The current Hebrew month, Cheshvan, is classically referred to as Marcheshvan, the prefix of which is the word mar.
In Hebrew, this word means “bitter,” which our Sages connect to the
fact that there are no special occasions that occur in this month. Even
Av, the month when we mourn the destruction of the two Holy Temples,
is not referred to as “bitter,” because the sad days of the year offer
us an opportunity for introspection, to contemplate where we have gone
wrong. Thus, both the festive days and the negative days can be used to
connect to spirituality. A month that is bereft of any significant
days, even sad days, is more bitter than anything, because there are no
moments that arise to give us pause.
It is significant to note that the original name of this month was
not Marcheshvan. This Babylonian name was adopted when the Jews went
through the 70-year exile between the first and second temples. The
original Hebrew name for the month was Bul, which denotes the idea of “drying up,” as the leaves begin to decay with the approach of Autumn.
Clearly, the month of Marcheshvan, or Bul, as its name suggests, is a
month of darkness and decay. Indeed, the biblical Book of Kings cites Bul
as the month when King Solomon completed the construction of the first
Temple – though the dedication did not take place until a year later,
in the Hebrew month of Tishrei. What is the deeper significance of this,
and what can we learn from it?
If we search further, we find two other events that occurred in the
month of Cheshvan. The first was the flood in the times of Noah. The
flood began on the 17th of Cheshvan, and the waters receded by the
following year on the 27th of Cheshvan, allowing Noah and the other
inhabitants of the ark to disembark. Interestingly, one explanation of
the name Bul is that it stems from this month as the beginning of the rainy season in Israel; it is thus connected to the word mabul, flood – an overabundance of rain.
It is significant to note that the flood was originally intended to
begin on the 11th of Cheshvan. However, Methuselah passed away, and
thus the flood was delayed in deference to the seven-day period of
mourning that followed his death.
The second important event that occurred in Cheshvan seems unrelated
at first glance. This was the death of Jacob's wife Rachel, as well as
the birth of Benjamin, which occurred on the 11th of Cheshvan. It was
precisely the same day as Methusaleh's death, the very day that flood
had originally been slated to begin. As there are no coincidences in
the Torah, we must ask: What is the connection between these two
events, and what do they reveal about the essence of the month of
Cheshvan?
In thinking about what the matriarch Rachel and her son Benjamin
stand for, respectively, we can see that Rachel represents the Jewish
people in exile, and Benjamin represents the completed state of the
Jewish people in the Land of Israel. Rachel spent her entire life
outside of Israel, and passed away just as Jacob and his family entered
the holy land. As our Sages tell us, her spirit accompanied the Jewish
people as they went into Babylonian exile, and it is she who cries for
her children in exile until the final redemption comes.
In contrast, Benjamin is the last son of Jacob, the twelfth of the
tribes, whose birth marks the completion of the people of Israel. He is
also the only son of Jacob that is born in Israel, and thus represents
the Jewish people's perfected state in the land of Israel. This is
further underscored, as the Ramchal explains, by the fact that Saul,
the first king of the Jewish people, came from the tribe of Benjamin.
Furthermore, the miracle of Purim, which immediately preceded the
return of the Jews to Israel and the building of the Second Temple, was
brought about through the vehicle of Mordechai and Esther, who came
from the tribe of Benjamin. source
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