Iyar and the Wars of Redemption

UPDATE: 30 Nisan 5772
Rosh Chodesh A
Day 15 of the Omer
(Two weeks and one day)

I forgot something I wanted to bring out in this post. I don't know if it is significant or not, but interesting anyway...

The Six Days War, which by all accounts was seen as the most miraculous war of Israel's modern history with reputedly strong messianic energy, took place in the Hebrew year 5727, a transposition of this year's date - 5772.

Chodesh tov l'kulam!

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28 Nisan 5772
Day 13 of the Omer
(One week and six days)

Redemption with mercy comes in the spring. Redemption with judgment comes in the fall. Israel's War of Independence occurred in Iyar and so did the Six Days War. (The Yom Kippur War took place in Tishrei.)

Even in the wars one can see the redemptive "process" at work. The lands were restored into our hands in increasing kedushah. First, in 1948, Jewish sovereignty was restored in Eretz Yisrael, but despite a valiant effort, Yerushalayim, Hevron, Yericho and Shechem were lost. Then, in 1967, Yerushalayim , Hevron, Yericho and Shechem were restored to us, but despite the famous cry of "Har Habayit b'yadeinu!" the Temple Mount was handed over to the Arabs. And Arabs continued to be a vast majority in the Old City, Hevron, Yericho and Shechem making our hold on these places tentative at best.

In the next war of redemption, all of these places, including the Temple Mount, will come fully into our hands and all our enemies will be scattered, never to contest our claims to them again. And it might be only days or weeks away...

There is a very credible threat to bring the government down in the next two weeks.

Government’s Fate Rests on Samaria Town
The government will stand or fall in the next two weeks depending on what happens in the Israeli community of Beit El, north of Jerusalem. Ministers have informed Netanyahu that if the Ulpana neighborhood of Beit El is destroyed, his coalition will follow.

The warning came during a cabinet meeting in which the timetable for Judea and Samaria demolitions was revealed. Ulpana is scheduled to be demolished on May 1, the Givat Assaf community several weeks later, and Migron on August 1.

Ministers told Netanyahu that the timetable is irrelevant, because if the May 1 destruction of Ulpana were to go through, the government will not be around for the other two.

Might this crisis spur Netanyahu to go ahead with an attack on Iran in order to save his coalition? Will that event spread - as all the "experts" are predicting - into an all-out conflagration with all our neighbors, bringing about the next major war of redemption?

Daniel 12.11,12 --- And from the time the daily sacrifice was removed and the silent abomination placed, is one thousand, two hundred, and ninety [years]. Fortunate is he who waits and reaches days of one thousand, three hundred, and thirty-five [years].

A difference of 45 years and this year, May 20th will mark 45 years since Yerushalayim was unified. And 2,844 years ago, Shlomo HaMelech began building the First Temple in the month of Iyar.

Once all impediments are removed, we, too, will begin to build - The Third Temple - to our God. Why shouldn't it also be in the month of Iyar - the month of Ziv - "brilliance?"

The 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).
See more at Gal Einai institute.
Shabbat shalom! Chodesh tov!!