The Priestly Blessing. A blessing that the Kohanim (or Priests) traditionally give to the congregation on holidays in the Diaspora, and daily in Eretz Yisrael.
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Is each part of birkat Kohanim a full blessing?
I'm confused as to whether or not birkat kohanim is a true "blessing" in the halachic sense. Part of my confusion arises from how we respond when it is said. In many ashkenazic minyanim outside of ...
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Significance of the Kohen's hand gestures?
What is the significance of the shapes (windows?) created by the kohen during birkas cohanim? This question and the ensuant answers detail at least 3 opinions of the gesture, I would really appreciate ...
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Blessing children together or individually?
When I was a child, my parents would bless my siblings and me on Erev Shabbos. The formulation that they used was "Yesimcha Elokim kEphraim v'ch'Menashe" for each son and "Yesimech Elokim kSarah, ...
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Origin of using priestly blessing on Friday night
I know why we use Ephraim and Menashe when blessing the children on Friday nights, (see: Why Does Hashem Bless Us Like Efraim And Menashe?) but why do we use Birkat Kohanim? Is there any specific ...
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Water from the Kohanim washing their hands by nei'lah
I heard about a minhag the other day (for the first time) and was wondering if there is any makor for it. I was told that people ran out to "catch" the water that was used to wash the Kohanim's hands ...
