174. It is a commandment for the priest to bless the people every day by raising up of the fingers, and to bless a blessing every day so there are blessings above and below. The five fingers of the right are more important than those of the left. Hence, with the blessing that the priest blesses the people, he should raise the right above the left.
175. When the priest stretches out his hands, the Shechina is present on those fingers since the Creator agrees with the priests in these blessings, and Israel are blessed from above, from the Shechina that is present on the fingers, and from below, from the priest who is blessing.
176. The things they do below awaken their corresponding things above. By the spreading of the priest’s fingers below, the Shechina awakens to come and be on them. Several things in the world awaken things above; this is the reason for the shaking of the Lulav and the blowing of the Shofar [festive ram’s horn]. It is also in the ten fingers that the Shechina is awakened to be present on them, and ten degrees above are awakened to shine, the ten Sefirot of ZA.
177. For this reason, it is forbidden for one to raise one’s fingers for no reason, except in prayer, and in blessings, and in the name of the Creator. Raising the fingers is an awakening of the holy name and faith. Raising the fingers appoints ten rulers by raising them, since the fingers indicate the revealing of Hochma. Also, the priest must bless with a good eye, with the consent of the Shechina.
178. When a blessing comes out from the mouth of a priest, sixty letters in the Blessing of the Priests come out and fly in the firmament, and sixty ministers are appointed over each letter, and everyone thanks for all the blessings. There are sixty letters in the blessings since Israel are sixty myriads (600,000), and they are always in sixty myriads in the world, and each of the letters in the blessings is one myriad. For this reason, they correspond to sixty myriads in Israel.
179. The holy name that comes out from the Blessing of the Priests rises up to the throne above, Bina, and the upper Shechina, Bina, and the lower Shechina, Malchut, thank and agree with the priest in these blessings. Then all those sixty appointees over each letter are blessed, and this is why it is written, “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them,” and then the Creator blesses Israel.
180. The Blessing of the Priests: May the Lord bless you; may the Lord shine; may the Lord lift up. The origin of these three names is Yod Hey Vav Hey, holiness, EKYEH-EKYEH-EKYEH, that from his origin is Yod-He-Vav-He. The connection of the two of them, the unification of the two of them, is ADNI, in which there are the letters Aleph-Yod. A fourth Aleph-Yod is implied from the two explicit names in them.
The name Yod-Bet-Kof is an acronym for unification-blessing-holiness [in Hebrew], which are three names EKYEH HaVaYaH ADNI, which are Yod-Bet-Kof (112) in Gematria. First, The Zohar interprets the blessing, which is the Blessing of the Priests. It says, “May the Lord bless you; may the Lord shine; may the Lord lift up. The origin of these three names is Yod Hey Vav Hey, for the blessing is HaVaYaH, and they are the three names HaVaYaH in the Blessing of the Priests. They correspond to three lines, three letters Yod in HaVaYaH filled with SAG (63 in Gematria), Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, for the three letters Yod of SAG are the acronym of these three HaVaYot.
Now it interprets holiness. It says that the origin of holiness, EKYEH-EKYEH-EKYEH, is Yod-He-Vav-He, that holiness is EKYEH, and they are three EKYEH corresponding to three lines, three letters Aleph in HaVaYaH filled with MA (45 in Gematria) like this: Yod-He-Vav-He. This is so because these three letters Aleph are the acronym of three EKYEH.
Now it interprets unification. It says that the connection of the two of them, the unification of the two of them, is ADNI, that the unification of these two names HaVaYaH EKYEH in holiness and in the blessing is in the name ADNI, in which there are the letters Aleph-Yod. For this reason, the acronyms of two names, EKYEH HaVaYaH, are in it, where the Aleph is of EKYEH, the Yod is of HaVaYaH, implying that the two names EKYEH HaVaYaH are united in the Aleph-Yod of ADNI.
Since there are three EKYEH and three HaVaYot, corresponding to three lines, which are three letters Yod in HaVaYaH filled with SAG, and three letters Aleph in HaVaYaH filled with MA, you find that after their unification with each other, they are three times Aleph-Yod, since in each line there are Aleph-Yod corresponding to the acronym EKYEH-EKYEH, and the Aleph-Yod in ADNI in Malchut receive from the three Aleph-Yod in these three lines.