The Ran says (60b) that when a month starts with 2 days of Rosh Chodesh (i.e. previous month was Molei, having 30 days), Shtoros written in that month are dated counting from the FIRST day of Rosh Chodesh, i.e. on what we would call the 2nd of the month, the Ran would write 3rd.
Does the Ran agree that Yomim Tovim are dated from the second day of Rosh Chodesh, e.g. Pesach on what we call the 15th of t Nissan? If so, a Shtar could be dated 15th Nissan but written on Erev Pesach, etc. Would this not be confusing?
Kol Tuv,
Meir Eliezer Bergman, Manchester UK
Reb Meir, you have touched upon the most incomprehensible statement in the entire Perush of the Ran on Nedarim! In my humble opinion, the Ran means to say the following:
Numerous times on this page, the Ran uses the word "Chodesh" interchangeably with "Rosh Chodesh". This is based on the verse (I Shmuel 20:27, 20:34) which uses the word Chodesh in that context.
If a person dates his Shtar by the day of the month, such as 15 Nisan or 2 Adar, he must certainly write it as we would write it. But if he writes the number of days "l'Chodesh Ploni" - e.g. 15 l'Chodesh Nisan or 3 l'Chodesh Adar - then what he means is to count the number of days that have transpired since Rosh Chodesh (since Chodesh = Rosh Chodesh). Since the first day of Rosh Chodesh Nisan or Adar is considered "Reish Yarcha" even though it is part of the previous month, he must count the days from Rosh Chodesh beginning from that day (and thus add one to the actual number of days of the month).
I would be glad to hear feedback about this suggestion.
Best wishes,
Mordecai Kornfeld
Kollel Iyun Hadaf