Kabbalah Library

1. It is written, “And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and to his son saying, ‘Thus shall you bless.’’” When the messenger of the public has completed his prayer and comes to bless the Blessing of the Priests, he must certainly aim with the desire of the heart to bless the holy nation, since by action and by speech he ties the knot of unification. Thus, you find that through him, upper ones and lower ones are blessed.

2. At that time, the messenger of the public should say, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” He will say “May be the Lord bless you” with his face toward the hall, and he will look to his right side in “keep you,” to draw a thread of Hesed [grace/mercy] on the holy nation, first.

Afterwards, he will say, “May the Lord shine His face to you and pardon you.” He should say “May the Lord shine” with his face toward the hall. In “His face to you and pardon you,” he will look to his left in order to unite it with the right, since the origin of the blessing is to the right side, Hesed. At that time, when the left unites with the right, all of the left side departs, the judgments, and there will be no damage whatsoever. At that time, “The Lord will raise His face to you and give you peace,” and this is a complete prayer.

3. Woe to one who comes to seduce his master with a distant heart without a complete will, as it is written, “Nevertheless, they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue, for their heart was not steadfast with Him.” This was said about the messenger of the public who looked to his left side first, so that the side of judgment would awaken first, and through that messenger, separation was done rather than connection.

4. This is so because the unification of the prayer and the blessing depends on the speech and the utterance of the mouth, and everything depends on the root of the action. One who does not know the root of the action, his work is not work. If he blemishes the act of speaking, there is no place for the blessing to be, his prayer is not a prayer, and that person is blemished above and below. Woe to that person who blemished his prayer and the work of his master.