עברית
Halachot and Customs
Why should one not look at the kohanim during Birkat Kohanim?
Question
Hello, honored Rabbi,
I wanted to ask why it is forbidden to look at the kohanim during Birkat Kohanim? Also, what happens to someone who does look?
Thank you very much!
Answer
Shalom u-vrachah,
1. The reason one does not look at the kohanim during Birkat Kohanim is so that there will not be a distraction from the blessing. By law, there is no prohibition except for prolonged looking, which can lead to distraction; a brief glance is permitted, because only in the time of the Temple, when they blessed with the explicit Name and the Shechinah rested upon their hands, was even a brief glance forbidden. That is not the case in our time. Nevertheless, it is customary even now, as a remembrance of the Temple, not to look at them at all (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 128:23, and Mishnah Berurah, se'if katan 89).
2. It is written in Tractate Chagigah (16a) that one who looks at the kohanim during the time of the Beit HaMikdash, when they would stand on their platform and bless Israel with the explicit Name (the Shechinah resting on the joints of their fingers. Rashi), his eyes grow dim. See there.
With blessing,
Hillel Meirs
