KJ's Dr. William Major Memorial Advanced Shiur in Talmud with Rabbi Dr. Jeremy Wieder

Um, the name of the Chodesh is Marchesvan.

Um, and it's not a title, and it's not a prefix.

And if one were going to split the Chodesh into-- the word up into two parts, it would be Marachshvan or Marchesvan or something like that.

Um, because it really, if you-- with a, with a couple of semi, you know, letter switches that happened over time for whatever reason, Marchesvan or Marchesvan, which I think is how the Yemenites pronounce it, is just Yarah Shmini.

It's the eighth month, and that's why it's called Marchesvan.

Uh, if you were to take, uh, any, uh, text, any Gemara text, [clears throat] and look in the Gemara where, where it occurs, it's not that often, you will see that it's called as Chodesh Marchesvan.

The posekim might discuss what happens if you write a get or a sotah, and you wrote Cheshvan, that's a possible sotah.

But there's little question of how it's supposed to be written.

It's supposed to be written as one word, Marchesvan.

And I'll add something of interesting note that I heard from [clears throat] Professor Moshe Bar-Asher, who I imagine is now retired [clears throat] mandatorily from Hebrew U, but is one of the giants in Lashon.

He pointed out that the two months that we-- the month we just finished and the month that we're starting, uh, give contradictory signals as to when the year begins, because there really are two ways the year begins.

There are two cycles.

There are two fundamental Rosh Hashanas.

Uh, Nisan marks the beginning of the military year, when the rains are over and, uh, uh, [clears throat] and probably a lot of kings are registered that way.

And Tishrei marks the beginning of the agricultural year, because at the end of the month is when the rains start to come.

We haven't had any real-- We had a rain-- one major rainstorm during the summer here in Maale Adumim, in Yerushalayim, [clears throat] which is a rare occurrence.

That was, like, six weeks ago, eight weeks ago.

And we haven't had any real rain, other than a few drops since then, but it, it should be, God willing, coming.

Um, and so it's the beginning of the agricultural year.

Now, the m-the name Marchesvan itself reflects Yarah Shmini, which, which suggests that the first month is Nisan.

But the word Tishrei, [clears throat] um, is me-- comes from the Aramaic word which means sharay, which means to begin, uh, because Tishrei is the beginning of the year.

So those months are not Jew-- those names are not Jewish names.

Those are Babylonian names.

The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah says that [speaking in foreign language].

We brought those names back from Babel.

Um, the name of the Chodesh is Marchesvan.

Um, and it's not a title, and it's not a prefix.

And if one were going to split the Chodesh into-- the word up into two parts, it would be Marachshvan or Marchesvan or something like that.

Um, because it really, if you-- with a, with a couple of semi, you know, letter switches that happened over time for whatever reason, Marchesvan or Marchesvan, which I think is how the Yemenites pronounce it, is just Yarah Shmini.

It's the eighth month, and that's why it's called Marchesvan.

Uh, if you were to take, uh, any, uh, text, any Gemara text, [clears throat] and look in the Gemara where, where it occurs, it's not that often, you will see that it's called as Chodesh Marchesvan.

The posekim might discuss what happens if you write a get or a sotah, and you wrote Cheshvan, that's a possible sotah.

But there's little question of how it's supposed to be written.

It's supposed to be written as one word, Marchesvan.

And I'll add something of interesting note that I heard from [clears throat] Professor Moshe Bar-Asher, who I imagine is now retired [clears throat] mandatorily from Hebrew U, but is one of the giants in Lashon.

He pointed out that the two months that we-- the month we just finished and the month that we're starting, uh, give contradictory signals as to when the year begins, because there really are two ways the year begins.

There are two cycles.

There are two fundamental Rosh Hashanas.

Uh, Nisan marks the beginning of the military year, when the rains are over and, uh, uh, [clears throat] and probably a lot of kings are registered that way.

And Tishrei marks the beginning of the agricultural year, because at the end of the month is when the rains start to come.

We haven't had any real-- We had a rain-- one major rainstorm during the summer here in Maale Adumim, in Yerushalayim, [clears throat] which is a rare occurrence.

That was, like, six weeks ago, eight weeks ago.

And we haven't had any real rain, other than a few drops since then, but it, it should be, God willing, coming.

Um, and so it's the beginning of the agricultural year.

Now, the m-the name Marchesvan itself reflects Yarah Shmini, which, which suggests that the first month is Nisan.

But the word Tishrei, [clears throat] um, is me-- comes from the Aramaic word which means sharay, which means to begin, uh, because Tishrei is the beginning of the year.

So those months are not Jew-- those names are not Jewish names.

Those are Babylonian names.

The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah says that [speaking in foreign language].

We brought those names back from Babel.