Judaism Unbound Episode 457: Heshvan Unbound - Lex, Miriam, and Rena Yehuda
Heshvan is the month that comes after Tishri. Tishri is the month containing Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and multiple other Jewish holidays, and Heshvan is often contrasted to it as "a month with no Jewish holidays." The problem? Heshvan is not a month with no Jewish holidays! In this episode, Lex, Miriam, and Rena Yehuda dive into multiple Jewish holidays that have taken place in the past -- and continue to take place today -- during the month of Heshvan. They also ask some big questions about how we might reconceptualize the role of Heshvan entirely!
[1] Register for the next gathering of Shabbat Unbound on November 22nd via this link! If you're listening after 11/22, you can register for our December edition of Shabbat Unbound (a 12-month-long Shabbat service), via this link. Check out our growing page featuring tons of essays, artwork, and other deep-dives into the Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy here.
[2] Register for Apocry-Fest (our annual Hanukkah collaboration with The Torah Studio, exploring books of the Jewish apocrypha), by heading to JudaismUnbound.com/apocrypha.
[3] For the Biblical text that outlines the Northern Kingdom’s holiday of the 15th of Heshvan, see 1 Kings 12:32-33.
[4] Rena Yehuda alludes to a quote from Hallel (a set of praise prayers recited on many celebratory days), which translates roughly to “The stone that was rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.” It initially comes from the book of Psalms, and you can check it out here.
[5] For Rena Yehuda’s 142 Jewish Writing Prompts, click here!
[6] Lex speaks to the holiday of Sigd, which occurs precisely 7 weeks after Yom Kippur and was established by Beta Israel Jews (Jews from Ethiopia). This community has strongly encouraged the rest of the world’s Jews to celebrate this occasion, marked on the 29th of Heshvan, and you can learn more about how to do so here.
[7] Miriam alludes to the teachings of Yitz Greenberg. His notion of the “third era” has been very important to our podcast, and you can hear him speak about via Episode 100: The Third Era - Yitz Greenberg.
