Responsa for Ketubot 119:4
תנו רבנן יונק תינוק והולך עד עשרים וארבעה חדש מכאן ואילך כיונק שקץ דברי רבי אליעזר רבי יהושע אומר אפילו ארבע וחמש שנים פירש לאחר עשרים וארבעה חדש וחזר כיונק שקץ
Our rabbis taught: A child may nurse for twenty-four months. From that age onwards it is as if he nurses from a sheketz, the words of R. Eliezer. Joshua said: [He may nurse] even for four or five years. If he stopped after twenty-four months and started again it is as if he nurses from a sheketz.
Teshuvot Maharam
Q. How long should a nursing widow wait until she can remarry?
A. The accepted law is that she must wait 24 moon-months (from the day the child is born), i. e. months of alternating length of 29 and 30 days. If one of the years is a leap year, she must wait 25 such months. However, were I not afraid to differ with the decisions of my teachers, I would require her to wait 24 full months of 30 days each, or 720 days, and in a leap year 25 moon-months of alternating length, in order to be sure to comply with all possible interpretations of the opinions of the authorities of the Talmud.
This Responsum is addressed to R. Yekutiel.
SOURCES: Pr. 79. Cf. Mord. Yeb. 19; Israel Bruno, Responsa 192; ibid. 193; ibid. 194; Terumat Hadeshen 216; Isserlein, Pesakim 82; ibid. 178.
A. The accepted law is that she must wait 24 moon-months (from the day the child is born), i. e. months of alternating length of 29 and 30 days. If one of the years is a leap year, she must wait 25 such months. However, were I not afraid to differ with the decisions of my teachers, I would require her to wait 24 full months of 30 days each, or 720 days, and in a leap year 25 moon-months of alternating length, in order to be sure to comply with all possible interpretations of the opinions of the authorities of the Talmud.
This Responsum is addressed to R. Yekutiel.
SOURCES: Pr. 79. Cf. Mord. Yeb. 19; Israel Bruno, Responsa 192; ibid. 193; ibid. 194; Terumat Hadeshen 216; Isserlein, Pesakim 82; ibid. 178.
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