In today’s day and age, virtually every kosher product available to the consumer comes with a hechsher. By hechsher, I mean an official and recognised rabbinical body or agency that certifies the kashrus of a product, be it a food item or a religious article. Hechsherim play a vital role in providing consumer confidence, and something branded by a reputable kashrus agency will be considered more legitimate than a similar product that does not. The agency has rigid policies and protocols in place to ensure correct standards are met, and they are independent of the manufacturer so that there is no conflict of interest. As we have discussed on this forum previously, there is a distinct lack of official hechsherim on Sta”m products - Tefillin, Mezuzos and Sifrei Torah. Even the Vaad Mishmeres Sta”m, the oldest and most well- known rabbinic agency in the Sta”m world does not certify products. They test and ordain sofrim and magihim (examiners), offer a computer checking service (sp...
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ReplyDeleteShalom R. Avraham. I have done many of these. If the Torah has been extensively repaired then the community often feel that it should be treated as new (either because it is new to them or because it has been 'away' for a long period - and I often feel that way too. I usually leave a few letters un-repaired so that members of the community who funded the work or who the community want to honour can be so honoured.
ReplyDeleteCheck in the sefer on ksivas sefer torah from the nitei gavriel, you can't do a proper siyum / hachnoso on a used sefer, definitely don't do a a parade with music etc. Usually here I make a token ceremony with some dancing inside the shul and some tehillim and speeches with a lechaim afterwards. You may be able to leave some letters that need repair to complete with some dignitaries but this is not a proper siyum, a siyum can only be done once per sefer.
ReplyDeleteI also do a d'var torah on the repair of sifrey and talk about the materials and also talk about Menachot 30a, which reads 'R. Sheshet said if one corrects even one letter it is considered as if he wrote [an entire Sefer Torah]' and adds: 'whoever writes a Sefer Torah, Scripture deems it as if he received it from Sinai'.
ReplyDeleteR. Eli's suggestions are very good as tikkun is a good excuse for a simcha even if it isn't a proper siyyum.
R' Eli, what is the exact place in Nitei Gavriel?
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ReplyDeletePerek 18 sif 20 talks about not making a tahalucha / parade with music etc for a newly refurbished sefer, this is only done for a brand new sefer. Look in the foot note, he brings down Rav Wosner because it's ganevas daas , people will think it's a new sefer when it's not.
ReplyDeleteBut as I said previously, you can say tehillim, speeches, dance in the shul and even do a seudah (although it should be less than a normal seudah for a new sefer which is why I suggest a stand up lechaim / kiddish type affair
Yashar koach
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