Nigun Birchas Kohanim

Nigun Birchas Kohanim (Priestly Blessing Melody) is a melody accepted among Chabad chassidim for the Priestly Blessing recited on the duchan during holidays and festivals. The melody was composed by the choir of chassidim of the Mitteler Rebbe. According to tradition, this is the melody that the kohanim sang in the Beis Hamikdash when they blessed Bnei Yisroel on the duchan.

The choir members composed several melodies that did not find favor in the eyes of the Mitteler Rebbe until the present melody, about which he said: "In this melody there are movements of bitterness and joy in a matter of hope."

There was a period during the days of the Tzemach Tzedek (mainly in the years 5600-5603 [1840-1843]) when there were informers and accusations that caused this melody to cease being played, but over time they returned to playing it. Today, this melody is played in all Chabad shuls throughout the world, primarily in the Rebbe's beis medrash - 770.

Among Chabad chassidim, the tradition has been preserved for generations that it is accepted that the kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash sang this melody when they ascended the duchan to recite the Priestly Blessing. However, the Frierdiker Rebbe once expressed that there is a basis for this melody being a tune of a Rebbe, and it was composed by the Alter Rebbe. This is not a contradiction in accordance with what is known that even the Daled Bavos (Four Stanzas) melody that was composed by him, even so, the tradition has been preserved for generations that the Leviim sang it in the Beis Hamikdash, although it is not clear when [source needed].

The Frierdiker Rebbe explains that the melody symbolizes the elevation of Jewish souls upward, and the drawing down of divine abundance downward.

In each verse, the melody begins with an ascending movement upward, and then continues and descends downward. When saying the words of Hashem's name, no melody is played at all.

This melody is the 27th melody in Sefer HaNigunim.

External Links

• To hear the melody from the musician Reb Dovid Horowitz
• To hear the melody in the arrangement of Reb Elaor Wellner
• To hear the melody performed by Avraham Fried
• Lev Liebman, The Story of Nigun Birchas Kohanim Beis Moshiach weekly Parshas Behaaloscha 5776
• Lev Liebman, Nigun Birchas Kohanim
• 'Nigun Birchas Kohanim' on the Chabad House website
• To hear the melody by the musician Reb Zalman Bronstein