēlekhā veyāsēm lekhā shālōm.")

Problem: we had no cohanim present.

This probably never happened to you, but did you ever have one of those moments where you space out a bit during the service? Due to it being a backyard with trees and sheds and other obstacles, and due to the personal distancing, and due to being slightly nearsighted and not wearing my glasses - I wasn't particularly paying attention to all the happenings around the yard.

But then suddenly the chazzan gave the familiar signal to alert everyone that we were about to have the Birchat Cohanim.

How was this possible?

Only after these two cohanim completed the beracha did it become clear.

At the conclusion of the hauntingly beautiful ancient melody, I opened my eyes and saw one motion to the other in the direction of the next backyard minyan down the street. They were mercenary cohanim! Like superheroes, they swept in, cleaned up, and flew out to rescue the next minyan in distress.

Gotta love being part of the Jewish People!

Shabbat Shalom


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