It is a given that the Kohen blesses the people, but who blesses the Kohen? Is the Kohen excluded from the Brakha or is he included in the one he makes on the kehillah's behalf?
asked Apr 12, 2013 at 4:28
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1The Kohen blesses the people?? ושמו את שמי על בני ישראל ואני אברכם. See also judaism.stackexchange.com/a/20539/759– Double AA ♦Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 5:24
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@DoubleAA, look four verses back: "you [kohanim] shall bless the Jews thusly...".– msh210 ♦Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 6:35
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@DoubleAA Which translated means, "I will bless them". So the Kohen does the blessing, which causes G-d to bless the people, but what about the Kohen?– Rabbi Michael TzadokCommented Apr 12, 2013 at 7:39
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@msh210 RMT: See the link above to the Rambam, who seems to imply the Kohanim are just doing a Mitzva, but God is the only one who blesses.– Double AA ♦Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 0:12
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@DoubleAA, on the contrary, he calls it a ברכת הדיוט, implying humans are blessing. He does say אין קיבול הברכה תלוי בכהנים (of course) but that doesn't mean they don't bless. (Else he'd be contradicting the pasuk I quoted above.)– msh210 ♦Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 6:17
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1 Answer
Kohanim are blessed by Hashem while the Kohanim bless the people. See Bamidbar Rabbah (end of parsha 11):
מי מברך את הכהנים? תלמוד לומר: ואני אברכם, הכהנים מברכים את ישראל ואני אברך אלו ואלו. הוי, ואני אברכם.
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4Nice idea. It has a source, too: Bamidbar Rabbah (end of parsha 11). [Available in pdf or plain-text.]– jakeCommented Apr 17, 2013 at 20:44
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@Lee The Talmud states that kohanim get a blessing when they bless the Jews: אלו ואלו, not independently. Please add this point!– Y DJCommented Jul 29 at 20:36