Nasso - Protecting the Blessings

you're listening to the weekly paral podcast recorded with hm's NeverEnding assistance in Israel 5775 2015 this week's para is para naso in the para this week we have a few different topics that are related to the mishko and to the Tabernacle and one of them is that the Jewish people God commands mosha Ru Moses to give a blessing to the Jewish people through the priests through Aon the kohanim aon's children and the verse says like this it's in chapter 6 verse 23 speak to Aaron and his sons and say as follows this is how you should bless the children of Israel amem and say to them may bless you and protect you mayem shine his countenance upon you and give you Grace turn his face towards you and give you peace place for you peace and then the verse finishes off and says they shall place my name on the children of Israel and I will bless them and there's a lot of interesting points here many many different points which I'd like to share with you and that I'd like to try to bind together with a central theme which I believe is the concept or the depth of the idea of the blessing of thean the the blessing of the priests um a few interesting things first of all is that we see that this is somehow connected the concept of the blessings is connected to the Tabernacle how do we see that we don't actually see that explicitly in the verse but what we do see is that there's a difference between the blessing the way it's done let's say for instance today in the synagogue on the on the on the holidays if you know you're outside ofel we're in the land of Israel so we do it every single day we have the priests get up and give their blessing every day but there's a difference between it's done in the synagogue the way it's done in the synagogue and the way that it's done in the bik in the temple what's brought down is that when it comes to the way it's done in the synagogue so we read it as three separate blessings these three verses that's one verse and then theah the congregation answers and is the second verse again the congregation answers the third verse is is stated and then the congregation answers aain so aain is said after three each of these three different verses after these three different blessings however in the BOS in the temple it was all stated as one contiguous continuous blessing and indeed when it was completed everyone would respond with aain but not until the completion of all three verses was was was aain stated so clearly in the in the b mikdash in the temple or in the in the mishon the Tabernacle it was done as a single blessing it's also interesting is that whereas when it came to when it comes to when it came to outside of the temple so the blessing was said when it said hashem's name so it would not be pronounced uh in in any special way it would be pronounced the way that we pronounce hashem's name even though it's written y with a four-letter name of God we wouldn't pronounce it that way we would pronounce it as if we're saying Al and then then n and then y as we generally pronounce aem's name however in the temple itself point out that the the the name of Hashem first of all was pronounced as it was written but second of all it was actually pronounced not just one time but it was pronounced as the as the 12l name of Hashem which is just very interesting that the 12l name of Hashem is really the four-letter name of YK V uh tripled so it was said and and each time it was said it was said three times and with a very special pronunciation each of the each of the three were said with a special pronunciation if you want to see more about that you can look in the in the r he speaks about it at length he tells you exactly what's going on with that but it's just very interesting that in the temple this blessing was a special BR it was a special blessing the Kohan would give to the Jewish people in the mishkan in the Tabernacle it was said in a special way a unique way that wasn't done that is not done outside so it's interesting that it's connected somehow to the mishk to the Tabernacle to the B mikdash we need to understand what is that connection what is the special aspect of blessing of a br why is it is it inherent why is it connected very much to the Tabernacle to the mishkon what is the concept of the mishkon and how does that relate to to the concept of brah of blessing also in general what is the idea of blessing what does it mean that Hashem blesses the Jewish people or that the kohanim are blessed by the you know the Kahan and bless I'm sorry the Jewish people and and the so the Jewish people are blessed blessed by the's blessings come what is the idea of blessing what is the idea of what's what's very interesting perhaps we can start to get an idea of it you know a hint to what this idea is but we see that it's brought down that originally the BR the blessings hasem gave him directly adish the first man received the blessings directly Hashem gives that blessing Peru that they should they should be fruitful and multiply that's the concept of blessing is connected somehow to the idea of being fruitful and multiplying no also is given the blessing foru to to be fruitful and multiply and Hashem also gives that blessing directly to Abraham to Abu that there's an idea of him getting a blessing directly and hem says whoever bless you will be blessed now what happens after that does not directly give y doesn't give Isaac the blessings directly and it's brought down that the part of the reason was was because that Y and is had these two sons Isaac and and and he knew that his the the that Isaac would be the one that y would be the continuation of his spiritual message and his spiritual people yesal yes in the end he would do chuva but on the way to doing chuva on the way to repentance is most of his life was not somebody who would be continuing the message ofo and in fact is's children did not continue that message in that way but y's children did continue that message and that was his tkit so but we do find that after AB died so y did receive a blessing directly from God which is interesting but giz so when it came to his children he was ready to give the blessing to ASV which also needs explanation perhaps we'll touch on that later but he wanted to give the blessing to a to asov in the end he gives it to yakob Jacob receives the blessing from a person yob gives those blessings over to his 12 sons and indeed after that the kohanim the the priests from the tribe of Ley are the ones who give this blessing to the people of Israel to the Jewish people it's just very interesting to see the evolution of this concept of blessing of bra and we need to understand what is the idea of the braa what is the idea of the blessing perhaps we could try to understand what is the idea gives the BR directly what does that mean how is it related to the concept of Peru we see it's very interesting that Rashi says that what does it mean what does it mean when it says says that your you should have prosperity in your livelihood that your property should be blessed what does it mean and you should be protected tells us Marauders shouldn't come to take your money in other words the blessing the Bounty the material blessings that you have should be protected and shouldn't be taken away by anyone this is very interesting that the blessing of the Quan the the first thing that it talks about as Rashi understands it is material blessings and what is the idea here of material blessings as we already mentioned there's a concept of Peru of seeing blessings in one's family of having children why is that the the blessing we wouldn't have thought that blessing that we would think perhaps it's spiritual matters we would think perhaps that it's it's um you know something else something higher than than just material wealth or material matters what is the understanding of the fact that the bras clearly from Rashi and clearly as ma explained it clearly has to do with material wealth what is this idea how does this connect to a deeper spiritual message clearly thean it's the B mikdash it's the mishon it's a tabernacle this is a place of spirituality so how is it that the material blessings are the blessings that are given it's also there's one more interesting point I'd like to point out here at the end it says they'll place my name on the people of Israel and I will bless them now that statement I and I will bless them is a little bit ambiguous who is it referring to is it referring to the kohanim that the priests will be blessed because they're blessing the Jewish people or is it referring to the fact that when the priests give the blessing so hasem is musim Hashem agrees to give the blessing since the kohanim have made the request so to speak since God they're they're saying God please bless the Jewish people so agrees to them and therefore gives that blessing to the Jewish people so there's actually Aus as to what precisely to whom this blessing is going to apply to but it could be explained as we we find generally that both are true that the Kohan and the priests are giving a blessing to the Jewish people and because they're the conduit for blessing so along the way they also receive blessing it's a very interesting thing and it needs explanation what is the deeper concept behind this idea what is the depth of it it's also important and interesting to note that if we look at the structure of the bras we look how the bras are set up the first P the first set of bras the first set of blessings is just three words and it's also pointed out that in the first set of words is 15 letters is five words and 20 letters and then the third verse is composed of seven words and 25 letters so it's clear that there's a buildup there's in other words the the concept of the con of the blessing as we're you know starting to develop and try to understand clearly the idea of blessing is that it starts small and there's PR of arivia there's being fruitful and multiplying it's growing it starts at three it goes to five goes to seven when it comes to the words it comes to the letters it starts at 15 goes to 20 goes to 25 now what's interesting is if you count up all of the letters the measure tells us that it equals 60 you have 15 plus 20 plus 25 the total is 60 and the me says something which I think really holds the key to trying to understand this concept of blessings what is the idea of the BR what does it come to do what is the idea that there's a blessing and there's a sh there's a blessing and then there's a protection of that blessing and the Mish tells us that there's a there's a verse the verse says in in the song of songs name the bed of King Solomon had 60 mighty that surrounded him from the mighty ones of the people of Israel they were all holding swords they were well versed in The Art of War each one had his sword at his side from the fear of the nighttime the M tells us that this verse while it may be true literally but it there's a deeper depth that the verse is coming to teach us throughout the safer we read the book of Shir Song of Songs whenever we have the word schlomo which is Solomon King Solomon it also refers it's also a mush an analogy to God sh the king to whom belongs all peace God is referred to the one that all peace belongs to him so the bed of God so to speak he name this bed of God as it were which is a reference ases to the bdes to the temple how is it a reference to the temple to the B mikdash says the meas just like a bed is a place the bed is the place within the the person's home where there's per arivia that's the the place where one goes in order to be fruitful and to multiply that's where the children come from that's where it begins so too the Bas hinglish is referred to as a place of Privia it's a place of blessings of of being fruitful and multiplying that the blessings come into the world through the me what's the bed of the world what's the place of connection of relationship between God and the Jewish people it's the Tabernacle that's the place so there are there are 60 Mighty ones that surrounded what are the 60 that surrounded says the it's a reference to the 60 letters of of the and this blessing of the priests this blessing comes to protect me from the fear of the night time what is that a reference to it's the forces of evil the forces of evil surround us they want to grab on to us they want to pull us down we come into the world we're here and we want to interact with God we want to interact with reality we want to come into the world and and accomplish something spiritually but the forces of evil want to stop us but the blessing of the blessing of has the power to protect us to protect us so that the blessings don't become curses and here's where we get to a little bit of an understanding of why the blessing is for material it's a material blessing you look at the that gave toob that Isaac gave to Jacob it's material Blessings Now what's the understanding of it why is that the blessing and we start to understand that the blessings the what's the idea why you know why Hashem says to Adam the first thing that he says in be fruitful and multiply up the Earth that's what he says to no is well when he comes out of the T be fruitful and multiply come you know fill up the Earth what's the idea of that what is it mean going from 3 to 5 to 7 15 to 20 to 25 what's this idea of this of this rebu of this preia of this being fruitful and multiplying the idea is that Hashem wants us to take our wants us to take our abilities he wants us to take our children he wants us to have children he wants us to to like an a of you like Abraham he wanted Hashem wanted Abraham to begin a nation of spirituality to begin a people who their mission in the world would be spirituality infusing reality with spirituality infusing the physical world with spirituality we're meant to come and we're meant to come into this world and we are meant to increase the the theim that we have the property that we have that's this blessing Rashi says it explicitly this is about Prosperity this is about using using our our in the service of hem using our property our whatever we have amassed in the world in our service of Hashem it's about taking our children and teaching them about God creating a spiritual Army in the service of God and rashash tells you need to be protected and the literal statement of rash is it shouldn't happen that the the Marauders should should come and take your money but I want to say based on the Mish that there's a deeper depth here that it's the forces of evil that want to take away the spirituality that we want to infuse in our money to instead of using our money for Spiritual means instead of using it for for the in the proper way to be able to purchase things to give s to give charity purchase things that have to do with a service of God the Marauders the forces of evil want to entice us to use our our spiritual things for evil things and I couldn't help but think of as I Was preparing this I couldn't help but think of H har H harha hmon the the antagonist of the PM story we look at him and he has incredible blessings and and H interestingly is from ASV H is from aik who's from ASV he has this he has incredible blessings you know the way he talks about it to his family he says look at all of my children I have so many sons he has the he has the PRI of arivia already has heuse fruit F and he multiplied him many children and he had all these accomplishments and and and he had all this power and he was and he was an amazing Bal Mi he was the one giving advice to the king and the the queen when when she calls the king to a private party he's the only one that's being called and because H says it's not worth anything to me when I see Mor who doesn't bow down to me I can't enjoy anything that I have ham is the guy who has all of the blessings but he can't enjoy any of the blessings because everything is about himself he's not there to be of service to to the to the kingdom to the Empire of King AOS he's not there to embibe within his children imbue them with a an appreciation for spirituality for godliness no everything that he has is for his own ego and the moment that someone doesn't honor his ego doesn't bow down to him everything isn't worth it's not worth anything all that he has is not worth anything so asov and his progy ham are the ones who represent the the BR without the the CLE without a vessel that's going to keep them within the proper context that they don't have the protection because the forces of evil grab on to Blessings the forces of evil want to take them and and make them something in and of themsel and not be something to be done directed towards spirituality and that's H is the one who represents that idea ASA is the one who uses his he's someone who has the ability to go out into the world he's a powerful person he's has a Magnetic Personality he has he's able to surround himself with many many people and yet he uses it for for the wrong reason and I think that that could be why y wanted to give Asa the blessing because he knew that he needed the protection the blessing of the is you have to infuse every single one of these blessings hasem in the center of the blessing Infuse the Infuse the children Infuse your possessions with godliness let be the one that's shining your face let him place peace upon you what is the idea of peace and this is we've already been speaking about it but I want to just bring it into focus with the the statement of they say it's not a coincidence that the end of the blessings of the of thean of the priests the Priestly blessing ends with the word sh with peace tell us peace is the vessel for blessings what does it mean what does it mean that peace is the vessel for blessings and I think that the idea here is that we know that Hashem one of hashem's names is shom is peace as we said before that whenever you have the word schomo in it's a reference to God it's an analogy to God he's the one who peace belongs to him and what it means is that what holds the blessings a person wants to have blessings in this world person wants to receive blessings they want to have children they want to have livelihood they want to have they want to have Prosperity they want to have success what's the thing that holds it it's when it's directed specifically towards sh towards peace towards M towards God who he is the one who has the the peace peace is his these blessings were special blessings but they were even more special when they were done in the in the bed of God as it were in that place where God connects to the Jewish people because BR are about bringing taking my blessings and directing them towards God it's taking the Bounty that I have and bringing that to God and receiving the blessings means the k are the ones who are giving it over to the Jewish people it means that Hashem is connecting to us that we are accepting upon ourselves that what we're doing here in this world the blessings that we're receiving we're going to direct them towards God it's it's very interesting the the the whole thing begins this whole things this whole statement of God begins with this is how you should bless the children of Israel the word Co which is C is the root of the word Cain According to some opinions a Coen a priest he's called a cohain he's the guy who tells you like this this is what you should do meaning this is how you can direct yourself your actions your blessings your children towards spirituality towards God we come to the temple the Coen directs us the priest directs us shows us how to direct ourselves our actions all of our blessings towards God and so the Coen the priest is the one who gives blessings to the Jewish people and by the way along the way he's also blessed blessed because one can't be a conduit for blessings without also being blessed being the one who directs others who helps others to direct their spirituality towards Hashem one can't help but direct their own spirituality their own material Bounty also towards Hashem as well I want to bless you and please bless me back Hashem should help us understand this idea of blessing that yes we come into this world and yes we're meant to to bring more things into Peru be fruitful and multiply should help us be fruitful and multiply whether it's with our children whether it's with our our physical material wealth should help us to use that to to focus it that the CLE we should have that CLE that vessel which holds the blessing should help us protect that blessing through the direction of shom that it be directed towards peace between us having a true relationship between ourselves and Hashem using those material blessings our children and our wealth in our service only in our service of Hashem thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag