BUILDING IN THE RAIN
Noach
The Yerushalmi (Rosh Hashona 1:2) teaches that the names of the Jewish months were adopted during the Babylonian exile. These names were brought back by the returning exiles and are the names of the months used throughout the Jewish world to this day.
Therefore, according to many authorities, the names of the months as we know them are not Lashon Hakodesh but rather Akkadian, the language spoken during that time in Bavel, a fore-runner to Aramaic.
This is why we do not find these names mentioned in the Torah and early books of the Tanach. In the Torah the months are referred to by number; the first month, the seventh month etc.
There are a few months that are referred to by their Hebrew names in Tanach. These names were replaced by the names which were brought back from Bavel. One example is the original name of the month of Marcheshvan. The original Lashon Hakodesh name for Marcheshvan, the eighth month (when counting from Nissan), was Bul.
In Sefer Melachim 6:38 when Shlomo built the Beis Hamikdash, it says וּבַשָּׁנָה הָאַחַת עֶשְׂרֵה בְּיֶרַח בּוּל הוּא הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁמִינִי, כָּלָה הַבַּיִת לְכָל-דְּבָרָיו וּלְכָל-מִשְׁפָּטָו, In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, which is the 8th month, the House was finished in all of its aspects and laws.
The Midrash Yalkut Shimoni notes that the name Bul is similar to the word Mabul (the Flood) but without the Mem. The Mem (which has the gematria of 40) refers to the 40 days that the destructive rains fell during the Mabul, which began in the month of Marcheshvan.
Even though Hashem promised not to flood the world again, these 40 days remained a period of Din (judgement) which would effect the world each year when they would come around.
When Shlomo Hamelech built (finished) the Beis Hamikdash during this month, he removed these Dinim. From that time on, the negative energy of these 40 days ceased to occur. This is alluded to in the name of the month Bul, representing how the Mem (40) was removed from the Mabul.
This story has a powerful and timely message for us, one which the Rebbe (Shabbos Breishis 5742) said should be widely publicised.
In Eretz Yisroel, Marcheshvan marks the beginning of the rainy winter season. This is one of the explanations why it became customary to add the prefix Mar to the actual name of the month—Cheshvan. Mar means a drop of water as we find in the verse (Yishayahu 40:15) הֵן גּוֹיִם כְּמַר מִדְּלִי , The nations are like a drop of a bucket.
The seasons represent spiritual moods. The summer is a time of light and warmth. It represents times of G-dly illumination, passion and inspiration. In contrast, the cold, dark and wet of winter represents times of darkness, confusion and lack of inspiration.
The darkness of Marcheshvan, a month connected to the Mabul, is even more stark when contrasted with the month of Tishrei, a month filled with spiritual experience and inspiration into a month devoid of any special festive days. Indeed there are those who relate the prefix Mar, which means bitter, to the absence of Yomim Tovim.
This Midrash teaches us how to view this transition and how to face the challenge of spiritual winters.
Sholomo Hamelech was unfased by the spiritual darkness and coldness of Marcheshvan. Instead of being affected by the spiritual climate, he advanced in building and completing the Beis Hamikdash, a source of spiritual light and warmth.
In doing so, he transformed these 40 days of Dinim from darkness into light. Chassidus explains that the light which comes from transforming the darkness is greater than all other lights.
As we enter the mundane and spiritually dark month of Marcheshvan, we have to persevere with greater effort in building Hashem’s home, a Dirah Betachtonim, within the mundane of our lives and the physicality of the world. Through this, we will transform the darkness to generate a light which shines more brilliantly than the natural lights of Tishrei.
Whilst Shlomo Hamelech completed the first Beis Hamikdash in Cheshvan, Hashem caused its inauguration to be delayed until the following Tishrei. The Yalkut Shimoni says that in compensation, the Third Beis Hamikdash will be dedicated in the month of Cheshvan. The coming of Moshiach will cause all of the darkness and Dinim of the golus-winter to be erased forever, to be replaced with the ultimate spiritual light and warmth of the Geulah Shleimah.
Therefore, according to many authorities, the names of the months as we know them are not Lashon Hakodesh but rather Akkadian, the language spoken during that time in Bavel, a fore-runner to Aramaic.
This is why we do not find these names mentioned in the Torah and early books of the Tanach. In the Torah the months are referred to by number; the first month, the seventh month etc.
There are a few months that are referred to by their Hebrew names in Tanach. These names were replaced by the names which were brought back from Bavel. One example is the original name of the month of Marcheshvan. The original Lashon Hakodesh name for Marcheshvan, the eighth month (when counting from Nissan), was Bul.
In Sefer Melachim 6:38 when Shlomo built the Beis Hamikdash, it says וּבַשָּׁנָה הָאַחַת עֶשְׂרֵה בְּיֶרַח בּוּל הוּא הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁמִינִי, כָּלָה הַבַּיִת לְכָל-דְּבָרָיו וּלְכָל-מִשְׁפָּטָו, In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, which is the 8th month, the House was finished in all of its aspects and laws.
The Midrash Yalkut Shimoni notes that the name Bul is similar to the word Mabul (the Flood) but without the Mem. The Mem (which has the gematria of 40) refers to the 40 days that the destructive rains fell during the Mabul, which began in the month of Marcheshvan.
Even though Hashem promised not to flood the world again, these 40 days remained a period of Din (judgement) which would effect the world each year when they would come around.
When Shlomo Hamelech built (finished) the Beis Hamikdash during this month, he removed these Dinim. From that time on, the negative energy of these 40 days ceased to occur. This is alluded to in the name of the month Bul, representing how the Mem (40) was removed from the Mabul.
This story has a powerful and timely message for us, one which the Rebbe (Shabbos Breishis 5742) said should be widely publicised.
In Eretz Yisroel, Marcheshvan marks the beginning of the rainy winter season. This is one of the explanations why it became customary to add the prefix Mar to the actual name of the month—Cheshvan. Mar means a drop of water as we find in the verse (Yishayahu 40:15) הֵן גּוֹיִם כְּמַר מִדְּלִי , The nations are like a drop of a bucket.
The seasons represent spiritual moods. The summer is a time of light and warmth. It represents times of G-dly illumination, passion and inspiration. In contrast, the cold, dark and wet of winter represents times of darkness, confusion and lack of inspiration.
The darkness of Marcheshvan, a month connected to the Mabul, is even more stark when contrasted with the month of Tishrei, a month filled with spiritual experience and inspiration into a month devoid of any special festive days. Indeed there are those who relate the prefix Mar, which means bitter, to the absence of Yomim Tovim.
This Midrash teaches us how to view this transition and how to face the challenge of spiritual winters.
Sholomo Hamelech was unfased by the spiritual darkness and coldness of Marcheshvan. Instead of being affected by the spiritual climate, he advanced in building and completing the Beis Hamikdash, a source of spiritual light and warmth.
In doing so, he transformed these 40 days of Dinim from darkness into light. Chassidus explains that the light which comes from transforming the darkness is greater than all other lights.
As we enter the mundane and spiritually dark month of Marcheshvan, we have to persevere with greater effort in building Hashem’s home, a Dirah Betachtonim, within the mundane of our lives and the physicality of the world. Through this, we will transform the darkness to generate a light which shines more brilliantly than the natural lights of Tishrei.
Whilst Shlomo Hamelech completed the first Beis Hamikdash in Cheshvan, Hashem caused its inauguration to be delayed until the following Tishrei. The Yalkut Shimoni says that in compensation, the Third Beis Hamikdash will be dedicated in the month of Cheshvan. The coming of Moshiach will cause all of the darkness and Dinim of the golus-winter to be erased forever, to be replaced with the ultimate spiritual light and warmth of the Geulah Shleimah.