This article first appeared on meaningfulminute.org Ask a child the name of the month that follows Tishrei, and they will likely tell you that it is Cheshvan. Press them further and they will tell you that the month is called Mar Cheshvan, a “bitter” Cheshvan, due to the lack of Yomim Tovim in the month of Cheshvan. The truth, however, is much more complicated. The Torah generally refers to the months by their ordinal numbers or names that are no longer common. In Melachim (I 6:38), this month is called “the month of Bul, the eighth month.” The Talmud Yerushalmi (Rosh Hashana 1:2) tells us that the names of the Hebrew months are Babylonian in origin. In this case, Mar is not the prefix to Cheshvan at all. Marcheshvan is the actual name of the month. In Akkadian (Babylonian), the vav and mem sounds are interchangeable. Marcheshvan could also be called varh and shaman, which means the eighth month. An appropriate name, given that Marcheshvan is the eighth month of the year when counting from Nissan. Yemenites today actually call the month Marachshawan, which would be a closer pronunciation to the original Babylonian name. In both Mishnayos (Taanis 1:3,4) and Gemara (Pesachim 94b, Rosh Hashanah 7a, 11b), this month is called Marcheshvan. Rashi consistently calls this month Marcheshvan (Rosh Hashanah 11b viazda litamaihu, 16a dimizdaran, Beitzah 40a biriviah) as does the Ibn Ezra (Vayikra 25:9). The month’s name has significant halachic ramifications both for halachic documents a
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