Daily Radio Program
The Aaronic Blessing, so named because the Lord told Moses in Numbers 6:22/23 to instruct his brother Aaron and his sons to pray it. Aaron was Israel’s first high priest, thus the prayer is often called the Priestly Blessing.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make His face shine upon you
and be gracious unto you.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you
and grant you peace.
(Messianic addition)
In the Name of Jesus our Messiah.
In the picture, Ted Simon demonstrates the hand formation often used when praying the Aaronic Blessing. The blessor will separate his fingers in a kind of v shape to represent the Hebrew letter shin , the first letter in one of the names of God, Shaddai, meaning Almighty. This hand configuration was made popular in the TV series Star Trek by Leonard Nimoy, a Jewish actor portraying the Vulcan character Mr. Spock.
Typically, the rabbi or the cantor will chant the blessing with his arms raised and extended toward the congregation. This is exemplified in Leviticus 9:22, “Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering.”
We finish our program each day with a portion of the Aaronic Blessing.
Listen HERE as Jeffrey D. recites it in full.