iyar 5764

Health is one of the most important concerns in our lives at present. Each one of us has friends who are experimenting with this-or-that new medical technique or trying this-or-that new drug.
Judaism understands health as an interrelation of the body and the soul. On one hand, a person is adjured not to ignore his physical health. Maimonides teaches that "The soundness and health of the body is an element of the ways of G-d." And the Maggid of Mezeritch would say that a small hole in the body makes a large hole in the soul. Conversely, however, attention cannot be paid solely to the body. Instead, the body's health must go hand and hand with that of the soul. On a very basic level, we see that when a person is spiritually healthy, when he has the inner vitality to continue advancing to higher spiritual levels, his physical health is also enhanced. And conversely, when a person is worried, troubled and spiritually handicapped, his physical health will also suffer.
These concepts share a connection to name of the Hebrew month, Iyar, for its letters serve as an acronym for the Biblical phrase: Ani Hashem Refoechah, "I G-d am your Healer."

In contemporary Hebrew, one of the most frequently given blessings is Tiheyeh bari, "Be healthy." Most of us don't realize what an important blessing that is because generally, the only time a person starts showing concern about our health is when he/she loses it. In the face of illness, a person yearns to be healthy, but too often, when he is healthy, he takes it for granted and even takes risks that endanger his health. We eat without thinking whether the foods we eat are healthy. We are lazy when it comes to exercising, and most important, we are careless when it comes to our spiritual health, exposing ourselves to unnecessary tensions and worries.
The Torah's approach to health is hinted at in the above phrase, "I G-d am your Healer," for it follows the promise: "All of the sicknesses that I placed upon Egypt, I will not place upon you." In other words, G-d's function as our Healer is primarily not in healing us from sickness, but in providing us with a way of life that leads to health and vitality. By health, we mean not only the absence of illness, but rather vibrant robustness and an abundance of energy and wellbeing.
This approach is clearly outlined by Maimonides who spends an entire chapter in his compendium of Jewish Law, the Mishneh Torah, on guidelines for healthy living and concludes by saying that different laws apply with regard to healing the sick and those cannot be described in his text. In other words, the primary way the Torah understands caring for one's health is providing for wellbeing. Caring for sickness is another issue.

The above concepts have parallels in our Divine service. Illness is used as a analogy for galus, exile and geulah, redemption, represents the ultimate of spiritual health. Just as in a physical sense, we must stop thinking in terms of sickness and start thinking in terms of health, so, too, in a spiritual sense, we must stop wearing the glasses of exile and start looking at the world in terms of redemption. To give an example that has already become realized in our lives at present: In the olden days in Eastern Europe, a Jew had to be meek and submissive. There was no way he could risk angering the gentile authorities. Today, by contrast, if a Jew wants respect from the non-Jews around him, he must radiate self-esteem and confidence. The non-Jews must see that the Jew is proud of his Jewishness and not afraid to show it.
The same concept applies with regard to other qualities that will characterize the era of the redemption. It is time to anticipate the redemption by living our lives in its spirit today. We can start showing the awareness, love, and inner tranquility that will exemplify that future era in our lives today. Simply put, this means living our lives in a manner in which Mashiach's coming wouldn't surprise us. On the contrary, the way we conduct our lives and our homes would say, "See, we've been waiting for you." And when we live our lives this way, with the calm confidence that comes from looking at reality, this message will naturally be shared with the people with whom we come in contact. Such anticipation will create a setting for the redemption, thus allowing it to be manifest more readily.

Iyar's Place in the Cycle of the Jewish Year

The Counting of the Omer

One of the fundamental concepts at work in our relationship with G-d is that there is no such thing as spirituality without sacrifice. A person cannot expect to develop himself and grow unless he invests effort.
This lesson is taught by Sefiras HaOmer, the counting of the Omer, which joins the holidays of Pesach and Shavuos. Before the exodus, G-d told Moses: "When you have led the people out of Egypt, you will serve G-d on this mountain." Like schoolboys ticking off the days until vacation, the Jews eagerly counted the days until they received the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Ever since, our people have counted the 49 days from the second day of Passover until Shavuos in fulfillment of G-d's command to count the Omer.
We are, however, not only counting days. Our mystic tradition, the Kabbalah, teaches us that our emotional makeup consists of 49 different attributes. Each of the days we count corresponds to one of these attributes. When counting the Omer, we should also be refining ourselves and our characters, working to make ourselves more complete and more sensitive.
This is also alluded to by the Hebrew word Sefirah which means "counting." Every night we count one of these 49 days. But Sefirah also means "shining." During these 49 days, we should endeavor to make our personalities shine.
On Passover, G-d liberated the Jews from slavery; they witnessed Divine miracles of immense magnitude. Nevertheless, the people's inner selves - who they were and how they thought - remained unchanged. G-d took the Jews out of Egypt, but He did not take Egypt out of the Jews. That task, the cultivation of their spiritual personalities, he left to the people themselves.
This pattern is not merely a story of the past. Every year on Passover, G-d takes us out of Egypt, giving us the opportunity to experience spiritual liberation. But after Passover, He asks us to internalize that experience, to make our spiritual heights part of our own conceptual framework. And the responsibility for this endeavor He entrusts to us.
We cannot expect spiritual growth and heightened consciousness to happen by itself or to be granted to us from Above on a consistent basis. Instead, Judaism has always put the emphasis on personal initiative. It is we ourselves who will change ourselves.
Counting the Omer represents a systematic attempt to better ourselves. It is a time to focus on who we are, where we are going, and how that transition can be made in a systematic manner which will produce lasting change. It is a time to inte
grate our "selves," the way we usually think and feel, with our "super-selves," the innate spiritual potential which we all possess. This prepares us for Shavuos, reliving our acceptance of the Torah, which enables us to transform ourselves and our environment into a dwelling for G-d.

Pesach Sheni: The Second Passover

Every Jew was commanded to commemorate the exodus from Egypt by bringing a paschal sacrifice on Passover. But what if a person did not bring a paschal sacrifice? To bring such a sacrifice a person had to be ritually pure and in Jerusalem. That was not always possible.
If a person was impure, far away from the Temple in Jerusalem or even if he just did not want to bring the required sacrifice on Passover, the Torah does not give up on him. Instead, he is given another chance. A month later on the Second Passover, he could bring the prescribed sacrifice. In commemoration of the opportunity to offer this sacrifice, it is customary to eat matzah on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, the day the second paschal sacrifice was brought.
A question, however, arises: Most of the people commemorating the Second Passover today are the same ones who celebrated the first. If they celebrated Passover to the fullest the first time, why must they be concerned with the Second Passover?
The resolution to this question is dependent on the concept that our spiritual service must be a continuous upward progression. Today cannot be like yesterday. It must represent an improvement; indeed, so great an improvement that when looking back at yesterday, a person should feel that he was impure and far away, that the Passover service he rendered was not sufficient. So he is given a Second Passover, a chance to make another advance to a new level of consciousness.

Lag BaOmer

Among the reasons for celebrating Lag BaOmer is that it commemorates the passing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, one of the foremost sages of the Talmud and author of the Zohar, the primary text of the Kabbalah.
When Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai completed the Zohar, the fundamental text of Jewish mysticism, he was told from heaven: "With this text of yours, the Jewish people will leave exile with mercy." There is a cause and effect relationship here. As people appreciate the mystic truths taught by the Zohar, they will understand the G
dly nature of their own souls and the souls of the people around them. They will comprehend how every element of existence expresses a different aspect of G
dliness and how every event that occurs is a manifestation of His providence.
When people begin thinking and living according to these insights, the society that they produce will reflect the prophecies of knowledge, peace, and unity that accompany the era of the Redemption. The Redemption will not merely be an abstract ideal; it will be a motif that ripple by ripple will make its way into the fabric of our lives.