Iyyar 5778 אייר

April 16, 2018.  It was cold, very cold, damp and biting this morning – but the birds were carrying on anyway.  On the lake there were our resident Canada geese – back in the marsh, a stalking heron.  Two pairs of almost-unidentifiable ducks – one male with a hood and stripes, he had to be a wood duck – and another with so much white on his head and chest – dare I say bufflehead?  — So much rain the last few days, our basements are flooded, and the evidence of the creek overflowing its banks came in the bodies of small fish along the path.

Our source Jill Hammer calls this the season of buds.  Yes, here in the Great Lakes, they are plentiful and welcome in the freezing air – spring WILL come.

In biblical Israel, Iyyar is a month of growth – vegetables, peas, chickpeas planted last month – lentils, vetch and barley. Our kabbalistic sages noted that “Iyyar” in Hebrew is the letters “aleph yud-yud resh”, standing for “Ani Adonai Rofecha” – “I am Adonai, Your Healer”. Rebbe Nachman of Braslav refers to healing herbs that grow strong this month.  As we grow, we heal.  As Hammer so succinctly puts it, Iyyar is “the month to heal ourselves of what ails us.”  Here at home, we think of those we love who need healing energy, and send it their way. — Kirby