Before we make our transition to exploring the letter Vav for the month of Iyar, we want to thank Miriam Cope and Scott Esserman for their responses to last month's Dvar Torah about the letter Heh, the Mem-Heh letter pair and our understanding of Matzah and Mon. The ideas they share with us are summarized below and lead into our initial thoughts and questions about the letter Vav.

Miriam Cope writes that we learn from Pirkei Avot that 10 things were created (Beyn Hashmashot) at twilight before Shabbat. Two of those things were the mouth of the well of water that followed the Israelites throughout their 40 years in the Midbar and the Mon (manna) which sustained them for those same 40 years [both of these "miracles' were revealed to the Jewish people in the month of Iyar]. Beyn Hashmashot is a very intense time and the things created at this time are inherently unique. By having been created during this bridge time between the 6 days of Creation and Shabbat, this "ordinary" stuff of water (the mouth of the well) and food (Mon) are perhaps on a higher level than other miracles. The "grand" miracles, like the splitting of Yam Suf, were determined at the time the "vessel" through which that miracle took place was created, e.g. on the third day when the waters were gathered and created into seas and oceans.

The Mon that the Israelites ate (and as the Midrash teaches, completely digested leaving no waste) served to internalize the faith and trust that each individual person needed to have to proceed to Har Sinai to receive the Torah. The external miracles associated with the Exodus can only get us to a certain point. From there, we have to internalize (eat) the miracles that seem ordinary, but that actually serve to instill in us what we need to be receptive to the relationship with G-d and the gift of Torah.

Scott Esserman raises the question that if we are to take Pesach as an opportunity to pursue personal freedom, aren't the challenges confronting Moshe and Aharon suggesting that our own paths to freedom can and will have struggles as well, regardless of the sincerity of our desire to change?

In response to Miriam and Scott's comments we are again faced with understanding this time period between Pesach and Shavuot and turn our attention to the letter Vav of the month of Iyar.

The Letter Vav

"Bereshit bara Elokim et ha'shamayim v'et ha'aretz - In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth." The letter Vav is the 6th letter of the Alef Beit and first appears in the Torah as the first letter of the sixth word. It is also the 22nd letter of the Torah. According to R' Ginsburgh, this Vav serves to "join spirit and matter, heaven and the earth, throughout Creation." The fact that it is the 22nd letter "alludes to the power to connect and interrelate all 22 individual powers of Creation, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet from Alef to Tav," represented by the word Et (Alef-Tav) of the heavens V'et (Alef-Tav) of the earth.

The letter Vav as a prefix usually means "and" and as a word means hook thus representing the idea of connection in the physical world. We read about the "vavim - the hooks" used in the building of the Mishkan to connect the curtains to the pillars.

Connecting Pesach to Shavuot

In our last D'var Torah we began talking about the counting of the Omer as a rememberance of the Mon and as a way to meet the challenge of staying connected to our experience of Pesach and Matzah. The counting of the Omer is a unique mitzvah in that it requires us to connect 49 consecutive days of counting, without breaking the chain. While the count of the day can be announced even if someone missed a day, the Bracha (blessing) can only be recited if one has made the blessing each day.

So, the letter Vav is about connection as is the counting of the Omer (the counting during the month of Iyar bridging the beginning count in Nissan and the ending count in Sivan). It might be easy to overlook the month of Iyar as a mere transition between the intensity of Pesach and the awesomeness of Shavuot. The Mitzvah of counting the Omer seems to point us in a different direction and focuses our attention on the significance of this Vav-"and" time that is more than simply a month of biding our time. Please share your thoughts and understanding about the letter Vav as the letter of this month.