Rosh Chodesh Iyar

The name Iyar is an acronym for the words: "I am God, Your healer" (Exodus 15:26). Therefore this month is a time of healing - and in particular inner healing.


Judaism tells us that when we are sick, we should make every effort to find a good doctor or alternative healer. However as King David reminds us, in our search to find a cure, we should never forget Who is really the One Who heals us.


The following chassidic story gives us a similar message.


There was once a man who was desperately ill. He visited dozens of doctors, but none of them could help him. Out of desperation, the man went to visit the tzaddik Reb Mordechai of Neshchiz.


Reb Mordechai listened sympathetically to the sick man's tale, and when the man finished speaking the rebbe wrote out his "prescription."


"Go to Hanipoli," Reb Mordechai advised, "and seek out the professor of that town. He will cure you."


Traveling to Hanipoli in those days (and even today) was no small matter. No trains went that deep into the Ukraine, and so the chassid had to hire a wagon and driver. The wagon bumped and jiggled its way down the long and dusty road, and the poor chassid was totally exhausted by the time he arrived.


However, he was anxious to find this professor - in those days a medical doctor was also called by this title - and so as soon as he found a place to lodge he set out to find where the professor lived.


"What professor?" the innkeeper said in rely to the chassid's question. "Hanipoli doesn’t have any professor."


"Perhaps you refer to him as a doctor," the chassid persisted. "Where does the doctor of Hanipoli live?"


"We don't have any doctors, either," the innkeeper firmly replied.


The chassid refused to be deterred. He asked storekeepers and laborers and anyone he could find - but everyone gave him the same reply.


The chassid was totally confused and disappointed. How could Reb Mordechai have sent him on such a wild goose chase? The sick man rented another wagon and driver and set out on the long, arduous journey back home.


When he arrived in Neshchiz, the chassid went straight to the rebbe and told him what had happened.


"There's no professor in Hanipoli?" Reb Mordechai asked in apparent surprise. "Then tell me, what do the people there do if one of them, God forbid, becomes ill?"


"Do? What can they do?" the chassid replied. "I suppose all they can do is trust in God and ask Him to heal them."


"That's him!" Reb Mordechai exclaimed. "That's the professor of Hanipoli that I was talking about! If He can heal the townspeople of Hanipoli, then surely He can heal you, too."


When the chassid left the rebbe's room, he immediately began to pour out his heart to God. As he prayed he could feel a little bit of his health returning to him, and eventually he was completely cured