A place for English speaking sofrim (scribes), magihim (examiners), rabbis and vendors of Stam (Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah scrolls) from around the world to communicate, share ideas, ask questions and offer support and advice.
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By
Dovid Nissan Bressman
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In the word Uvichal, the ו is long. It also starts a little lower than it should be which makes it trickier. Is the ו around 4 kolmosim long?
Instinctively I would say shailat tinok at most as a) the vav does start a bit low as you said, b) compared with this ksav it doesn't look much longer than his other vavim and compared with his אותיות פשוטות (kaf really but this is assuming his nunim are similar length) there is a great difference in length.
Since it is on the boundry between vav and nun, this means to my sight it is not definitly a nun, it looks more like a vav, it would be a shaylas tinok. And since it is obvious that a tinok will read it vav - it is kosher. Dovid, this is according to my sight. If your sight agrees with the above you can machshir, if you dont agree (that means the mezuza before your eyes, the letter seems to look more a nun than a vav) - ask a tinok.
it is important to note the difference between vov and zein.mishna brura in letter zein writes not to make regel longer than 2 kulmusim,however in letter vov he writes not to make it "aruch miday". when viewing old ktavim i always found "very"long vavs,i met with rav samson from london who pointed out the alpha baisawho explains why vavin should be written long.see page 264 in the new print
I received this question via email. I am not really a klaf expert, I was wondering if anyone could answer this question: Dear Rabbi Gutnick, I am writing to you because a good friend of mine has put the idea into my head that the klaf in my tefillin were not really tanned and therefore are not kosher. He referred me to Megilla 19a re diftera. From the research that I have done so far, it seems that the klaf that is used today is tanned only with a lime wash. On all of the tanning websites I’ve seen so far, they say that the lime doesn’t accomplish tanning but only the removal of the hair and some other pre-tanning effects. Would you be able to explain to me or refer me to a website that explains how the tanning process that is used today takes the hide out of the category of diftera? Thank you very much.
Last week I posted some thoughts in response to a public lecture given by Rabbi Reuvain Mendlowitz regarding Ksav Chabad (the Alter Rebbe's ksav). I felt he did not represent the issue fairly, and since I had received questions about it from a number of people I felt it made sense to write a general response. After I posted my response on this forum, Rabbi Mendlowitz reached out to me by email and we ended up having a respectful and productive email exchange regarding the relevant issues surrounding Ksav Chabad. His position is a lot clearer to me now, and I think he also took certain things on board that I clarified with him. The purpose of the Stam Forum (at least back in it's heyday before all the whats app groups took over) was to connect sofrim from around the world, to promote achdus and build bridges, as well as to offer support and advice. In that spirit, I felt I should write a follow up post, to clarify some of the issues and misconception...
Instinctively I would say shailat tinok at most as a) the vav does start a bit low as you said, b) compared with this ksav it doesn't look much longer than his other vavim and compared with his אותיות פשוטות (kaf really but this is assuming his nunim are similar length) there is a great difference in length.
ReplyDeleteKeen to hear R' Moshe's thoughts?
Since it is on the boundry between vav and nun, this means to my sight it is not definitly a nun, it looks more like a vav, it would be a shaylas tinok.
ReplyDeleteAnd since it is obvious that a tinok will read it vav - it is kosher.
Dovid, this is according to my sight. If your sight agrees with the above you can machshir, if you dont agree (that means the mezuza before your eyes, the letter seems to look more a nun than a vav) - ask a tinok.
it is important to note the difference between vov and zein.mishna brura in letter zein writes not to make regel longer than 2 kulmusim,however in letter vov he writes not to make it "aruch miday".
ReplyDeletewhen viewing old ktavim i always found "very"long vavs,i met with rav samson from london who pointed out the alpha baisawho explains why vavin should be written long.see page 264 in the new print