Birkat Cohanim: Difference between revisions

# One shouldn’t look at the hands of the Cohanim during Birkat Cohanim and so one should face downward <Ref>S”A 128:23 </ref> or cover one’s face with a talit. <Ref> Mishna Brurah 128:92, Tefillah KeHilchata 14:49 </ref> However, nowadays that the Cohanim wear the Talit over their hands one may look at the cohanim. <Ref>Siach Tefillah (Shaar 5, 1:2) [See also Rav Herschel Schacter’s opinion at yu.edu.]. However, the Piskei Teshuvot 128:55 writes that one should still not look at the Cohanim so as not to get distracted. </ref>

# If a person can not pronounce his letters correctly, for example if he says his "Ayin's" like "Alephs" and his "chet's" like "caf's", he is still allowed to do birkat cohanim, because nowadays that is how everyone pronounces them. However if he happens to be in a place where they are very meticulous about correct pronounciation, he should not do birkat cohanim. There are those who say that if a person is in a place that they are meticulous, but all the people know that this person can not pronounce their letters the "corect" way, or if they pronounce it a different way (for example: if an ashkenazi, who has different letter pronunciations, is in a sephardic shul), he may do birkat cohanim. This is the accepted minhag. <Ref> Yalkut Yosef, Tefillah Volume 1, page 318 </ref>

# A Cohen who has a defect, blemish, or deformity, on his face or his hands should not do birkat cohanim, because the people will look at him and be distracted. However if he is "Dash B'Iro", meaning that he is had a blemish for at least 30 days and the whole tzibur knows that he has this blemish, there is no worry that people will look at him, and he may do birkat cohanim. <strong>Nowadays</strong>, since the Cohanim cover themselves with a talit during the blessing, there is no worry that people will look at him, and any Cohen who has a blemish on his hands or face may do bircat cohanim. <ref>Yalkut Yosef, Tefillah Volume 1, page 319</ref>