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Without going into the whole Gantsah Geshichta, my sister is trying to convince me of the critical importance of the spelling of a person's name. She points to a local Rabbi who is an "expert in the spelling of names". She says that he's often consulted when a ketubah or a gett is written.

Okay, I understand the importance, and I can see him being consulted for a ketubah. But a gett?? What if someone's name is written one way on the ketubah and then it's decided that there's a "more correct" way to spell it and this spelling is used on the gett thereby creating a mismatch between these documents.

In a case like this, does the gett really do what its supposed to? Is this simply an open invitation to create mamzerim?

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    are you asking about the underlying importance of accurate spellings (there are books on the matter) or about the hypothetical halachic consequence of a mismatch between name spellings on the 2 documents?
    – rosends
    Commented Jul 27, 2023 at 16:27
  • @rosends No, the importance of spelling is not at issue here. What is the issue is if the ketubah and gett have different names (or differnt spellings of names) on them is the gett really valid to dissolve that marriage. I could see someone seeing the mismatch and suggesting that the couple is really not halachicly divorced which would open up the possiblity of mamzer if the woman remarries and has a child.
    – Sander Smith
    Commented Jul 27, 2023 at 18:26
  • Here is a question about an Ashkenazi minhag not to give a get during the month of Iyar because the Rema says there is a debate about whether the name of the month is spelled with one or two yuds and therefore the get may be invalid. Kal v'homer the name of the husband or wife! judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/28459/…
    – יהושע ק
    Commented Jul 27, 2023 at 21:35
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    In a Kesubah we only write one name, in the get that write every possible name that the person may of ever been called. Presumably, they would write the correct spelling and then add the wrong spelling as an additional name
    – Chatzkel
    Commented Jul 27, 2023 at 22:08
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    I think what youre missing is a marriage is valid even if the ketubba (the document outlining their obligations to each other) is invalid for some reason. The ring-giving effects the marriage, not the ketubba. If a get is invalid then the divorce fails entirely and they are still married.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Jul 28, 2023 at 2:20

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As stated above, a discrepancy in spelling isn't a problem; it's having the wrong name in a Gett that's a problem.

There are some names where the halacha says "multiple spellings are acceptable, so follow what you commonly use"; but there are others where the halacha is: "there is one right way to do it."

Pinchas is a case of the latter; the proper way is always with a Yud. Even if he normally writes it without a yud, and if he wrote it without a Yud in the Kesubah. When it comes to the Gett, they spell it the "right" way. (There is a whole lot more wiggle room with spellings in a Kesubah than a Gett!) If someone compared the documents they would say -- ah, the kesubah was done by a run-of-the-mill pulpit rabbi, while the Gett was done consulting an expert. No problem.

The only scenario that could cause headaches is if the kesubah says "Pinchas" and the Gett says "Moshe." (Not "Moshe also known as Pinchas" or anything like that. Just "Moshe.") Then -- you need to talk to a serious posek ...

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