opinion?
I am wondering, what are your thoughts regarding this Sefer. A friend bought this in Israel, and is a bit unhappy with how the lines are sometimes coming out of the sirtut. It also has some letters that are misshapen (such as his chet where he makes the vav part shorter then the zayin part etc)
Do you see this as kosher or kosher b'dieved? mehudar or not? I did not find a whole word coming out of the line, but a lot of letters coming out.
Hi Elad,
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not Mehudar. However, there is no doubt that with respect to the issue of coming out of the margins, the sefer is Kasher.
The Rambam documents the halakha for us: "Should a [scribe] have to write a word with five letters [at the end of a line, and there not be sufficient space for them all], he should not write two within the column and three beyond its margins. Rather, he should write three within the column, and two beyond its margins." (Hilkhot Sefer Torah 7:5)
Interestingly, he also adds: "If there is no room on the line to write [at least] three letters, he should leave an empty space and continue at the beginning of the [next] line."
The implication is that a perfectly justified column is not an initial requirement. More so, Shulkhan Arukh in Yoreh Deah 273:3 reiterates Rambam's elucidation of the halakha. There, SA explains that scribes should preferably leave empty spaces rather than elongate the letters, as is common practice today, for doing so distorts their shape.
It depends how much your friend paid for this sefer. I would not sell such a sefer for more than $20,000. If someone paid less than 20 thousand he should not be unhappy because you get what you paid for, and provided the sefer is checked properly it should be of an acceptabel standard.
ReplyDeleteIf he wanted something nicer he should have been advised of this option, but he would have had to pay more. If he was advised of this option but still wanted top pay cheap, then he has no taanah
The price was 27k...which explains why he is mad. I told him such a sefer is maybe 21k.
ReplyDeleteYour friend has every right to feel that way. For 27k he deserved and is entitled to expect something more mehudar.
Deletecan he get a refund? did he buy it from a socher or sofer?
ReplyDelete