The Priestly Blessing also know as "Duchaning"
by
Drew Geoffrey Kopf

When Drew was a youngster he attended a Conservative Synagogue on Long Island in New York State. He remembers that at least once a year everything in the prayer services changed and what might be referred to as "Big Time."

A group of men who had been notified to meet up in the lobby of the synagogue reentered as a group wearing the Talaisem (prayer shawls over their heads, which was not commonly done in Conservative synagogues at all. The men climbed the stairs up to the "Beemah," which was elevated section in the front of the main chapel where the rabbi and the cantor sat and conducted the services and where, also, the Aron Kodesh (the Holy cabinet where the Torah Scrolls were kept) and formed a line in front of the congregation.

They used their Talaisem to cover over their heads and faces completely and raised their arms underneath their Talaisem such that their arms were out in front of them but raised above their heads slightly and, though we could not see their hands and fingers, we knew that they were holding their fingers and hands in a special way referred to as the "sign of the Kohain" which was that their pinky and ring finger on each hand were held together and the middle finger and the forefinger on each hand were held together but separated from the other two fingers that were just described and the thumb on each hand was extended away from the other fingers. The palms of their hands faced the congregation. Their two hands held in that way were referred to as the sign of the Kohain.

The men were chanting a tune that was very solemn and, at a certain point, the cantor would whisper one word at a time of the Priestly Blessing which the group of men, all of whom were descendants of Kohanim (Priests), would chant each word together and that would continue until the entire Priestly Blessing would have been recited. They would then exit the sanctuary as the congregation would shout words of praise such as "YaAhsher Koach Kohain" which translates as something like "To Your Strength Priest."

It was very dignified and so much different than all of the other prayers and songs and presentations that we were used to that it stood out as a very special time and happening that was very well received by the entire congregation.

It is surely still done in Orthodox congregations. I believe the word Duchene in German means "platform" and it was on a platform that the Kohanim would bless the congregation with the Priestly Blessing.

In the congregation to which we belong, the Priestly Blessing is recited in a hurry as part of a conglomeration of related prayers and delivered over and to the benefit of a bunch of children under the age of thirteen who are gathered under a super duper huge Tallis (Prayer Shawl) which is really a piece of cloth that is made to look like a Tallis, and the congregation is there to observe the cute little kids and that is all. No Priestly Blessings for anyone else.

So, being a Kohain myself, I felt something ought to be done. I felt adult members of the congregation were and are deserving of the Priestly Blessing even if the professional leadership obviously feels otherwise for some reason.
So, before the High Holy Days arrived, I created my painting "The Priestly Blessing" and made Xerox copies of it and put them in my Tallis bag. Then, at synagogue, when the situation presented itself, I would hand a copy of "The Priestly Blessing" painting to a fellow congregant and said it was with my complements.

Handing someone a copy of my painting entitled "The Priestly Blessing" is not the same as "Duchaning" as I remember it when I was at Yeshiva College as a High School student or a as a college student on certain holidays, but it was a lot better than knowing that nobody in our congregation is calling on the Almighty to ask that He bless those who have gathered there to continue the ongoing relationship between the L-rd and the Jewish People.

If you like my painting "The Priestly Blessing" and would like a copy, please feel free to print one out with my blessing.