May The Lord Bless You
(Audio Sample - 1.06 MB)
The Aaronic Blessing
May the Lord bless you, may the Lord keep you.
May the Lord shine upon you and show you mercy.
May the Lord smile on you and bring you peace.
A Reflection on Numbers 6:22-26
The LORD spoke to Moses:
"Speak to Aaron and to his sons:
This is how you shall bless the people of Israel.
"Say to them,
The LORD bless you and protect you!
The LORD deal kindly and graciously with you!
The LORD bestow favor on you and grant you peace.'"
Composer's Reflection
The Book of Numbers, continuing the tradition of Leviticus, is a list, or collection, of records of the spiritual, political and social life of Israel. It contains laws and their interpretation, consecration rituals, a detailed history and description of Passover and the troublesome journey through the wilderness, a further collection of sacrificial and priestly laws; yet more descriptions of desert wanderings, even more census lists, legislation about festival observance, and (finally) rules on dividing up booty. And at the heart is a literary gem, God's instruction to Moses about giving this special blessing to his priestly brother, Aaron, so as to bless Israel. According to the instruction, only by this formula would Israel be blessed. No other would do the trick.
This threefold blessing is still used Jewish and Christian worship. It is a constant reminder about Covenant, God will be there for us if we choose to be there for God: I will be your God if you will be my people. And the name which God had earlier given Moses in that burning bush on the slopes of Horeb is still I shall be there for you.
What are the musical influences in this piece? It begins as an Arabic lament, and segues into a Jewish blessing prayer for peace.. Then in Verse 3, another, unrelated, tradition is introduced - the Native American. The whole piece is transformed into a Navajo dance for walking in the way of beauty. In the mid-1970s, while working in the UK on a project about the Pacific Northwest Indians, I was struck by the parallels between Native American and Jewish spiritualities. In this piece, the Indian drum establishes the connection between the heavenly blessing and the earthly realm; and optional dancing bells and rattles may be introduced as instruments which are customary played during Indian blessing rituals.
In this setting, each phrase is sung slowly, deliberately and reflectively. It is sung three times: first by cantor or presider, then by unison choir with bass/baritone harmony, and finally by assembly, with choir descant and bass/baritone counter-melody. A keyboard drone may be played underneath the cantor's unison declaration At some point, a Native American drum beat is introduced. This acknowledges that true blessing is experienced when we are conscious of being surrounded at all times, by the God whom we invoke and honor. The personal pronoun (you) is kept the same each time, to highlight the theology that we all have the power to bless each other. A blessing is a simple act of acknowledgment in which we give thanks for God and each other, and through which God expresses thanks for us, as we do for one another.