Hodesh Tov.
I can’t help but discuss timely, seasonal topics such as holidays. I recently received some nice feedback. I got a text from someone who said they appreciated all the holiday mindset classes and the great guidance they provided, so hopefully, people like to hear about timely topics.
We are now in Rosh Hodesh Heshvan. Heshvan is called MarHeshvan, which according to most, is translated as Bitter Heshvan. That’s an interesting way to title a month. It’s not a nice, happy way to start off after the holiday season. There are different explanations for this.
The first reason that Heshvan is referred to as Mar/bitter is that it’s month without a holiday. Every month has something in it, one way or another, but Heshvan has nothing- not the month of Elul, Not Purim, not Tu B’av, or Tu B’Shevat- there’s nothing going on now. We have a break after all the holidays. (More on this, with a happy twist, later)
Another reason, explains Rav Chaim Pilaggi, is that Mar can mean “drop” as in a drop of water like in the pasuk כמר מדלי - a drop in a bucket, like a drop of rain. This is the month that we pray for rain in Israel, and we switched to Mashiv Haruach outside of Israel, so it’s the month that rain should come down. That’s another reason we say Mar.
The third reason is that the word MarHeshvan or Merahshevan, means
“to murmur,” or some type movement of the lips, (and this is the Aramaic term for movement.) The Hidushei HaRim says that our lips are still murmuring with the feelings of the holidays. The songs and the selichot of the holidays might still be in our months. Heshvan might be without holidays because we got so much in Tishre; It’s almost like we are getting a month for review. Anytime we reach great heights, we should stop and review all the good lessons we learned, before going on to the next topic. So we should reflect on all the great lessons of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Hoshana Raba and Shemini Aseret. There were a lot of great lessons. We should review all of this, and keep it in our mouths, and that will give Heshvan its power.
One further piece of information is needed to tie this all together. We aren’t Kabbalists, but many Siddurim have the twelve months of the year corresponding to twelve different ways you can scramble Hashem’s name. Every month has a corresponding pesuk, each of which includes words that create an acronym of Hashem’s name, in various arrangements of the letters.
Nissan, the strongest month, has the pasuk:
ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ -“The heavens are happy and the earth is happy.” This is the ultimate. Each word of that pasuk starts with a letter of Hashem’s name.
Tammuz, a negative month, has the pasuk that we mentioned recently, when Haman says – “All of this is worthless to me”(וכל) זה איננו שוה לי
Each of the last letters of these words are Hashem’s name, spelled backward.
So, every month has a pasuk, with letters that, in different orders, spell the name of G-d.
The words for Heshvan are
וּדְבָשׁ: הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְדֹוָד
Heshvan is the only month where the hint is straddled over two Pesukim. This is strange. Couldn’t they find a whole pasuk with this acronym? Why is it split?
Look at what it means. It’s a beautiful lesson.
The first Pasuk says,
כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲבֹתֵינוּ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ:
After we gave all our tithes and did everything right, G- d looked down from the heavens and blessed the land like he promised- a land of milk and honey.
Then it says, in the next pasuk,
הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְדֹוָד אֱלֹהֶיךָ מְצַוְּךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה וְאֶת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים וְשָׁמַרְתָּ וְעָשִׂיתָ אוֹתָם בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשֶׁךָ:
Today, G-d commands you to do this now with a full heart and full soul.
The rabbis say reason this hint is straddled over two pesukim is that the first part ודבש (And honey) is regarding the previous month. The honey represents the sweet flavor of Tishre, when we dipped the apple in the honey.
Our job is to take the sweet flavor of Tishre and extend it into Heshvan, and the long winter months.
The next part says,
הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְדֹוָד אֱלֹהֶיךָ מְצַוְּךָ
G-d is commanding us now.
We have to start the new season right. We have to remember what we did, what we accepted, the closeness we felt, and try to keep it going during the month of Heshvan.
So take out your old notes, your old thoughts, and try to take it into real life, in the month of Heshvan.
Hodesh Tov