Conduits of Blessing
More than three millennia ago, the kohanim were charged with the mission of blessing the Jewish people.
The Kabbalah seforim explain that the reason the kohanim were designated to be the conduits for Divine blessings is that their souls evolve from the celestial chamber of love, granting them a unique ability to cultivate compassion and kindness toward others and, hence, making them uniquely suitable conduits for G-d's love and grace.
This is the reason for the Jewish law that states that a kohain who is disliked by the congregation or dislikes the congregation is forbidden to bless the people because the negative energy that surrounds him may severely obstruct the flow of the blessings. Indeed, the blessing recited by the kohanim prior to the priestly blessings states: "He (G-d) commanded us to bless His people Israel with love." The Zohar explains that this is also the reason for the tradition that an unmarried kohain could not perform the services in the Holy Temple (Bais Hamikdash) as an agent of the Jewish people.
In order for a kohain to be worthy of this extraordinary position, he needed to fully develop his innate capacity for love and selflessness, and it is only through marriage, in which one learns to share one's life with another human being, that a person is challenged to bring out their full potential for caring and affection. When one is unmarried, they may be extremely kind and sensitive, but at the end of the day, they have the luxury of retreating to their own hub and doing things their own way.
Ultimately, they only need to answer to themselves, which is why so many people today opt for a single life. It is only in the institution of marriage that one is consistently called upon to take another person and their needs and feelings into consideration. For a marriage to work and blossom, one can't be selfish. That is why it was only married kohanim who were charged with the responsibility of serving G-d in the Holy Temple.
Prerequisite for Criticism
As parents, educators, spouses, employers, and colleagues, we often need to rebuke, denounce, criticize, and sometimes penalize others. Yet, all too often, these actions are taken more as an outlet for our own anger and frustration than as a tool to help these people become the best they can be. We may call it discipline and justice, but if it is not rooted in kindness and the desire to help the other person, it might end up being more destructive than constructive.
Principals and teachers sometimes feel the need to expel a student, just as during Biblical times, the leper was dismissed from the community. But the Torah declares: If you are not a kohain, you are forbidden from issuing such a verdict! If you do not genuinely care for this youngster, you have no right to expel them!”
Before you diagnose another person as being spiritually ill and deserving temporary isolation, you must make sure your heart is filled with love toward that person. It is only then that it is certain that your diagnosis is not coming from your own bias or lack of refinement but is objectively true and thus productive and beneficial. It is only then that you will no doubt search for every possible way to heal this wounded soul.
It is easy to define somebody as "impure" if you do not understand their pain, but it is unethical. Before you punish, you must first emulate a kohain and really care about others. When criticism, punishment, and even dismissal are motivated by concern for the person rather than your own rage or incompetence, it will have a totally different effect on the person you are disciplining. Your criticism will build, rather than destroy, this person's character. Equally important, you will not cease in your efforts to reverse the situation so the individual may achieve their potential.
So next time, before you criticize someone, stop and ask yourself if you are doing it as a "kohain," out of concern and care for them, or because of your stress or anger. If it is the latter, remain silent until you can rise above your emotions and enter into their world.
