[Avodah] birchat kohanim

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Zev Sero wrote:

> But Minchas Yitzchak says that the real reason is that our
> kohanim's yichus is uncertain, so every time they duchen they
> are risking an avera.

R' Micha Berger asked:

> Which is? The worst they did was recite three pesuqim. I know
> many fathers who are not kohanim who use these pesuqim when
> blessing their children Fri night.

I don't think those fathers are relevant to the question. The fathers chose
those pesukim because of the meaning in those words; they are appropriate
words with which to bless the children, and they use them for that purpose.

There's nothing wrong with doing so, but the reason that there's nothing
wrong with it is because they are giving their *own* bracha. It is modeled
after Birkas Kohanim, but it makes no attempt to *be* Birkas Kohanim.
That's the red line. If a non-kohen attempts to actually give Birkas
Kohanim, *that's* the aveira, and my understanding of the Minchas Yitzchak
as cited by RZS is that if a person mistakenly thinks that he is a kohen,
and therefore goes through with duchening with all the correct procedures
and kavanos, that's assur. (B'shogeg, of course, since he doesn't realize
that he's a non-kohen, but an issur nevertheless.)

RMB again:

> And if there is a safeiq, how can they make a birkhas hamitzvah
> -- safeiq berakhos lehaqeil?

Good question. And similarly, if there is a safek, how can they make an
exception for Yom Tov?

My *guess* is that it is an exaggeration to say that "our kohanim's yichus
is uncertain", and that m'ikar hadin we are confident that they really are
kohanim. But the safek is not absent altogether, and it is appropriate to
be machmir, keeping in mind that it is only a chumra, and there are real
dangers in being overly machmir when chumra is uncalled for.

Akiva Miller
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