Timeless Blessings

Parashat Naso is the longest parashah in the Torah. It contains a famous and powerful blessing called “Birkat Kohanim,” the Priestly Blessing. Aaron Hakohen and his sons were given the commandment to bless the Jewish People, and to this very day, the Kohanim in every congregation bless the Jewish people every holiday (and, in Israel, every day!) with these same words. Traditionally, parents also bless their children on Friday night with these words:

May Hashem bless you and protect you.May Hashem make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.May Hashem turn His face toward you and give you peace.

The Archaeology Club’s Greatest Find

The following story connects the timeless words of Birkat Kohanim with a modern-day discovery:

“This is so boring!” one boy groaned, kicking at a pile of small stones. “When is this club going to end already?”

Dr. Gabi Barkay, the club’s director, was losing patience. A seasoned archaeologist, Dr. Barkay had spent decades studying ancient vessels and ruins to better understand Israel’s past. Forty years ago, he founded an archaeology club for 12- and 13-year-olds, hoping to spark their interest in history. That day, he had brought the group to a modest excavation site in Jerusalem—not a location anyone expected to yield much of significance. As Dr. Barkay attempted to give his lesson, the boy’s constant interruptions grew more disruptive.

The Kohanim blessing the crowd at the Western Wall. (credit: WESTERN WALL HERITAGE FOUNDATION)
The Kohanim blessing the crowd at the Western Wall. (credit: WESTERN WALL HERITAGE FOUNDATION)
“He was a real nuisance,” Barkay later recalled. “I didn’t know what to do with him! Finally, I said, ‘If it’s too hard for you to listen, just go into that cave over there and clean the rocks.’”

Like the other caves at the site, the one he pointed to was assumed to be empty.

But a few minutes later, the boy returned and tugged at Barkay’s shirt. When the archaeologist turned around, he was stunned. In the boy’s hands were two intact pottery vessels—clearly from the First Temple period.

“He wasn’t supposed to touch them,” Barkay admitted. “He was supposed to call me. But at that moment, I had no idea that this boy would lead me to the most important discovery of my career.”

The boy showed him the exact spot where he had found the vessels. Overcome with excitement, Barkay began to investigate further—and quickly unearthed an entire cache of ancient artifacts buried in the same area.

He sent the children home and summoned a team of professional archaeologists. Working day and night, they uncovered more than 1,000 objects: pottery bowls, iron arrowheads, and over 100 silver items—all from the same cave.

Among the treasures was a tiny gray cylinder, barely two centimeters long. Once cleaned, it revealed itself to be an ancient silver scroll. Rolled tightly and sealed shut, it had been written over two millennia ago.

One of the scrolls with the Birkat Kohanim, on display at the Israel Museum. (credit: WESTERN WALL HERITAGE FOUNDATION)
One of the scrolls with the Birkat Kohanim, on display at the Israel Museum. (credit: WESTERN WALL HERITAGE FOUNDATION)
The scroll was sent to a specialized lab at the Israel Museum. So delicate was the artifact that it took researchers three years to develop a safe way to unroll it without destroying the inscription inside.

When it was finally opened, Barkay examined it under a high-powered microscope. “Suddenly, a word jumped out at me,” he recalled. “It was the name of God. Then I realized—I was holding a copy of Birkat Kohanim, the priestly blessing.”

Painstakingly, the researchers deciphered the text, written in ancient Hebrew script. It was indeed the Birkat Kohanim, preserved for thousands of years. As Barkay put it, it felt like a greeting from their ancestors who had lived in Jerusalem at the time of the First Temple.

The scroll remains the oldest known biblical text ever discovered in Israel. Its discovery served as powerful evidence of the deep, ancient connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. Scholars around the world were captivated. Articles were published. Debates ensued. Experts traveled to see the scroll in person. Yet one detail was left out of every academic report: The entire discovery had started with a bored schoolboy on a dusty day in Jerusalem.

Not Just Going With the Flow

Parashat Naso tells us about the logistics of journeying in the wilderness. The Torah relates which tribe was responsible for carrying which item of the Mishkan, and how various elements were disassembled when the Children of Israel moved from one place to the next.

None of this could be achieved without discipline, organization, and order. If the physical moves are not done in the correct order, the content on the inside will be correspondingly flawed.

Some people think that spirituality means “going with the flow,” and freeing yourself from any obligations so that you can do what you want when you feel like it. Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, one of the great spiritual leaders in pre-war Europe who headed the Mir yeshivah, explained why a person can reach spiritual heights only within an orderly framework:

Order, which on its own is not important, helps preserve all the good in the world. Order is an important virtue, and is possibly the most important one. When we use order to regulate our spiritual life and help us keep the Torah and its laws then it certainly influences a person to be better. Someone who lives without order is missing the chance for perfection and wholeness.

Translated by Yehoshua Siskin and Janine Muller Sherr

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