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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: "Prof. Levine" <llevine@stevens.edu><BR><BR>The following
is from today's Hakhel Email Bulletin.<BR><BR><BR>"Actually, the name of the
month is one word, Marcheshvan. ...<BR>"The origin of the name, like all of our
month names, is from Akkadian --<BR>the language spoken in Bavel during our
galus there. (Yerushalmi Rosh<BR>haShanah 1:2 vilna ed. 6a, Ramban Shemos 12:2)
The original Akkadian is<BR>actually 'Warachsamnu', a portomento of 'warach'
(yareiach / month) +<BR>'samnu' (shemini / eighth). The split, if there were
one, would be after<BR>the ches, not before.....</FONT></DIV>
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face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>"(This is a real problem. There are batei din that avoid writing
gittin<BR>in the month after Nisan rather than get involved in the machloqes
of<BR>spelling Iyar vs. Iyyar.)"<BR><BR><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT>
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>
<DIV>R' Ari Zivitofsky wrote about this in Jewish Action Fall 2000 but I
couldn't find a link. I did find a link to what appears to be a summary of
"What’s the Truth about… “Mar Cheshvan” ? - Jewish Action"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.ou.org/jewish_action/10/2012/whats-the-truth-about-mar-cheshvan/">http://www.ou.org/jewish_action/10/2012/whats-the-truth-about-mar-cheshvan/</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>--quote--</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Marcheshvan is probably derived from its location in the calendar. In
Akkadian (Babylonian/Assyrian), “w” (<EM>vav</EM>) and “m” (<EM>mem</EM>) sounds
can interchange. As a result, Marcheshvan which is from the two words “m’rach”
and “shvan,” would have been “warh” and “shman,” in Akkadian, corresponding to
the Hebrew “<EM>yerech shmini,</EM>” thus “eighth month.” In the Yemenite
tradition, the name of the month is pronounced Marach-sha’wan, not Mar-cheshvan
as in the Ashkenazic tradition, and this would seem to preserve a greater
fidelity to the original.....</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>....This misconception has halachic implications. Since the mistaken
practice of simply calling the month Cheshvan is so widespread, either Cheshvan
or the two word Mar Cheshvan is now acceptable, post-facto, if erroneously used
in a legal document such as a <EM>get</EM> (<EM>Aruch Hashulchan</EM>, <EM>Even
Ha’ezer</EM> 127:17). The Ramah (<EM>Even Ha’ezer </EM>127:7) lists only
Marcheshvan as the month’s name and does not give the <EM>halachah</EM> if one
wrote either just Cheshvan or the two word Mar Cheshvan. Others even accept
post-facto the Biblical name of the month, “Bul,” if it was used in a document.
The<EM> Aruch Hashulchan</EM> states that the <EM>halachah </EM>is the same for
the imprecise <EM>“Menachem Av” (Even Ha’ezer</EM> 127:16).</DIV>
<DIV><SUP></SUP> </DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>--end quote--</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial
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FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><FONT
color=#0000ff>-------------------------------------------------------------------
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