Popular posts from this blog
Klaff Tanning question:
By
Rabbi Eli Gutnick
-
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.
The forum is back online...for reference and research purposes.
By
Rabbi Eli Gutnick
-
Dear Readers and Members, The forum has been down for over 6 months because the domain name (www.stamforum.com) lapsed and it is no longer available to re purchase. Although this forum is now defunct (it has morphed into several whatsapp groups), I have had many requests to put it back online because it contains so much information (over 1,800 posts and thousands of comments in the discussions, on a wide range of topics related to STa"M). I have therefore put the forum back online at blogger, so the address is www.stamforum.blogspot.com. The forum lasted for a decade...not a bad effort! It was pretty popular back in the days before whatsapp and managed to receive over a million hits in it's short life. It was one of the only organised forums in the STa"M world and definitely the largest in it's heyday. I would like to thank all those who cobtributed over the years, particularly the early members who helped build it up. Thanking you all, Eli
The left side is very square - I don't think this is an issue. It is kasher. You can ask a tinok, but I don't think this is a case of genuine safek.
ReplyDeleteOne must show it to a tinok.
ReplyDeleteI once wrote an article explaining why such a shailo is problematic for a shailos tinuk since the samech in many siddurim today that kids are used to are actually kosher as mem stuma
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I was thinking. I always have a hard time deciding, at what angle does it become problematic. I would be surprised if a Tinok would read this as anything but a Samech, since this is the Samech children are taught. The question is wheather this is technically Halachakly the case as well.
Deletethe mem should be asked by a tinok, since it is lechatchila incorrect. the mem should have been square, and a variation although slight, may not be accepted by a tinok.
Delete