RABBI AARON Editor, Torah Tidbits GOLDSCHEIDER
When The Man Of Peace Murders
O
ur parsha contains the unique mitzvah of the kohanim to bless the people each day with the familiar three-part blessing (Bamidbar 6:22-27). We often refer to his blessing as nesiat kapayim, referring to the raised hands of the kohanim, or as “duchaning” referring to the platform from which they often bless. The kohanim express their elevated holiness through various restrictions. For example, special regulations surrounding the institution of marriage, the prohibition of becoming defiled from the dead, and the need to maintain purity in order to eat trumah, challah, and sacrifices which are their portion. However, the kohen can also potentially invalidate his unique status, and in particular his right to offer the daily blessing, by engaging in behavior that runs contrary to their elevated position. The Talmud states that ‘any kohen who has killed a person may not raise his hands to confer the priestly blessing, as it is stated: ‘and when you spread your hands, I will 44
TORAH TIDBITS 1420 / NASO 5781
hide My eyes from you...your hands are full of blood” (Isaiah 1:15) (Berachot 32b). The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 128:35) rules that a kohen may not confer the priestly blessing even if the death he caused was accidental (shogeg). Whether or not repentance is effective to allow a kohen who killed to return to his previous standing is the subject of a dispute among the authorities. In contemporary times, the following related question has been addressed by rabbinic authorities: Is a soldier in the Israeli army who is a kohen, who has killed an enemy soldier or terrorists, now disqualified from performing nesiat kapayim? The eminent Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l addressed this question in two places in his writings (Yechave Da’at, 2:16 and Maor Yisrael on Rambam, Chapter 15 of Hilchot Tefillah). He ruled that in this case a kohen is permitted to recite Birkat Kohanim since an Israeli soldier’s actions qualify as engaging in ‘warfare at a time of war’, and in such circumstances, the Gemara (62b) states, “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” If the soldier would not have reacted with protecting himself and other Jews he would have transgressed the negative commandment of “Do not stand idly by your fellow’s blood.” A soldier who acts this way shall
