Bircat Cohnaim, the priestly blessing, is specially important. It is a blessing that HaShem bestows upon us through the Cohanim. A blessing is not magic. For a blessing to eventually come to fruition, one needs to become a suitable receiver of that blessing. Example: If I ask HaShem's blessing for my livelihood, I should not stay home doing nothing. I should go to work and become a suitable recipient of HaShem's blessing
In the third verse of Bircat Cohanim it says: Yissa HaShem Panav Elekha, "May HaShem turn His face to you". First of all we need to understand that God does not have a "Face". With the word "face" the Tora is describing in human language "God's attention". In other words, this berakha is saying: "May haShem pay attention to you". This is a great blessing. Sounds too good to be true! God, the creator of the universe, paying special attention to ME! What should I do to deserve the extraordinary privilege of HaShem's attention? Imagine a huge classroom with hundreds of students. They all came to listen to a lecture given by a very famous professor. As he enters the room he looks at the audience, politely welcomes everyone. But suddenly he identifies someone in the fifth row. He turns his eyes to him, waves his hand and smiles to him. Why would the professor do that? At the end of the lecture you approach the student and ask him: why the Professor turned his face to you? He tells you. "During the last three months I read his books, I exchanged some emails with him, and I met him in person to discuss his ideas. He KNOWS me."
Similarly, if we want to be the recipients of this blessing, the way to deserve God's attention is by being KNOWN to Him. Studying His books, communicating with Him, and meeting Him as frequently as we can is the way to be known by Him and deserve the blessing of His attention
TERROR IN SCHOOL and the MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
