The blessings of the Kohanim. And we all know what that means. You come to shul on Yom Tov, and during the Musaf davenen, during the Musaf prayer, the Kohanim go up, and the chazan announces Kohanim, and they answer עם קדושך כאמור, and then goes the whole procedure of יברכך ה׳ וישמרך, the three blessings, which are really three pesukim that the Kohanim bless the people. Now, it's interesting that birkat kohanim, this mitzvah of birkat kohanim that the Kohanim do, is the only mitzvah that is left over from the time of the Beit Hamikdash the Kohanim do nowadays. You know, in the time of the Beit Hamikdash, there were many, many things that the Kohanim did. They did all the avodah, the whole service in the Beit Hamikdash were done by the Kohanim. They would bring the sacrifices, which includes all kinds of korbanot, and קרבן מנחה, and the pouring of the wine, and the pouring of the water, everything. The Kohanim had so much to do. After the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed, then we don't have anymore avodah. Since we don't have a Beit Hamikdash, we don't have anymore service, because the service was in the Beit Hamikdash. The only thing that's left over from what the Kohanim used to do in the Beit Hamikdash and they still do it nowadays, is the mitzvah of birkat kohanim, the mitzvah that they have to bless the Kohanim. This is a they bless the people, the Kohanim bless the people. Sorry, yeah, the Kohanim bless the people. And it's a mitzvah that is not limited to the Beit Hamikdash, even though while the Beit Hamikdash existed, it was considered an avodah. It was considered a service, and we know that the service of the Beit Hamikdash had to be done by the Kohanim. But still, this mitzvah is not limited to the Beit Hamikdash. It is a mitzvah given upon the Kohanim that they must bless the Jews. In truth, the mitzvah is that they must bless the Jews everyday. The Alter Rebbe in Shulchan Aruch says, it's a mitzvat aseh, it's a positive commandment on the Kohanim to bless the יידן בכל יום, everyday. Nevertheless, we see that the custom is that they don't do it everyday. We only do it on Yom Tov. And the reason is, it says because when the Kohanim bless the Yidden, they have to really concentrate on what they're saying, and they have to put their whole feeling into it. They also have to put the feelings of ahavah, of love to all the Yidden. If you notice that the brachah, the blessing that the Kohanim make before they actually start doing the mitzvah, before they start saying יברכך, they make a brachah. The brachah is אשר קדשנו בקדושתו של אהרן, that you made us holy with the holiness of אהרן, וצונו לברך את עמו ישראל, and you commanded us to bless your nation, the יידן, באהבה. They add the word b'ahavah. It has to be b'ahavah, with love. And it says if a Kohen dislikes any member of the community, of the congregation that he is blessing, he is not allowed to go up to Birkat Kohanim. Not only that, it says it's a sakanah, it's a danger for the Kohen to bless if there is somebody there he doesn't like. So, there is a lot of feeling that comes along with Birkat Kohanim, and therefore, it was established in the Ashkenazi communities that Birkat Kohanim is only done on Yom Tov, since Yom Tov is a time when people are b'simchah, people are happy, people eat more and drink more, and there is a mitzvah of ושמחת בחגך, you have to be happy, so the mood is better. So, it's more conducive for the Kohanim to put in their whole feeling, and that's why we only do Birkat Kohanim during Yom Tov. One might ask, but if it's a mitzvah to do it everyday, how can the Kohanim not do it everyday? If it's a mitzvah, we said it's a mitzvah to bless everyday, so whatever reason we'll give that they don't have the feeling and it's hard to do it, etc., etc., but still, if it's a mitzvah to do everyday, you have to do it everyday. The answer is, the mitzvah to do it everyday is only if they are called up. If a Kohen is called up to come up to duchanen, to come up to say the ברכות, ברכת כהנים, which we call duchanen. The reason it's called duchanen, the word duchan actually really means a stage, that's all. The word duchan in Hebrew means a stage. In the Beit Hamikdash, the kohanim would stand on top of a stage and do the ברכת כהנים, so we call it duchanening, because they come up to the duchan. Anyway, when the kohanim are called to come up, they must come up. And if a kohen hears that he is called and doesn't come up, we would say call it he is mevatel a mitzvat aseh, he transgresses a positive commandment. But if a kohen is not called up, then he is is not commanded to do anything. And therefore, since we only want the blessings to be done on Yom Tov for the reasons I gave before, so the minhag is that they are not called up. So if they're not called up, then there's nothing wrong if they don't come up. Yom Tov they're called up, as we hear when the chazan stands for the עמוד and he daven, when it comes to that portion, he says quietly the portion of אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו, and then he screams out loud, \"כהנים!\" and everyone answers, \"עם קדושך כאמור.\" By him saying \"kohanim\" out loud, that is the invitation for the kohanim to come up. And a kohen who hears that invitation and doesn't come up is called mevatel a mitzvat aseh, he goes against the mitzvah. But as long as it's not done, then he's not mevatel. And therefore, during the week, during the year other than Yom Tov, since they're not called up, they're not mevatel. But this is only the minhag in the Ashkenazish communities. In the Sephardi communities, which means in the countries where the Sephardi Jews come from, there the minhag was, and therefore it still continued to any all other places where the Sephardim moved, that they do do ברכת כהנים every day. Now, not mamash every day, some do ברכת כהנים every day, some do it on Shabbos. But if you go to Sephardi communities, in the United States, in Eretz Yisrael, wherever you go, you'll hear. Go into a Sephardi shul here on 41st Street, you'll see on Shabbos they do ברכת כהנים because in their old country they used to do ברכת כהנים every day. Because the lashon, the expression the Shulchan Aruch is that the מנהג מדינות אלו, the custom in these countries, written what's called the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch means the countries of Russia and and and Poland and those areas of Europe, the custom was that they only do birkas kohanim on Yom Tov. But in the minhag of the other countries they do it every day. The Alter Rebbe said, \"לו יש כחי, if I would be in the power, I would establish that they should do birkas kohanim every day all over.\" Because birkas kohanim is such a great thing, such an important thing, and it accomplishes so much that \"I would have liked that they should do it, even by the Ashkenazim they should do it every day.\" But he said, \"I don't have the power to make new minhagim,\" and therefore he didn't do it. When the Lubavitchers came to Kfar Chabad to Eretz Yisrael, so they asked the Rebbe, the minhag in Eretz Yisrael is that even the Ashkenazim do birkas kohanim or on every Shabbos or every day, different places. So they asked the Rebbe what they should do. So the Rebbe said that they should do as the minhag is of Eretz Yisrael. And therefore, if you go there in the yeshiva, in Kfar Chabad or I believe other yeshivot also, they do birkas kohanim every day. In the shul, for the baalei batim I guess, because they're in a rush and they're, so they follow that minhag that they do it on Shabbos, but they do it every Shabbos. Because be-emes it would be better if you do it that way. It's just the minhag was accepted, and it cannot be changed, so it stayed that way, but be-emes that's how it should be. Because birkas kohanim is a very, very special bracha. There's something very special behind it, the way especially the way it's explained in Chassidus and in Kabbalah. And Chassidus explains the idea of birkas kohanim as follows:

first, by comparing the concept of a bracha to the concept of tefillah. A bracha, when a tzadik or a great person gives a bracha, gives a bracha that whatever the bracha is that something good should happen to the person. Tefillah, when we daven we do the same. We ask Hashem, please give us this, give us that, everything that we need. But there is a difference between bracha and tefillah. The word bracha comes from the word המשכה. The word bracha in Hebrew, in Lashon Hakodesh, means to bring down. We find in different Mishnayot it says the לשון המרכיב המבריך את הגפן, מבריך which means means if someone will take a twig, a branch, and bring it down to the floor and replant it. So the word to bring down is המבריך. Truth is, why do we have to go to a Mishnah? It's a pasuk in Chumash, last week's parsha, two weeks ago. Says by Eliezer when he brought the camels, ויברך את הגמלים. He made the camels lower themselves, sit down, so the word is ויברך. So the word baruch means to lower, to bring down. The concept of a bracha is that you bring down from higher levels. And it says that a bracha could only accomplish if there is the potential for that bracha in the shoresh. Everything that happens down here has a source in higher spiritual worlds. If in the higher spiritual world, which is in the shoresh, in the root of this physical world, there exists the possibility or the potential of that to happen, then the bracha will accomplish, it'll bring it down. A bracha does not create. A bracha does not create something new. All it does is, if it's there and for some reason it's not coming down, the bracha can bring it down. If in the shoresh it's written, in the source, so in the higher worlds it's imprinted, or written, or whatever words we'll use, that this person should be rich, and for some reason that doesn't come down, then the tzaddik can give a bracha, and the bracha will bring it down. Actually, the word bracha comes from another shoresh, another root. The word bracha comes from the word בריכה. בריכה means a pool of water, and you draw water from the pool. So a bracha is to draw down from the place where it exists. While tefillah, when we daven, and the expression by tefillah usually is יהי רצון מלפניך ה׳ אלוקינו, let let it be the will for you, Hashem our God. When we say, \"Let it be the will,\" that means to say even if originally it wasn't that way, we're asking, let there be a new will. So the idea of tefillah is to ask Hashem that even if it was not written in the source, it's not there, the potential isn't there, we ask ה׳, יהי רצון, let there become a will, a new will should come. But bracha cannot accomplish that. Bracha could only bring down if it's there. The proof, one of the proofs that Chassidus brings to that this is the idea of bracha is in Parshas Vayechi. In Parshas Vayechi it says that Yosef Hatzadik brought his two children, Efraim and Menashe, to Yaakov to get a bracha. So it says, before he passed away he brought them for a bracha. And he put them down that Menashe should be to the right hand of Yaakov and Efraim to the left hand, because Menashe was older, so he should get the bracha with the right hand. And what Yaakov Avinu did, he he changed his, he crossed his hand and he put the right hand on Efraim. And Yosef said to him, \"Not so, this is not the right way, he is the bechor.\" He thought, since he couldn't see, he was old, he couldn't see, so he thought maybe he didn't realize that he put Menashe on that side. So he said, \"No, no, I know. Your son Menashe is going to be great, but Efraim will be greater, and therefore for he deserves the bracha with the right hand, which is the greater bracha.\" The question that's asked, if he was going to give them a bracha already, so why didn't he give a bracha that Menashe should be greater? If Menashe is the bechor, and normally the bechor is greater, and he's now going to give him a bracha, he's going to give them all kinds of things, brachot for good things, so in the bracha he should have included that Menashe should be greater and then he would put down the right hand on Menashe and everything would have been in order. The answer is Yaakov Avinu saw that in the שורש מנשה can't be greater, so the bracha wouldn't help, because a bracha is only to bring down what is there in the shoresh. That's why you find stories about the Baal Shem Tov and other tzadikim that they came, a couple came to the Baal Shem Tov, asked for a bracha, and the Baal Shem Tov said, \"I'm sorry, I can't give you a bracha, because I see that in the shoresh this is not there, so the bracha won't help.\" And it doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions. We find sometimes exceptions that a person can cause through special avodah, through special things, to break through the barriers and create something new, but this is not the normal thing of a bracha. A bracha does not create anything new. As a matter of fact, I think the story that I told last week or two weeks ago about the Baal Shem Tov, that he gave a bracha to a couple to have a child when it wasn't in the shoresh, and because of that they made they said that the Baal Shem Tov lost all his olam haba for giving such a bracha. The Baal Shem Tov was happy, now he could serve Hashem just for the sake of the mitzvah without without any reward. But when he was when he thought when he when he expressed that feeling, so there was a new voice from heaven that said now he got it all back, because it showed how great it was. But I'm just trying to bring out that sometimes it happens, but generally it says that a bracha can only bring down. Bracha is to be mamshich, to bring down. It's not to create anything new, while tefillah does create. But this is only a bracha that a person, as great of as a tzaddik as he is, gives it on his own. The tzaddik comes and decides to give a bracha for whatever reason, the bracha will bring down things which are there in potential form. Birkat Kohanim, because the Kohanim bless the Yidden as messengers of Hashem, they are shluchim of Hashem, Hashem gave them that mitzvah, now this limit that we said that a bracha is limited, that it could only bring down what's there in the source, but if it's not, it can't, would not apply to the Birkat Kohanim, because Birkat Kohanim is a bracha of Hashem. Now, by Hashem, when Hashem would give someone a bracha, definitely we can't say it's only it's only going to work if it's there in a potential form. Hashem is the boss of everything, he makes everything happen, so he could do that, too. So Birkat Birkat Kohanim, since they are brachot given by the Kohanim as shluchim of Hashem, ברכת כהנים has that quality that it could bring down hamshachot even from things that don't exist there before, they could make up something new, similar to tefillah. It has that special quality of tefillah. Just like tefillah has the quality of yehi ratzon, we ask Hashem make a will, even if it's not there, something new should happen, ברכת כהנים could accomplish that. On the other hand, tefillah, as great as it is, we said tefillah has this quality, yehi ratzon we can make up a new ratzon, but on the other hand, tefillah, we're not sure it's going to be answered. When a person davens, he asks Hashem, but you can't know if Hashem will accept your tefillah and give it to you or not. If He does, then takeh He'll give it even if it's not there in the source. But we're not sure it's going to happen. ברכת כהנים, because it's a brachah of Hashem, it's more than tefillah. It's for sure going to happen. It's like a brachah. When a tzadik gives a brachah, we know צדיק גוזר, הקדוש ברוך הוא מקיים. If a tzadik decrees, Hashem listens. So when there is a brachah of a tzadik, obviously all the kelim are there, the vessels are all there to accept the brachah. Sometimes a person could be at fault that he doesn't allow the brachah to happen, because in order to receive the brachah, you have to make, just like when someone is ready to give you a million dollars, if you don't have a pocket to put it in, he has no place to put it. But that's not the problem of the brachah. Same thing with the brachah of a tzadik, you have to have the people have the kelim to accept it. They used to say a mashal that a brachah of a tzadik is like rain. When it rains, it makes things grow, but that's only if you planted and you plowed. If you didn't plant anything, it could rain from today till tomorrow, nothing will happen. So a brachah of a tzadik is only if the person is ready for it. But we're talking if the person is ready, then the brachah of a tzadik must help. The brachah is vadai, it's not a safek, it's not a question, doubt maybe it'll help maybe not. A brachah definitely will help. Tefillah, when you daven, or it helps, or it doesn't. So there is a maalah in brachah, there is a special quality in berachah that it definitely will work, while tefillah doesn't have it. There is a maalah in tefillah that tefillah could accomplish even if it's not in the source, while berachah can't. Birkat Kohanim has both. Both qualities. Birkat Kohanim, since it's a berachah, it has that quality that it will happen. And being that it is a berachah that's in the שליחות of Hashem, then it's going to happen even if it's not there in the source. This is what Birkat Kohanim is. So Birkat Kohanim basically is a berachah that comes from a very, very high level, has a lot of kedushah in it, has a lot of greatness in it, that could accomplish the greatest things.

Using the terms of Chassidut and Kabbalah, there it says that Birkat Kohanim comes from למעלה מסדר השתלשלות. Higher than the regular regular השתלשלות. Like this, we know there are regular evolvement of worlds, spiritual worlds, from one level to another till finally it comes down to this world. And same thing, there is a regular order how things happen, depending on the different order Hashem set up. It's not a order that we made, Hashem set up a certain order. And there is a סדר השתלשלות with certain limitations, with certain things, this is only this way, this is only that way, like we said, berachah is only one way, tefillah is only one way. Birkat Kohanim is למעלה מסדר השתלשלות, it's higher than this order. It's not dependent on סדר השתלשלות, it could accomplish much more. It has, in other words, using again the terms of Chassidut, the or, the godly light that shines through the berachah that the Kohanim give, is so great, it's למעלה מסדר השתלשלות. And therefore, it's not limited to anything. We could be assured that it's going to happen, and it could happen no matter what, whether it's there in the source or not, because it's למעלה מסדר השתלשלות. Such a strong godly light, אור אין סוף that's there in the berachah of Birkat Kohanim. Which is interesting, we find that the Ramban writes that in a certain thing, Birkat Kohanim is similar to Chanukah candles. Birkat Kohanim and ner Chanukah. Being we're in Kislev now, it's good timing. What's the connection between Birkat Kohanim and ner Chanukah? But the Ramban says, this is not even from Chassidut, this is from the Ramban, the Ramban says that there are two things from the בית המקדש that are forever, they're eternal, never will stop. Neirot, the candles of the בית המקדש, even though the candles themselves of the בית המקדש are not here, because we have no בית המקדש, but they continued through the mitzvah of ner Chanukah, which is an extension of the candles of the בית המקדש, and ברכת כהנים, he says, ברכת כהנים was done in the בית המקדש, as I said in the beginning, and that's the only thing that was done in the בית המקדש that the חורבן בית המקדש could not destroy. The חורבן בית המקדש destroyed the korbanot, destroyed everything else that we did in the בית המקדש. חורבן בית המקדש could not destroy ברכת כהנים. It's a mitzvah of the kohanim of an avodah, and it continues throughout the זמן הגלות, throughout the time of galut. And ner Chanukah, which is an extension of the candles. He writes in on פרשת בהעלותך where it says when Hashem said to to Aharon, when Aharon was upset why when they dedicated the Mishkan that שבט לוי didn't participate, so Hashem said, \"Don't worry, you are greater. They brought certain sacrifices as a dedication. You're greater. You're you are madlik the Menorah. Excuse me, you light the candles.\" So the Ramban says: הנרות הללו אינן בטלים לעולם. These candles, that's what's more than korbanot, that's going to last forever, never will be batal. What do you mean never will be batal? It's ner Chanukah! The Chanukah candles are an extension, and so too ברכת כהנים. So we see that these two go together. Why? Because it says the light that's there, the Godly light that we bring down through lighting the the Chanukah candles, are so strong, it's such a great light of Ein Sof, of the Godly, infinite light, that nothing could stop it. The Godly light that comes down, that came down through korbanot, was limited. And therefore, at a certain time it stopped. Certain things could stop it. We did aveirot, which brought about the חורבן בית המקדש, stopped that light from coming down. Even the מנורה itself the light stopped. The Chanukah candles have such a great light that it's למעלה מהשתלשלות. And therefore, no one can stop it. It says in Chassidut that there's a pasuk, it says והוי׳ יגיה חשכי, and Hashem, this שם הוי׳, will light up my darkness. We know שם הוי׳, יו״ד ק״י וא״ו ק״י, represents the highest levels of Godliness, it's Hashem's name. Whenever it says with a ו, veHashem, והוי׳, it's even a higher level. There is such a thing as a higher level than שם הוי׳. We know in the עשרת הדברות it says אנכי הוי׳ אלקיך. So we have the three levels: אלקיך is the name אלקים, which is a lower level, הוי׳ is higher, and אנכי, I. On Yom Kippur it says that כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם, on this day Hashem will forgive you, לפני הוי׳ תטהרו. Simple peshat is in front of Hashem you will be clean, cleansed. But Chassidut, Kabbalah says לפני הוי׳, the taharah, the cleansing that comes on Yom Kippur is higher than הוי׳. It's a higher level, that's Hashem Himself, the way He is higher than any name, because any name, even the greatest name like שם הוי׳, represents the שם העצם, it's called in the Rambam, in different places, שם העצם, the essential name, שם המיוחד, the united name the united with Hashem, שם המפורש. It's still a name, and a name is a limit. But לפני הוי׳ means beyond the limits. That's Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. So it says Chanukah, the light that comes down on Chanukah is והוי׳ יגיה חשכי, that it lights up even the darkness of galut. The candles of the Beit HaMikdash could not light up the the darkness of galut. When galut came, there were no candles anymore. The candles of Chanukah could light up the darkness of galut, that's why the mitzvah is to light the candles at night. And we light it outside. Today, nowadays, because of danger, we can't do it, but the original mitzvah was מבחוץ, to light outside, to show this just is a remez to show that the light of Chanukah is such a great spiritual light that's beyond any other light. That's why it says when Mashiach will come, the light of Chanukah will still exist, even though other yamim tovim will not exist anymore. Now, it doesn't mean they won't exist; Torah won't change. But the light that comes down on the other Yom Tov, as great as it is, when Mashiach will come, it won't be anything special about it, because everyday there's going to be great Godly light. Chanukah brings down such a great light that even the time of Mashiach, the light will be great that it will be something special even then. Just the problem is we don't see it now. It's our problem, because we don't have proper eyes to see it, but the light that goes on is so great. And ברכת כהנים the Ramban compares to the נרות חנוכה, he says also אינם בטלים לעולם, nothing could stop ברכת כהנים, with the חורבן בית המקדש, everything. Why? Because ברכת כהנים is למעלה מהשתלשלות. The light that comes down that's there in the berachah of the כהנים is so great. Why is it connected to כהנים? Because it says that the כהנים, they have this power, shame we don't have any כהנים here, the כהנים have this power of bringing down into the world the greatest light of Hashem. And only the כהנים have that power. It says in Kabbalah that it's hinted in the name of Aharon. Aharon is the first כהן, he was the head of all the כהנים, the source of all the כהנים. If you juggle around the letters, אהרן, אלף ה ריש נון, you'll have the word נראה. נראה means seen, revealed, because it is the quality of a כהן to reveal the greatest lights. We know that the כהן is always referred to as איש החסד. In Kabbalah it says כהנים, לוים, כהן is חסד, לוים are גבורה. When people hear it, they wonder, because the velt says that כהנים are קפדנים. כהנים are usually people who get angry. So it says if someone gets is a ka'asdan, someone gets angry fast, oh, stam he's a kohen. And for some reason it's true, the Gemara says that. The Gemara even says why. Always walked around barefoot in the בית המקדש, had to eat the korbanot in a very short time limit, so they were always eating meat, they always had stomachaches. Anyway, this I don't know if this is the, but it's true, kohanim are kapdanim. But that has nothing to do with what we're speaking here, the madrega of kohen is chesed. And it's not taken from Kabbalah, even though it does say in Kabbalah. It's taken from a pasuk in Chumash. And so when you say it the first time and a person, you know, hear, \"Oh, it's another thing if you, Chassidus doesn't make any sense.\" There's a pasuk, it says, \"תמיך ואוריך לאיש חסידך.\" \"תמיך ואוריך\" means the אורים ותומים, which was the חושן that the כהן wore, the breastplate. So it says who is it to give to? \"לאיש חסידך,\" the person of chesed. That's the kohen. The kohen is called chesed. Now we know chesed is revelation. The difference between chesed and gevura, gevura is tzimtzum, gevura is to contract, to hold back, to conceal, while chesed is to reveal. So a kohen, which his madrega is chesed, the kohen is the one that is able to reveal this.

And then there is something else we find concerning kohanim which is connected to ברכת כהנים. We find that after the whole machloket of Korach, Korach had an argument against Moshe Rabbeinu and then the earth swallowed them and 250 people got burned, so it says that the Yidden were, made a whole argument against Moshe and Aharon, \"Look what you did.\" Anyway, finally Hashem said to Moshe, \"You know what, we got to get make a stop to all this. We got to make it clear once and for all who's the chosen one.\" Therefore, Hashem said to Moshe, \"Tell every nasi, every prince of every shevet, that he should give you a stick and put it all into the Mishkan. And whichever one is going to start growing fruit, you'll know he's the chosen one.\" And what happened was the next day Aharon's stick was the one that started growing. What fruit did it grow? So the pasuk says it grew שקדים. שקדים, מאנדלען, שקדים are almonds. So it says, \"Why almonds?\" Because almonds are a is a fruit that grows the fastest. Out of all the fruits, for olives, or figs, and and and dates, things like all the regular fruits, the almonds grow fast. It says it takes an almond to grow, from beginning to end, 21 days. That's why Yirmiyahu Hanavi, when Hashem told him the נבואה, the prophecy about חורבן בית המקדש, he said, \"Look, what do you see?\" Showed him a vision. Says, \"I see a מקל שקד, I see a stick of almonds.\" So he says, \"You're right, כי שוקד אני, because I am in a rush to make it happen.\" And it says that's why we have the three weeks, the summertime we have the three weeks for חורבן בית המקדש, it's 21 days, because that's the time it takes for an almond to grow. So an almond represents מהירות. מהירות means fast, being in a rush. It says a kohen has this koach that when he gives a berachah, the berachah should be rushed. Now what does it mean rushed, that it should happen to the person that day or it happen to the person next day? That's not what it means. It means rushed from its source, from wherever it's going to start off till it comes down. There's a, I'll explain. The pasuk says, \"עד מהרה ירוץ דברו.\" That means his words could come down in a rush. That means it's possible his words, the words of Hashem should not come down in a rush, should come down slow, and it's possible to come down in a rush. What is the peshat? So the peshat is like this: from when, we know everything starts in high higher spiritual worlds, nothing starts down here, whatever we have, when you give a berachah, whatever happens, everything starts someplace up there and it comes down here. Now what could happen is that while it's tra- traveling from up there down here, it could get stuck someplace on the way. Whatever it should mean in a spiritual sense, whether it's cuz it could, or the בית דין של מעלה will stop it, or the Satan will stop it, or other reasons, they will judge the person again and say, well, at this point, let's stop, and it might not come down. עד מהרה ירוץ דברו means that it comes down fast, without a stop. Just to use a גשמיותדיקע משל, which is just an elementary stupid mashal, you have an express train, and you have the local. Makes stops, and it makes stops. The moment it makes stops, you never know what will happen at each stop. But if it goes straight down, you know from where it started, it's going to come down, nothing's going to happen. And this, it says in Kabbalah, the Arizal writes, that Birkat Kohanim is a berachah that's connected to עד מהרה ירוץ דברו, it comes down fast, and this is connected to the kohanim, that's why by Aharon it was the שקדים, which represent the being in a rush, it comes down fast. And I think this needs a little bit of an explanation. Now let me explain it at length, just take a few minutes for this explanation. There's a famous question that's asked, Barech Aleinu, we ask Hashem רפאנו, cure us, everything else that we ask for. Question is, why do we ask Him? Everyone knows, we all know and believe, and not believe, we know for sure, that the Gemara says, that on Rosh Hashanah, Hashem judges every person, and decides what's going to happen for the rest of the year. Starts on Rosh Hashanah, signed and sealed on Yom Kippur, we have ten days of עשרת ימי תשובה, and everything is taken care then. Then, if Hashem decided during Rosh Hashanah this person will get parnasah, he'll get parnasah. And you're a millionaire, he'll be a millionaire, and be, chas veshalom, poor, he'll be poor. It's decided. We say it in V'natnah Tokef. And if not, so what, and so what's going to happen if this guy's going to ask for it? How could that change? Then there's another question. The Gemara says, אדם נידון בכל יום. A person is judged every day. Every day Hashem judges a person to see does he deserve to get what he wants or doesn't he deserve? Why does Hashem judge every day? We know a person is judged once a year. Rosh Hashanah time, he's judged, and that's it. What's the peshat he's judged every day? So the answer is like this: it says that Hashem judges on Rosh Hashanah, Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, and decides. Hashem decides how much, we will call in the general term, how much hashpaah, how much goodness or how much it should come down to this person. Now, that could come down in all kinds of forms. It could come down in the form of money, could come in the form of health, could come in a form of nachat, could come in all kinds of forms. We ask Hashem every day, if a person is in need of a refuah, please let that hashpaah come down in the form of refuah. And that's why a person is judged every day. Every day he's judged again whether he should get it in the way he wants, or the way he needs, or, chas veshalom, he shouldn't, and it's judged that way. That's, that's what Hashem does every day. So the whole idea is that there is the way it's there, and then when it comes down, it goes through all kinds of channels. So to come down in different forms. Sometimes it could not even come down, it could stay ruchniyut. Hashem gave, and this person will get a lot of ruchniyut, which is fine, but when the person needs gashmiyut, the ruchniyut is not going to help him at that moment. If he needs food on the table, so you're going to be able to understand a piece of Gemara, which is good, but then you need the food. So that is what happens. When it comes down, it could be changed. And that, בכלל, sometimes doesn't come down at all, even though that Hashem set it aside. But if the person is judged and he's not ראוי, doesn't deserve, it will not come down because of all the different things that take place in the middle. But if it is עד מהרה ירוץ דברו, that if it comes down fast, then that means it doesn't make any stops. That means that all the levels in between, which might be the places where it might get stuck, so to speak, it can't get stuck. There's a mashal given in chassidut. Sometimes you have a slow-flowing river, so then in some some places, it could get stuck in the middle. But when it goes with a groise shturem, it goes very strong, it goes and breaks through all the barriers, and nothing will stop it on the way when it goes very strong. That's the idea of עד מהרה ירוץ דברו, that when it comes down from higher worlds down here, to go fast. And it says, the Arizal says, it says in Kabbalah, that this is the quality of the kohanim. The kohanim are able to bring down these המשכות that have to come down, עד מהרה ירוץ דברו, come down very fast. And this is the idea of Birkat Kohanim. As we said before, number one, Birkat Kohanim is a bracha that could bring down even if it's not there in the shoresh. Plus, when it does bring down all the המשכות that it's supposed to bring down, it will not get stuck in middle of the way, and it will come down. And this is the quality Hashem gave to the kohanim, and they are able to do it. And that's the importance of Birkat Kohanim. That's why

always by Yidden they used to go run to Birkat Kohanim. The truth is even if a person is not in shul, the bracha still applies. But I must say, it's only the person who isn't in שול באונס. It's not his fault. If a person could come to shul and doesn't, it's not the same thing. For instance it says that Birkat Kohanim only takes place, the bracha only happens, if you're standing face-to-face to the kohen. Why is it that the kohanim turn around to face the people? The opposite of, every time there's a chazan that davens, he davens with the face to mizrach, not the face to the people. It's, lehavdil we could say the word lehavdil, in the Reform temples they face, the chazan faces the people, whereas we face the אויבערשטער, we don't face the people. Birkat Kohanim, they turn around, they face the people. So it says because the bracha only takes place פנים אל פנים. But if someone stands in the back of the kohen, let's say the kohen would stand here and someone would stand there, the bracha would not apply. But it says only if he could have stood in the front, but if he couldn't, there's a ones, then the bracha applies there too. That's why it says the people the עם שבשדות, it's people who don't come to shul, people who used to live in the fields and couldn't make it to shul on Shabbos, Yom Tov, or within days, they're blessed anyway. Makes no difference if they're standing in front of kohanim or in the back of the kohanim, because it's not their fault. So the bracha takes place anyway if you're not able to come. But if you're able to come, then you have to come to shul. And that's why always by Yidden there was a big thing to come to run to Birkat Kohanim. And it even became a custom now that if you have little children, you bring them in to Birkat Kohanim. Truth is it doesn't say anywhere you should do that, it's, I would say, an American custom. I don't know if it has a source in in in old-time customs. But the custom is like that, but that makes sense, because you want the bracha to take place, because this is such a great bracha. I do want to say that it's self-understood that if the person is not a keli to receive the bracha because he didn't make himself ready, then there could be a problem. As much as we know the bracha will come, but sometimes it could depend on the person that can doesn't want to that can't receive it. For instance, one of the first things to be a keli to receive the bracha, to be a vessel, is to believe in it. That's the first thing. If a person doesn't believe in the bracha, won't happen. This is true by a bracha of a tzadik also. If you don't believe in the bracha, then you are automatically don't have that keli, you don't have that pocket to receive the bracha. And there are other things that you have to be ready, a vessel to receive it. But if a person is a keli to receive the bracha, then the bracha of the kohanim is such a strong, holy bracha, more than any other bracha, that this could accomplish, first of all, bring down higher than the the שורש, even if it's not there, and it comes down without any stops. And that's why we have to be very careful. And as I said before, this is the only mitzvah, the only avodah that was done in the Beit HaMikdash which we still have now for the kohanim. And we have to be very careful. Obviously what it was done in the Beit HaMikdash, probably sure it was much holier, but that's what we hope that soon we'll be zocheh that we'll have again this mitzvah in the Beit HaMikdash, and we'll have it with the highest מדרגות. But the truth is even now, it has the same quality as it had then, that it's able to break through all the barriers and to bring down the greatest המשכה, the greatest אור אין סוף, the greatest light of Hashem into this world without any blockades, without anything stopping it. And we hope all these things should come true to all of us. Yes? You see in this book in the Siddur by the place where we say the Ribono Shel Olam for the dreams, it says a מראה מקום, there's a source there. Gemara in Gemara, I think ברכות דף נ\\"ד? The Gemara in Gemara says that the best time for a person to have his dreams, I don't know if interpreted, but changed over for good, is is at the time of ברכת כהנים. Here in the Siddur, page 268. And here it says ברכות דף נ\\"ה. And this is in the Gemara Berachot דף נ\\"ה, the Gemara says that in the Gemara Berachot that section, that סוגיא talks about dreams, all kinds of dreams, and it says that depends how it's interpreted, if it's interpreted for the good, then it'll be turn good, if not, not, whatever. Then the Gemara asks, when is the best time for a person to ask Hashem that his dreams should be interpreted for the good? So, it says in the time of ברכת כהנים. And that's why during the ברכת כהנים, that's how we say, we're not talking to the kohanim, we're talking to Hashem. We say, Ribono Shel Olam. And if you look in the Gemara, this whole לשון of this whole is more or less in the Gemara. And that's what the Gemara says that you say, Hashem, please change over my dreams for the good. Now, the connection, why is why did the Gemara put it in ברכת כהנים? I guess for the reason I said before, because dreams, if they mean something, it mean it shows that it's because it's a some kind of vision given from Hashem. Now, many dreams lechatchilah are nothing. But other But if Hashem does want to give a person a certain remez, a certain, you know, hint, or a certain something, says that certain dreams are like a נבואה קטנה, like a small prophecy. So if it comes from Hashem, in order for that to turn, you have to reach a very high madrega. So at the time of Birkat Kohanim, then you reach you connect, at least, to that very high madrega, that you're able at that time to change your dream, and that's the most auspicious time to ask Hashem to change it. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, כל חלומותי, so we're talking about all the dreams. Yeah. Right, right, right. There is something else called הטבת חלום. A person has a dream, he's afraid, he gets three people together and he tells them that, and the three people would answer: חלמא טבא חזית, you saw a good dream, and that's it. But this is the the place to do it. That doesn't hurt. But that's not The time is right, right, right. Yeah. Look in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch says that when when there's no Birkat Kohanim, when the chazan says beracha, no נשיאת כפים, no duchnen, so he uses a lashon: אין לענות אמן, something like we should not answer amen. And but the Alter Rebbe in the siddur says you should answer amen. The Shaar Hakollel, which is a sefer that explains the reasons for all the minhagim and all the different things that the Alter Rebbe writes in the siddur, has a whole, whole big piece there explaining how why it's right to answer amen, על פי קבלה and על פי נגלה. So you got to look it through. It's in the Shaar Hakollel on that part of the siddur. The Shaar Hakollel is written by Reb Avraham David Lavut. Avraham David Lavut is the great-grandfather of the Rebbe. But this sefer was based This is the whole purpose of the sefer, that every נוסח of the Alter Rebbe where he changed, which you look around, there are so many things different in this נוסח than the נוסח ספרד and נוסח אשכנז. It's closer to נוסח ספרד than אשכנז, but still a lot of changes. So he brings proof and explains על פי הלכה, על פי קבלה, everything, why he changed. And there he speaks about this, and he brings a whole re'ayah why, you know. I think it's printed in the back of the, whatever, have that piece also. Yes. You don't mean a kohen, when any person davens far'n amud, but he's not calling up the kohanim. He's just saying, when you say that piece, all you're saying is that, please Hashem bless us with the beracha that was given through Aharon and his children, who are the kohanim, and the bracha is יברכך. You're just telling the story. But on Yom Tov, what we do is, that's why we say it quietly, the whole אלוקינו, and we just scream out kohanim because that's the invitation. But during the week, we don't do that. Huh? What? Kohanim. Yeah, only the chazan says it. And who answers עם קדושך כאמור? In the siddur, it says that the chazan says it. Yeah, it says, ואומר בקול רם כהנים, ואחר כך מסיים ואומר עם קדושך כאמור. I don't know where this came about that people answer עם קדושך כאמור. Here it says that the chazan should say it. The chazan says the whole thing, then he calls aloud kohanim, and concludes your, I mean, עם קדושך כאמור. As long as I don't find anywhere else that is to say differently, that's how you're supposed to do it. The Shechinah is there in the hands of the kohanim when they give Birkat Kohanim, the Shechinah is there. That's the reason they put their hands in such a way that there it says five אוירים, they have to have five air spaces. So you have between these two fingers here, two and two, it's one space, two spaces between the pointer and the thumb, and then between the two thumbs is a third, then between the thumb and this pointer is the fourth, and this five. And it says where does this five five אוירים come from? Because it says by the שכינה, משגיח מן החלונות מציץ מן החרכים. He looks through the windows, מציץ, he peeks through the cracks. The word החרכים is cracks, but if you look at the word החרכים, you could divide into two: ה חרכים. Five cracks. So you have five cracks, five spaces where the kohen, where the Shechinah looks. So since the Shechinah is on the hands of the kohen, it says it's sakanah, a sakanah to look, and it says chas v'shalom a person could get blind if you look at the kohanim while they're holding their hands and duchening. They also don't look. And they also don't look. But because for precaution we cover ourselves, why do we cover ourselves with the talit? The kohanim cover with the talit and they cover themselves, all to make sure that we don't look. You make a joke, this is, this shouldn't be on tape. To make a joke of it, you just close your eyes, right?