“Truth is in the eyes, lies stay behind them.”
That is the adage that came to my mind this week as I chanted the trifold blessing of the Kohanim: “May the Eternal bless you and protect you. May the Eternal’s countenance shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the face of the Eternal lift up before you and grant you peace!” I will never forget Leonard Nimoy’s character, Mr. Spock, holding his hand out the same way that the Kohanim do and giving that wonderful Vulcan greeting, “Live long and prosper.” The Kohanim kept a space in between each set of fingers. You see, it wasn’t just that the Kohanim were looking eye-to-eye with those they were saying the blessing on, those who were being blessed were looking through that space, making another most intimate form of contact. They were looking beyond that space; they were looking into the face of G-d, to see G-d’s eyes, and, as they do so, G-d responded in kind by looking directly back into their eyes as well.
“Truth is in the eyes.”
Perhaps that is why some people who are having difficulty in their relationships have trouble looking into the eyes of the one they are (temporarily) on the outs with. And who among us hasn’t gotten so upset by someone else’s behavior that we say, “I can’t even stand to look at them” or, “I don’t want to see them anymore”?
Let me go back to Mr. Spock’s Vulcan greeting for a moment, to “Live long and prosper.” What is the first sentence of the Birkat Kohanim? “May the Lord bless you and protect you.” What are the goals of blessing and protection? According to Rabbi Stephen Kushner, this has to do with the bare necessities of life: a home, food, clothing, the material things we need, the things that we need in order to prosper.
In the second verse, we mention grace, or if you prefer another translation, beauty. We don’t need grace and beauty to survive. Grace and beauty in our lives are beyond mere survival. They are about the extras in life that enhance our life, that make us content and give us meaning. But, as Rabbi Kushner points out, grace and beauty come from the light of G-d. In other words, we are not only getting something from G-d, we are actually getting a piece of G-d, the light of His love.
In the final verse, we talk about that all elusive Shalom — peace. That peace comes from intimacy with God and with those we love, by seeing each other in all our goodness, in all our love, and with all our perfect imperfections.
That is why in the third verse we read, “May the face of the Eternal lift up before you…” because when G-d lifts up his face, He is allowing us to make eye contact with Him and He is making eye contact with us, the eye contact that brings intimacy, and that intimacy brings peace.
Eye contact, as Rabbi Kushner points out, requires vulnerability and it requires trust. That desire to look into another’s eyes gives us the strength to get over our own insecurities, and to open our eyes and our heart to another human being and to G-d as well.
It is that intimacy that brings us to wholeness.
Of course, we are taught that no one can see G-d, at least not physically, but, when we make eye contact, we do not need to see a body. Looking into each other’s eyes, we come upon an intimate moment when we see deep into each other’s souls, and, hopefully, we see each other through the eyes of love. For it is through the eyes of love that we truly connect at the most intimate of levels.
Shalom my friends,
Rabbi Craig H. Ezring
Rabbi Ezring is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach, 201 S. Military Tr., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. Regular Shabbat services are open to everyone on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11:30 a.m. High Holiday tickets still available 954-421-7060.
