Transforming from Exile to Redemption | Emor 5784

The month of Iyar and Sefirat HaOmer are the opposite of what the Torah says it should be.
We are in a time of mourning - no shaving, no weddings, etc. But the Torah, in this week’s parasha, says it is supposed to be a time for counting 50 days of anticipation towards receiving the Torah. Yet, it has become a time of mourning.
How did this happen? As is known, the students of Rabbi Akiva died during this time, and that decimated the Torah world of the time, but also any hope of returning to the Land. Most of us think that after the destruction of the Temple most of the Jews left the Land of Israel, but that is not true. The vast majority remained in the Land, but the real destruction was 65 years later with the failed Bar Kochba revolt when almost 600,000 Jews were killed in the battles, at the same time that Rabbi Akiva’s students died. Many other Jews were then sent into exile, which was the end of organized settlement in the Land. So, Iyar became a time of decimation of hope to return to the Land.
Yet, in our generation, the month of Iyar has become the month of redemption with 5 Iyar, Yom HaAtzmaut, marking the return to the land, and 28 Iyar, Yom Yerushalayim, marking the return to Jerusalem. Incredibly, Iyar is being transformed from exile to redemption in our times thanks to the great hope and promise of the State of Israel. In the merit of the return to the land and the terrible price that has already been paid, may this month be transformed back into the great days of anticipation for the receiving of the Torah.

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