After the month of Tishrei comes another test. Will we do what is right even though there is nothing special for a month? The month of Cheshvon has nothing special. No holidays of any sort.
A Quick Dvar Torah: Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan — The Test of Everyday Life
Now for a quick Dvar Torah.
Today is Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, or as it’s sometimes called, Mar Cheshvan.
There are several explanations for why it’s called Mar Cheshvan. One interesting explanation is that the Hebrew word mar means bitter. And why is Cheshvan bitter? Because we’ve just finished the month of Tishrei, a month filled with holidays, and now we have an entire month without a single Jewish holiday.
Think about what we’ve just experienced.
We started with Rosh Hashanah, when we stood before God and looked toward the future. We examined our lives and thought about what we needed to change and how we could become better people.
Then came Yom Kippur, when we looked back at the past year, acknowledged our mistakes, asked for forgiveness, and promised God that we would do better.
Then came Sukkot. And what’s one of the most important mitzvot of Sukkot? Besides sitting in the sukkah and taking the lulav and etrog, it’s simply to be happy. The Torah tells us, V’samachta b’chagecha — you shall rejoice on your festival.
And there’s an interesting idea here.
Our tradition teaches that although the judgment begins on Rosh Hashanah and is sealed on Yom Kippur, there is another stage associated with Hoshana Rabbah, when the final judgment is delivered.
Why?
Perhaps God is saying, “I know how you behave when you’re standing before Me in judgment. I know how you behave when you feel like you’re on trial. But let’s see how you behave when the pressure is off. When you’re celebrating with your friends, eating, drinking, and enjoying yourself. Do you still remember all those promises you made?”
And then comes Simchat Torah, when we reach the height of our joy. We dance with the Torah. We celebrate the fact that God has given us this extraordinary gift. We’re not studying the Torah at that moment. We’re simply rejoicing that we have it.
And then, suddenly, it’s over.
Now comes Cheshvan.
No Rosh Hashanah. No Yom Kippur. No sukkah. No lulav and etrog. No dancing with the Torah.
Just ordinary, everyday life.
You get up in the morning. You have to go to work. You have to daven. You have responsibilities. You have bills to pay. You have all the little problems and frustrations that come with everyday living.
And that’s where the real test begins.
You see, it’s relatively easy to be inspired when you’re surrounded by holiness. It’s easy to make promises on Yom Kippur when you’re standing in shul, fasting, and thinking about your relationship with God.
But what happens three weeks later? Or a month later?
What happens when there’s no holiday coming up, no special prayers, no great spiritual excitement?
Do those promises still mean something?
That’s really the lesson of Cheshvan.
God isn’t only interested in how we behave on the special days. He’s interested in how we behave on an ordinary Tuesday morning when we’re tired, when we’re late for work, when somebody irritates us, or when we have an opportunity to do something wrong and nobody seems to be watching.
That’s when we discover whether all those promises we made during Tishrei have really changed us.
And perhaps that’s why Cheshvan is so important. We might think of it as a bitter month because there are no holidays. But in a sense, it’s one of the most important months of the year.
Because Tishrei is when we make our promises. Cheshvan is when we have to keep them.
It’s when we show God that our commitment wasn’t just something we felt on Yom Kippur or while dancing on Simchat Torah. It’s something we’re prepared to live by every single day.
And that’s an important lesson for all of us.
The true measure of our relationship with God isn’t just how we behave when life is special. It’s how we behave when life is ordinary.
Something to think about.
Chodesh Tov!
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