Birkat Kohanim: A Threefold Blessing

Posted on May 27, 2026

By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.

Perhaps the most famous quote from this week’s parasha, Naso, is the priestly blessing. These words, which the Kohanim (priests) still use to bless us on Festival holidays in the “duchening” section, are also recited by many parents around the world to bless their children at the Shabbat dinner table. They go as follows:

יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃
יָאֵ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ׃
יִשָּׂ֨א יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ פָּנָיו֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְיָשֵׂ֥ם לְךָ֖ שָׁלֽוֹם׃

“GOD bless you and protect you!
GOD deal kindly and graciously with you!
GOD bestow favor upon you and grant you peace!”

It’s a beautiful 3-fold blessing which asks for God’s protection, God’s grace, and ultimately peace. I might suggest that protection is for external threats of harm or trouble. Grace is there to lift us up after we may fall prey to our internal threats of harm or trouble — when we make mistakes and need permission to get back on the proverbial horse. And peace is for the innermost place of our being. Peace, shalom which shares a root with shalem/wholeness is the greatest gift. Peace comes when we are fully in tune with who we want to be and who we already are.

It could be said the first blessing is for our bodies – that we should be blessed and protected physically.
The second blessing is for our minds, or our egos – that we should be dealt with kindly and graciously.
Finally the third blessing is for our souls. That we should feel lasting peace through our connection with the spark of God’s holiness within us.
What better way to let the words of the blessing penetrate us physically, mentally and spiritually than through music – the medium that is physical vibrations, mental processing and spiritually elevating.

Here’s a setting of this text by my teacher Cantor Gerald Cohen as sung by a multi-generational group of HaZamir community members:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBgtZ6FUbRc