QUESTION: I know that we just recently finished the Hebrew month of Tammuz. That sounds like a strange word for a Hebrew name. Where did we get the names of our Hebrew months from?
ANSWER: The names of the Hebrew months evolved as we traveled from exile to exile and into the Diaspora. A number of the names of Hebrew months are definitely not originally Hebrew words. Tammuz may be one that is not. More specifically the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, also known as Marcheshvan, is probably not Jewish in origin.
Some of these months had different names in earlier times such as in the Bible itself. For example, there was a time when the spring months, probably Nisan, was known as “Chodesh Zeev” which means something like the month of “spring.”
Other names more specifically were acquired during exiles and captivity. There are many theories as to the name of Cheshvan, the month which occurs in the fall right after the High Holidays. The fuller name of Cheshvan, “Marcheshvan,” ironically, was the name of a pagan god in Babylonia known as “Marchbena” which sounds suspiciously similar to “Marcheshvan” in our Hebrew calendar. You know of course we were exiled to Babylon after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. We were very much assimilated and picked up traditions from their culture even though they were pagans.
Incidentally, there are all kinds of theories as to why Cheshvan, which is its simpler name, acquired the more complicated sounding name “Marcheshvan.”
Cheshvan is the only month that does not have any kind of holiday, fast or event contained in it in the entire year. That fact has led people to theorize that the addition of “mar” might refer to bitter as in the Hebrew word “marror” such as we have in the Passover seder for the bitter herbs. Another theory is that “mar” which means “mr” in Hebrew was added to Cheshvan to add a little more significance or “upgrade” the name since it was void of holidays “to make it feel better.” I suspect in all likelihood, though it may seem a little uncomfortable for us, that it is much more likely that we picked up the name “marcheshvan” in Babylon where the name was used for one of their pagan gods.
There are a number of elements in Jewish history and even Jewish theology where we were exposed to practices of other religions and cultures. We may have advertently or inadvertently adopted certain practices, “Judaicized” them” and over centuries made them a part of our tradition. This does not make these practices bad or evil; it is just an ingredient of cultural evolution of Judaism over many hundreds or thousands of years.
