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Birchas Kohanim in Birchas Hatorah

By Rabbi Berach Steinfeld

Posted on 06/11/19

Parshas HaShavua Divrei Torah sponsored by
Dr. Shapsy Tajerstein, DPM - Podiatry Care.
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Why do we say Birchas Kohanim in Birchas Hatorah? There is a distinct difference between the chochma of the Torah and other chochmos. All the other chochmos in the world are obtained based on the smartness of a person; the more genius the person is, the better chance the person has to understand the material. Regarding chochmas haTorah, it does not work that way. Even if a person is extremely smart, he is still unable to properly learn the Torah without Hashem teaching it to him. That is why in Tehillimkuf yud tes we find the words “lamdeini chukeicha,” we daven that Hashemm should teach us his Torah.


The above concept explains why the gemara in Megilah, daf vov, amud bais says “yogaati umatzasi taamin.” The gemara still calls it “umatzasi,” despite hard work. The torah is found like a person who finds a lost object. This teaches us that the hard work is just a tnai for a person to have the siyata dishmaya to have Hashem teach him Torah. This is why the Mishna in Avos, perek gimmel, mishna vov says that the Shechina is with a person even if he learns Torah alone. Why is that so important? In order to learn torah we need The Melamed Torah to teach us, which is Hashem. That is why we say in the tefillah, “kein techoneinu uselamdeinu.” Reb Chaim Kanievskyexplains that is the reason a goy can’t properly understand Torah since he is missing The Melamed Torah, which is Hashem.


In Birchas HaTorah this concept is reiterated a few times. We say Boruch ata… nosen haTorah in the present tense. Hashem has to give us the Torah at the present time in order for us to understand it. We also say Hamelamed Torah that Hashem is presently teaching us the Torah. The only way we can understand the Torah is with Hashem’s teaching us.


The gemara in Brachos learns out the halacha of Birchas HaTorah from the posuk “Ki shem ... Hashem ekrahavu godel…” The gemara reiterates when Hashem is called upon to teach us the Torah. We can only properly obtain the Torah when “havu godel lelokeinu.”


With this concept in mind we can understand why we say Birchas Kohanim in Birchas Hatorah. The whole tefillah of Birchas Kohanim is asking Hashem to bentch us and be with us, which proves that the only way one can have a proper kinyan HaTorah is with Hashem joining us and teaching us. There are six brachos in Birchas Kohanim. They are knegged the six times we see the words lamdeinu chukecha in Perek kuf yud tes. It is no wonder that Chazal incorporated the Birchas Kohanim right after the Birchas HaTorah.


May we merit having the proper havonas HaTorah via The Melamed Torah. 


Do you have a topic or discussion you want to read about? Please send comments or questions to hymanbsdhevens@gmail.com or berachsteinfeldscorner@gmail.com