The Precious Ability of the Kohanim and the Joy of Giving

Speaker 1: I hope I don't embarrass myself here, but perhaps others feel the same way and I would be in some decent company. But I always had a pet peeve in life. The pet peeve was gift giving and presents. I was always uncomfortable and unhappy with the presents I received on my birthday because I never understood the cards. I would always check to see if there was any cash in it or perhaps a check or something, and, and I didn't get the pre-written card chill. Further, gift cards Never really excited about the, and I still remember when I was opening up my presents from my bar mitzvah, somebody gave me $18 to split with my brother, and I said keep your $9. and that was a terrible meetup and it was a cuff-y-tove. 

Speaker 1: I should show gratitude. It sounds spoiled. Somebody went out of their way to get you something on my tunnel. Show some respect and appreciation; maybe I have stagged some in that, but there's a way to go. But, if you asked me what I would want for my birthday, I would not have said the following, which is that Rabbenu Bachaya brings a media that tells us in our parashah that the Kohanim have been granted the most incredible gift Above all of their matinaskehuna. They receive the trauma, and they receive all of these gifts, and they're taking care of all the best jobs, and they go first. 

Speaker 1: but the best gift above all was the Birchos Kohanim, that they would give the blessings to the Jewish people that they would be able to. duchan i vrech ashem i ishm vrech i yashem pona velach v'yosim chosholem. The Birchos Kohanim is the greatest gift. It's the ps, hah. What's the ps, hah? Why is that the greatest gift? In the Chazal, tell us. Perhaps anyone with a monarch pe karkadoy, with a brain in their skull, they'll understand that the greatest gift you can receive is the ability to give. The power to bless others makes a person more happy than anything else. Over and over, you find prime and ripe examples of individuals who have given everything, and they are the most comfortable. Mothers, who cannot provide anymore, are so in love with their children, fathers the same way, but it's a backward world that we live in and, indeed, if I could go back in time and ask for a birthday present again, maybe I would ask for something similar to the Birchos Kohanim the ability to give because it seems like that makes a person happy.