Priestly Blessing

Priestly Blessing in Pictures

by Maayana Miskin

Members of the Biblical priestly class, Kohanim, blessed tens of thousands of worshipers at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Sunday morning. The entire Kotel plaza filled with Jews seeking their blessing, and many more crowded balconies and streets overlooking the Wall.

The Kohanim blessed the crowd twice, once during the Shacharit (morning) service and again during Mussaf.

Kohanim are those related by direct patrilineal descent from the first High Priest of the Jewish people, Aharon, the brother of Moshe (Moses) . They blessed the congregants using the three Torah verses traditionally recited by Kohanim during the time of the First and Second Temples (Numbers 6:24-26).


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