Birkat Kohanim spring 2009: Get blessed
If you only go to one massive ritual blessing at the holiest site to Judaism this year, make it Birkat Kohanim at the Kotel (that, or the sister massive ritual blessing come Sukkot in the fall). Each year, thousands throng to the Western Wall on the first intermediate day of Passover to be blessed by a convocation of Kohanim, Judiasm's hereditary class of priests.
These priests generally bless their congregations at their respective places of worship, but a tradition has developed for a mass blessing at the Western Wall, hearkening back to Temple times, when Kohanim were tasked with all things prayerful and the people could just sit back and enjoy God's countenance from below the Temple Mount.
These days things are a little different, but it's still Kohanim who chant the invocation, "May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord shine his countenance toward you and be gracious to you, may the Lord lift up his countenance toward you and give you peace." The prayer is said while the tallit- shrouded Kohanim hold their hands aloft in a Mr. Spock-like "live long and prosper" formation.
Of course you won't see any of that. Jewish tradition holds that God's holy spirit descends and rests upon each Cohen, Coen, Kohen and Katz as he chants, and the religious have the custom of averting their eyes, rather than facing the eye-burning consequences. And not the kind Visine can clear up.
The prayer happens twice in the morning, once for Shacharit (the morning payer service) at around 9:30, and a second time at Mussaf (the "additional" prayer srvice, recited throughout Passover), which should be at around 10:15, for the late risers. It's worth it to get their early, as the plaza fills up quickly with both people praying and curious onlookers. After last Wednesday's Birkat Hachama, which drew 50,000 jostling bodies to the Western Wall to bless the sunrise, though, it will be interesting to see how many make the trip back.
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