If a Ba'al Tefilah who happens to be a Cohen is reciting Birchat Kohanim as part of the repetition of the Amidah, is there any concern, special measures, or discussion about whether it is appropriate to do this facing a congregation?
I do not fully understand all the significance of a Cohen in that moment or if this blessing "counts" in the same way as a (diaspora) festival Birkat Kohanim with washing and everything.
There seems to not be present whatever concerns led to the covering of the face, but I am unsure. For example, one time my rabbi had me spin around one older gentleman in a wheelchair who was sitting facing everyone during a festival Birchat. He was not being washed or formally blessing people (just sitting quietly), but I got the impression it was "just in case". We weren't going to ask him to cover his face but couldn't have him blatantly facing everyone.
In shuls where the custom is to face the Aron ha-Kodesh, this would be a non-issue of course, but in some places, the Shatz faces the Aron during the silent Amidah and the congregants during the repetition.
The question that may be floating in the background of all of this, is that if we posit that something special is happening during a real Birchat Kohanim, whenever that may locally happen, why is this not present here at the Amidah in a gathered minyan?
