The forty nine days of Sefira, between Pessah and Shavuot, are traditionally observed, albeit in different ways , as days of mourning. The universal prohibition on weddings,at least until Lag Ba'omer, is just one manifestation of the mourning like status of these days.
Still, as Hasidic masters pointed out, these days, for the most part occur in the month of Iyar which, links to some hidden light inherent in these days. From the sadness and tragedy of the Sefira perio , they said ,there will emerge a great light.
For many years, this Hasidic understanding of the hidden light inherent in the Sefira period was accepted as a matter of faith. Our generation however saw the fulfillment, in reality, of this Hasidic teaching about Seirat HaOmer.Two holydays were established , in the month of Iyar ,that truly brought, and continue to bring, much light and joy to our lives :Yom HaAtzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim.
Indeed we have a hint of this miracle in this week's Parasha. The Parasha has within it the Tochacha, the terrible curses, that will befall Knesset Israel when they do not observe the Mitzvot. But this Parasha with its horrific punishments and ultimate exile ends with the following statements; "And still with when you will be in the lands of your enemies.. I will not.destroy My covenant with them" G-d says that ultimately the covenant with the Jewish people will never be destroyed. What is the vehicle for this?
Says the Parasha " And I will remember the covenant Yaakov and also the covenant with Yitzhak and also the covenant with Avraham I will remember AND THE Land I Will REMEMBER".
In other words G-d will remember us via the land. The land will at times be surrounded by enemies. There will be problems. There will be times of darkness, when our very security will be challenged. In these dark times the light emerging from the land, our sovereignty, our tenacious loyalty to Israel , our celebration of Yom Yerushalayim will bring us the light that will show us the way out of the darkness.
In a small way, Biz'er Anpin, we experienced this feeling this past week. As we celebrated our sixtieth birthday we were really at the center of the world. I thought to myself that India also was sixty recently.So was Pakistan..But "little" Israel took center stage. Despite the hard times and the difficulties-G-d remembers the Land. And that light embraces us and the darkness of
SEFIRA IS BANISHED.
We who made Aliyah, and "remembered " the land through our very action are truly great MECHUTANIM at this Simcha.