The worst Mezuzah ever?
We know that many very small Mezuzot are very poorly and hastily written but the one below is
possibly one of the worst examples I've ever seen where the letters
forms are totally unacceptable in so many places - wierd pehs, tsadis
that look like ayins, mems that look like chets (which is an amazing
achievement - staggeringly bad!), k'shtey milim, negiot, no enlarged letters and
more. The bottom two words are also right at the bottom of the
parchment which has been trimmed very badly so that they are not mukaf
g'vil.
I use it for demo purposes. Thought I'd share.
Thank you very much for posting this!
ReplyDeleteThis is forged, it is not a mezuza at all!!
It was not written by a qualified sofer.
There are many mezuzos that are written by unqualified people that are {hallachic} forge of a mezuza,
Hashem Yerachem.
I have seen MUCH worse. Whoever sold this will have a lot to answer for..
ReplyDeletenotice the word acher on the first line !!!
ReplyDeleteit was written by a non-believer !!!
Indeed - or it ach r as the space is huge!
DeleteEli, I'm amazed you've seen worse. I hang on to this one to warn people just how bad things that claim to be Mezuzot can be.
ReplyDeleteYou may remember the correspondence I posted on this site some months back regarding fraudulent mezuzos being sold by a shop in Israel. Not only were the letters worse, there were basically no spaces between the words.
Deletecheck it out
http://www.stamforum.com/2011/12/do-you-think-this-email-will-acheive.html
May the Almighty forgive His People for its mistakes -- those that were committed purposely and even those without even knowing.
ReplyDeleteFor who among us can claim perfection other than the Ribbono Shel Olam, Avinu sh'ba shamayim...
Hashem should have compassion on all those involved in the production of this mezuzah and may the one upon whose door this was affixed receive extra shmira min hashamayim (and a mehudar mezuzah for the door, too).
May we fix not only the things we have done wrong but also those that we also did right - but didn't remember to do them with all of our hearts, souls and being.
May we only see the good in each other and ourselves and may we continue to inspire, guide and help everyone be closer with Tatty in Himmel
amen!!
DeletePesach dear, did you take in account that the mezuza could have been written by a non-jew??!!
ReplyDeleteR. Pesach - lovely thoughts.
ReplyDeleteSadly I think that deliberate flooding of the market with pasul mezuzot is rife as sadly (again) many Jews would not have the knowledge to be aware they have been sold something that is worthless. So regardless of our wish that Hashem have mercy on such people who make and sell, we are duty bound to warn potential purchasers - such as the STaM Guide that was shown a few posts ago.
I have a collection of such "gems" and this certainly would fit right in. Obviously this was not written by a sofer, if handwritten at all. Fortunately, there are less of these sold as kosher scrolls these days but there are still plenty out there. I discuss such mezuzahs and provide sme tips for identifying printed ones in my book, Tefillin & Mezuzahs (Targum Press 2003)
ReplyDeleteI have your book R. Askotzky - a wonderful resource which I read from cover to cover back when it came out and have looked at many times over the years. Love to quote the bit about plumbers and electricians and what we ask them as opposed to what people ask the sofer! This 'gem' was handwritten. I have the actual k'laf.
Delete