Cheshvan is Really M'rachSh'van-Say That Five Times Fast
Who knew? Actually, I knew that the names of the Hebrew months were derived from Babylonian names, and I also knew that there was a controversy over the name of the Hebrew month which follows Tishrei, commonly known as "Cheshvan," or sometimes "MarCheshvan," with various and sundry explanations for the prefix "mar," which means 'bitter,' or could possibly mean 'droplet' as in 'water droplet.' The common explanation given is that, in the first case of 'mar' meaning 'bitter,' we refer to this month as bitter because there are no holidays in it, and it comes right after the month of Tishrei, chock-full of Holy Days, from Rosh Hashana to Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah (with Yom Kippur and Sukkot in between, to boot). In the second meaning of 'mar,' meaning a droplet of water, the reference is to the rainy season starting in the month of Cheshvan, which actually is a blessing--one hundred eighty degrees opposed in...