Iyar
MONTHS
Iyar
About
Iyar is the eight month of the Hebrew year (or the second month when counting from Nissan). Like all Hebrew months, the name Iyar is of Babylonian origin, corresponding to the constellation of the Ox (Taurus), visible in the night sky during this lunar month. Iyar usually overlaps the solar months of April and May.
Iyar’s original name is Ziv, which can be translated as “shine,” “radiance,” or “glow,” as seen in the Bible:
“In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv—that is, the second month.” (I Kings, 6:1)
Tribe
TRIBE
Issachar
Issachar was a scholar, dedicated to study and education. Scholarship is important not only for the scholar, but for everyone as the scholar is able to provide others with direction and clarity. While he sat and studied, he was supported by his brother Zebulon.
Because Yoseph was such a great person, his father Jacob blessed him with two tribes under the leadership of his two sons Ephraim and Menashe (Manasseh).
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL’S MIRACULOUS RETURN
From Germany to The Land of Israel.
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LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL’S MIRACULOUS RETURN
From Burma to The Land of Israel.
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Stone
Sapphire
Iyar’s stone in the High Priest’s breastplate is the Sappir (Sapphire)
Bible Verse
“מִי-שָׁמַע כָּזֹאת, מִי רָאָה כָּאֵלֶּה–הֲיוּחַל אֶרֶץ בְּיוֹם אֶחָד, אִם-יִוָּלֵד גּוֹי פַּעַם אֶחָת: כִּי-חָלָה גַּם-יָלְדָה צִיּוֹן, אֶת-בָּנֶיהָ.”
Mi-shama kazot, mi ra’ah ka’elleh–hayuchal eretz beyom echad, im-yivvaled goy pa’am echat: ki-chalah gam-yaledah tziyyon, et-baneiha.
Can a nation be born in a day? Yet Zion travailed and at once bore her children!
Isaiah 66:8
Holidays
Yom HaZikaron/
Israel’s Memorial Day
(IYAR 4)
On the day before Israel’s Independence Day, the nation remembers the Israel Defense Forces soldiers and civilian victims of terror who sacrificed their lives for the State of Israel.
Yom Ha’atzmaut /
Israel’s Independence Day
(IYAR 5)
Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrates the day the State of Israel was declared independent in May 1948. Today it is celebrated with fireworks and barbecues.
Lag Ba’Omer
(IYAR 18)
On this 33rd day of the omer, a plague that affected thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students (2nd century CE), ended. This day is also a celebration of the life of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the father of Judaism’s mystical tradition. The gathering at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon in Meron is the most popular Jewish event in the world.
Yom Yerushalayim
/ Jerusalem Day
(IYAR 28)
Yom Yerushalayim marks the miraculous reunification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War of June 1967.
Notable Dates in the Month of Iyar
10 Iyar
(2870/2871 BCE)
Death of Eli the High Priest and his two sons
28 Iyar
(1012 BCE)
Death of Samuel the Prophet. Many visit his tomb at Ramah, north of Jerusalem.
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