This and the next two articles are excerpted from the October 2017 monthly English broadcast, which centered on the figure of three non-Jewish kings, Nimrod (who is first mentioned in this week’s parashah), Nebuchadnezzar, and the Roman emperor Nero. In the original class, HaRav Ginsburgh explained how the darkness dished out by the worst of our enemies will in the end become part of the light of Mashiach through the new, deeper understanding of Torah that he will reveal.
The Letter and the Sense of the Month of Cheshvan
Sefer Yetzirah or “The Book of Formation,” is the oldest Kabbalistic text. It focuses on the letters of the Hebrew letters and provides a wealth of information on them and their connection to time and space. One of the foundational analyses is that the 22 letters divide into 12, 7, and 3. Each of the 12 letters, known as simple letters, creates one month of the year starting from the month of Nissan. The order is הוזחטילנסעצק. Being that we are now in the month of Cheshvan, which is the eighth month from Nissan, the letter that creates Cheshvan is nun (נ). Each month is also associated with a particular sense. Twelve senses are more than just the usual five physical senses in our bodies; they include an expanded set of senses based on spiritual faculties as well. The 12 months also correspond to the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
The tribe of the month of Cheshvan is Menasheh, and its sense is smell. The prophet Isaiah associated the sense of smell with the Mashiach, so much so that the Sages say that Mashiach can be identified by his ability to judge or guide every individual with the aid of his own inner, spiritual sense of smell alone.
If the letter is nun and the sense is smell, what is the connection between them? We will understand this through understanding the meaning of the letter nun.
“Yinon Is His Name”
Hebrew letters have names, and the name of the letter nun (נ) is explained by Rashi to mean “king” or “kingship,” most notably in the Psalm 72, which begins, “For Solomon: O’ God, give Your judgments to the king, and Your righteousness to the king’s son,”[1] but which many of the commentators say describes the figure of Mashiach. In that psalm, we find the verse, “may his name endure forever; before the sun, may his name reign.”[2] The Hebrew word for “reign” or “rule” is pronounced yinnon and written: יִנּוֹן. But this verse can also mean that the king, i.e., the Mashiach’s name will be Yinnon,[3] a name derived from the letter nun.
The verse concludes, “and all nations shall bless themselves by him; they shall call him fortunate [praise him and be joyful and fortunate through him].” When God told Avraham to leave his land, his birthplace, and his father’s house, He promised him, “and you shall be a blessing… and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”[4] Just as the first Jew is the source of blessing for all humanity, so Mashiach will be the source of blessing for all humanity. In short, Yinnon is the king’s name connecting the letter nun (and the month of Cheshvan) with kingship.
Nissan and Cheshvan: The Exterior and Interior of Kingship
Without consulting Sefer Yetzirah, the month that Torah explicitly connects with kingship is Nissan. As the mishnah states, “There are four beginnings to the year… the first of Nissan is the New Year for kings.”[5] Furthermore, since we have identified the letter nun with kingship, it is telling that the name of the month of Nissan (נִיסָן) begins and ends with the letter nun. As a bonus, the tribe associated with the month of Nissan is Judah, the tribe of King David and the eternal Davidic house of kings.
What is the difference between the kingship of Nissan and the kingship of Cheshvan (חֶשְׁוָן), in which the letter nun appears only once at the end of the month’s name? Nissan is the revealed, external manifestation of kingship and the king, but the king’s inner soul, the interior aspect of kingship, which is tied to the sense of smell, the spiritual dimension of Mashiach’s leadership, is in Cheshvan. The physical side of the king—his body, which comes from King David and the tribe of Judah belongs to Nissan, while his inner, spiritual side belongs to Cheshvan. Thus, we can begin to appreciate the essence of the month of Cheshvan, which encapsulates the inner spiritual faculties of kingship and of the Mashiach.
[1]. Psalms 72:1.
[2]. V. 17.
[3]. Interestingly, in reduced numbering, the nun’s value is 5, and if we apply this to the name Yinnon, we end up with God’s essential Name, Havayah (י-הוה). The written form of this name is Yinnin (ינין). Performing the same substitution, we arrive at the future essential Name of God (יִהְיֶה).
[4]. Genesis 12:2-3.
[5]. Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1:1.
