IYAR

The mazal, or constellation, for Iyar is an ox.

The entire month of Iyar is within the journey from Pesach towards Shavuot. It is the month of the Omer. For 49 days, beginning on the second night of Pesach until Shavuot, we count the Omer. The Omer calendar created by the Kabbalists, is a calendar of seven weeks of seven days. Each week is associated with one of the sefirot, as is each day (Sunday, Monday, etc.). As we go through the forty-nine days, we ready ourselves for receiving the Torah by going through the forty-nine combinations of the sephirotic attributes. Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day in the counting of the Omer, is on the 18th of Iyar. Lag B'Omer is a day for festivities, picnics, bon-fires, hair cutting, all of the activities forbidden during the Omer counting.

Two recent monumental events are also celebrated during Iyar. On the 5th of Iyar, 5708, the State of Israel was declared. Yom HaAtzma-ut is celebrated each year on Iyar 5. On the 28th of Iyar, 5727 during the six day war, the Kotel, the Western Wall came again into Jewish possession. The Prophet Ezekiel's vision of the "valley of the dry bones" is thematically connected to Yom HaAtzma-ut because it tells of life being breathed into dry bones by the four winds, bone to bone, sinew and flesh, and returning to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. Ezekiel 37:1-14.

Sometimes we are "bone weary" - so over-scheduled, over-committed, tired, worn unglued - our body like a heap of dry bones. How can we use the four winds to blow new breath into our lungs? Imagine the Shechinah breathing strength into you, breath by slow breath.

This may also be an opportune gathering to learn about women who have helped shaped the modern state of Israel. A few possibilities include:

Golda Meir, who became the Prime Minister of Israel.

Rachel Blaustein, poet of the second aliyah period, buried at Kibbutz Kinneret cemetery.

Naomi Shemer, song writer, who has composed many of the well known Israeli folk songs.

Shulamit Aloni, member of Knesset and champion of women's rights in Israel.

Leah Shakdiel, activist on behalf of religious women in Israel, and the first woman in Israel to sit on a religious council.

Alice Shalvi, founder and director of the Israel Women's Network, and an outspoken supporter of changing the status of the agunah (a woman tied to an untenable marriage, unable to obtain a religious divorce).

The Women of the Wall, who are trying to gain equal access to Israel's most significant national religious symbol, the Kotel.

It is a time to sing old folksongs of Israel, and new melodies. To sing of the Land of Milk and Honey, "Eretz Zavat Chalav u'Dvash." To hope for a Land filled with peace. What would some of these women say to us. Think about the possibilities of what might be included in "Sayings of the Mothers." Write one or several verses, meditations or parables which could be collected into the "Pirke Imahot" "Sayings of the Mothers."

Women's Yahrzeits:

Nellie Sachs -6th of Iyar (1891-1970) was German born and a poet who wrote passionately about the Holocaust. She received the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Louise Weiss -24th of Iyar (1894-1984) was a French pacifist and feminist active in the women's suffrage movement.

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