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I read the following on page 141, in The Wisdom In The Hebrew Months:

The first letters of the last three words of this verse, אני י-ה-ו-ה רפאך, I am Hashem, your Healer, are an acronym for Iyar.

Is any source that says that אייר stands for אני י-ה-ו-ה רפאך?

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    Actually Iyar is spelled with two Yuds. judaism.stackexchange.com/a/28460/759
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 20:55
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    I wouldnt put too much faith in it considering that the names of the hebrew months are borrowed from non-Jewish Babylonian sources. Then again, that didnt stop the Tur from expounding the roshei teivit of "Elul".
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 21:43
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    "Is any source": you mean, besides The Wisdom In The Hebrew Months?
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 4:40

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See Chasam Sofer on Shabbos 147b, http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=21655&st=&pgnum=80.

That the names of the months come from the Babylonians, so what? The name Amraphel comes from Babylonian or some similar language, but it is darshened as having a Hebrew meaning. Same with Sancheriv and lots of other examples.

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    Welcome to Mi Yodeya Shamiach! thank you for your answer. Consider learning more about this website by taking this brief tour: judaism.stackexchange.com/tour. For general help see judaism.stackexchange.com/help. For info. about answering questions see for example here: judaism.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer. Hope to see you around the site.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 1:32
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    What was your intent with the Chassam Sofer, I don't see how it addressed the question. Your whole answer should perhaps be a comment rather than an answer as the the question was specifically looking for a source for the drasha about iyar (which I didnt see in the link, forgive me if it was there).
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 1:32
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    @mevaqesh: Chiddushei Torah asked for a source; it's been provided. How does that not answer the question?
    – Shamiach
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 15:11
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    @Shamiach I guess I didnt see it in 147b. All I saw was the general drasha of choshei hashana. It could be I just missed it.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 23:25
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In addition to the Chasam Sofer already quoted, another source is the Shaar Yisachar in the name of "holy seforim", who addresses kabbalistically why the acronym holds despite the halacha that Iyar is written with two yuds.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains the concept at length here.

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Building on what mevaqesh said. The names are borrowed directly from the pagan Babylonians. Some of them are actually names of foreign gods. Like the month of Tammuz, mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14. I don't know if Iyyar happens to be a name of a foreign god, but maybe you could look into that. But I can guarantee you that when the Babylonians decided on naming the month Iyyar, there was zero possibility that it had anything to do with the tetragrammaton, or the Israelite people. Therefore, I doubt there's any reliable source that says that Iyaar stands for a phrase from the Pentateuch containing the tetragrammaton.

If you would like to know what the Bible called the month of Iyyar, it's called זו as is mentioned in 1 Kings 6. Maybe you can write the author of The Wisdom in the Hebrew Months and ask him what significance זו has.

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  • While true, this doesn't seem to answer the question.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 23:32
  • Ah, maybe i'm ignorant for how this board works. So if we know something is false, regardless of the question, proving falsehood isn't the point, the point is that we are supposed to only focus on answering the question?
    – Aaron
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 23:34
  • What exactly have you proven false that is relevant to the question? In general, answering what was asked is a good strategy.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 1:25
  • @DoubleAA Good now?
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 4:40
  • @msh210 It answers the question now, but I don't think it's what the author intended. I think he intended to claim that whether or not there is some source, any such word-association is meaningless/post-facto.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 4:43

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