Month of Iyar, the Month of Jewish Renewal and Heroism
The month of heroism, once and forever
This month, a number of significant events happened in our past, recent and distant, which we commemorate with special holidays. Two of these belong to the generation of the founding of the State of Israel: Yom Ha-atzma’ut (Israel’s Independence Day, 5 Iyar) and Yom Shihrur Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Liberation Day, 28 Iyar, colloquially referred to as “Yom Yerushalayim”). Others, such as Lag Ba-omer (the 33rd day of the omer, 18 Iyar), hearken back to our distant past. Similarly, the entire month of Iyar is marked by customs of mourning relating to the death of Rabbi Akiva’s students during the omer period in the Bar Kokhba rebellion (Lag Ba-omer is the day they stopped dying). Lag Ba-omer is also the day on which Rashbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, passed from this world. These mourning customs while counting from Pesah to Shavuot are begun by some during Pesah and completed on Lag Ba-omer; others observe them from Rosh Hodesh Iyar until Shavuot. [1]
Let us consider the significance of Iyar’s events from a theological viewpoint.
The mystics point to a distinction between Nisan, the first of the months, and Iyar, the second: while the former expresses the divine attribute of hesed, kindness, the latter expresses gevura, might or
heroism.[2]
Iyar embodies gevura.
Is there some connection between the important dates in Iyar and its mighty, heroic nature?
We may answer this by using a famous dictum of R. Avraham Yitzchak Kook (“R. Kook”) about the month of Iyar:[3]
Gevura, sublime among R. Akiva’s students and subtle among the martyrs of the [Ashkenazic] communities [that were destroyed during this period in medieval times], come together in the treasury of Rashbi’s secrets.
In this dictum, R. Kook connects three different moral foci of the month of Iyar: the overt heroism of R. Akiva’s students, who fought fiercely for spiritual and political independence against the Romans in Bar Kokhba’s forces, and the hidden heroism of the martyrs of Speyer, Worms and Mainz,[4] who died to sanctify God’s name in the Crusades. These two endeavors unite in the enterprise of Rashbi, R. Akiva’s student,[5] who was pursued by the Romans because of his part in the insurrection, and he hid in a cave, where he occupied himself with the study of the mystical Torah.
In divine Providence there is a glorious historical coincidence of the events of national renewal and heroism in the contemporary era – Yom Ha-atzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim, which fall in the month of Iyar – and the events of heroism in the month of Iyar in the distant past.
Beyond the common denominator between the different events of gevura, there is an ingredient, additional and deeper, which is tied to Rashbi’s revelation of the esoteric discipline that R. Kook mentions in his dictum, and which we will try to understand.
Jewish heroism combines the spiritual and physical dimensions
There is an additional event which occurs in the month of Iyar: the anniversary of the war with Amalek (though we do not have the custom of marking the date): [6]
On the twenty-third of Iyar, they journeyed from Alush and came to Refidim, and there they were given a well, fought Amalek, and spent their second Shabbat.
The first war with Amalek occurred about a month after the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea. This war is the first event in history in which the Jewish people fought as a nation, not as a clan or tribe. In the course of this battle, Jewish national gevura was manifest.
This was no regular war. The Amalekite objective was to achieve territorial or economic aims, but to attack the Jewish people as they were, and to stop them on their way to the land of Israel and on their way to self-definition through receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The strategic objective motivating Amalek was, in a manner of speaking, “spiritual” — Amalek opposed Israel’s destiny in the world and wished to prevent the Jewish nation from reaching its land, thereby preventing its unique spiritual potential from being actualized.
- R. Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (“Netziv”) explains that the first war with Amalek was also designed to be a model for the Jewish nation’s conduct of its future wars:
Moshe wanted to show Israel the power of God’s providence over them even without a revealed miracle. Therefore this war unfolded naturally. [7]
According to Netziv, Moshe was commanded to direct all of the phases and components of this war so that we may learn from it for our natural wars in the future, without relying on a miracle.
The selection of combatants for the battle with Amalek, teaches us about the unique profile of the gevura of a warrior in Israel’s army through the generations. Moshe commands Yehoshua:
Select men for us, and go out and wage war upon Amalek. [8]
Rashi ad loc. explains:
Select men for us: men who are mighty and sin-fearing, so
that their merit will help us.
The two characteristic required for the Jewish army in order to fight Amalek are physical strength and spiritual circumspection. In Netziv’s commentary it is made clear that there is a connection between them; these aspects are not incompatible, but rather complementary:
“Select men for us” – mighty men, like in a natural war. The Targum has “strong in commandments”, i.e. mighty in the war of Torah, who are uniquely capable of natural war, as I have written a number of times. [9]
According to Netziv, the integration of natural physical military might with spiritual might and a fighting spirit stems from the fact that these are two sides of the same coin, of the aspect of the gevura of the soul, and therefore they are interdependent and complementary.
The unique martial model of the army of Israel finds expression in the waging of war against Amalek. [10] The echelon which conducted the war integrated the two elements, military might and spiritual power. Therefore, it was not Yehoshua, the field general, who led it but a combination of him and the spiritual leadership of Moshe, Aharon, and Hur. [11]
The actual fighting was also singularly conducted according to the model characteristic of Israel’s wars, combining operational combat, which works by natural means, with spiritual effort, prayer at the time of war, as Netziv writes:
However, in this place, when there was a temporary need of natural war, Moshe did as all Israel would act for all generations, and even in a time that they are confident that they will prevail in war, it is necessary to pray, as I wrote above. [12]
The gevura of Rabbi Akiva and his students
The paradigm established in the first Amalekite war was also applied in the Bar Kokhba’s war against the Romans. The heroic men who enlisted, R. Akiva’s students, were yeshiva students who worked on the attribute of gevura in their character, the gevura of Torah study, on the benches of the study hall. For them as well, the profile of the warrior was a “winning combination” of two qualities: one – spiritual fortitude, marshaling the power of the spirit and increasing spiritual might, and on the other hand, physical prowess, fighting battles in the regular sense. In this war as well, we see the combination of R. Akiva’s spiritual leadership in times of war alongside the military leadership of Bar Kokhba.
Granted, the Talmud (Yevamot 62b) points to the reason for the death of Rabbi Akiva’s students in a plague:
For they did not show respect to each other
However, R. Sherira Gaon, in his famous Epistle, explains that they died in the revolt against the Roman Empire due to their support for Bar Kokhba:
There was persecution (shemada) of the students.
This is also what Etz Yosef writes (commentary to Kohelet Rabba 11:6):
They all died in the war of Bar Kokhba between Pesach and Shavuot
Elsewhere we discussed that the Babylonian Talmud hides the nationalistic and martial aspects of Jewish holidays, Hanukah, the omer period, and Lag Ba-omer, out of fear of persecution by the nations of the world in our exile. However, there are many allusions scattered in the different sources which allow us to build a complete picture.
As our master and teacher R. Tzvi Yehuda Kook used to note the involvement of R. Akiva and his students (including Rashbi) in the Bar Kokhba revolt while noting that R. Akiva was the one on whose view the entire Oral Torah was decided. He stressed the compatibility of these two facts – his participation in the revolution stems from his greatness and his spiritual outlook:
Specifically because of his greatness in Torah, Rabbi Akiva participated, together with his students, in the war against the Romans, despite the great dangers and opposition of other sages. He himself took an active part, to the point that he became Bar Kokhba’s arms bearer. [13]
The gevura of R. Akiva’s students, formed in the study hall of the great academy of R. Akiva, was that which, at the time of need, comes to expression in enlisting in the rebellion and in their active combat against Rome. [14]
Gevura and the ability to contemplate hidden levels
There is an additional aspect of the gevura of R. Akiva and his students, connected to contemplation of deeper levels of reality and Torah, which average people are not capable of seeing. This as well the students learnt from their master.
- R. Akiva’s students lived in the period of the Destruction of the Temple, nation, and land, a period in which many gave up and lost hope. The gevura of R. Akiva’s students emanated from their ability to marshal spiritual fortitude and to strengthen their faith, which in turn gave them the ability to raise their heads and to rise up against the Romans. They did not succumb to the psychological tendency to give up and lose hope.
Two famous stories teach us about the unique Torah of Rabbi Akiva, based on pondering its deep and hidden levels. The first one is tied to his meditation on the Torah to reach deep insights:
- R. Yehuda said in the name of Rav: “When Moshe ascended on high, he found the Almighty sitting and tying crowns onto the letters [of the Torah]. He said: “Ruler of the Universe, who is holding back Your hand?” [God] answered: “There is a man who will appear after several generations, Akiva b. Joseph is his name. He will derives mounds of laws from every jot and tittle.” [Moshe] said: “Ruler of the Universe, show him to me.” [God] responded: “Turn around!”
Moshe went and sat in the eighteenth row [of R. Akiva’s class] and did not know what they were saying. He became depressed. When they arrived at a certain point, his students said to him: “Master, what is the source [for this ruling]?” He said, “It is a law of Moses from Sinai (halakha le-Moshe mi-Sinai).” [Moshe] was relieved. [15]
The second story relates to his contemplation of different levels of reality and the processes of redemption:
Another time R. Gamliel, R. Elazar b. Azarya, R. Joshua, and R. Akiva were ascending to Jerusalem. When they reached Mt. Scopus, they tore their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the place of the Holy of Holies. The others started weeping; Rabbi Akiva laughed.
Said they to him: "Why are you laughing?"
Said he to them: "Why are you weeping?"
Said they to him: "A place [so holy] that it is said of it, 'the stranger that approaches it shall die,' and now foxes traverse
it, and we shouldn't weep?"
Said he to them: "That is why I laugh. For it is written, 'I shall have bear testimony for Me faithful witnesses — Uriya the Priest and Zechariah b. Yeverekhya.’ Now what is the connection between Uriya and Zechariah? Uriya was [in the time of] the First Temple, and Zechariah was [in the time of] the Second Temple! But the Torah makes Zechariah's prophecy dependent upon Uriya's prophecy. Regarding Uriya, it is written: 'Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; [Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest.] With Zechariah it is written, 'Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem.' As long as Uriya's prophecy had not been fulfilled, I feared that Zechariah's prophecy may not be fulfilled either. But now that Uriya's prophecy has been fulfilled, it is certain that Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled."
With these words they replied to him: "Akiva, you have consoled us! Akiva, you have consoled us!" [16]
This can be explained in light of the teachings of R. Moshe Hayim Luzzatto (“Ramchal”) and R. Kook. [17] R. Akiva did not ignore the destruction on the overt level, and therefore he even rends his garments. [18] His laughter and joy, seeing the fox coming out of the Holy of Holies, emanates from his ability to perceive hidden levels, in which processes of redemption are taking place even as the signs of the distressing destruction are still evident on the most obvious level. R. Akiva does not need to see Uriya’s prophecy fulfilled in order to believe that Zechariah’s prophecy will be fulfilled. Rabbi Akiva comes to teach us that the prophecies are complementary: Uriya’s “Zion shall be plowed as a field” is the beginning of the process; Zechariah’s “Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem” is the completion of the process. The fulfillment of Uriya’s prophecy constitutes evidence of the beginning of the redemption process. Once the process begins, it will come to its fulfillment as delineated in Zechariah’s prophecy. In light of this, we may understand how R. Akiva succeeds in comforting the sages who ascended to Mt. Scopus: by showing them that indeed, the process has begun!
Rabbi Akiva teaches us that even if on the obvious level it appears that there is destruction, and therefore one must rend one’s garments, the prophecy of Uriya tells us that the fox’s emergence from the Holy of Holies is evidence of the beginning of the coalescence of the redemption process on a hidden level, and this is cause for jubilation.
This may also be the source of the gevura of the martyrs of the Crusades, that even in a situation of exile, when on the revealed layer everything appears lost and hopeless, they drew their power from the hidden level, in order to continue to cleave to the Torah with dedication and to sanctify God’s name.
In our beit midrash, we are accustomed to say that behavior of R. Akiva and his students during the Bar Kokhba revolt paved the way for spiritual activism, a way according to which one who believes in God is bound not only to realize intellectually the reality of the Creator, but also to translate the thought into action. As part of one’s link with God, he is obligated to contemplate reality and to attempt to identify the divine process by which God is currently directing the world. When one can identify this process, he sees an obligation incumbent upon him to become a partner, in a practical way, in advancing this process, in whatever way he may do so. Therefore, the spiritual activist is “acting in concert with God,” “a partner of the Holy One, Blessed be He, in the work of Creation.”
Rebirth and heroism in the previous generation
The events of the month of Iyar in our generation are similar in their character to the events of the past.
On Yom Ha-atzma’ut, we mark one of the most wonderful events of our time, the establishment of the State of Israel, “the first flowering of our redemption.” This is a state created by human effort and intense activism on the part of many Jews from different backgrounds, demonstrating gevura and dedication — but also by miracles from Heaven. This is a state which realizes the vision and dream of the generations, after two millennia of exile, reviving the political independence of the Jewish nation of yore. This is a state which proudly champions the destiny of the Jewish people and is the stage for the realization of that destiny.
Reflecting on the founding of the State of Israel from a theological viewpoint connects us to our past, to our Exodus from Egypt to the Land of Israel, in order to establish in it our unique government, as freemen; it also connects us to the war with Amalek, who sought to prevent this from happening, during which a paradigm of uniquely Jewish heroism was forged. It also connects us to R. Akiva and his students, who took their fate into their hands and set out to wage a heroic war against the Romans in order to merit spiritual and political independence. Even though they did not succeed, their legacy remains in our heart.
The State of Israel is a unique country, the integration of a conventional physical, political framework with a unique spiritual destiny. This fusion is expressed in the national symbol, a candelabrum flanked by two olive branches, taken from the prophecy of Zechariah:
And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubavel: ‘Not by force, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” [19]
The force and power of the physical plane are united with the spiritual plane: “‘Not by force, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
Since the establishment of the state, we have been in a constant existential battle. The battles to establish the State of Israel, from the War of Independence onward, have been waged by the people’s army, defending our country. In the Israel Defense Forces, we see the unique historical amalgamation of physical gevura in the battlefield with spiritual power beating in the heart – between human action and God’s guiding miracles. We have seen this in the War of Independence and in all of Israel’s conflicts.
On Yom Yerushalayim, we mark the State of Israel’s connection to holiness. With the liberation of Jerusalem in the Six Day War, with the announcement, “The Temple Mount is in our hands,” we were linked once again to the Holy of Holies, to the Temple. This sanctity unifies the Jewish nation, charged to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Once the city was unified, another prophecy of Zechariah’s was realized: “Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem.” However, this process is still not complete; the Temple has not yet been rebuilt.
In the month of Iyar, between Yom Ha-atzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim, there is a profound progression: from the first step of creating a political foundation for which we thank God on Yom Ha-atzma’ut, to the deep, inner stage of connecting to holiness, which we mark on Yom Yerushalayim.
Throughout the state’s existence, we have known days of high spirits and jubilation, but we also knew days of distress. There are still more than a few daily problems. For some, these issues cause despair and prevent them from seeing the power and greatness inherent in the State of Israel’s very existence. It causes them to doubt that it is “the first flowering of our redemption.” As a remedy, we must adopt R. Kook’s counsel: contemplate the situation in a profound and penetrating manner, which we have learnt from Rashbi’s teachings. This will allow us to see the deeper implications of reality, to perceive how redemption forms and advances.
[1] Rema in Shulchan Arukh, OC 493:3, “Gloss — however in a number of places there is the custom to cut hair until Rosh Hodesh Iyar, and those may not cut hair from Lag Ba-omer and on, even though it is permissible to cut hair on Lag Ba-omer itself. Those places where they cut hair from Lag Ba-omer and on, they should not cut hair at all after Pesach until Lag Ba-omer.”
[2] Kehillat Yaakov, based on R. Hayim Vital’s glosses on the Zohar, Shemot 11b, noting that the numerical value of Iyar (1+10+10+200) is “Da gevura” ([4+1] + [3+2+6+200+5]). In his Igra De-khala, R. Tzvi Elimelekh Spira of Dinev, author of Benei Yissaskhar, nter alia, writes (Noach 11) that while Marcheshvan embodies the aspect of female gevura, Iyar embodies the aspect of male gevura.
[3] R. Kook, Meged Yerachim, monthly dicta for the “Eretz Ha-tzvi” calendar from the year 5674 (1913-14).
[4] In Iyar of 4856 (1096), c. 12,000 Jews were killed in Europe during the First Crusade, due to their refusal to convert to Christianity.
[5] The Rambam writes (Introduction to Commentary on the Mishna): “Throughout the Mishna, the Rabbi Shimon mentioned without any other title or patronymic is Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, Rabbi Akiva’s student, whose issue with the emperor is well-known.”
[6] Seder Olam Rabba, ch. 5.
[7] Ha’amek Davar, Shemot 17:9.
[8] Shemot 17:9.
[9] Ha’amek Davar, ad loc.
[10] God rearranged nature: paradoxically, specifically Amalek, which hoped to take advantage of the Israelites’ weakness and defeat it due to their laxity in Torah study, taught them for all generations that the model for success – combining spiritual power and physical prowess.
[11] Similarly, the mishna Rosh Hashana 3:8 states: “‘When Moshe would raise his hands, Israel would prevail…’ (Shemot 17:11) — do Moshe's hands make war or break it? This tells you that as long as Israel would look skyward and subjugate their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they would overpower them; if not, they would fall." The mishna indicates that not only Moshe, Aharon, and Hur raised their hands in prayer; the Israelites “would look skyward and subjugate their hearts to their Father in Heaven” – even the combatants, to the extent that the battle raging around them allowed, “would look skyward” in prayer, and in this merit “they would overpower them” in combat. Their prayer acted through a number of spiritual channels, drawing forth God’s help and strengthening their spirit and resolve during battle.
[12] Harhev Davar on v. 11, no. 1. The words of Netziv are explained in Rinna shel Torah on ch. 4 of Shir Ha-shirim, based on Berakhot 53b: “Said R. Nehorai to him: ‘I swear to you by heaven that it is so. The proof is that while the common soldiers advance and open the battle, it is the seasoned warriors who go down to win the victory!'”
Shlomo composed a perfect and sublime song… it is based on the wars that Israel would wage against its neighbors… and before I begin to explain it, we should explain what is the way and the direction of Israel in war and their return from war… At first, the common soldiers would weaken the enemy opposite them, but they were not the main combat body. These were instead the pedigreed Israelites who would go down to war. Since [the common soldiers] were not Torah scholars and were not filled with the fear of God, in the manner of those with long hair, they would only engage at first to weaken their opponents. Afterwards, the seasoned warriors would overwhelm them, and they were all righteous and experts in Torah, illustrious in Israel as known in the days of David, etc.
See also v. 2: “‘Your teeth’ – these are the war heroes who are the main victors… and the parable is that the heroes were all righteous and were washed in repentance from any sins… This is how they explained in the Midrash that Israel’s master soldiers were careful even about the minor commandments and did not don their head tefillin prior to their arm tefillin…”
[13] This appears in R. Zvi Yehuda’s published lectures, Lag Ba-omer 5733.
[14] See at length below.
[15] Menahot 29b, Ein Yaakov version, no. 2.
[16] Makkot 24b.
[17] Ramchal, Da’at Tevunot, chs. 124 and 146; Kelah Pithei Hokhma, chs. 1 and 30; R. Kook, Orot Ha-kodesh III, p. 341; Iggerot Ha-re’aya III:819; Ma’amarei Ha-re’aya III, pp. 324, 360.
[18] See Maharsha ad loc.
[19] Zechariah 4:2-6.