1 Cheshvan 5783

 

Chodesh Cheshvan - A Month of Bitterness and Challenge

Fall: Chodesh Chet

	The Month of Cheshvan - חדש חשון

On the Biblical calendar, the month of Cheshvan (חֶשְׁוָן) immediately follows the "holiday month" of Tishri, though it is sometimes called Mar-Cheshvan ("bitter Cheshvan") because there are no festivals during the month ("neither feast nor fast") and it marks the start of the cold and rainy season in Israel. The Torah records that God brought down the Flood that destroyed the world on Cheshvan 17 (Gen. 7:10-11), which lasted until Cheshvan 27 (Gen. 8:14) - exactly one calendar year after it began (the Jewish sage Rashi notes that the 11-day discrepancy between the 17th and 27th represents the 11-day difference between the solar and lunar year). Because Noah's Flood began and ended during this month, Cheshvan is generally regarded as "mar" - a time of judgment and hardship.  Historically, Cheshvan has been a time that has brought much suffering to the Jewish people throughout the ages. In more recent times, German Nazis launched a campaign of terror against Jewish people during this month. Die Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass"), the infamous pogrom that initiated the Holocaust, occurred on Cheshvan 15 (Nov. 9th, 1938). Its initial political purpose was to "disarm" all German Jews, though this became the pretext for cruelty, murder, and genocide of the Jewish people. Despite its association with judgment, some Jewish traditions maintain that the month of Cheshvan will eventually lose its bitterness, because it will be during this time that the "third Temple" will be inaugurated. For Messianic believers, however, this future Temple will be the "Tribulation Temple," the place where the Messiah of Evil will betray Israel about midway through the final "week" of Daniel's great prophecy.  Indeed it will only be after Yeshua returns to save Israel at the End of Days that the Fourth (Millennial Kingdom) Temple will be established, and then all the surviving nations will come to Zion to honor the Jewish people and the LORD God of Israel...

	Rosh Chodesh Blessing

	The following (simplified) blessing can be recited to ask the LORD to help you for the coming new month:

	יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֵיךָ יהוה אֱלהֵינוּ וֵאלהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁתְּחַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ חדֶשׁ טוֹב בַּאֲדנֵינוּ יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ אָמֵן ye·hee · rah·tzohn · meel·fah·ney·kha · Adonai · E·lo·hey·noo vei·loh·hey · a·voh·tey·noo · she·te·kha·deish · ah·ley·noo · khoh·desh· tohv ba'a·doh·ney·noo · Ye·shoo·a' · ha·mah·shee·akh · a·mein   Cheshvan is the eighth month according to the biblical calendar. The name "Cheshvan" is the Babylonian name of the month. The older biblical (or Canaanite) name of the month is "Bul" as it says in 1 Kings 6:38, "And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished..." As the previous verse stated, it was during the month of Cheshvan that King Solomon completed his seven-year construction of the First Temple. Because of this, the sages say that Cheshvan should have had a festival. Yet, the Temple stood empty for 11 months and was not dedicated until the following Tishrei (see 1 Kings 8). According to the sages, since the month of Cheshvan did not receive a feast and lost it to Tishrei, one day it will receive a festival, just as Kislev gained a feast (Hanukkah) during the days of the Maccabees. More transpired during Cheshvan in the time of the kings. In the generation following Solomon, King Jeroboam set up two golden calves in Bethel and Dan. He instituted a feast on the fifteenth day of Cheshvan. (Needless to say, this is not the feast that the sages said Cheshvan was to receive.) Also in the days of Noah, 17 Cheshvan may have been the day that the Great Flood began. Genesis 7:11 says, "In the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened." The sages debated whether this referred to Iyyar (the second month counting from Nisan) or Cheshvan (the second month counting from Tishrei). It was determined that this second month was Cheshvan, due to the fact that Nisan was not considered the beginning of the months until the time of the Exodus (see Exodus 12:2). Similarly, Cheshvan is the beginning of rainy season in the land of Israel. This change is reflected in the second benediction of the Amidah prayer. During Cheshvan, the phrase "who causes the wind blow and sends down the rain" is added to this benediction. With it, we extol HaShem as the Powerful One who resurrects the dead, heals the sick, sets captives free, and brings forth salvation. So whether remembering the Temple, the Great Flood, or the everyday blessings of rain, Cheshvan teaches us about the might of God. He is awesome and powerful. We depend on him for our every need. "For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist" (1 Corinthians 8:6). Though there may not be any festivals in Cheshvan, we can rejoice and be thankful for the constant provision that God provides for us through our Master Yeshua. May you have a blessed Cheshvan.