Following Korach’s challenge to Moses and Aharon, which led to a more general rebellion against Aharon’s Priesthood, G-d told Moses to ask the leaders of each of the Tribes to give him their staff. The name of the leader of the Tribe should be written on his staff, and the staves should be placed in the Sanctuary. Among them would be Aharon’s staff. G-d would show who He chose for the Priesthood by the flowering of the appropriate staff.
The next day Moses came to the Sanctuary, and behold, Aharon’s staff had flowered with blossoms and had produced almonds. In Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s Likkutei Torah it asks why specifically almonds, and answers because they flower and form very quickly. The discourse suggests that ‘speed’ is a key feature of the almond, and that is why in this passage the almond represents the Priesthood, because the kind of blessing brought about by Aharon’s Priestly blessing is swift. Till today, when the Priests bless the people, the blessing takes effect quickly without delay.
The point is that the root of all pouring of Divine blessing is from the Divine Attribute Kindness (Chesed), Kindness of the ethereal world of Emanation (Atzilut). In order for that spiritual level of Kindness to descend to the physical plane of our world, where it can grant physical blessings in terms of the three main areas of children, health and sustenance, it has to descend level after level, step by step, through all the different levels from Emanation to Action. At each step downwards there is a judgement, whether or not it should proceed.
This explains why in the weekday Amidah we ask for material things such as healing and blessing for the crops, even though on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur each person was judged as regards their physical well-being. This initial judgement was in the high spiritual world of Emanation, Atzilut. In order to bring it down into our physical plane there is the concept ‘a person is judged every day’.
As mentioned above, material blessing can be divided into three main areas: children (ie being blessed with having children, and everything relating to children), health and sustenance, meaning food, a home, wealth. Sometimes the flow of blessing is constricted in such a way, that it will only flow into one area rather than the others. In such a case it can happen that the blessing of a Tzaddik can change in which area the blessing is seen.
Thus there is a story of a wealthy couple who did not have any children, and they asked the Baal Shem Tov for a blessing for children. He said that if they do not mind losing their wealth, they will have children. They agreed to this. They began to have children, but also became poor, as the Baal Shem Tov had said. He could see that their flow of Divine blessing was not enough for more than one area.
But even when there is enough force in the blessing to supply all three areas of life, there is a sense of Divine judgement at every stage of the flow of the blessing from the ethereal realms above, down into our physical world.
A discourse in the Siddur with Chassidic Teachings explains that on weekdays there are many delays in the drawing of the flow of blessing to the lower world, but on Shabbat the flow is swift.
With regard to the delays on a weekday, this discourse presents the image of a person who is considering whether or not to do something. Even if he decides in his mind that he will do it, the idea might remain in his mind and not come to practical action. And, if we imagine that he has indeed decided that he is really going to do it, in the process leading from his mind to thought, and then to speech, and finally to action – at each step there might be a reconsideration of the question whether or not he should do it, or exactly how he should do it.
The discourse compares this to the process in spiritual realms, whereby the positive decree of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur descends through the different worlds – bearing in mind that the kabbalistic worlds of Creation, Formation and Action correspond to Thought, Speech and Action – with possible delays at every stage. For it might be that the spiritual blessing might be retained in the Garden of Eden rather than be allowed to descend to the physical world...
Now, in a human being, if the force dictating his or her possible action is only intellectual understanding of the pros and cons, the above construct of reassessment at every stage is likely. But if it is driven by passion and delight, then the process from mind to deed is swift, without pause. The person will not rest till the desired practical outcome has been achieved.
So it is in the spiritual reality above, that if the initial source is not Kindness of the realm of Emanation, but the higher level of ‘Great Kindness’ (Rav Chesed), higher than the realm of the downchaining of worlds, then the flow of blessing is swift and without delay. This is why the blessing elicited by the Cohanim is ‘swift’, as mentioned earlier, because the Priestly Blessing has the power, like Prayer, to reach beyond the downchaining of the worlds.
Further, the Priestly Blessing not only reaches an exalted level above, it also descends to the lowest levels below, reaching also those people who might not in themselves be worthy of such blessing.
This helps us understand the imagery of Aharon’s staff flowering with almonds, which express swift growth. Aharon’s blessings, and those of his descendants the Cohanim, draw the Divine blessing down, from exalted heights, to the lowest levels, reaching and affecting even negative dimensions.
The climax of the Priestly Blessing is Peace, and the ultimate goal of Peace is that the negative and hostile should be transformed to goodness and love. This will take place with the coming of Moshiach, when the peace will be without limit, as it is written that Jerusalem will be without borders, without any limitations...
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