We have shown that there is weak halachic basis for ברכת כהנים to only be performed on יו"ט. Yet, those who tried to reinstate its daily performance would seem to have been stopped by שמים, begging the obvious question that it seems strange for שמים to stop (or perhaps even punish) someone for attempting to do a מצוה.
I sent letters in the mail to numerous תלמידי חכמים for an answer.
The very first response I received was a very unique and original one from Rabbi Shimon Katz, a דיין affiliated with the Satmar community in Monsey. (Subsequently I received a letter from ר יצחק Alster who suggested the same answer.) This approach is based on ויואל משה [1], where there is a discussion of the following תשובה in אהל יעקב (סי' ע-עא):
One of שבתאי צבי's innovations was to institute ברכת כהנים to the Spanish-Portuguese community in Amsterdam (which, unfortunately, only performed ברכת כהנים on יו"ט, like the אשכנזי custom [2]) to be done every שבת. The purpose of this change was to prepare the כהנים for ברכת כהנים in the בית המקדש, which would be done every day.
Once he was revealed to be a false משיח, there was a debate among the Spanish-Portuguese חכמים whether to maintain the new מנהג or not.
ר יעקב Sasportas paskened that even though, inherently, the new מנהג is a good one, still, since the importation of מנהג ארץ ישראל was שבתאי צבי's idea - therefore it should not be maintained, just in order to erase the memory of sinners.
This יסוד is based on a story in מו"ק יז. in which a תלמיד was put in חרם for certain misdeeds, even though the חכמים needed him to discuss their learning with him.
The רמבם (תלמוד תורה ד:א) and שו"ע (יו"ד רמו:ח) codify this דין by saying that a רב who does not behave properly, even if he is a great scholar, and even if his scholarship is in great demand - still we do not allow ourselves to be taught by him until he does תשובה.
Based on the above discussion, R Katz and R Alster suggested that the reason why those who tried to reinstate daily ברכת כהנים were punished [3] is for leaving a trace of a memory of שבתאי צבי. And indeed, in that period the Frankists, a neo-Sabbatian group, were active in Eastern Europe. The בעל שם טוב was even thought to be one of them until he actually staged a public debate against one of their leaders. [4] Additionally, just before that time, ר יעקב Emden accused ר יונתן Eybeschutz of being a Sabbatian. (In fact the גרא was one of the rabbis to whom ר יונתן Eibeschitz turned for an endorsement of his religious integrity. [5]) So we see that leaving a trace of שבתאי צבי's memory was indeed a real danger and concern at the time.
What remains to be explained, however, is how the תלמידי הגרא and the תלמידי הבעש"ט who later settled in ארץ ישראל [6] were able to institute daily ברכת כהנים in the communities they established, such that this is the standard practice in א"י. -?- How and why is it that leaving a trace of שבתאי צבי's memory was not a problem for them? In addition, this approach does not explain the other places where there were those who seem to have been punished for trying to do a מצוה [7].
Appendix
כף החיים (או"ח ס"ק ערד) paskens that a city which didn't previously perform ברכת כהנים daily and, for whatever reason, the חכמים of that city saw fit to institute ברכת כהנים on שבת [8] and, subsequently, the cause for said change no longer exists - it is improper for them to return to their original מנהג, and הלואי that they would do ברכת כהנים every day. (This is in line with עולת תמיד, quoted by כף החיים earlier in ס"ק ערא who warns against looking for excuses to be מבטל a מצות עשה - even though a כהן who isn't called is not עובר an עשה - because, regardless, שפע and ברכה will reach the world through ברכת כהנים.)
כף החיים does not specify if there is a particular community referred to here (though Amsterdam seems to be the one in mind), however perhaps he would disagree with the decision of אהל יעקב and opine to maintain daily ברכת כהנים wherever possible, under any circumstances possible.
[1] מאמר שלש שבועות אות קיב וע"ע מאמר לשון הקודש אות כו
[2] I reached out to numerous scholars within the Spanish and Portuguese community and was unable to determine the origins of this custom. Perhaps this was through the influence of ר משה אורי הלוי, an אשכנזי rabbi from Emden, Germany, who played a significant role in leading the Portuguese community of Amsterdam, comprised, to a large degree, of former crypto-Jews, back to normative Judaism. This theory is purely speculative, however: I have no direct evidence to support it. Any leads to clarify this issue would be appreciated.
[3] Now, normally there is no מצוה whose performance or lack thereof depends on a miracle, the only exception being סוטה, which can only operate within a supernatural framework. The reason for this exception is to prevent Jewish women from inappropriate activity (as is often the way of other nations), and to clean כלל ישראל from ממזרות, such that there will be place for השראת השכינה among בני ישראל. Only once כלל ישראל descended spiritually in this area, did the entire system of סוטה then no longer operate. (Based on רמבן במדבר ה:כ, directed to my attention by R Alster in his letter to me on the subject.)
Similarly, R Alster suggested in his letter that perhaps הקב"ה 'mixed in' כביכול in the performance of daily ברכת כהנים in order to 'clean' כלל ישראל from the effects of Sabbatianism.
[4] See here, under the heading 'Revelation and Leadership'
[6] Until that point the only Jews who lived in א"י were ספרדים.
[7] See here note 6 and here note 1. The latter point will be addressed by the next approach that we will discuss in a future post בעז"ה.
[8] As took place in the S&P Sephardi Community in London not many years ago: see here, under the heading 'The priestly blessing'.
