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Klaff Tanning question:
By
Rabbi Eli Gutnick
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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
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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
For the first mezuza - very well!! behatzlacha!!
ReplyDeleteYou have to widen the spacing between the lines, by using a thinner kulmus/kane so the letters are even, half the hight between one sirtut to another. You have small caf sofit which doesn't fit in with the general size, and eventualy they are going to cause you problems.
You write the ches pashuta. So I assume you are writing Temani script ?!
The Nun peshuta should not be bent or curved, but the regel coming down straight.
Hi Nathan,
ReplyDeleteKol HaKavod on the writing of your first mezuzah! It looks really good. The rest will come with practice. Tell us, how many hours did it take you? I remember my first took me 7+ hours. It felt that time went really slow, but once done it was a major accomplishment.
Here are some other tips besides those above.
1. Try to work on making your SHINS a bit more compact so that they will not be as wide and tall as they currently are. The height should be 3.25 kolmosim, and should descend halfway between one sirtut and the other as indicated by R. Moshe Weiner.
2. The same goes with the AYINS. Only the left part of the BASE should descend a bit below the 3.25 kolmosim - halfway sirtut mark.
3. Make sure that the right heads of the AYINs are all made at a 45 degree slant - similar to the middle and right teeth of your SHINS. Stay away from writing them straight.
2. Square the bottom right of your Mems.
3. Work on having the foot of the TAVs beginning consistently left of center of the roof of the letter.
4. Make sure that the left foot of the CHET PESHUTA begins at the extreme left of the roof. Once it is indented in a bit, it coincides with the old ZURAT HEH which originally was connected at the roof. As such, the only differentiation between them in the original Ashurit was that one had its foot indented and the other not.
5. Likewise, try and work on the width of your ALEFS so that they will be a bit narrower. Make your diagonal a bit steeper than 45 degrees that way, you will see that you will have a more space to fit all your letters comfortably on the parchment.
Keep up the good work and let us know of your progress!
Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteYes this first one took me about three hours to write...im trying to cut it down to 2hrs.
really appreciate the advice!!
This was already mentioned, but I'm gonna repeat it: When making flat chesin it is EXTREMELY important that they not look like connected heys. You cannot even make a shaylas tinok because no tinokos nowadays know what connected heys look like. I would ask someone who is thoroughly familiar with these inyanim, perhaps someone on this forum if the chesin are kosher.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, it looks really great! Keep up the good work and tizke l'mitzvos