Less Facetime, More Face Time

Rabbi Baum's Annual Meeting Address - June 4, 2025

There are some places in the world that are just different from others. For example, there’s no holier place for me in Boca Raton, than our humble shul across from the gas station; but even at that holy place, we face east; toward Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem is a special place. The center of the world for the three Abrahamic faiths; I had the pleasure of being in Jerusalem for Shabbat, and, for those who have been to services, you can experience a musical service in the round, with mixed seating on Friday night, on Shabbat morning, a minyan with a mechitza but where women lead services and give the dvar torah; and, the most Hasidic minyan you can find for Mincha, all in one Shabbat. 

But one thing is even more special in this city than in any other city. Every morning, Cohanim get their hands washed by Leviim, and bless the congregation of people, even at a regular morning minyan. 

Here’s the text:

"The Lord spoke to Moshe: Speak to Aharon and his sons: Thus, shall you bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

'The Lord bless you and protect you;

The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you;

The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace.'

(Numbers 6:22–27)

Traditionally, the Kohanim (priests) deliver this blessing barefoot, facing the congregation, with their hands raised in a specific formation—symbolizing the channeling of God’s blessing through their outstretched fingers, while the congregation stands, looking down, avoiding eye contact. 

There is a certain irony in the practice of looking down, rather than looking up at the faces of those who are blessing us, because of the literal translation of the prayer (Everett Fox translation): 

May YHWH bless you and watch over you!

May YHWH shine His face toward you and favor you! 

May YHWH lift up His face toward you and grant you completeness -Shalom!

Can you hear the difference? The literal translation highlights God's anthropomorphic nature as having human traits, which the rabbis did not like. They note that these words should be read as a metaphor. 

When God blesses us in the first blessing, it is a blessing of material wealth—may God give us wealth and protect us from losing that wealth. The Italian commentator Sforno notes that when God favors us in the second blessing, we are asking God to show us enlightenment—in other words, to show us wisdom. The final blessing, where we ask God to show His face to us, is a metaphor for granting someone’s request for forgiveness. 

Despite these beautiful interpretations, I think that the literal translation might be more important for us today, living in the age of FaceTime, where few people actually see each other’s faces in person. There are fewer and fewer places where humans gather together for a holy purpose. This is the power of communities like ours in the 21st century, a spiritual community that values the cultivation of relationships between each other and between each one of us and God. 

We are the place where faces meet - where each face is given time.

We are living in unprecedented times as Jews in America and Jews in the world. With now two attacks against Jews in America in the past two weeks, we are confused - where are our neighbors? Why do they see only hate when they see the face of a Jew? 

It is times like these when I think about the power of this prayer. The priestly blessing forces us to look God in the face; to lift up our eyes from the ground, and look up to the faces around us. 

So perhaps that’s the challenge and the blessing of this moment in Jewish history—and for us at Shaarei Kodesh.

In a world that turns its gaze away from the Jewish face, we choose to look at one another fully. 

In a time when many communities are fractured or fading, we choose to gather, to bless, to build. 

We are not afraid to be seen, and we are not afraid to see each other—in all of our wholeness, and sometimes, in our brokenness too.

The priestly blessing ends with the word shalom—not just peace, but wholeness. 

That’s our mission. To create a kehilla kedosha, a sacred community, where every face matters, where everyone is a reflection of the Divine. That’s what we are doing here—across from the gas station, yes—but facing east, toward something greater.

As we bless one another in the year to come, may we also be the blessing. May we raise our eyes to each other’s faces, and in doing so, reveal the face of God.