Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 2020 / רֹאשׁ חודש חֶשְׁוָן 5781

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan (Beginning of new Hebrew month of Cheshvan) for Hebrew Year 5781 begins at sundown on Saturday, 17 October 2020 and ends at nightfall on Monday, 19 October 2020.

Beginning of new Hebrew month of Cheshvan. Cheshvan is the 8th month of the Hebrew year. Corresponds to October or November on the Gregorian calendar

Rosh Chodesh is the first day of each month. The Torah instituted that each new month be commemorated with a sacrifice. While no animals are currently sacrificed, many mark Rosh Chodesh with extra singing and prayers. In some communities, women take it as a special day to gather and refrain from work in honor of the womens’ refusal to contribute to the Golden Calf.

Rashi on Exodus 12:2:1

He showed him the moon in the first stage of its renewal, and He said to him, “The time when the moon renews itself thus, shall be unto you the beginning of the month”. (The translation therefore is: “This stage of renewal (חדש) shall be the moment of beginning the months”; cf. Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:2). But no Scriptural verse can lose its literal meaning, and He really spoke this in reference to the month Nisan: this month shall be the beginning in the order of counting the months, so that Iyar shall be called the second, Sivan the third.