In The Afterglow of Pesach

"Ani Hashem Rofecha -I am God Your Healer"

In the afterglow of Pesach, I find myself thinking back in an effort to look forward. I am looking back on this beautiful period which is presented to us year after year, an annual gift to help us get to the next level in life.
Our next level is coming up.This past Shabbat we asked for blessings for the coming month of Iyar.It ,among other things, is a time of great fixing in preparation to each year receive the Torah anew, with great joy and inner connection.
Each year in late winter /early spring we celebrate Tu B'shvat, the birthday of our trees. Everyone knows that in order for a tree to grow you need to plant a seed in the ground. That seed has no choice. It must rot in order for it to have a rebirth and grow into a new creation.
That annual experience of "planting seeds" is always followed by the Jewish calendar month of Adar. In that month we have an added aspect of security in the belief that Hashem is watching over us with a special concentration of healing power.
Adar, the month of Purim, the month of joy, is spelled Alef /Daled /Resh, which is an acronym for:
Ani (Alef)
Hashem (Daled ,one of the abbreviations for God's name)
Roefecha (Resh)
translated, "I am God your healer."

It is with this secure feeling of joy, protection and healing that we move into Pesach, a time to break out of all of our troubles.The time where each and very one of us must experience the seder night, the first night of Pesach, as if he/she is mamash going out of Mitzrayim right now.
The seventh day of Pesach is when we reenact the splitting of the Red Sea, singing with great joy to Hashem , increasing our feeling of joy with the expression of song, a joy which knows no bounds.
This is the real experience of finally knowing that we are out. We are no longer slaves to a human being.
When we read the experience that our ancestors went through at the splitting of the Red Sea, it is important to notice how this chapter in the Torah ends. The concluding verse reads,
Kol Hamachalah asher samti B'mitzrayim lo asim alecha , all of the illnesses which I placed on Mitzrayim I will not place on you
Ki, becuase
Ani Hahsem Rofecha I am God your healer

So as we leave Pesach and enter the dessert on our way to once again, receive the Holy Torah. We have the strengthened secure feeling to believe and know that as we are fixing ourselves during this 7 week period of time, we are protected by the healing power of Hashem. During this spring month of "Iyar," we are directed through this day by day journey to count up with great anticipation , fixing
assessing our individual and collective spiritual character traits along the way.
On Shavuot day, we can come together, healed, whole and humbled knowing that we are truly ready to go out and be complete as one.

Chodesh Tov!
Shalom,
Yehudah Katz
Tekoa, Israel