The Baal Shem Tov, or Besht —  the founder of Chasidism — 
met the soul of the Messiah during an ascent to heaven. 
The Besht asked him, "When will the Master come?" 
The Messiah answered, "When your wellsprings break forth to the outside!" 
(from a letter written by the Besht to his brother-in-law about one of his soul ascents) 


 
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27th of Iyyar: Rainbow Day

The 27th of Iyyar ("the 27th day of the second month"), when the animals, along with Noah's family, left the ark, and the rainbow appeared as a sign of covenant, should be a time of celebration. The 27th of Iyyar seems like a day waiting for a ritual.

This year the anniversary of the rainbow fell on May 10. Coming in the middle of the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, it seemed like reflection on what we are doing to this world is in order. To do this, I led a "Council of All Beings" ritual at Hampshire College. The Council of All Beings is a role-playing ritual where each person takes on the persona of an animal, a plant, force, place, species etc., and speaks as that being about what's happening to the Earth. It was just the right experience for the occasion. (I'll post instructions for how to do the Council when they are finished.) As I told the students, they were part of the first official Rainbow Day event ever.

See R. David's piece on Rainbow Day, the Jubilee and the Gulf on "The Jew and the Carrot" blog.

According to the Torah, the flood began 10 days earlier ("the 17th day of the second month"), on the 17th of Iyyar. The 17th of Iyyar happens to be the day before Lag B'Omer, with all of Lag B'Omer's connection to fire and Kabbalah.

The time we are in now is a time to ask: are we so determined to undo God's rainbow covenant? Will we truly burn the sea, chemically and literally, with the oil we unleash from inside the Earth? Will we flood the sea with death as the land was flooded according to the Noah story of so long ago?

See a prayer for the Gulf on our homepage

More generally, the two dates are pregnant with ritual possibilities related to the elements, to the midpoint between equinox and solstice, to global warming, and to all the meanings related to the journey from freedom to revelation. One could even connect growing our commitment to right action to growing the wheat crop in the fields over the seven weeks of the Omer.

The rainbow signified a new covenant between God and the land. It's time for us to imagine a new covenant between humanity and the Earth, including the land and the seas, one that we start to live by as we change our lifestyles and habits. And maybe next year it will be time to celebrate that new covenant.

You can review other liturgies that can be modified for these days under entries for Lag B'omer/Flood Day, Ykum purkan lishmaya and


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I'll think about this... it's during the 'omer, right? The day before Yom Yerushalayim, eg. 42 days, eg. Malkhut beYesod... I'll be back with more soon!

Posted by: Simcha Daniel Burstyn at November 26, 2007 2:55 AM

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