Writing Marcheshvan in a kesubah and a get
[א] (הלכה 680)
Writing Marcheshvan/Cheshvan
Question: What is the correct way to write the name of the month Cheshvan, such as in a kesubah/get?
Answer: Regarding the second month, we find in the Navi that it is called the month of Bul1, as it is written in Melachim2: וּבַשָּׁנָה הָאַחַת עֶשְׂרֵה בְּיֶרַח בּוּל הוּא הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁמִינִי כָּלָה הַבַּיִת ..' ("And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the House was finished ..").
Rashi writes: "in the month of Bul" - it is Marcheshvan, for the grass has withered in the field and they mix fodder for the animal from the storehouse; from the expression "and provender for the donkeys."
However, in the words of Chazal the month is always called Marcheshvan3, as it is stated in the Mishnah in Maseches Taanis4: 'on the third of Marcheshvan'. And so it is in the Targum attributed to Yonasan5: 'בִּשְׁנַת שִׁית מְאָה שְׁנִין לְחַיֵי נֹחַ בְּיַרְחָא תִנְיָינָא הוּא יְרַח מַרְחֶשְׁוָן' ("In the year six hundred of Noach's life, in the second month, which is the month of Marcheshvan"). And so it is in numerous places in Shas and in the Midrashim of Chazal.
a) Writing with a single vav:
The Rama writes6: 'Marcheshvan, one vav'. However, the Tzemach Tzedek writes7: 'Now, regarding the fact that Marcheshvan is written with two vavs, one can say that it does not invalidate it bedi'eved8'.
b) Cheshvan/Marcheshvan:
The poskim discussed how to write it — whether Cheshvan or Marcheshvan — and what the law is bedi'eved:
The Knesses HaGedolah writes9: 'And it is written in the sefer Magen Avraham that it occurred in the household of the Maharshach that he arranged the get in the month of Cheshvan and instructed the scribe to write: Marcheshvan'.
And the Get Pashut writes10: 'And in the sefer Shemos Chadashim of the Maharashdam siman 10511 it is written Cheshvan and he did not write Marcheshvan, and if it is not an error in the seforim I do not know from where [he derives this] .. And in other documents and kesubos I have seen the custom to write "such-and-such to Cheshvan," and if one wrote thus in a get "to the month of Cheshvan," it appears to me that it is valid bedi'eved12 since the matter is well known and recognized that the month of Cheshvan is called Cheshvan'13.
And the Gaon Rav Chaim Palagi14 wrote: 'In Ashkenaz they write Marcheshvan and as one word, and not Cheshvan as is our custom, as is explained in the Mahara"m in the hagah and in the Levush in siman 126, and so too wrote the sefer Nachalas Shiva, see there'.
And the Sdei Chemed writes15: 'In the month of Cheshvan the custom of Salonika is to write Cheshvan and not Marcheshvan, as the Rav Rav Dagan wrote on daf 80 os 170 in the name of the Rav Dev"m .. and see in the Mizbeach HaGedolah which is in the sefer Shaar Asher daf 120 os 5, "lo lev" and from there onward several gittin that were arranged in this month, and in all of them is written Cheshvan and not Marcheshvan, and the Rav LaChash, brought in the aforementioned Get Pashut, wrote that if one wrote there Marcheshvan it is obvious that it is valid; and if they sent a get from a place where they write Cheshvan to a place where they write Marcheshvan and they wrote in the get as the place of writing — this was an actual case with a get that was sent from Larso to Izmir — and the Rav Beis Aharon wrote on daf 59 amud 1 that there is no objection bedi'eved, and all the more so in a case of great igun ..'.
Therefore, in practice, although one should write Marcheshvan, but if bedi'eved they wrote only Cheshvan, it is valid.
c) Marcheshvan or Mar Cheshvan
The poskim further discussed how to write the word Marcheshvan:
The Beis Shmuel writes16: 'Marcheshvan, one word'. And the Pri Chadash writes17: 'It appears that it is called Mar Cheshvan, from the expression "Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket," on account of the rains, and as it is stated in the first chapter of Taanis that it rains [yoreh] in Marcheshvan18, and nevertheless it appears proper to write it as one word'.
And in the Nachalas Shiva19 he wrote: 'And it was told to me and I heard that it is found written in a sefer that it is called Marcheshvan20 because from the month of Cheshvan the [calendar] fixing is reckoned, and therefore for this matter it is the first of all the months, for from this month we know the fixing of all the months, and therefore it is called "mar". And there is a difficulty, for according to this you should have written "Mar Cheshvan" as two words, and I have not seen so in any place .. in every place it is written Marcheshvan as one word, and furthermore, the fixing does not depend on Marcheshvan alone but also on Kislev, and if so Kislev too should fittingly be called "mar" .. and furthermore there is a difficulty, for even when they used to sanctify [the month] by sighting and there was no fixing of the months after Cheshvan and Kislev, even so Cheshvan is called Marcheshvan, in the first chapter of Rosh Hashanah (7a) .. learn from this that even in the days of the Tannaim, who used to sanctify by sighting, it was called Marcheshvan and also as one word. Therefore one must say that this reason is not the essential one, rather it is a proper name. And likewise in the text of the Smag from the imprint of Rabbeinu Yitzchak of Paris it is written Marcheshvan as one word'.
And if one wrote it as two words, the Get Pashut writes there: 'And if he split there Marcheshvan — "mar" as one word and "cheshvan" as another word — it requires examination whether it can be validated; and if you say it is valid, if they wrote it on two lines there is room for doubt whether it would be valid, and see siman 128 se'if 32 and se'if 33'21.
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Notes:
1 כתב הפר"ח סי' קכו ס"ק כב: 'ומסתברא דאי כתב בול במקום מרחשון דשפיר דמי כדכתיב במ"א סי' ו' בירח בול הוא החדש השמיני דהיינו מרחשון'. אך להעיר מגרש ירחים (כהן) סי' א סקי"א בשם משכנות הרועים מערכת ג אות נו ↩
2 מ"א פ"ו פסוק לח ↩
3 וראה התוועדות ש"פ בראשית התשמ"ב (תו"מ ח"א ע' 300) ↩
4 פ"א מ"ג ↩
5 פר' נח פ"ז פי"א ↩
6 שו"ע אהע"ז סי' קכו ס"ז בהג"ה ↩
7 שו"ת אבן העזר סי' רלט ↩
8 וראה גם ערוה"ש סי' קכו סי"ז: 'ויראה לי דאם כתב בשני ווין ג"כ כשר דאין ביתור הויו קריאה אחרת וליכא למטעי' ↩
9 הגהב"י אות מ ↩
10 ס"ק לה ↩
11 ואינו במהרשד"ם שלפנינו ↩
12 וכתב השד"ח אסיפת דינים מערכת גט סי' יז אות ו: 'היינו שכבר נכתב' ↩
13 וראה בערוה"ש שם: 'דכן נקרא בלשון בני אדם וגם בהלוחות נדפס רק חשון וליכא למטעי' ↩
14 בחיים ושלום ח"ב אהע"ז סי' סג ↩
15 נסמן בהערה 12 ↩
16 אהע"ז שם ס"ק כא ↩
17 שם ס"ק כב ↩
18 וראה שיחת ש"פ בראשית התשכ"ח (תו"מ חנ"א ע' 181) ובכ"מ ↩
19 סי' ד ↩
20 וראה טעמים נוספים לשם החודש בבני יששכר מאמרי חודש מרחשון מ"א - מהות החודש. ערוה"ש שם. שד"ח שם. וראה בשו"ת בצל החכמה ח"ב סי' ס שהאריך לדון בטעמים לשם מרחשון ↩
21 וכתב ערוה"ש אבהע"ז סי' קכו סי"ז: *וכשכתב בשני תיבות או בשני שורות הוה ספק אם כי הדעת נוטה להכשיר ובמקום עיגון אפשר שיש להקל'*. וראה גם בגרש ירחים (משאש) עא, ב. וראה בשאר המפקד ח"ב הל' גיטין פ"ט דף עט א-ב ↩
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