Mar Cheshvan

As the next month in the Jewish calendar after Tishrei, Cheshvan, or more commonly known as Mar Cheshvan approaches, it is almost quite jarring. We are coming off the backs of joyous, spiritual holidays, most recently Simchat Torah, a holiday centered on the joyous celebration of the Torah, full of dancing, drinking and overall happiness only to be followed by a month called “Bitter Cheshvan”. We’ve just spent the last month focused on festivities to then go silent?

What is this about?

The name Mar Cheshvan can almost pay homage to the “comedown” after all of the recent joyous Jewish holidays. It is also interestingly the only Jewish month without a holiday or a fast day. After Tishrei, Cheshvan can feel empty. But there is another interpretation of Mar, the “bitterness” of the month that’s a bit more understandable. During the month of Tishrei, at the end of the holiday of Sukkot during the morning prayers is when we begin asking for rain, and as we know, rain is nourishing. Thus, we have two Cheshvans – the nourishing version of the beginning of a rainy season and the “comedown” month after all of our festivities.

This begs the question – can we bring the holiness of Tishrei and all of the festivities it has brought into Cheshvan? Perhaps a way to view the next phase in the Jewish calendar is to instead consider Cheshvan a transitional month, rather than a bitter month. We’ve been immersed in prayer, holiness, celebration and retrospection. There are no specific limitations within our celebrations of Tishrei whereas Cheshvan is the transitional month before Chanukah, a darker, colder, holiday season where we have to grasp to bring the light into the darkness. The challenge of Cheshvan is therefore clear, knowing Chanukah follows. We are the proudest Jewish version of ourselves celebrating within the month of Tishrei, most recently Simchat Torah, and Cheshvan challenges us to hold onto that Judaism as we approach Chanukah which requires us to carry within us the light of our Judaism in the colder, darker months ahead.

Rather than viewing Mar Cheshvan as a simple month, a bitter month, a holiday-less month, let us view it as an important part of the Jewish calendar. It acts as a bridge between the highs of Tishrei, and the lights of Chanukah, giving us the opportunity to carry what we celebrated into our everyday lives.

May we merit to see the holiest days with the coming of Moshiach but, until then, happy pre-Chanukah from Judaica.com!