What Happened To Vaad Mishmeres Stam
“THE VAAD” as known in USA and in all of Diaspora was supposed to solve many of the problems we are dealing with.Ksav kabala, computer check, removing bdieved sofrim from the market, removing ganavim and tricksters from the market, educating the public, notifying sofrim of problems,printing material and sforim on STa”M what happened to them????????????????
I remember as a child 30 years ago “THE VAAD” was the most respected organization that brought together the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Moishe Feinstein, Belz,Ger and Lubavitch we all watched their presentations what happened to them?
I am not sure how they were 30 years ago..but from what I understand, they are a certifying agency, not the STaM police.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to keep track of all the Sofrim out there, especially the thousands in Israel. From what I've read, they do try to publicize (including Rav Vosner "shevet halevi") that Sofrim need to have smicha and not to buy from someone who doesn't (for example, the first few pages in "Torat Halevi" where he mentions he was asked by the Vaad to write that and publicize it)
The fact of the matter is, that there will always be Sofrim who just do the bedieved Mezuzot and the only way to stop it IS FOR SOCHRIM NOT TO BUY FROM THEM. if they don't have business, they will go away. I think it's up to the Vaad to certify and for us to buy from Sofrim with smicha.
The bigger problem (at least for me) is the Judaica stores, who insist on selling cheap Mezuzot (I recently had a call from a shop owner who said he would pay $10 TOPS for each Mezuzah) and then the public are flabbergasted to hear a Mezuzah sell for $30... this makes them go back to the Judaica store and buy the paper Mezuzos.
I thought vaad mishmeret sta"m had a sticker system in place so we can know if the sofer has kabala betokef. Rabbi Friedlander claims that if teuda expired its as if sofer never had one.I was also wondering what happened to the system.
ReplyDeleteVaad Mishmeres Stam's big success was in the 1980's when they took on the Chief rabbinate hechsher in Israel and essentially made it unscrupulous to sell those 6cm klaf mashuach mezuzos with the hechesher of the rabbinate.
ReplyDeleteHowever there are always those out to make a dishonest buck and cheat the system, so while many don't sell mashuach small mezuzos anymore they have come up with other ways to scam people.
I personally know one "chassiedish" socher who gets 'Shababniks" (non frum kids) to write mezuzos. They all sit in a dira together, which he pays for, smoking, non-jewish music, girls...you name it. While some of these kids are talented and write nicely, I don't know how many of these kids are being makdish the shaimos.
Every few weeks I get a batch of mezuzos and tefillin that are completely fraudulent. It often ends in Chilul Hashem because a lot of the people that end up with these are non religious and they lose faith in a system that allows "religious" people in Israel to sell such items. I even get accused sometimes for being "too strict" and get asked "How can it be kosher in Israel but not Kosher in Australia?"
I once opened a pair of tefillin that had bits of shaimos inside. I obtained the receipt and details of purchase from the customer. He bought it at the shuk machane yehudah. I few weeks later I went to Israel and confronted the store owner armed with a letter from my local rabbinical council. He said he buys them from a sofer with a beard and parshiyos.
The next day i spoke to rav Freidlander about it and he said there is absolutely nothing he can do.
The best way to combat all this is by public awareness. For that you need time and money. I try within my means to educate my customers. I think Vaad Mishmeres stam is a good cause and they should have a more professional approach such as fundraising and marketing personel to make them more of a force to be reckoned with.