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That's Mister Cheshvan to you...
Sep. 30th, 2002 09:48 amSo the fall sweep of Jewish holidays are over, and next Monday is the first day of the month of MarCheshvan ("bitter" or "Mister" Cheshvan). The month is called "Mar" for two reasons, according to tradition: it's considered "bitter" because there are no holidays or other religious observances during the whole month. Alternately, we call it Mister Cheshvan to give it respect and honor despite its containing no holidays. Either way, we're done with real holidays until Passover. Ah, I hear a bunch of you saying "What about Channukah?" Well, Channukah is among the most minor of the holidays in our calendar; it only got the stature it has in the US because of its (traditional) proximity to Christmas. However, this year, Channukah begins the Friday evening following Thanksgiving, having absolutely no proximity to Christmas. This is, in my mind, a Good Thing. Closer to Channukah (or closer to Christmas, depending on when I have time), I'll probably post a version of my ChristmasRant. But that's a topic for a different time.
Anyway, we're done with holidays until Passover, which is something of a relief. I once asked the Hillel rabbi at my university what sort of logic it was that we have a minor holiday (Purim) during which one of the major traditions is the giving of food to others (and, by extension, receiving it from others) one month before Passover, when we have to clean all the leavening out of our house. He agreed that the calendar was weird and went on to say that, if ha Kadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be he) came to him and said that Mashiach (the Messiah) was going to come and what would be the one thing that he (the rabbi) would like to see changed, he'd say the calendar - not only should Purim and Passover be moved further apart from one another, the fall holidays should be spread out more. Starting on the first day of the month of Tishrei, there are 2 days of Rosh HaShannah, then a fast day immediately following Rosh Hashannah, then 7 days of no holiday, then Yom Kippur (for those keeping track at home, that brings us to 10 Tishrei), then 5 days between Yom Kippur and the first day of Sukkot, then 9 days of Sukkot/Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah. That's 23 days total out of a 30 day month. So it's no wonder that we have a holidayless month immediately following. In my case, this year, due to the fact that all the holidays fell on Saturday/Sunday, having no holidays in Cheshvan means that I can do little things like laundry and grocery shopping on a more sane schedule (rather than the "eek! I'm out of socks/milk/whatever! Must do laundry/grocery shopping/whatever!" paradigm of the last month).
Anyway, we're done with holidays until Passover, which is something of a relief. I once asked the Hillel rabbi at my university what sort of logic it was that we have a minor holiday (Purim) during which one of the major traditions is the giving of food to others (and, by extension, receiving it from others) one month before Passover, when we have to clean all the leavening out of our house. He agreed that the calendar was weird and went on to say that, if ha Kadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be he) came to him and said that Mashiach (the Messiah) was going to come and what would be the one thing that he (the rabbi) would like to see changed, he'd say the calendar - not only should Purim and Passover be moved further apart from one another, the fall holidays should be spread out more. Starting on the first day of the month of Tishrei, there are 2 days of Rosh HaShannah, then a fast day immediately following Rosh Hashannah, then 7 days of no holiday, then Yom Kippur (for those keeping track at home, that brings us to 10 Tishrei), then 5 days between Yom Kippur and the first day of Sukkot, then 9 days of Sukkot/Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah. That's 23 days total out of a 30 day month. So it's no wonder that we have a holidayless month immediately following. In my case, this year, due to the fact that all the holidays fell on Saturday/Sunday, having no holidays in Cheshvan means that I can do little things like laundry and grocery shopping on a more sane schedule (rather than the "eek! I'm out of socks/milk/whatever! Must do laundry/grocery shopping/whatever!" paradigm of the last month).
