Beginner: Basically my first mezuzah that i just finished.
If its not too much trouble, i would really appreciate any comments, critique and advice
thanks!!
How about the Bais of Uleovdo?
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Ink, Kosher vs. non-Kosher
We all know that there is no ancient source that requires ink to be מן המותר בפיך . Possibly, as said here before, because in the olden days ink was always מן המותר בפיך and the question was never raised. It was probably self-evident. Nowadays, no decent Rav will approve an ink which is not מן המותר בפיך . Who was the first one to raise this question? Was it raised because of animal ingredients or because of non-kosher wine?
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