We are moving along through the months of the year with our theme that each month has its unique qualities which thereby point one in the direction of the avodah incumbent on him for that time period. Iyar is going to be a challenge. Most months have a holiday as the focal point to give us a frame of reference, but in Iyar we have no such luck. The calendric observance in Iyar is Sefiras HaOmer. It’s not a holiday, but it’s the best we got. Let’s run with it.
What is Sefiras HaOmer all about? In elementary school they told us that we are counting the days until the receiving of the Torah on Shavuos. Let’s ask a basic question. Shouldn’t one who is excitedly counting to an event be counting down the days? If we are counting to kabbalas haTorah, why are we counting up?
Here’s a second question about Sefira. The Torah commands us to count the days specifically starting from Pesach time. It would seem that the count is not just related to Shavuos, but also to Pesach. Rav Hirsch writes as much in his sefer Chorev (chapter 29). “On the day after the first day of the Passover Festival, you begin to count the days as follows: 1st, 2nd, 3rd day of the Omer… Enumerate seven such weekly periods and… on the day after the seventh weekly period you celebrate Shavuos… thus linking Pesach and Shavuos.” The question is, what does counting the days to Shavuos have to do with Pesach? In what way should we be linking them?
Let’s throw in one last question about the month of Iyar. The Sefer Yetzirah writes that every month has a specific letter associated with it. The month of Iyar is represented by the letter “vav.” In what way can this be explained?
In order to answer our questions about Sefira, we need to find a frame of reference. Where else in Judaism do we count the days? Anyone who davens Shacharis (and doesn’t run out before the end!) can answer this question. We count the days of the week. “Hayom yom rishon l’shabbos…”
Rav Hirsch explains what we are trying to accomplish with this daily counting. “Beginning with the first day after the Sabbath, you enumerate the days following the Sabbath thus: 1st, 2nd, 3rd day after the Sabbath, and so on. In this way, the sanctity which you acquired on the Sabbath finds its expression in your mode of life in the weekday, and indeed, the Sabbath itself finds its consummation.” What Rav Hirsch is saying is that when we count the days of the week, we are essentially trying to recall the lessons we learned on the previous Shabbos. The growth of Shabbos can only be maintained if we take a few moments every day to remember what we learned.
Let’s apply this to Sefiras HaOmer. When we count up and away from Pesach, the goal is not merely to check off the days until a later date. Rather, we are trying to remind ourselves daily of the lessons of Pesach in order to ingrain them deep within ourselves. Pesach can only find its consummation if we work to allow what we learned to sink in and change our lives.
However, we still haven’t fully answered the question. There is quite a lot that is learned on Pesach. Which lesson is it that Sefira is meant to embed within us? In order to answer this question, let’s backtrack to the second of our original questions – regarding the connection Sefira is supposed to create between Pesach and Shavuos. But if we are to discover this connection, let’s take a detour to understand how to acquire Torah. Pirkei Avos states: “This is the way of the Torah: Pas bamelach tochal – bread and salt you shall eat…” Rashi weighs in here and states that the intent of our mishnah is not completely literal. “[It is not strictly necessary to live on bread and salt alone. But one should be the type of person who,] even if all he has is bread and salt, he would not be held back from involvement in Torah.”
Perhaps this is a lesson that can be gleaned from Pesach. Throughout the year we indulge in cakes and cookies and all kinds of fine foods. However, the strict laws of Pesach against leaven in any shape or form necessarily preclude any such indulgence. Instead of eating all our delicious chametz food, for a week we subsist on potatoes dressed up in innumerable different disguises! But guess what? We survived. It wasn’t so bad. It’s not a crime during the year to indulge a little. But it’s beneficial once in a while to abstain for a few days and realize that these physical indulgences are not so essential in our lives. We can live without it.
Pesach is a time when we can grow in this perspective. But merely spending a week working on something will not leave any lasting impression on us. The Torah therefore sets up for us the seven-week period of Sefira in which we remind ourselves every night to recall that which we learned during the intensive training week of Pesach. The hope is that between the one-week of actual practice and the seven weeks of gentle reminders and refocusing tools, by the time the regimen is over, we’ll be that much more appropriately balanced in our approach to life.
By now we should be able to understand why the month of Iyar is represented by the letter vav. Vav is the letter of connection. It serves as a prefix meaning “and” when it’s just a letter, and it translates to mean “hook” when spelled out as a word (see Shemos 27:10). The avodah of Iyar that we accomplish through Sefiras HaOmer is not an isolated avodah. It is a concerted effort to set us on the path of the Torah by implementing the lessons of Pesach. Iyar is the bridge (the vav hachibbur) meant to bring us from point A to point B. If we can remind ourselves nightly that we really don’t need to be so involved in the physical, and we actually work to implement that fresh perspective – that we can survive with less, then perhaps by the time Shavuos comes along we’ll be that “type of person who, even if all he has is bread and salt, he would not be held back from involvement in Torah.”
Have an accomplishing and meaningful Iyar.