Rosh Chodesh Sivan Kavanot

We derive the appellation for God’s Name, used in the Rosh Chodesh Mussaf – Additional Prayer – for Rosh Chodesh Sivan from the combination of letters and vowels of the following verses:”You shall make forty

silver sockets under the twenty planks; two sockets under one plank for its two tenons, and two sockets under the next plank for its two Tenons. For the second wall of the Tabernacle on the north side – twenty planks.” (Exodus 26:19-20) “Yidotav. U’litzela Hamishkan Hasheinit.”

Connection:
The first thing we notice about the Torah text the Ari Hakodesh used to derive the Divine Appelation for Sivan is that it begins with the final word of one verse and connects with the first three words of the following verse. This a a Name of connection: Two verse are connected, just as the planks described in the verses were connected one to the other. Sivan is a month of connections. God connects with us through Revelation, experienced by us through His Torah. We connect with God, as they did at Sinai, by responding to Torah as the Book of Covenant, not Robert’s Rules of Order, but a Book of Relationship.
Just as Torah connects us with God, so too, it connect to all of life, and nurtures our connection to life. Torah adds meaning to every aspect of existence.

When we recite God’s Name in the Mussaf blessing, we must have in mind to access the Divine Influence of Connection: Revelation, Covenant, Torah, and all of life. We pray here for the gift of being able to experience Revelation through Torah, to use the Torah to strengthen our connection with God, and to be able to apply the Torah’s wisdom to every part of our lives.

Heaven and Earth
The Sages teach (Yoma 72) that the planks were placed standing up the way they grew. This is rooted in the word “Kerashim,” or planks, in its similarity to “Kesharim,” or connections. By means of these boards the celestial forces and the terrestrial forces were to unite. (Ohr HaChaim Hakodesh – Exodus 26:15)

The Ohr Hachaim is teaching us that the connections we described above wil allow us to connect heaven and earth. When we are ready to Revelation and to respond with a loving desire for relationship, we begin to connect heaven and earth. This month of connection, symbolized by its constellation, Twins, is our opportunity to connect the Upper and Lower worlds, and live a life of eternal meaning.