{"id":75573,"date":"2020-06-04T10:48:58","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T07:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=75573"},"modified":"2020-06-04T10:48:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T07:48:58","slug":"raising-the-hands-the-backstory-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/raising-the-hands-the-backstory-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Raising the Hands: The Backstory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Illustration for Numbers chapter 6:<\/p>\n

The priestly benediction is made up of three verses, with the name of God included in each verse: \u201cThe Lord bless you and protect you. The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you. The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace\u201d (Num. 6: 24\u201326). During Temple times, the priests recited the blessing daily, and after the Temple was destroyed the practice was carried over to the synagogue. Today in Israel the kohanim<\/em> in the congregation recite weekly on Shabbat and on holidays, whereas elsewhere it is recited only on holidays.<\/p>\n

Why is the priestly blessing called nesiat kapai\u2019im<\/em> \u201cthe raising of the hands\u201d when the text does not refer to hands at all? How did raising the hands become part of the performance of this blessing and its common name?<\/p>\n

The painting here, which portrays two separate but combined scenes, suggests some answers. Against a background of brown hills, which allude perhaps to the wilderness, we see a line of priests, with Aaron, the High Priest, at the far end. On the right we again see Aaron, this time without his miter, facing Moses, who is raising his hands over his brother\u2019s head: \u201cThe Lord spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel\u2026\u201d (Num. 6: 22\u201323). With a skillful interplay of two scenes, rather than reflecting the text itself, the artist seems to be accounting for the name and the performance of the blessing.<\/p>\n

During the war with Amalek, where Moses climbed to the top of a hill to help Joshua and the Israelites to repel the attack. He raised his hands and we are told: \u201cThen whenever Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed.\u2026” Thus Moses summoned God\u2019s help by raising his arms.<\/p>\n

Further on in Leviticus we read: \u201cAaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them\u201d (Lev. 9:22). In both episodes, raising the hands was associated with consigning the Lord\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n

In a second scene in the painting, Aaron \u2013 “a lover of peace, a pursuer of peace, one who loves people and draws them close to Torah\u201d (Pirkai Avot<\/em> 1:12), is standing with his sons, in a representation of all of the priests. They are all witnessing a paradigm of an act that they will be called upon to emulate when they begin their duties in the newly built Tabernacle. The priestly blessing \u2013 \u201cthe blessing of the raising of the hands\u201d \u2013 thus became a powerful symbol for calling upon God\u2019s love for the people of Israel, first when Moses raised his arms during battle and again when Aaron raised his arms to bless the people: \u201cThus they shall link My name with the people of Israel and I will bless them\u201d (Num. 6: 27).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Artwork by: Avner Moriah, by courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

Text by: Dr. Shulamit Laderman, who holds a\u00a0<\/span>PhD in Art History and has published extensively on Jewish and Christian influences on biblical interpretive illustration.<\/p>\n

For the entire weekly portion series, please visit: <\/span>https:\/\/avnermoriahprints.com\/collections\/parasha<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":46733,"id":46733,"title":"Num6-Naso","filename":"Num6-Naso.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num6-Naso.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/raising-the-hands-the-backstory\/num6-naso\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num6-naso","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":46716,"date":"2019-01-01 04:23:56","modified":"2019-01-01 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