Rosh Ḥodesh Marḥeshvan (מַרְחֶשְׁוָן) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

This is an archive of prayers and songs written for, or relevant to, Rosh Ḥodesh Marḥeshvan, the eighth month in the Jewish calendar.
Explaining the etymology of the name, Shlomo Zuckier writes at the Lehrhaus, “Like most Jewish months, Marḥeshvan adopts a Babylonian or Canaanite name, as the Yerushalmi tells us (see y. Rosh Hashana 1:2: אמר רבי חנינה שמות חדשי’ עלו בידם מבבל.) Those names usually have a particular, often seasonal meaning, like the Canaanite name for this month, “Bul” (the meaning of this name, which appears in the Bible, is controversial). But the Akkadian-Babylonian name Marḥeshvan that we know and love is a lot more boring. Marḥeshvan (מַרְחֶשְׁוָן) is an alternate version of the phrase Werach Shamnu (ורח שמנ), generated by the fluidity between the labials M-מ and W-ו in two places. Both versions mean, very simply, “the Eighth Month” (in Hebrew represented as ירח שמיני), as Marḥeshvan is, indeed, the eighth month when counting from Nisan!”
Click here to contribute a public reading you have written or selected for Rosh Ḥodesh Marḥeshvan.
Looking for something else?
For prayers composed for Rosh Ḥodesh in general, visit here.
For public readings selected for Rosh Ḥodesh, visit here.

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Ḥeshvan, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Contributor(s):

Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

A prayer for the month of Marḥeshvan (a/k/a Ḥeshvan) on Rosh Ḥodesh Marḥeshvan in the autumn season. . . .

בִּרְכַּת הָאִילָנוֹת | The Blessing of Flowering Fruit Trees in the Spring Season in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (translation), Jacob Chatinover (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), David Seidenberg and Unknown Author(s)

When the spring (Aviv) season arrives, a blessing is traditionally said when one is in view of at least two flowering fruit trees. In the northern hemisphere, it can be said anytime through the end of the month of Nissan (though it can still be said in Iyar). For those who live in the southern hemisphere, the blessing can be said during the month of Tishrei. . . .

תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מִבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ מַרְחֶשְׁוָן | Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Marḥeshvan (1877)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription) and Unknown Author(s)

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ מַרְחֶשְׁוָן (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Marḥeshvan”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady . . .

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=577

Associated Image:

Sefer Evronot - p. 157 mazal akrav (Pinchas ben Avraham Halevi 1716)

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in category pages and in shared links on social media.)

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute any information in the description of this archive page to the Open Siddur Project (<https://opensiddur.org>).
Clearly indicate the date you accessed this page and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this archive: <https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=577>.
Indicate that the original page was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this page in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the CC BY-SA license.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed on this page and in these shared works represents the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of contributors, patrons, or institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17