Ktav Russi/Alter Rebbe?

I'm wondering if anyone can explain what exactly is "ktav Russi". Apparently, it looks like Alter Rebbe in every way, but for some reason is not..? It is sometimes referred to as "Russian Arizal"

Comments

  1. Elad, there is no mesorah on the Alter Rebbe's ksav. It was "reconstructed" from various ksavim believed to be written by Reb Rueven, who was historically the Alter Rebbe's sofer. But whether or not these ksavim are from before or after his instruction from tyeh Alter Rebbe remains unclear.

    I agree with you that the Russian ksav,including many sifrei Torah that I have personally seen- is very similar to how some people write the Alter Rebbe's ksav today. Often these old second hand / refurbished seforim are sold by todays chabad vendors as Alter Rebbe's ksav even though they were written at around the turn of last century - a time when there was officially no such thing as the Alter Rebbes ksav.

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  2. Eli I understand that the Rebbe purchased Ksav Meuchos Tefillin for 3 differnt people (Mezuzahs as well), (true many times Arizal- but still why do it even once if it is so shaky and questionable in the first place).
    Even if we say the chain was broken, the Rebbe still encouraged it to certain people.
    Rav landau sells it with his personal hechsher and there is a sefer on how to write it called ksav Chabad (which is meyusaid on Ksav of R' Reuvain as you mentioned).We also have a megillah from the Rebbe Reshab which is ksav Meyuchas.
    I agree that there are certain points that are among debate of expert Ksav Meyuchas Sofrim, but that is why when getting ksav Chabad it is of most importance to get of only top quality.

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  3. I have a print of A Megillah written by the Rebbe Maharash and it looks a bit different then current Alter Rebbe... especially the letters nun and tet...and in some cases he did a chet as zayin-zayin and in some cases a vav zayin.. I also saw older Alter Rebbe Torah's that were written zayin-zayin.

    Did anyone have a chance to look at the Mittler Rebbe's Torah? have a look at the link below: http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=17516&hl=sefer+torah

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  4. You are right the Rebbe Maharash, my mistake.

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  5. Can anyone please take pictures of this sefer tora and put it on the forum??
    According to the col movie [link elad gave]it is in a shul in flatbush.

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  6. I would like too add that it is the implied psak from the Sharei Teshuva 32:1 that when you copy from a meduak ksav from a sofer mefursam it is like you recieve eish mpi eish.

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  7. Dovid, you are correct in your last statement.

    However we do not know for certain if the parshiyos of R' Z. Gurarie's tefillin (the template for ksav Chabad) was written before or after Reb Reuven received instruction from the Alter Rebbe.

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