THE MONTH OF IYAR

RECTIFYING THE SENSE OF THOUGHT

Letter: Vav
Tribe: Isaachar
Sense: Thought (hirhur)
Bodily part: Right kidney
Permutation: Yud/Heh/Heh/Vav
Constellation (mazal): Taurus - ox / bull (shor)

"He made the letter Vav king over thought, and He tied a crown to it, and He combined one with another, and with them He formed Taurus in the Universe, Iyar in the Year, and the right kidney in the Soul, male and female." (Sefer Yetzira 5:7)

What is the meaning of the name Iyar?
"And He said, 'if you will diligently hear the voice of Hashem your G-d, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon Mitzrayim: for I am Hashem your healer.'" (Exodus 15:26)

MONTH OF BEGINNINGS:

The first census of the Jewish people in the desert began on the first of Iyar:
"And Hashem spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinay, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Mitzrayim, saying, 'Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Yisrael, after their families, by the houses of their fathers, by the number of names, every male by their polls.'" (Bamidbar 1:1-2)

The building of the first Temple was on Rosh Chodesh Iyar:
"…in the month of Ziv, which is the second month of Shlomo's reign, that he began to build the house of the L-rd." (Kings 1 6:1)

When Jews returned from the Babylonian exile they began work on the construction of the second Holy Temple on the first of Iyar:
Now in the second year of their coming to the house of G-d in Yerushalayim, in the second month, began Zerubbavel, the son of She'alti'el, and Yeshua, the son of Yozadaq, and the remnant of their brothers, the Cohanim and the Levites; and all they who were come out of the captivity to Yerushalyim; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upwards, to superintend the work of the house of Hashem. (Ezra 3:8)

THE MANNA:

The manna started to fall for the generation who wandered in the wilderness on the fifteenth of Iyar: "And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their going out of the land of Mitzrayim… Then said the Eternal unto Moshe, ' Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and collect a certain rate every day, that I may try them, whether they will walk in my law or not.'"(Shemot 16:1 and 16:4)

ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY- The day of this encampment is especially mentioned because on that day there came to an end the cake (provisions) they had brought with them from Egypt and they now needed the manna, thus informing us that the remains of the dough they had prepared in Egypt they ate for sixty-one meals. For the manna fell for them on the sixteenth day of Iyar, which was the first day of the week, just as it stated in Treatise Sabbath (87b) (Rashi Shemot 16:1)

"And Moshe said, ' This is the thing which Hashem commands: Fill an omer of it for a charge throughout your generations, that they may see the bread which I have given you to eat in the desert, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.'" (Shemot 16:32)

FOR YOUR GENERATIONS e.g., in the days of Jeremiah: when Jeremiah was rebuking them (the people), saying, "Why do you not engage yourselves with the Torah?", and they answered him, "Shall we leave our work and engage ourselves with the Torah? From where shall we earn a living?" He brought out to them the cruse of manna and said to them, (Jer. 2:31) "O Generation, see you the thing of Hashem!" It is not said "Hear the word" but "See the thing"! This thing is what your fathers were fed with. The Omnipresent G-d has many messengers (many means) to provide food for those who fear Him. (Rashi 16:32)

THE TRIBE OF THE MONTH: "ISAACHAR"

"And of the children of Yissachar, men who have understanding of the times, to know what Yisrael ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brothers were at their commandment." (Chronicles 1 12:33)

THE SENSE OF THOUGHT

"…That we may be cleansed from the husks that obscure our essence and be purified from our uncleanliness." (Sidur Tefila, Seder Sfirat HaOmer)

How do the parshiot we read this month tie in with the theme of the month?

THE BODILY PART RIGHT KIDNEY

Our sages say, "The kidneys give advice." (Brachot 61a)

"I will bless Hashem who advised me, even by night my kidneys chastise me." (Tehillim 16:7)

CONSTELLATION (MAZAL) : TAURUS - OX / BULL - SHOR

What is the connection between the month of Iyar and the Bull ?
"The bull knows its master, the mule the stall of its master, Israel did not know, my people did not contemplate." (Yeshauyahu 1:3)

The element of Taurus is earth.

HOLIDAYS IN THE MONTH OF IYAR:

The Fifth of Iyar
Pesach Sheni
Lag B'Omer
Yom Yerushalayim