When the chazzan calls out the new month during Rosh Chodesh bentching of the month of Cheshvan, right after we have experienced Tishrei, a month of such loftiness, one cannot help but take notice of the word that is added to the month’s name: mar, bitterness. The month is called Marcheshvan.
But why? What is it about Cheshvan that makes it so bitter? In grade school we all learned that it is because the month of Cheshvan is bereft of Yamim Tovim or special days. Yet, in a fascinating conversation between Rav Aharon David shlita, and lb”l Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l, we learn a completely new perspective.
Rav Aharon share with Rav Chaim the very reason for Cheshvan’s bitterness stated above, and Rav Chaim responded, “I never heard that reason....” Rav Aharon then asked the gadol hador for the reason and he said, “Because the Mabul started in Cheshvan....”
Surely those who are reading this feel like I did when I first heard this last year, like their entire childhood learning of Marcheshvan’s meaning just went up in smoke, but at least we were able to learn from Rav Chaim the true reason for the name Marcheshvan.
And the more I thought about it, the more I processed the profundity of it, and b’ezras Hashem, the following idea came to my mind. What is the eternal message of this bitter month? Why is it bitter for us today that Hashem sent a Mabul to destroy this world so many years ago?
The generation of the flood was a generation of immense potential. The greatness they possessed was on a different dimension. If they had utilized their length of days, optimum living conditions, and extreme intellectual capacity to fulfill their lives the way Hashem intended, who knows what they could have accomplished. The forty days and forty nights of destruction through water, was meant to be forty days and forty nights of Torah, as Torah is compared to water, and there are hints and correlations between Noach and Moshe. That generation could have taken all their energy and abilities to create a world that was filled with the knowledge of Hashem.
Yet, R”l, tragedy of epic tragedies, their world became one of everlasting destruction. The very foundation that had all that they needed to build became the bedrock of the greatest catastrophe known to mankind... and it is this bitter month that hosted the beginnings of that world event.
What lesson of hope and strength is there for us to learn as we enter these special days? Is it all gloom and doom? On the contrary, it is the biggest chizuk of all. For perhaps the greatest takeaway from this month’s name is the fact that it is bitter only because of those who did not utilize their holy energy for goodness and truth, but, b’ezras Hashem, for us, who have just come off so many days of inspiration, during which we have accumulated so much aliyah and spiritual kochos, coupled with kabbalos to forge ahead from strength to strength, now is the time to turn all that potential into reality!
Let us learn from the Dor HaMabul, from their great mistakes and the bitter trail that they left behind, to utilize the opportunities that come our way, to seize them and fulfill our true destiny!
Marcheshvan can thus be transformed from a time of bitterness to a time that is uplifted and very great indeed! As my daughter Baila so eloquently shared, the letters ר and מ also spell רם, which means uplifted; thus, the month of Marcheshvan could then become Ramcheshvan—a month filled with aliyah and greatness that will lead us into a most amazing winter ahead, b’ezras Hashem! B’Siyata DiShmaya.
