How does the Priestly Blessing relate to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
Question: How does the Priestly Blessing relate to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
Answer: The Priestly Blessing begins with blessing and protection and ends with peace. Along the way come a shining face and favor. We can also read this movement through a human question: what do we seek beyond having enough to survive?
This opens a possibility for comparison with Maslow. He explored human needs; the blessing addresses a person and asks God to grant them good. The comparison can enrich our reading, provided we remember that it is our suggestion, rather than an interpretation the Sages gave these verses.
What did Maslow actually propose?
In his 1943 paper, Maslow described physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. In his account, unmet needs may occupy a central place in motivation, while satisfying them can make room for other needs.
He did not, however, describe a rigid ladder on which one level must be completed before the next begins. He wrote about partial satisfaction, needs existing together, and exceptions to the order. Self-actualization, for him, concerns realizing a person’s abilities and possibilities; it is not another name for spiritual peace. (Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” sections II–III)
A blessing that is also protected
Rashi explains “May He bless you” as “May your possessions be blessed.” He explains “and protect you” as protection against robbers who would take the money. A gift can be lost; the blessing asks that it also be protected. (Rashi on Numbers 6:24)
This is a clear starting point for the comparison: people need sustenance and safety. For Maslow, these are two different groups of needs; in Rashi’s commentary on the first verse, blessing one’s possessions and protecting them appear together.
Already, this shows why the comparison cannot match one level to another. Five kinds of needs do not automatically become three verses. There is nevertheless a point of contact: concern for human life includes both what a person has and the possibility of keeping it safely.
Beyond the gift: the face of the giver
The next verse speaks of “shining” and “being gracious to you.” Rashi explains the shining face with the words “He will show you a smiling face, a radiant face,” and graciousness as “He will grant you favor.” (Rashi on Numbers 6:25)
The shining face adds a relational dimension to the blessing. We can receive something and still feel that the giver is distant. A welcoming face invites us to consider how a person is approached, too.
Here we can hear an echo of the needs for love, belonging and esteem that Maslow describes. The verse concerns the relationship between God and a person, while Maslow discusses human needs; the resemblance between the ideas does not erase that difference.
Why does the blessing end with peace?
The third verse ends: “and grant you peace.” On the lifting of God’s face, Rashi comments, “He will restrain His anger.” (Numbers 6:26; Rashi, ad loc.)
We do not need to identify peace with Maslow’s self-actualization to appreciate its weight here. We can read the ending as a request that blessing and protection, favor and kindness, find a place within a life of peace. This is a reading of the blessing’s movement, rather than a psychological definition of the word.
The words themselves also increase in number: three in the first verse, five in the second and seven in the third.
This expansion is present in the wording itself. What it means to the reader remains open to reflection; the word count is not proof of a theory of the mind.
The value of the encounter with Maslow lies in the question it raises as we read: what is missing even when our possessions are secure? The Priestly Blessing moves from blessing and protection to a shining face, favor and peace. We can reflect on that movement without putting the Torah to the test of a psychological theory, or turning that theory into a commentary on the Torah.