Marcheshvan (Hebrew: , <small>Standard</small> , <small>Tiberian</small> ; from Akkadian , literally, 'eighth month'), generally shortened to Cheshvan (, <small>Standard</small> <small>Tiberian</small> ), is the second month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei), and the eighth month of the ecclesiastical year (which starts on 1 Nisan) on the Hebrew calendar.

In a regular () year, Marcheshvan has 29 days, but because of the Rosh Hashanah postponement rules, in some years, an additional day is added to Marcheshvan to make the year a "full" () year. Marcheshvan occurs in October–November in the Gregorian calendar.

The Hebrew Bible, before the Babylonian Exile, refers to the month as Bul (). In Sidon, the reference to is also made on the Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II dated to the early 5th century BC.

Etymology

Compared to its Akkadian etymon , the name displays the same lenition of ungeminated to found in other month names (Tammuz traditionally contains mem with dagesh). Uniquely to this name the initial has also changed to , giving the overall effect of a metathesis.

In the modern form, with the connection to the roots w-r-ḥ ('moon', 'month') and š-m-n ('eight') no longer apparent, the first two letters (mar) have been re-interpreted as the Hebrew word for 'bitter', alluding to the fact that the month has no holidays or fasts. In other contexts, the word is attributed to mean droplet, associating this month with the rainy season.

Events

  • 7 Marcheshvan: The prayer ('deliver dew and rain') is added to the Shemoneh Esrei prayers in Israel. If no rain has fallen by the 17th of the month, special prayers are added for rain.

In Jewish history and tradition

  • 8 Marcheshvan (A.D.66) – Jewish nationalists defeat the Romans at the famous Beth Horon Pass, killing 5,300 footmen and 380 horsemen
  • 11 Marcheshvan (circa 2105 BCE) – Methuselah dies at age 969
  • 11 Marcheshvan (circa 1553 BCE) – Death of Rachel while giving birth to Benjamin
  • 12 Marcheshvan (1995) – Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin; now a national memorial day
  • 15 Marcheshvan – King Jeroboam's alternative feast of Sukkot for the people of the northern Kingdom ()
  • 15 Marcheshvan (165 BCE) – Death of Matityahu (Mattathias), who began the Maccabean revolt in the city of Modiin
  • 16 Marcheshvan (1938) – Kristallnacht/Pogromnacht: 1,400 synagogues and numerous copies of the Tanakh are purposefully and systematically set on fire and allowed to burn in Nazi Germany
  • 16 Marcheshvan (1994) – Death of Reb Shlomo Carlebach
  • 17 Marcheshvan (circa 960 BCE) – First Temple completed by King Solomon (it was not inaugurated until the following Tishrei however)
  • 20 Marcheshvan (1860) - Birth of Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the 5th Chabad Rebbe.
  • 23 Marcheshvan (164 BCE) – Hasmonean holiday commemorating the removal from the Holy Temple of altar stones which were defiled by the Greeks

See also

  • Jewish astrology

References

  • Resources on the Month of Cheshvan
  • Chabad: This Month in Jewish History
  • Cheshvan and Its Message