We began this discussion last night. We looked at our reading for today in the back of Siddur Sim Shalom, in the table service for Shabbat evening. Candles. Kiddush. Motzi. Eishet Chayil and a newer reading for men, in this case Psalm 112, in other places Psalm 1 and the priestly benediction. I remember fondly when Sarah was little we would go to Simon’s cousins’ home in Albany, NY and the father of the house would bless Sarah with those very words.  

Nowadays there are more modern readings for a Woman of Valor that accommodate our more complex understandings of family, but the emphasis is the same. The people who dwell together are a blessing. The house is a mikdash me’at, a little sanctuary so as such it makes sense to recite the Birkat Hacohanim, the priestly benediction.  

This is Father’s Day Weekend. This past week we just read the Ten Commandments as part of Shavuot. One commandment is to Honor your father and your mother. Note that it doesn’t say love. It says honor, which the kids teach us means to respect. In Leviticus as part of the Holiness Code, it teaches us, it commands us to “Fear your mother and your father.” Fathers are seen as a blessing. In the yizkor service the meditation on remembering a father begins, “May G-d remember the soul of my father, my teacher.” Fathers were seen as teachers.  

One of my former students, Rob Kaplowitz, has been a great teacher to me. He was a sound designer, including on Broadway where he won a Tony. After a very successful theater career, he is now training to be a lawyer. Yet, despite that very busy first year of law school he is heavily involved and invested in an organization in Philadelphia, weembracefatherhood.org. He is teaching people how to be fathers and he is learning together with them along the way. 

Happy Father’s Day. May it be a blessing. May it be filled with golf, or barbecues, or exactly what you want. For some Father’s Day is complicated. You may be missing a child. You may be missing your own father. You may be an unacknowledged step-parent, foster parent. Someone who for whatever reason never had children. You may be single parenting. I hope you can see the blessing you are. 

I just finished reading Kristen Hannah’s The Women, about combat nurses during Vietnam. I found it to be a very powerful book. The main character, Frankie, had a very complicated relationship with her father. Spoiler alert, after many, many years she discovers that her father is a blessing. 

Rabbi Harold Kushner talks about this in his book, How Good Do We Have to Be. He chapter Fathers and Sons, Mothers and Daughters, I find I need to reread over and over again. But even while my father had very high expectations and we never agreed on the G-d thing, on days like this, actually on most days I miss him. He taught me much. He was a blessing. To me and to the world. 

How do we get here? What is a blessing? The first use of b-r-ch is in Genesis where G-d blesses Abram:  “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you (ואברכך), and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing (ברכה). I will bless (ואברכה) those who bless you (מברכיך), and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (ונברכו).“ 

Our portion today includes one of the most beautiful passages in all of scripture. Called thre Birkat haCohanim, the Priestly benediction, it was a blessing the priests offered all the people. Today we use it on Friday nights to bless our children. We use it at B-Mitzvah celebrations and weddings. It is part of the musaf service. Soon we will use it at a baby naming and at an aufruf,  when we shower a wedding couple with blessings and candy, so that their marriage will be sweet and filled with blessings!  Often it as used as the final benediction in Christian worship services and many old school or classical Reform services. We hold these texts sacred together. 

We want to be blessed, to feel blessed. I have a number of friends who end phone calls and conversations with the phrase “Be blessed.” Or have a blessed day. It used to make me somewhat uncomfortable. It seemed well maybe too Christian.  

In fact, that is exactly what we do when we bless our children on Friday night. Even more importantly perhaps, it offers hope.  

Many of our prayers begin, as you all know, Baruch Atah Adonai. Blessed are You G-d. Does G-d need our blessing? Maybe. It is a way of saying thank you and reminding ourselves that we are blessed. It offers gratitude 

And when we bless one another, it offers connection and community. 

Each of you is a blessing. You are a gift. To me and to the wider world. Each of you helps make this world a better place and you have a unique role in this place. I am grateful. I am blessed. 

The first line of this blessing that G-d taught to Aaron and his sons is Yiverecha v’yishmarecha. May the Lord bless and keep you, guard you and protect you. We all want to be safe and protected, to feel that like the song, somone will watch over me. All of us. Those in the camp and out of the camp. To use a line from the U-46 Mission Statement, where I once spoke about transgender issues, “All means all.”   

There are many translations for this tri-fold blessing: 

Yiverechecha v’yishmaecha
Ya’er adonai panav elecha v’chuneka
Yisa adonai panav elecha v’yisa lecha shalom. 

Please rise for a special birkat hacohanim:  

“May God bless you and protect you, guard you and watch over you.!  
May light of G-d God shine upon you and be gracious to you!  
May God lift up God’s face to you and grant you peace!” Num. 6:22-27  

May we find a way to live out this blessing. Sharing G-d’s light and love. Finding wholeness and completeness, shalom. And making our lives, all of our lives count.  You matter. You are loved. You are a gift. You are a blessing. Period. 

One more blessing. Because it is summer and a number of people are traveling. Tefilat haderech, known as the travelers prayer is found in the section of Talmud called Berachot. It appears in the fuller version of Siddur Sim Shalom and Debbie Friedman set a version to music: 

Lyrics:
CHORUS
May we be blessed as we go on our way
May we be guided in peace
May we be blessed with health and joy
May this our blessing, amen.
May we be sheltered by the wings of peace
May we be kept in safety and in love
May grace and compassion find their
way to every soul
May this be our blessing, amen.
Amen, may this be our blessing, amen. 

As we leave here today, may you be blessed as you go on your way.