Concerning the month of Iyar, it says in sefarim, in the Chiddushei Chasam Sofer למסכת שבת דף קמ\"ז עמוד ב', and also in the Bnei Yissaschar, מאמרי חודש אייר מאמר א', and in the Shaar Yissaschar from the Munkatcher Rav, in מאמר אייר סעיף ג' in the name of ספרים הקדושים, it says that Iyar is a ראשי תיבות אני ה' רופאך. And the פשטות is even though Iyar is written with two יודין, אלף יוד יוד ריש, and the words אני ה' רופאך is אלף יוד ריש, the פשטות it is because when we pronounce the word Iyar, we don't hear the second יוד. Probably that is why the ראשי תיבות אני ה' רופאך fits the month of Iyar. But whatever the פשט should be, it does say in the sefarim that Iyar is a ראשי תיבות, an abbreviation of the three words אני ה' רופאך. And this is a לשון of the pasuk in פרשת בשלח קפיטל ט\"ו פסוק כ\"ו, which means, \"I am Hashem' who cures you.\" Which means in pshute words, as these sefarim explain, that the month of Iyar is a חודש מסוגל for the inyanim of refuah. It's a month which is fit for curing. And the stress here is not just that this is a month which is mesugal for refuah, but it's mesugal for a refuah in the form of אני ה' רופאך, which means the special type of refuah which comes from Hashem'. As the pasuk over there takeh says in בשלח, that ה' said כל המחלה etc., any sickness that I put on מצרים or any sickness לא אשים עליך, I will not put on you, כי אני ה' רופאך, because I Hashem' am the one that cures you. Which means that Hashem' lechatchila doesn't let the sickness to come on the person. Not the pshat that if cure is that a person is sick and then he is cured, but Hashem' says what kind of cure does He give? As it's mentioned in that same pasuk where it says אני ה' רופאך, it's a kind of cure that לכתחילה לא אשים עליך, ה' lechatchila doesn't make the person sick. Which is similar to what the Rambam writes in Hilchot Deot פרק ד' הלכה כ', and if a person is going to be careful with his food etc., as the Rambam explains there, אני ערב לו שאינו בא לידי חולי כל ימיו, I guarantee he will never get sick. And the same is with the kind of refuah comes from Hashem' is that מלכתחילה לא אשים עליך, ה' milchatchila not make you sick. And the truth is even more, if chas v'shalom a person does get sick, for instance, he didn't act properly and therefore the person did get sick, when the refuah, the cure comes from אני ה' רופאך, then this cure is different than a cure that comes from a human being. Even though when a human being, a doctor cures a person, it also comes from Hashem', as the Gemara says in Berachot דף ס' עמוד א' and in Bava Kama דף פ\"ה עמוד א' and it's brought down in Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh Deah סימן שנ\"ו etc., that the Torah gave רשות לרופא לרפאות, the Torah gave the permission to a doctor to cure. And it doesn't mean just the permission, but that means that the Torah gave the doctor the koach, the power to cure, so it comes from Hashem', but nevertheless, it goes through the human being. But when the cure comes directly from Hashem', so then it's in a much different madrega, in a different way. When a human being cures, the cure is only מכאן ולהבא, is only from now and on. But it doesn't work retroactive, which in simple terms means that there is always a roshem, always some hint left over from the sickness. As the Gemara says in כתובות דף ע\"ד עמוד ב', that there is a difference between התרת נדרים through a chacham, when a chacham nullifies a person's vow, לגבי the way a doctor cures. When a chacham nullifies the vow, it's עוקר את הנדר מעיקרו. He tears out the neder, he nullifies the vow from the beginning, retroactive. But when the refuah comes through a doctor, then it is only מכאן ולהבא, from now and on. But this is only if the refuah comes from a doctor, a human being. But when the refuah comes from Hashem', even if he was sick, but when Hashem' does cure him, it's in a form as if לא אשים עליך, as if Hashem' lechatchilah never gave it, which means that He takes out the חולי, the sickness, in such a way that no roshem is left from before, as if he was never sick. And therefore, when we say that the month of Iyar is a ראשי תיבות אני ה' רופאך, so from there we understand that the segulah of this month concerning the inyan of refuah is not just that if a person is sick he could get cured, but the cure could come in a form of אני ה' רופאך, which means it tears out the sickness from the beginning, retroactive, as if he was never sick.

The reason for this, why is it davka in חודש אייר? It is because חודש אייר comes right after חודש ניסן. And we know that the months in the Jewish calendar are not just that one month comes after the other in an order, but there is a hemshech, there is a continuation between the months. And that is the reason why in the Torah we don't find names for the months. They're only called with numbers. Nissan is called the first month, Iyar is called the second month, Sivan the third, etcetera. But we don't find in the Torah any names. This proves that all the months are all one hemshech, one continuation, it's all one unit. And therefore we call it by numbers: this is part one of the unit, part two, etcetera. If we would call them by names, then it would mean that each one has a separate meaning and each month is a separate unit in itself. But by not giving them names, by the Torah calling them just by numbers, this shows that they're all one hemshech, one continuation. And therefore, since we say they are a continuation, so Iyar is a continuation of the month of Nissan. What is the meaning of the month of Nissan? We know that Nissan is חודש הגאולה, as it says in Midrash in Shemot Rabbah, פרשה ט״ו, י״א, that it's called חודש הגאולה, which means that it's the month when we have the גאולה ניסים, the miracle month, the month when Hashem redeemed us from Mitzrayim in a form of miracles, למעלה מן הטבע, beyond nature. As we actually see that the geulah of Mitzrayim came through nisim v'niflaot, miracles which completely למעלה מן הטבע, beyond nature. Not like it was in the month of Adar when we had the geulah of Purim, which was a נס מלובש בטבע, a nes, it dressed in nature. But the geulah of Mitzrayim was למעלה מן הטבע, was completely beyond nature, it was completely through nisim v'niflaot, through miracles. And even though this was only by the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim, which is not the whole month of Nisan, but started from ט״ו Nisan, the fifteenth day of Nisan, or even earlier from the tenth day of Nisan, nevertheless, we see that the Midrash calls the whole month חודש הגאולה. So obviously, this inyan of למעלה מן הטבע has a connection to the whole month. And as it is merumaz in the name of the month, even though it's not mentioned in the Torah, but we do have the name of the month, which is Nisan, this itself shows that the month of Nisan has a שייכות, has a connection to nisim. Because the word Nisan comes from the word nes, from the word miracle, as it actually says in Midrash Lekach Tov on פרשת בא, קפיטל י״ב, פסוק ב׳: ״ניסן, שבו נעשים ניסים לישראל״. So we see that he connects the word Nisan with the word nisim. And since the word Nisan has two נו״ןs, it means not סתם ניסים, but nisei nisim. As the Gemara says in ברכות, דף נ״ז, עמוד א׳, and the way Rashi explains, and the way it comes out from the Maharsha, that when a person sees in his dream a word with a נו״ן, he should expect a nes, if he sees a word with two נו״ןs, he should expect nisei nisim, miracles of miracles. And since the word Nisan has two נו״ןs, so obviously it has a connection to nisei nisim. And this is because the redemption of Mitzrayim came through Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself, as we say in the Haggadah: ״נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו וגאלם״. Hashem Himself revealed Himself and He redeemed them. And since the redemption came from Hashem Himself, obviously, it was a redemption which is completely higher than teva, and not at all מלובש in דרכי הטבע, not at all dressed in the ways of nature. So, if this is what Nisan represents, so self-understood that when Iyar comes after Nisan, and as we said before, Iyar is a continuation to Nisan, so when we say that it is mesugal for a refuah, we say that Iyar is a special time that's proper and fit to be cured, and since the month of Iyar comes right after Nisan, which is the month of nisim, when the redemption came through Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself, so obviously the refuah that Iyar brings along is also a refuah which is beyond nature, a refuah which comes from הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו. And therefore the refuah of חודש אייר is not stam a refuah through a basar vadam, even though this also comes from Hashem, but through the basar vadam, through the human being, but the refuah, the curing, that comes in the month of Iyar is a continuation to the nisim, the geulah of חודש ניסן, and therefore the refuah is in a form of Hashem Himself cures in a way that He tears out, so to speak, He takes away the חולי, the sickness, as if it was never there, למעלה מן הטבע, beyond nature.

This is concerning the רפואה גשמיות. But the truth is we know that just like there is a concept of a person being sick בגשמיות, physically, and there has to be a רפואה בגשמיות, there has to be a cure physically, so too do we find that there is חולי and רפואת הנפש. There is a sickness of the נפש, of the soul, a spiritual sickness, and there is a concept of a רפואה בנפש. As the Rambam explains at length in his Shemonah Perakim, especially from the third perek and on, and in Hilchot Deot פרק ב׳ he also talks about this a little bit, that there is a concept A חולי הנפש, a person who is sick spiritually, and therefore there is a refuah for this חולי הנפש, there is a spiritual cure for this חולי הנפש. Now that we say that the month of Iyar is a month which is mesugal for a refuah, it doesn't only mean בפשטות for a refuah for the חולי הגוף, for the sickness of the body, for the physical sickness, but it is also a chodesh which is mesugal for the רפואת הנפש, for the cure of the נפש. And concerning the refuah for the חולי הנפש, we understand why this is specifically connected to Iyar. Because in the month of Iyar, we need the refuah for the חולי הנפש even stronger than we need any other time of the year. Because during the month of Iyar, it is possible for the sickness of the נפש, for the spiritual sickness of the person to get strengthened.

As the Midrash Shmuel on Pirkei Avot explains in his הקדמה, he says that one of the reasons why we learn Pirkei Avot between Pesach and Shavuot mainly, then we also continue from Shavuot till Rosh Hashanah, but the main time when we learn Pirkei Avot is between Pesach and Shavuot, he says, because from that time on it gets warm, and the תאוות הגופניות, the physical desires, the bodily desires, and the yetzer hara starts getting strong. And therefore we learn this masechta, he says, Masechet Avot, which is full of mussar, and it is me'orer the person, awakens the person to run and try to get only מדות טובות, good middot, and it gives him the power to overcome his יצר הרע, that the יצר טוב should be stronger than the יצר הרע. So it comes out that the month of Iyar, which is right after Pesach, that is the time when we actually need more than any other time of the year the strengthening of the רפואת הנפש, of the refuah for the נפש, because the חולי הנפש could start. That's the time when the יצר הרע becomes stronger. Just like we said before that the refuah that Hashem gives, which is מרומז in the words אני השם רופאך, which is the ראשי תיבות of Iyar, is not just that He cures the person, but the refuah comes in such a way that as if the sickness was never there, so just like we say that concerning the refuah of the guf, obviously the same thing would be concerning the refuah of the נפש. That during the month of Iyar we have a koach to cure our נפש, so to speak, from the חולי הנפש in such a way as if there was never even a sickness. Why דווקא in the month of Iyar? For the same reason as we said before, because Iyar comes right after the month of Nisan. Nisan, as we said before, is the חודש הגאולה, and just like we understand that it's the חודש הגאולה for the גאולה גשמית, for the physical ge'ulah, when the Yidden left Mitzrayim, went out of the galut of Mitzrayim, which was a גלות גשמי, we know that Mitzrayim was also a גלות רוחני, a spiritual galut. At the time when the Yidden were in Mitzrayim, they were in a very low spiritual madregah. As we know the Chazal say that they were in the מ״ט שערי טומאה, as it says in the Zohar Chadash in the beginning of פרשת יתרו, so they were in a very, very low madregah. And as we know the Chazal say that the שר of the ים said that הללו עובדי עבודה זרה והללו עובדי עבודה זרה, that the Yidden were also idol worshippers. Nevertheless, they were taken out of this geulah, in which way? הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו, השם Himself, נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים, השם Himself revealed Himself to them and took them out, which means that Hashem took them out of the tumah of Mitzrayim, which was a גאולה ברוחניות, a spiritual geulah. And this spiritual geulah also came through nisim. Just like the physical geulah came through nisim veniflaot, through miracles lemalah min hateva, beyond nature, the spiritual geulah also came through nisim lemalah min hateva, because naturally they were so low, they were sunk in the 49 gates of tumah, that naturally it would be almost impossible for them to get out, or at least it would be very hard and take a very long time. The reason they were able to be pulled out of the tumah of Mitzrayim completely is because הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו came and He performed a nes lemalah min hateva, and He took them out from the spiritual galut and He elevated them beyond the tumah of Mitzrayim. This is the way it happened then, and it's self-understood that every year when the month of Nisan comes around, and we know that חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים, as the Mishnah says in Pesachim דף קט״ז עמוד ב׳, and we say it in the Haggadah, that a person always has to look upon himself as if he went out of Mitzrayim, which means not only that he has to imagine that he was at that time and that as if he went out, but he has to actually relive the geulah from גלות מצרים. That means that when that Nisan comes around, a Yid is supposed to be and is able to be in the madregah of becoming a ben chorin, becoming free, becoming a person which is in the level of geulah A person which is higher than his yetzer hara, a person who overcomes his yetzer hara completely in the form that he is a בן חורין, he is free of his yetzer hara, in the form of למעלה מן הטבע. Even though naturally he could be in a low madregah, but in the month of Nissan, he is able, and it's expected of him, to elevate himself to such a level that he is completely beyond the tumah of Mitzrayim, which really is the tumah of the yetzer hara.

And because of that, we see an interesting thing. Chodesh Nissan is the only month that a whole month we don't say tachanun. Other months, there are certain days we don't say; Chodesh Nissan, the whole month we don't say. And it's self-understood that when the halachah is that we don't say tachanun, as it says in Masechet Soferim פרק כ\"א ג' and it's brought down in Shulchan Aruch, etc., it doesn't mean chas veshalom that we're missing out on something. Because when we say tachanun, we ask Hashem to forgive us for our aveirot, and we hope Hashem accepts our tefillah and forgives us for our aveirot. So if we don't say tachanun, that means that we're missing out on something. We're missing out on the selichah and the mechilah and kaparah that Hashem gives us for our aveirot. But chas veshalom to say that because of a good thing, which is the reason why we don't say תחנון בפשטות in Nissan, that should make us miss out on something very important. So we must say the pshat is that during the month of Nissan, we don't even have to say tachanun. Whatever tachanun accomplishes all other times of the year, in the month of Nissan, it's accomplished because of the month itself. And this fits to what we said before, because the month of Nissan is a month when we have the koach, and Hashem expects of us, and it makes it easy for us to elevate ourselves beyond, higher than the tumah of the yetzer hara, and we don't even have to come on to say tachanun. Because if it wouldn't be that way, then Hashem wouldn't make the halachah that we shouldn't say tachanun in Nisan and lose out on the mechilah and kaparah. So being that the month of Nisan is a month when we're able and we should be higher than any aveirot, we elevate ourselves, Hashem pulls us out from the yetzer hara, we're higher than the yetzer hara, so therefore, it's self-understood, when the next month, which is Iyar comes along, when we said before there is a possibility for aveirot, that's the time when the yetzer hara starts getting strong again, nevertheless, the refuah that Hashem gives us at that time is a refuah which comes in continuation to the month of Nisan, which is also a רפואה למעלה מן הטבע. Just like during the month of Nisan, a Yid is higher than teva, even in ruchniyut, which means he has the koach to be higher than the yetzer hara completely, in a way of למעלה מן הטבע. And the reason is because then Hashem himself, בכבודו ובעצמו, pulls us out from the tumah and brings us up higher than the tumah. So therefore, the month of Iyar which comes right after that, even though at that time we are shaychut to the yetzer hara, and even more than other times of the year, as we said before, nevertheless, we have the koach for this refuah. Being that it's ממש מסוגל for refuah, what kind of refuah will we have? A refuah which is in continuation to the way it was in the month of Nisan, which means a רפואה למעלה מן הטבע, and a refuah that comes directly from Hashem himself. As the pasuk says, אני השם רופאך, which is a refuah that not only helps מכאן ולהבא, that his aveirot, his spiritual sickness won't be there from now and on, but it even works retroactive, it takes off his spiritual sickness even from before and no roshem, no hint of it