Iyar - Not Just A Month, But Also Our Generation!

Some Kabbalists have organized the months from Nissan to Tishrei according to the different Sfirot (Divine Attributes). As we know, all of the holidays which come from the torah happen in between Nissan and Tishrei. After Tishrei, there are still rabbinical holidays but no holiday from the Torah.

The way the holidays were organized are as followed:
The month of Nissan is the month of Hessed. (Mercy) When we were first taken out of Egypt, we were taken out by pure Hessed, mercy. Sure, there are those who bring up the fact that we needed to bring a Korban Pessah and put blood on our doors in order to have a minimum merit to get out, however, this was truly the minimum merit. So much so that afterwards, the angels asked God how he could favor us to the Egyptians – we were both idol worshipers! Therefore, this redemption was almost completely based on God's mercy and not on our own merit. It was what we call “Hiterouta De-leila”, something which came from God towards us.

We will get back to the month of Iyar. The month of Sivan is the month of the Tiferet, Splendor. It is the month in which we recieved the Torah, the “splendor” of the Jewish People.

Then comes the month of Tammuz, the month of Netzah. Chazal teach us that Netzach is Jerusalem. The month of Tammuz was the month on which we were meant to first enter Jerusalem. We were supposed to get the tablets from Moses on the 17th of Tammuz and then march on quickly, in 3 days, towards Jerusalem and establish on Kingdom. Unfortunately, things went wrong and we sinned with the Golden Calf. However, when the calendar will once again be as it is supposed to, this month will no longer be one of mourning.

The Month of Av, Hod, is representing the Beit Hamikdash. Unfortunately, during the exile, in this month it is quite the opposite which happened as we lost both our temples on that month.

Finally, the Month of Ellul is the month of Yessod, foundation, since it acts as a foundation to our service on the month of Tishrei, the month of the Malchut – kingship of God on this earth, which is our ultimate goal.

Of course, I have just breifly surveyed these different concepts which deserve much more explanations to be appreciated but I want to concentrate on the month of Iyar, which is, according to this system, the month of Gvurah – which can be roughly translated as courage. This month is the month which is representative of the Jewish People's ability to take their destiny in their hands. It is representative of the Jewish People's ability to have the courage to seek things for themselves. Unlike Hessed, which comes solely from God without much of our merit, Gvurah describes a reality where we, the Jewish People, are the ones who take the initiative and then, with God's help, we are able to arrive through this courage to Tifferet.

The only holiday which exists from the torah in this month is Pessah Sheini. Pessah Sheini is a very interesting holiday. This is a day which was not created by God. No. Instead, people who could not each the korban pessah because they were in a state of ritual impurity, or because they were far away, asked to get a “second chance”. This holiday comes from the people themselves! It is our own initiative. It is quite incredible that we can, through our own initiative, establish a holiday similar to the holiday of Pessah! This is the power of our initiative.

On this month, we also have seen in history the story of the death of the students of Rabbi Akiva. There is a disagreement as to what exactly killed those students. The gemara says it was a sickness which came to them because of their lack of respect for each other. However, an interesting Midrash claims that the reason for their death was that they lost during the rebellion of Bar Kochba. As we know, Rabbi Akiva was not just a yeshiva rabbi, he was a warrior who faught in the Bar Kochba Revolt. However, this revolt was not successful. The Midrach claims that lack of unity caused the revolt to be badly organized which caused the death of the 24 000 students of Rabbi Akiva on the front. Regardless of the reason of the death, one thing which is obvious is that the students of Rabbi Akiva represent the courage of a Jew to stand up and take his destiny in his own hands, and then hope that God will help him complete this initiative. When we mourn the students of Rabbi Akiva, we also mourn the fact that this initiative might, maybe, have been successful if not for dis-unity. We praise the courage and initiative of those students and mourn their loss. The only way I know how to describe this feeling is by comparing it to Yom Hazikaron, a day in which I described my feelings as “mourning with pride”.

On the month of Iyar, it is also the only shabbat mevarchim in which ashkenazi congregations say “Av Harachamim”, because of the killing of Jewish communities during the period of the crusaders which happened during this time. Once again, this is a tragic story. However, once again, its a story which really shows us the courage, the gevurah, of the Jewish People in their own show of love to God, even when his presence is not as revealed.

In our generation, a new miracle happened – the declaration of independance of the state of Israel! There is a halachic discussion as to what date Yom Haatzmaut should be established on. Some people claim it should be established on the day the war of independance ended, not on the day independance was declared! However, Rav Tzvi Yehuda used to say that those who make this claim do not understand what happened on Yom Haatzmaut. The miracle we celebrate on Yom Haatzmaut is the fact that the Jewish People once again had the courage to take the initiative in rebuilding their homeland. We once again found our Gevurah! The month of Iyar which showed Gevurah only in tragic circumstances throughout our exile was once again taking become the joyous month of Iyar. We stood up and took our self-determination, not only asking for it. The fifth of Iyar was, in one day, a representation of a whole generation- survivors of the holocaust returning to the land of Israel and rebuilding the land. This declaration of independance was against all logic! King Abdullah had told Golda Meir a few hours before that if Israel would declare independance, a war would start which would unite all arabs countries. The Jews had weapons for only 3 days of fighting. American and Russian Jews begged Ben Gurion not to declare the state of Israel warning him that even their influence would be of no help. And yet, Ben Gurion made the declaration. Sure, the win of the war is a huge miracle, but its declaration, the fact that a Jew can stand up after 2000 years of exile and have the courage to say “This is our land and we will be rebuilding it!”, is the greater miracle for which we say Hallel on Yom Haatzmaut.



Rav Mordechai Elon Shli”ta writes;
אייר הוא לא רק חודש, אייר הוא גם דור שלם, אייר הוא הדור שלנו, דור שלפעמים לרגע יכול לשכוח שהוא בעצם מעביר העולם מהחסד אל התפארת, ומשם הלאה אל הנצח וההוד . אשרינו שזכינו להיות דור אייר, יהי רצון מלפניו יתברך כי נהיה ראויים לזכות זו שזכינו לה.


Iyar is not just a month. Iyar is also a whole generation. Iyar is our generation, a generation which can sometimes forget that he is bringing the world from Hessed (mercy) to Tifferet (Splendor), and from there on to Netzach (Eternity) and Hod (Majesty). Praised are we that merited to be a generation of Iyar, and may it be Your will, our God, that we be able to merit that which we have merited.

Our generation is one which is not afraid to stand up and take intiative for the good of Klal Israel. Our job is to ensure that the direction we give to Klal Israel one which will lead it towards the Splendor, Eternity and Majesty so that, slowly, slowly, and with a lot of patience, without pushing things too quickly, we can translate this amazing courage which was demonstrated on Yom Haatzmaut into a Mamlechet Kohanim VeGoy Kadosh, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.