His pen name was given to him by the poet and editor Yitzhak Lamdan, when in 1938 he published Yizhar's first story Ephraim Goes Back to Alfalfa in his literary journal Galleons.
O seu nome literario deullo o poeta e editor Yitzhak Lamdan, cando en 1938 editou a primeira historia de Yizhar, O regreso de Ephraim a Alfalfa no seu xornal literario.