I'm confused as to whether or not birkat kohanim is a true "blessing" in the halachic sense. Part of my confusion arises from how we respond when it is said. In many ashkenazic minyanim outside of Israel, during the week it is recited by the chazzan and the congregation responds "keyn yehi ratzon - so should be his will" after each verse. I have seen some sefardic minyanim where they respond "baruch hu u'varuch shemo" after each mention of God's name as well. However during Yom Tov the Kohanim recite it and the congregation responds Amen to each verse. At still other times, such as blessing the children on Shabbat all three verses are recited with no responses in between, and possibly not even an 'amen' afterwards at all.
So my question is, what exactly do we mean when we say that birkat kohanim is a 'bracha'?
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