Priestly Blessing

"Five or six guys get up on the bimah on the stage, and they are facing the congregation. They get their talit over their heads, and they start this chanting, I think it's called duchening. And my father said to me, "Don't look!" So everybody's got their eyes covered with their hands, or they have got their talit down over their faces, or turned away, turned their back to these guys. ... And then the leader would shout out: "Yeborechecho!" ["The Lord bless thee!"] And the rest of them would respond: "Yeborechecho adonai v'yishmerecho!" ["The Lord bless thee and keep thee!"] It was chilling. Whoa, something major is happening here! So I peeked, and I saw them with their hands stuck out from beneath their talit like this, towards the congregation. ... I had no idea what was going on, but the sound of it and the look of it was magical."