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.
I once received a pair of Tefillin for checking the Retzuos were ripped apart and the owner taped them back together with scotch tape...
ReplyDeleteI once received a pair of Tefillin, where the owner used to sweat so much, that eventually it pierced a huge gaping hole, from the bottom of the Titura, all the way up to the Parshiyos!
DeleteTop 3 most unusual tefillin I have ever seen:
Delete1) I once checked a pair that had NO parshiyos, completely empty. It was sewn up with giddin, perfectly. the guy wore them for 60 years every day, never had them checked. he was given them them after the war in europe.
2) Toy tefillin. Someone once brought me a pair of those kiddie tefillin you buy for $10 and asked me if it was kosher because he noticed the straps were stapled together instead of tied. He was dead serious, he bought them online thinking he got a bargain.
3) Newspaper; I have on more than one occasion opened tefillin to find bits of hebrew newspaper and other exciting odds and ends.
I always like to tell the joke about the pair of tefillin I opened and found a note inside " Help, I'm trapped in a tefillin factory". Of course it's only a joke but it eases the tension when you have to break it to someone that he doesnt have proper parshiyos in his tefillin.
Oh yes, one more: A guy had a pair made up of two shel roshim, no shel yad, but the second rosh had a yad kesher on it so he was basically tying a shel rosh onto his arm.
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ReplyDeleteHa ha ha , thats great stuff!
DeleteAlberto, why did you delete that?, it's hysterical
DeleteBeing a newbie, my stories aren't that great but:
ReplyDelete1) The standard passul 2.5 inch Israeli tourist mezuza ... with "tikkunim" in blue ball point (not a hagaha story, a secular friend gave it to my parents)
2) A pair of "slonimer" tefillin that I used for shimush were actually made out of tiach shins and all. The shel rosh bayis slid out neatly when I tried to remove a parsha.
By the way, is that a hole on the top of the titura? if yes, that would affect the ruibuah and need to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a hole, but the person replaced his Batim anyway.
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