The Character of the Month of Iyar

We are used to thinking that heroism is first and foremost to fight and to win. This is true, but it is not the whole story. There are situations in our history in which our fathers could have saved their lives, but only by giving up our life – they would have had to give up their identity, their faith, and who they are. The martyrs of the communities stood precisely at these moments, and chose not to give up. They understood that there are things without which life itself is emptied of meaning. Their heroism was the ability to remain faithful even when there is no way to be saved. Years after the passing of Rav Kook, further layers were added to the month of Iyar, and it became a month of heroism, in which, alongside remembrance and pain, there is the heroism of those who fight so that we may live here.