Tiferet and the Month of Iyar

We welcome the month of Iyar, which arrives during this week of Tiferet.

Tiferet calls forth

         The courage and vulnerability of an open heart.

         Beauty that astonishes,

         Patterns of harmony,

         The magnificent interconnection of all life.

Tiferet also reveals the cracks and brokenness

         The pain we experience and cause.

In this wide-open field of Tiferet

Is a well-spring of Rachamim,

Infinite compassion, a flow of fierce, determined love

That holds and guides us,

Helping us be with the truth of all that is

With empathy and care.

During Tiferet

The month of Iyar arrives offering healing

And the great gift of second chances.

When the Israelites crossed the sea

And faced the expanse of the unknown

They grew afraid and despondent.

The Infinite Mystery called,

I am the Life Force, your healer. (Ex. 15:26)

Iyar is an acronym for this statement and reminds us

That in this life of expanse and uncertainty

We are not alone.

The Infinite Presence is with us,

A force for healing and possibility.

The light of second chances shines through Iyar

Because the full moon of Iyar

Provides the opportunity for something that has been missed.

During Temple times, it was considered essential for a person’s spiritual and material well being that they make a special sacrificial offering for Passover. 

If circumstances kept someone from doing this, they were given another opportunity on the fifteenth of Iyar.

Iyar says: Give yourself and others generous second chances.

Allow for “do-overs.”

May Iyar and Tiferet guide us with

Courage, love and forgiveness.

May the beauty and harmony of life lift us.

And may Divine healing, compassion and love

Finds its way through us

Into the world.

-Rabbi Yael Levy