The construction of the first Beis Hamikdash was completed in the eighth month (Cheshvan), called “Bul.” What is the meaning of this name?
This week, we read parshas Noach and turn the calendar from Tishrei to Cheshvan. In addition, most readers will change their clocks this Motzaei Shabbos or the following one. As there are no calendrical coincidences, what lesson can we take from this confluence?
The month of Cheshvan is referred to in Tanach by a different name. We are told in sefer Melachim I (6:38) that the construction of the first Beis Hamikdash was completed in the eighth month (Cheshvan), which is called “Bul.” What is the meaning of this name?
The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni Melachim I 184) explains that the name Bul refers to Noach’s flood, which began in this month and lasted for 40 days. We see a hint to this in the Hebrew word for flood, mabul; it can be split into the letter mem, with a numerical value of 40, and the word bul. What does the term bul mean, and what is its connection to Noach’s flood?
In modern Hebrew, bul means a stamp, but Rav Dovid Orlofsky explains that the term is more accurately translated to mean transforming an object to give it a new appearance, the way souvenir machines impress a new picture onto a penny. The word bul conveys that one image has been erased to make room for the creation of a new one. This is precisely what happened during the Mabul, when Hashem flooded the antediluvian world for 40 days to eradicate its corruption so that it could be replaced by a new, more moral civilization.
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