Spiritual Energy of the Month: Cherishing
Cheshvan 5785: Nightfall Friday, Nov 1, 2024- Sunday, 30th of Cheshvan
Pronunciation: HESH-von
Wellness Area: Integration
Astrological Sign: Akrav / Scorpio
Hebrew Letter: נ Nun
Holidays
Jewish Mother’s Day, the day of Matriarch Rachel’s passing
(evening of Monday, November 11th
Sigd, the Ethiopian Jewish commemoration of receiving the Torah
(evening of Friday, November 29 2024)
Adamah Guide to Jewish Time
Risa Alyson Cooper
Cheshvan is a time to exhale. It is a time to let go of the energetic build-up of Elul… to release after the spiritual work on Tishrei.
Cheshvan is also called Mar-Cheshvan. Mar can have different meanings, but some write that Cheshvan is given the title mar (“bitter”) because it is the only month in the Hebrew calendar that does not contain any holidays.
I personally find such sweetness in the absence of celebration… in the quiet moments that offer space for reflection and internalization. I remember the first time I planted garlic. [My teacher] taught us that we plant in the fall - that garlic prefers to spend the winter months dormant beneath the ground. Garlic is a plant that honours the need to go inward; that celebrates cycles of dormancy to balance phases of growth and abundance.
In the same ways, Cheshvan celebrates stillness and quiet. It is a month to be small. A month to be silent. A month to internalize, to integrate, to centre. Cheshvan is a time to exhale. It is a necessary balancing to the fullness of the breath.
דְּתַנְיָא בִּשְׁנַת שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה לְחַיֵּי נֹחַ בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בְּשִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם שִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּאִיָּיר... רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם שִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּמַרְחֶשְׁוָן....
As it is taught in a baraita: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month....” (Gen. 7:11). Rabbi Yehoshua says: That day was the seventeenth of Iyyar [the second month from Nisan].... Rabbi Eliezer says: That day was the seventeenth of Marcheshvan [the second month from Tishrei].
דא"ר חנינה שמות חדשים עלו בידם מבבל.... בראשונה (מלכים א ו׳:ל״ח) בירח בול שבו העלה נובל והארץ עשויה בולות בולות. שבו בוללים לבהמה מתוך הבית.
As Rabbi Hanina said, the names of the months came up with [the Israelite exiles] from Babylonia.... Originally [the second month from the New Year was]“in the month of Bul” (1 Kgs 6:37), when the leaves are falling, and the earth is made into lumps, and one gives fodder to domestic animals inside the house.
You find that from that time until Solomon erected the Temple, it rained continuously for forty days each year as a reminder of the waters of the flood that lasted forty days. After Solomon completed the Temple, he pleaded for mercy on behalf of [Israel], and the continuous rains ceased, as it says: “And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul” (I Kings 6:38). What does “in the month of Bul” mean? It refers to the month when domestic animals are given fodder from inside the house.
בְּיֶרַח בּוּל. הוּא מַרְחֶשְׁוָן.
“In the month of Bul.” This is Marcheshvan.
'What’s the Truth about… “Mar Cheshvan” ?', Rabbi Dr Ari Z. Zivotofsky for jewishaction.com
Misconception: The complete and correct name for the month following Tishrei is Cheshvan, and it is a quaint tradition to call it Mar Cheshvan because it is bitter (Hebrew: mar) due to its lack of holidays.
Fact: The correct name for this fall month is the one word Marcheshvan / M’rachsh’van (Aruch Hashulchan, Even Ha’ezer 126:17).
Background: The Bible usually refers to the months by their ordinal numbers, although occasional ancient Israelite names are also used. The currently used Jewish names for the months were imported from Bavel (Babylonia), and many of them appear in post-exilic books of the Bible. Some of these are derived from the names of ancient gods, such as Tammuz which is thought to come from the Assyrian Du-mu-zu, an Egyptian god, and is mentioned as the name of an idol in Ezekiel (8:14).
Marcheshvan is probably derived from its location in the calendar. In Akkadian (Babylonian/Assyrian), “w” (vav) and “m” (mem) sounds can interchange. As a result, Marcheshvan which is from the two words “m’rach” and “shvan,” would have been “warh” and “shman,” in Akkadian, corresponding to the Hebrew “yerech shmini,” thus “eighth month.” In the Yemenite tradition, the name of the month is pronounced Marach-sha’wan, not Mar-cheshvan as in the Ashkenazic tradition, and this would seem to preserve a greater fidelity to the original.
Older sources attest to the name as being the longer name Marcheshvan / M’rachshwan (as opposed to just Cheshvan). When the eighth month is mentioned in the Mishnah and Talmud, it is referred to as Marcheshvan. A few examples include: Taanit 1:3,4; Pesachim 94b; and Rosh Hashanah 7a; 11b. Throughout all of Rashi’s Biblical and Talmudic commentary, he also refers to the month as Marcheshvan. A few examples are: Rosh Hashanah 11b, s.v. v’azda l’tamahu; 16a s.v. D’miz’daran; Beitzah 40a, s.v. bir’vi’ah. The Rambam and Ibn Ezra (commentary to Leviticus 25:9) also use the complete name.
This misconception has halachic implications. Since the mistaken practice of simply calling the month Cheshvan is so widespread, either Cheshvan or the two word Mar Cheshvan is now acceptable, post-facto, if erroneously used in a legal document such as a get (Aruch Hashulchan, Even Ha’ezer 127:17) ...