Spreading Out the Hand
Moshiach transcends other souls because he is G-d’s messenger to inspire and activate all of the five levels of the soul including the one called Yechidah; the essence of the soul. When this level is revealed, there can be no obstacles or walls of separation between G-d and our world, or between one nation and another.
Five Separations
A kohain, or priest, was responsible for performing all of the rituals in the Holy Temple. Now that the Temple no longer stands, the only ritual still performed by a Kohain is “Birchas Kohanim-the Priestly Blessing. The Kohain did not really give his own blessing, but rather he served as a conduit for G-d’s blessing to reach us.
The Talmud describes the manner the Kohain gives his blessing. He holds his hands up and makes a separation between the first two fingers of each hand and the next two fingers and another separation between the thumb and the other fingers. When the Kohain spreads out his hands, he makes one more separation between the thumbs of each hand. In all there are five separations.
What is the basis for this procedure?
According to this ritual of spreading out the hand and creating spaces is based on the Biblical verse in the Song of Songs, which describes, metaphorically, G-d’s love for His people:
“The voice of My beloved! Here he comes, leaping over
`the mountains, skipping over the hills. My beloved is like a hart, a young deer; here He stands behind our wall, watching through the windows, peering through the crevices.”
The words: “the windows” in Hebrew can also be rendered “five windows.” Hence the custom of creating five spaces between the Kohain’s fingers.
Windows 613
Obviously, there is more to this custom than just a play on words. The entire concept of G-d giving His blessing is analogous to someone looking through a window. But, what precisely is the spiritual meaning of this metaphor and why five windows?
When G-d created the world, He invested His Divine energy into every creature. Not even a rock exists independently from its Divine power that keeps it from reverting to its original state of non-existence.
However, despite G-d’s presence in every creature, He also created a wall that creates a separation between the reality of G-d’s presence in our world and the perception of the world’s independence. The ultimate goal is for us to remove this wall of separation. This we can accomplish every time we perform a mitzvah.
However, there are times that G-d Himself creates His own breach in the wall of separation that He erected. These crevices or windows enable the Divine energy to be felt and with this feeling comes G-d’s many blessings.
But why five windows?
Five Worlds
One explanation that can be given is that according to Kabbalah there are five spiritual worlds. A spiritual world is not a geographic location, but a spiritual mindset. In the highest world of Atzilus- emanation, the perception of G-d is absolute and untainted. Atzilus is a world where the G-dly light that transcends even this sublime world is generated without much of a screen and filter. The lower worlds—known as Beriah-Creation, Yetzirah-Formation, asiyah-Action—represent levels where the G-dly light is progressively screened.
When the Kohain recites the priestly benediction, the Divine light surges through all of the four worlds and enters even our physical realm. Hence the five windows or crevices represent the five openings that materialize during this priestly function.
Another way of explaining the significance of five windows with respect to the priestly blessing can be provide based on the statement in the Midrash that reveals the existence of five dimensions of the soul. And while we are all in possession of all five levels, there are those who are in touch with only several of them, one of them or neither of them.
When the Kohain makes the priestly blessing, he actually helps to open up windows that allow the five levels of our soul to be revealed.
Moshiach Standing Behind the Wall
According to another Midrashic account the one who stands behind the wall and watches through the windows and peers through the cracks is Moshiach.
According to the teachings of Kabbalah, there were/are five individuals whose souls are connected to one of the five levels of our individual souls. The five in ascending order are: King David, Elijah the Prophet, Moses, Adam and Moshiach.
Moshiach transcends the other souls because he is G-d’s messenger to inspire and activate all of the five levels of the soul including the one called Yechidah-unique. When this level is revealed, there can be no obstacles or walls of separation between G-d and our world, or between one nation and another. That is why the Messianic Age is characterized as the age when there will be no war and all of the nations of the earth will serve G-d in unison.
But, as with regard to everything in Judaism, we are the catalysts that make everything happen. For Moshiach do his job, we are told to do ours by emphasizing a way of life that removes barriers that separate between us and G-d and also the undesirable barriers that separate between ourselves and others.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Naso by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
