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Rabbi Menachem Greenblatt (St. Louis, Missouri) mentioned at s'uda sh'lishis (Shabas parashas "Ki Setze" 5772) that the correct name for Sunday is echad b(a?)shabas, as is written in k'suvos and gitin (see Shulchan Aruch, Even Haezer 126:3), even though the other days are referred to with ordinals (sheni et al.), and wondered aloud in passing why we say in the introduction to the shir shel yom "hayom yom rishon" and not "echad". Anyone have a reason (preferably sourced)?

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Sefardim say "echad" (they also say "*ha*shishi" on Friday). (This seems also to be Ramban's minhag.) –  b a Sep 2 '12 at 7:15

3 Answers 3

Echad, Shtayim, Shalosh (Cardinal numbers)

Rishon, Sheni, Shlishi (Ordinal numbers)

Ordinal makes more sense to me: You are ranking (enumerating) the days, not counting how many there are.

But Bereishis mixes the two types - which is explained here: http://www.ou.org/torah/tt/5769/bereishit69/aliya.htm

"The day is called YOM ECHAD (cardinal number) rather than RISHON (ordinal number), because RISHON has meaning only if there is a SHENI, which there wasn't yet."

When you are davening, the second day does already exist, so you use ordinal numbers (as would be expected).

A get is different because you say "On day one of the week", which sounds OK. In contrast with davening the translation would be "Today is one day of the week", which could mean any of them, and really only makes sense when there is just one day.

So it seems to me that when the grammar allows it you copy the Torah, but when it sounds awkward you change it, (since it's anyway not a direct quote).

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But then why do we use Echad for Gittin? –  Double AA Sep 2 '12 at 8:06
I don't know, but it's seems grammatical to me. In a get you say "On day one of the week", which sounds OK, But in davening the translation would be "today is one day of the week", which could mean any of them, and really only makes sense when there is just one day. So I guess when the grammar allows it you copy the Torah, when it sounds awkward you change it (since it's anyway not a direct quote). This is totally a guess. –  Ariel Sep 2 '12 at 8:14
Shouldn't that ^^^ be in your answer? –  Double AA Sep 2 '12 at 13:09
@DoubleAA It is now. Thanks for inspiring it. –  Ariel Sep 3 '12 at 1:20
The reason it sounds okay to say "On day One of the week" is because the deep structure of the sentence allows us to understand that it means "On day Number One of the week," which is the same as saying "On the first day of the week." Amazing how syntax can convert a cardinal number into a functionally ordinal number. Similarly with the phrase, "Today is Day [Number] One of the week..." –  Shemmy Sep 4 '12 at 1:57

On day one, day one was not the first in a series of days, it was the one and only:


See: How old is the world?—Aish

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I don't see how this answers the question above. –  msh210 Jun 14 '13 at 19:31
@msh210 edited. –  Kinnard Hockenhull Jun 20 '13 at 3:34
@kinnard I still don't see how this answers the question. –  Double AA Jun 20 '13 at 8:09

אֶחָד — "Echad" means "the only one" or "alone", not "one". Shema Israel: YHVH our God! YHVH is the only one! Or "Shema Israel! YHVH is our God! YHVH alone!". You cannot count God. As well as we cannot count water, fire, air, light. So He created light in the first and "only day" (Yom Echad) of creation. This is why today we say "Yom Rishon", because it is no longer Yom Echad "the only day of creation", is the first of the week.

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so what about gittin? –  Shmuel Brin Jan 23 at 20:11
I actually see how this answers the question. The substance is surrounded by random exclamation marks and gratuitous use of a Romanized spelling of G-d's name, as well as flippant quotes without explanation, but those unexplained quotes are relevant to the answer, which is actually, at its difficult-to-find core, not bad. I'm not sure how to treat this. It's been downvoted, and I'd downvote it as well based on quality, but it's not a terrible answer in sum. I think I'd like to advocate a re-write. –  Seth J Jan 24 at 4:04

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