RAMBAM: Kohanim Who are Fit to Bless- Tefillah uBirkat Cohanim (15)

The blessing of the Kohanim cannot be done by: Somebody who doesn’t pronounce words correctly-none of this make your own blessing up on the spot- I understand that you do not understand Hebrew anyways, and you can't pronounce the 'chet,' which isn't even a Hebrew letter, but we don't need people getting up there, giving us different blessings about getting decent vacation time in Disney World (we want simple blessings from H' here, as we know those could be answered). People with freaky stuff on them- hands or legs as that freaks out the kids, a drooler onto the beard as that is again disgusting and has people focusing on Kiddush and the home for the elderly, a blind person in an eye because we are prejudiced, or somebody who is dirty with something that is not something that people get dirty with such as paint (because any good Jew doesn't get involved with building or renovations). 

If people are going to look, then they can’t get up and duchin (the Birkat Kohanim thing- you heretic yutz who doesn't speak Yiddish, or know that Birkat is a way of saying blessing). Just because it is stage time, it is not time to be jumping up in your clown outfit, scaring the children. And the shoes should be taken off anyways. With the shoes off, and the Tallis covering the face, the whole outfit is pointless. However, If the town is used to it, then they can. I have seen some freaky looking big noses up there. Certain communities are fine with it. Some communities have anti-Semites in the crowd.

Other people who can't get up to duchin: Somebody who killed somebody, even not on purpose- we are receiving a prayer of peace and H' watching over us, we do not need the murder praying for that protection. Somebody who worshiped false gds- then we would have to kill the guy. A little kid- we do not want to encourage them talking- after spending a whole weekend with some of these, I don't want to hear them anymore. Somebody who drank- as that would encourage more people going to the kiddush club. Somebody who did not clean their hands- as that is disgusting. Somebody who is not fit for kenhuna from birth, because standards have to be met and Schwartzs, Greenbergs and Goldsteins are not the types you want up there for duchining.

If a Kohen is not any of these, even if he is a sinner, he can bless. We don’t say to let the sinner sin more. But the community would be left with nobody who was fit to blessing the people. That is why we let the non-kosher eaters and the non-Shomer Shabbat people bless. If these sinners weren't driving to shule, who would be blessing us after their dinner on Yom Kippur.

To note, the blessing is contingent on H,’ not the Kohanim. The Kohen is just doing what they were commanded, as it says (Bamidbar 6:27) ‘And you shall put my name on the children of Israel and I will bless them.’ Just because this negates all the commentary I gave above, it is still important to have somebody up there that doesn't kill the whole blessing for the congregation. It is good to have somebody who knows how to do it fast.

You have to be in front of the Kohen to be blessed. It is not one of those prayer circles where everybody is facing outwards.

15:9- Kohanim get up, even if they are part of the 10 that make up the minyan (quorum- you heretic who doesn't understand ancient English), as we do not want people thinking these sinners are invalid. If the whole minyan is of Kohanim, then 10 stay in the crowd, as we do not assume that that many Kohanim are invalid, as the Rambam was not living during modern times, and people could all enunciate.

15:10-12- A Kohen can get up at a bunch of different minyanim. Yes. There are people out there who care enough to give out blessings to people. It is overbearing to repeat it at one minyan. So if you are going to do it a bunch of times, move to other minyanim. If you are a Kohen, you have to start moving up there, the latest by ‘Ritze.’ So make sure you are not hanging out by the washing stations, chilling with the other peeps.

There are three sins for a Kohen who does not bless: ‘This shall you bless,’ ‘Say to them,’ ‘And you shall place my name.’ Sometimes, not doing a mitzvah is a sin, you lazy individual.

All Kohanim that bless, shall be blessed (Bereishit 12:3) ‘And I shall bless those that bless you.’ What goes around comes around. For instance, all Kohanim that bless real slowly, will have to sit through a longer davening.