Iggeret HaLevana ~ the Message of the Moon

The ​Second Month: Cheshvan​

We have just left the month of Tishrei, the first in the year 5782. Tishrei is essentially half holiday - we had Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are extremely holy days and Sukkot is one of the Shalosh Regalim, the 3 Pilgrimage Holidays that in Temple-times would be one of the 3 times a year that Jews from all over would make the journey to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) to the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple.

The first 10 days of Tishrei, the 10 days from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are referred to as the Yamim Noraim, or the Days of Awe. The Yamim Noraim are this extremely concentrated, holy time. We're in metaphorical hot water during the Yamim Noraim, and if we're tea leaves, we are being brewed in a very intense way. These 10 days are our time to make our spiritual "tea concentrate" for the rest of the year. I don't know about you, but I don't spend full days reflecting in shul unless I absolutely have to. During the high holidays, we're consistently in shul, we're reflecting, we're actively working on bettering ourselves and we are expected to take this energy with us into the rest of the months.

Then the chagim are over and we enter the month of Cheshvan. A month with 0 holidays. Seriously! The Jewish calendar is notoriously packed with fasts, festivals, and other events, but this month of Cheshvan has a grand total of 0. Because of this fact, Cheshvan is also known as MarCheshvan. Mar can be translated as "bitter," referencing the fact that this m​onth lacks any of the festival-related sweetness. Mar can also mean "a drop of water." This month is connected to water in a few ways.​ ​We add a sentence in the Amidah praying for rain in the land of Israel, and t​​​​​he Great Flood, the Mabul, of the story of Noach / Noah happened in the month of Cheshvan​.

​Tishrei is a month of prayer, asking G-d for the tools to succeed. We are saturated with blessings, with closeness to G-d. And then we enter Cheshvan, full of the seeds and potential for growth, only needing the water of Cheshvan to make our potential (seeds / deeds / plants / work etc) flourish.​ Water implies Avodat HaAretz, or working of the land​. We can sow and plant, but if we lack water, the crops we plant will not flourish.​

Cont’d…

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I find the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, to be overwhelming.

I dread their arrival every year - particularly Rosh HaShanah, the head of the Hebrew New Year.

The Jewish year is a circle, and every Aleph Tishrei, or the first of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, is our January 1st. The idea of Rosh Hashanah is to prepare ourselves for the Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgement - Yom Kippur. On Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur, we chant Unetaneh Tokef, “On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed and on Yom Kippur it is sealed” - “בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה יִכָּתֵבוּן, וּבְיוֹם צוֹם כִּפּוּר יֵחָתֵמוּן”

And what is inscribed / sealed are the events of the coming year - who will live, who will die, who will accrue wealth, who will lose it, who shall rest, and who shall wander, who will be peaceful and who will be tormented. So, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are big days. And in the same way we’d prepare ourselves for actually standing in a secular court, we prepare ourselves for the High Holidays.

But the high holidays stress me out exactly because of this — they feel like a rapidly approaching exam that I can never be prepared enough for. I’ve never been one for cumulative final exams, but I’m always here for a unit test. They’re so much more manageable.

I bring up the unit test because, while they are definitely not as important or life-altering as the final test, they still do contribute to your comprehension of the total topic and definitely count for something.

Rosh Hashanah is at the tail end of the 12 months and is what I am equating to the Final Exam. Each Hebrew month, then, is the Unit Test — an opportunity to work on a specific unit within the Final Exam (RH 5783). My goal for myself, and for those of you on this journey with me, is that by working hard for the Unit Test every month, we’ll be SUPER prepared for the Final Exam, in Rosh Hashanah 5783 (next year)!

Enter my new podcast idea - Iggeret HaLevana.

Don’t be stressed about the Final Exam, when you can focus on the Unit Test for now.

Each new month, each new moon has the energy of renewal. Month (חודש / Chodesh) comes from the word for “new” (חדש / Chadesh), and just like we have Rosh HaShanah, the head of the new year, we also have Rosh Chodesh, the head of the new month.

Join me on this Moon-centric journey!

First we will begin with a refresher on the significance of the New Moon - Rosh Chodesh was the first mitzvah, commandment, we were given as a people, as Bnei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) officially — right after our Yetziat Mitzrayim (Exodus from Egypt). Our sages give us many interpretations as to why this is the first and why it’s important , but one I will share is that without Rosh Chodesh, we have no structure. Without Rosh Chodesh, we have no calendar. Time has felt so indistinguishable during this difficult past year, but every month, every Rosh Chodesh we have a new energy to tap into, something to break the monotony.

There is a magical, mystical piece of Kabbalistic writing called Sefer Yetzirah, the book of creation / formation. Kabbalah, as a refresher, is the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Torah. Kabbalah is also 100% over my head, beyond me by 100000000 miles, but I like the idea of tapping into ~mystical magical energy~ so I will use the interpretations of people EXPONENTIALLY more learned than m​e, to understand the​ meaning of Sefer Yetzirah​. Sefer Yetzirah, ​as well as its author, are equally mysterious. There have been many attempts to understand or at least categorize its contents.

Cont’d…

For full text, email me at [email protected] or join my email list here.

Hi! Welcome to Iggeret HaLevana, a year-long ~spiritual~ journey with me, Shira. I’m working to tap into the mystical magical energies of the Hebrew months in the hopes that when next year’s Rosh Hashanah comes around, I will be set up to ascend into an inspired 5783 (aka next year).

The Jewish year is one based upon the cycle of the moon, and we mark the beginning of a new month by the sight of the sliver of a crescent of the new moon the sky. Growing up in a relatively rural area, I always loved gazing at the expansive, fabulously glittering moon and stars. Now I live in New York, and I realize I took that night sky for granted.

I may not be able to see the stars now, but thank G-d I can still see the moon!

Here we go!

I find the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, to be overwhelming.

I dread their arrival every year - particularly Rosh HaShanah, the head of the Hebrew New Year.

The Jewish year is a circle, and every Aleph Tishrei, or the first of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, is our January 1st. The idea of Rosh Hashanah is to prepare ourselves for the Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgement - Yom Kippur. On Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur, we chant Unetaneh Tokef, “On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed and on Yom Kippur it is sealed” - “בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה יִכָּתֵבוּן, וּבְיוֹם צוֹם כִּפּוּר יֵחָתֵמוּן”

And what is inscribed / sealed are the events of the coming year - who will live, who will die, who will accrue wealth, who will lose it, who shall rest, and who shall wander, who will be peaceful and who will be tormented. So, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are big days. And in the same way we’d prepare ourselves for actually standing in a secular court, we prepare ourselves for the High Holidays.

But the high holidays stress me out exactly because of this — they feel like a rapidly approaching exam that I can never be prepared enough for. I’ve never been one for cumulative final exams, but I’m always here for a unit test. They’re so much more manageable.

I bring up the unit test because, while they are definitely not as important or life-altering as the final test, they still do contribute to your comprehension of the total topic and definitely count for something.

Rosh Hashanah is at the tail end of the 12 months and is what I am equating to the Final Exam. Each Hebrew month, then, is the Unit Test — an opportunity to work on a specific unit within the Final Exam (RH 5783). My goal for myself, and for those of you on this journey with me, is that by working hard for the Unit Test every month, we’ll be SUPER prepared for the Final Exam, in Rosh Hashanah 5783 (next year)!

Enter my new podcast idea - Iggeret HaLevana.

Don’t be stressed about the Final Exam, when you can focus on the Unit Test for now.

Each new month, each new moon has the energy of renewal. Month (חודש / Chodesh) comes from the word for “new” (חדש / Chadesh), and just like we have Rosh HaShanah, the head of the new year, we also have Rosh Chodesh, the head of the new month.

An opportunity for renewal every 30 or so days.

Join me on this Moon-centric journey! Check the podcast page for episode 1 - the Hebrew month of Tishrei.

Email me at [email protected] or join my email list here.