Guide
The Priestly Blessing
1st–4th Centuries
In Numbers 6:22–27, God commands Aaron and his sons to bless the people using a specific blessing that God provides. There is evidence that this blessing text was used during the First Temple period in protective amulets and that in the Second Temple period it was the blessing with which Aaron’s descendants, the priests, blessed the people in the Temple. After the destruction of the Temple, this practice was moved into synagogues. The rabbinic texts below reflect the move of the priestly blessing into the sphere of the synagogue, where it was subject to rabbinic regulation.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
The Mishnah on the Priestly Blessing
m. Megillah 4:3, 7
3. They do not recite the Shema‘ responsively, and they do not pass before the ark; and they [the priests] do not lift up their hands [ . . . ] except in the presence of ten. [ . . . ]…
Primary Source
The Palestinian Talmud on the Priestly Blessing
y. Berakhot 3:1, 6a
May a priest [kohen] defile himself for the lifting of hands? Gedilah, the brother of R. Abba bar Kohen, said before R. Yosi in the name of R. Aḥa: A priest defiles himself for the lifting of hands. R…
Related Guide
Priests (Kohanim) in the Early Synagogue
1st–6th Centuries