The first day of Rosh Chodesh (new month) Cheshvan (eighth Hebrew month) is really the last day of Tishrei (seventh Hebrew month). It’s Lamed (thirty) Tishrei. And we’re beginning the month of Mar Cheshvan (bitter Cheshvan). The month of Mar Cheshvan, we all know, is a month that has no Yom Tovim (festival days). And some of our shem say that the reason for that is because the Torah wants us to be able to internalize the lessons of the month of Tishrei.
The Gemara says that the month of Tishrei is called a strong month. It brings a pasuk (verse) in Melachim (Kings): Yerach HaEtanim. The month of the strong ones. So the Gemara gives one explanation: it’s because there are so many mitzvot (commandments), so many mitzvot, that we have Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Feast of Booths). It’s just so full of mitzvot. Then comes the month of Cheshvan, which is a month to internalize, to make it a part of us.
My son-in-law quoted some Hasidic; we say that it’s called “the lips keep moving.” The Gemara says that after a person davens and then needs to go into the bathroom, right? The Gemara says, “Wait enough time to walk four amot (cubits)”—a few seconds. The Gemara asks, “Why?” Because for a few seconds, the tefillah (prayer) is still on your lips. It’s still reverberating. So the idea is that you’re living the mitzvot. You’re living all these mitzvot. Okay? And therefore, the month of Cheshvan is a month to let things sink in.
Certainly, the first day of Rosh Chodesh is the end of Tishrei. But I was thinking this morning, as we were doing Hallel (praise): the Hallel of Rosh Chodesh is different from the Hallel we had during Sukkot. During Sukkot we had a Hallel shalem (full Hallel) for all eight days, and in Chutz La’aretz (outside the Land of Israel) it’s nine days. And here, today, we got a chatzi Hallel (half Hallel). So perhaps one of the ideas is that it’s a soft landing. Shad is that we’ve had the intensity of the month of Tishrei. And here, before we enter Mar Cheshvan, at the end of Tishrei, we should continue with a certain sense of Tishrei, but go down gradually.
And perhaps that is a lesson that is important in many aspects of life. That is, very often we have a high, and there are very special occasions and things that take place. We have to be able to not just stop abruptly, because that, to a certain extent, then breaks the continuity. But rather, what we should do is gradually take things down. That has application in many, many things that we do, and especially with children, because an abrupt change is kind of an almost shocking change.
And therefore, perhaps the chinuch (education) that our calendar teaches us is: take it down, but gradually, little by little, so that the effects are still there, you can still deal with it, and little by little take it with you to carry on. With that, we should have a Chodesh Tov, and we’ll talk a little bit more about Cheshvan, Im Yirtzeh Hashem (if Hashem wills), tomorrow.