This is Iyar – the Hebrew month designated for healing.
It brings me great joy to meet this month each year.
It brings me great joy to meet this month each year.
Why?
In Iyar, the manna first fell from the heavens to Earth to feed the Children of Yisrael in the desert.
Rebbe Elimelekh from Dinov points out that this month is designated for emptying the stomach from mold and compromised gall*. He goes on to point out that most illness is a result of eating food not appropriate for the "human condition".
In Iyar, manna first descended from the heavens. Manna was Divine Food - always fresh. Manna was absorbed into the body in its totality (Yomah 75). It nourished completely. Eating manna initiated a noticeable shift in the health of the Children of Yisrael, since it caused neither weakness nor disease like the foods they were eating before did.
Iyar, the month following Pesah, is an opportunity to reflect on eating habits. Pesah demands paying attention to what is eaten. Food is fuel for life. From the perspective of the annual cycle, Iyar also serves as a reminder to reflect on eating practices while moving from Winter to Summer.
The food we eat, significantly impacts health and longevity. We have a great deal of control of what we eat.
Since past events serve to imprint the calendar with repeating potencies, the month of Iyar is an invitation to improve health by refining eating habits. In this way we can bring the blessing of manna into our lives today.
* Bnay Yisaskhar Iyar Ma-amar 1 The Dinover Rebbe ~1850
Eating a well balanced diet is so important. How interesting and (given the time of year) ironic that symbolically our country has used the concept of a "food pyramid" to illustrate good eating habits...a great resource is: http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/index.html
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