Question: I see that some people refer to the month of Cheshvan as Marcheshvan. Which name is correct?
Nachman M.
(Via E-Mail)
Synopsis: Biblically, months are referred to numerically. The Jewish exiles adopted the Babylonian names for the lunar months during the Babylonian exile, and in the Prophets and Ketuvim, we see those names as well. Most months’ names are mentioned in Tractate Rosh Hashanah, but Marcheshvan – not Cheshvan – is mentioned in Ta’anit (10a), in the discussion between Rabban Gamaliel and the Tanna Kamma about the time to start requesting rain. Rabbi Sperling (Sefer Ta’amei Ha’Minhagim U’mekorei Hadinim, Inyanei Simchat Torah, siman 836) stresses using the name Marcheshvan when blessing the new month, explaining that “mar” (a drop of rain) refers to the Heavenly decree that from the time of the Mabul, the Great Flood, there will always be heavy rains this month (Midrash Tanchuma, Parshat Noach 11). The Midrash (Yalkut to Melachim) tells how this 40-day period of rain ceased when King Solomon built the Holy Temple.
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Answer: There are halachic implications as to the exact name of the month, including when writing a get (a Jewish divorce document) to be given in that month. Rema (Even Ha’ezer 126:6) states that one is required to write Marcheshvan, spelled with one vav. When writing a ketubah (a marriage contract), though, while not an absolute requirement, the full name Marcheshvan is used as well. Others are scrupulous when blessing the new month to refer to its name as Marcheshvan, rather than Cheshvan.
Another reason for the name Marcheshvan is that this is the only month that contains no festival or significant commemoration (this includes those months that are only marked by a fast day which commemorates a tragic national event); thus, the name Cheshvan is prefaced with the term mar, which also translates as bitter. Important to note is that Elul, as well, does not have any significant commemoration, yet that entire month bears a strong connection to the following month, Tishrei, as together they are the Biblically inspired period of teshuvah – repentance.
Indeed, a number of tragic events occurred during this month. The flood of Noah’s time began on the 7th of Marcheshvan. The Babylonians slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah, the last king of Judea, and then blinded Zedekiah as they carried him away in chains to Babylonia. On the 11th of Marcheshvan is the yahrzeit (date of death) of our matriarch Rachel. The 15th of Marcheshvan marks the date Jeroboam ben Nebat, first king of the newly divided Israelite kingdom, created his own festival in violation of Torah law. His festival corresponded to Sukkot, and his intent was to keep the people under his rule from going up to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
In a baraita (Rosh Hashanah 11b), R. Eliezer states that the day the flood commenced was the 17th of Marcheshvan. He also explains the verse in Parashat Noach (Genesis 7:11) that refers to the second month: Marcheshvan is actually the eighth month (counting from Nissan), but the reference is to the second month of judgment. Torah Temima explains that the judgment for the flood was sealed during the previous month – Tishrei.
After many years of learning Ba’al HaTurim, the almost unique purveyor of gematria – using numeric values of letters and other arrangements of letters (first letters of words or last letters) in interpretations and discussion – I, too, have observed some interesting gematriot. The phrase “zayin b’marcheshvan” according to its letters – zayyin, bet, mem, resh, chet, shin, vav, and nun – equals 613, corresponding to the Taryag mitzvot. These also correspond to the sum of the 248 eivarim and 365 gid’im (lit., limbs and veins in every human). Indeed, without drops of rain (mar), man surely cannot exist, and consequently there would be no kiyum ha’mitzvot (fulfillment of the commandments).
Additionally, the number of letters in the seasonal request for rain recited within Shemoneh Esrei’s blessing Mevarech Hashanim – “Ve’ten tal u’matar l’vracha” – totals 14: vav, taf, nun, tet, lamed, vav, mem, tet, resh, lamed, bet, resh, kaf, and heh. There are 14 letters in the phrase “she’al mi’shiva Marcheshvan – request from the seventh day of Marcheshvan: shin, alef, lamed, mem, shin, bet, ayin, heh, mem, resh, chet, shin, vav, and nun.
Finally, another relevant gematria sum that also totals 613 and relates to the baraita (Rosh Hashanah 11b) we quoted above is the phrase “Din mayyim l’hachayot” – The judgment of water to sustain life (daled, yud, nun, mem, yud, mem, lamed, heh, chet, yud, vav, and taf). Indeed, Noah’s unusual merit was that in spite of the harshness of the flood waters that served as G-d’s tool for exacting His judgment, his life as well as the lives of his wife, his sons, and their wives were sustained via the same waters in a positive judgment to ensure human continuity
Let us pray that all our judgments, especially as relates to the current difficulties our people are facing – in Eretz Yisrael, here in America, as well as throughout the Diaspora – be overturned for good, and may we all anticipate a year of health and prosperity and above all, the peaceful times of Mashiach.