Parashat: Shmini

Parashat: Shmini
Torah Reading: Leviticus 9:1–11:47

“Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he stepped down after offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being.”

— Leviticus 9:22

This moment after the very first collective sacrifices of the Jewish people have been offered (and accepted) on the altar is usually understood to be the first time that Aaron, as High Priest, steps forward with hands raised and blesses the people with the words of the “Priestly Blessing” (also called the “Three-fold blessing of peace”). The words of this blessing do not show up until Numbers 6:24–26, but the key of Aaron raising his hands to bless the people leads to the commentators nearly unanimously (and when are Jews ever unanimous??) saying that these were the words spoken in this moment. An interesting detail of the Torah text gives us an extension of that idea. The way the Hebrew is written in the scroll, it would be read “And Aaron lifted YaDO, his HAND (i.e., singular).” However it is read in the tradition YaDaV “his HANDS” — which would conjure the traditional image of the Priestly Blessing hands spread by the fingers, but hands joined together. One way to imagine this is that the two hands are lifted, spread in blessing and joined together as one unit — just as the Jewish people are most capable of bringing wholeness, peace and blessing into the world when they are joined in unity.

— Rabbi Craig Axler