In **Gemara Berachot**, on page 11b, the commentary of **Tosfot**, specifically in the heading beginning "and the **Birkat Kohanim**," clarifies a detail regarding the morning service in the Temple as mentioned in the **Mishna**. The text notes that before the morning daily offering was brought, the priests would bless the people by reciting the Birkat Kohanim. However, Tosfot specifies that this was not the official Birkat Kohanim performed by the priests while standing on the platform. The reason for this distinction is that the priests did not ascend the platform for the formal blessing until after the burning of the sacrificial parts of the daily offering.
This distinction is supported by a passage in **Masechet Taanit**, in the fourth chapter on page 26, which states that the priests perform the lifting of the hands three times a day: during the morning service, the afternoon service, and the closing service. If the recitation mentioned in the morning service before the offering were considered another official Birkat Kohanim performed on the platform, the law should have recorded four such occasions. This would include one recitation before the burning of the daily sacrifice and another after the burning during the morning service.
Consequently, Tosfot concludes that the priests were not performing a formal lifting of the hands at that time. Instead, they were simply reciting the verses of the Birkat Kohanim, much like the contemporary practice of reciting those verses after completing the **Birkat HaTorah**. It was a reading of the scriptural verses rather than a formal ceremony involving an official ascent to the platform.