They say IYAR is a healing and luminous month.

It is connected to the world of Or and Ziv: Light.

In this month, we count the Omer.

We count up 49 days. 7×7 weeks.

This count is recited nightly. It is blessed out loud each night.

From Passover to Shevuot.

From the barley harvest to the wheat harvest.

From leaving Egypt to receiving the Torah.

In temple times, counting the Omer involved counting and offering barley sheaves in blessing and gratitude for bounty.

This month is a time of process, when we work to integrate the freedom we tasted on Passover and prepare ourselves for receiving the Torah on Shavuot.

Each night we count. We are guided by the Sefirot, the Kabbalistic structure which represents the divine emanation that gives us guidance for character development.

Our counting is a ritual of growth, of integration and of preparation.

Liberation from slavery (Passover) becomes freedom through Torah. Torah meaning Wisdom. Our greatest teacher. Revelation, a communal relationship with the Divine, with G!d, with our practice, our stories and our aspiration for moral conduct.

This year in particular I am touched that our month leading up to the receiving of the Torah, our holy book, is aligned with Ramadan, the holy month in Islam which marks the receiving of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book. Like counting the Omer, Ramadan is a time of deep introspection, intention and devotion. It is a deeply special time.

My dear friend, the Sufi poetess Sukina Pilgrim shared a poem that she wrote last Ramadan. I am sharing it with you, as both our communities honour the time of receiving our Holy books, to share the inspiration in her devotion, and to wish our Muslim friends a Ramadan Kareem.

The letters of this month, Iyar, spell the acronym Ani Hashem Rofecha – I am G!d your healer.

May this month be both illuminating and deeply healing within our collective hearts, across the divides within our community, between us and our Muslim brothers and sisters, and beyond.