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Secrets
of the Jewish Year Holiday Messages and Meditations on the Jewish Year |
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The Jewish Month of Iyar
It is related in the Prophets (Kings I, 6:1) that King Solomon began the building of the First Temple "in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the House of G-d." The Radak explains: "The month Ziv is the month of Iyar... and it is called Ziv, as our sages explain, because of the splendor of the trees, namely the brilliance of the flowers and buds." Ziv means "splendor" or "brilliance." In this month of "brilliance" King Solomon "began to build the House of G-d." The two names of the month, Ziv and Iyar (from or, the primary word in Hebrew for "light"), are indeed two synonyms for "light." They both relate to the special light that shines in this second month of the Jewish calender. In particular, Iyar refers to the light source (or to the light within and proximate to its source), whereas Ziv refers to the expansion of radiant-energy as it shines far from its source. With regard to G-d's Divine light, the Ziv is that radiance which descends from its source to shine on the Jewish soul as enclothed in a physical body on earth, and to awaken in it the desire to build a House for G-d (within the context of physical reality, far removed, as it were, from the source of Divine light). The Midrash (Tanchuma, Naso 16) states the ultimate purpose of creation: "The Holy One, Blessed be He, desired a dwelling place in lower reality." The Exodus from Egypt, in the month of Nissan, signifies the escape from boundaries of typical worldly assumptions (olam, "world," shares the same root as the word ne'elam, "concealment" of Divinity and of the soul's ability to sense the ultimate purpose of creation). This is the general physical and spiritual renewal of the consciousness of the Jewish soul. In the month of Iyar, the soul is further awakened and inspired with the desire to build an eternal House of G-d "in lower reality." From the outset of creation until the giving of the Torah, the Creator decreed that the "higher reality" shall not descend to the "lower reality" nor shall the "lower reality" ascend to the "higher reality." With the giving of the Torah (in the third month of Sivan) this decree was nullified (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaeira 15) as it states, "and G-d descended on Mt. Sinai" and "Moses ascended to G-d." The two preceding months of Nissan and Iyar prepared the way for the annulment of the decree. In Nissan, at the Exodus, "the King of Kings, Blessed be He, revealed Himself to His people." Here, the "higher reality" revealed Himself (while remaining in His place, as it were) to the "lower reality." In Iyar, the "lower" one is intensely aware of its "lowly" status. However, because of this very awareness, it simultaneously senses the ultimate purpose of creation and sees that the desire of "the tzaddik of the world" (G-d is called tzaddik in Deutoronomy 32:4) is to dwell specifically amongst the "lower" ones; it is certain that "the passion of the tzaddik [G-d's passion in creation] He will fulfill" (Proverbs 10:24). During Iyar, the "lower reality" is slowly refined to become a proper vessel able to receive the revelation of the essence of the "higher reality." This is accomplished by fulfilling the commandment of sefirat ha-omer ("the counting of the omer; the word for "counting," sefirah is from the same root as "saphire," the brilliant stone known as even sapir, denoting the light scintillating from within lowly materiality). Each and every
day of the omer we count, that is, we illuminate the omer
( Just as the word
In addition, during Iyar (by means of fulfilling the commandment of counting the omer) the Jewish soul becomes connected to the light of the primordial Torah as it was unified with G-d's essence before it descended to be given to the Jewish People on Mt. Sinai in the month of Sivan. As it is written (Proverbs 8:30): "Then I [the Torah] was by Him as a nursling (which the sages interpret to read: "I was the instrument used by G-d in creation"), day by day was I His delight" (the two days are interpreted as representing two thousand years that the Torah preceded creation, similar to the idiom used in sefirat ha-omer: "Today is the...day of the omer"). The principal revelation of the primordial Torah (that G-d "perused" in order to create: "G-d looked into the Torah and created the world" (Zohar 1:134a) and that as a "nursling" provided delight) occurs on the central day of Iyar: the 18th of Iyar, the 33rd day of the omer. On this day, the "lower reality" is especially sensitive to the power of the primordial Torah, the instrument of its own creation. Sensing this revelation, the Jew is empowered to count the omer, to refine his material nature, and to become a vessel and dwelling place for G-d, Blessed be He. This special
day, the jubilation day of the Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai--the
author of the Zohar, the "Book of Splendor," in the month of Ziv
("splendor"), the month of the "brilliance [zohar] of
flowers and buds") is the day that the deeper, esoteric parts of the Torah,
the soul of the Torah, was given to the Jewish people. On this day the
"luminary" ( From all the above we learn that during the month of Iyar three different levels of light shine forth:
The
"luminary" ( The level of
"luminary" represents the service of the ba'al tsuvah, the
"master of penitence," of whom the sages say, "in the place that
the penitent stand, even the perfectly righteous cannot stand." The level
of "light" symbolizes the service of the tzaddik, "the
righteous one" who is referred to as the "chariot" of G-d in this
world. This is also the secret of the name Iyar (from or,
"light"), with is read as an acronym for the four archetypal souls
which constitute the Divine chariot: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Rachel When we recite
"Today is the...day of the omer," it is proper to meditate on
and intend that "today" reflects the
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Improve
your life
)
the grain offering consisting of fresh, new kernels of barley--animal feed)
through the "saying" (
,
omer; in Hebrew, the 
= 33) my eyes that I may behold wonders from Your Torah";
--"splendor"
(the month of Ziv).
