The International STa"M Forum

I was asked to put together a list of who writes stam in Israel. I know that the following facts are accurate: 1) about 50% of frum/ heimishe sofrim writing today do not have ksav kabollah betokef 2) about 50 % of stam produced is not written by frum heimishe sofrim, they are written by  "shababniks" and questionably frum persons 3) A small percentage is written by non frum / women/ arabs Therefore I came up with the following: • Frum / Heimishe sofrim with Ksav Kaballah Constitutes   approx 20% of Today’s Sofrim – Most of these write Mehudar for Charedi Private Market • Frum / Heimishe sofrim without Ksav Kaballah Constitutes approx   15% of Todays Sofrim or just under half of the frum market . Again, many of these write Mehudar but will often write for wholesalers due to lack of Kaballah . • Shababniks / yeshivah dropouts and university s tudents “questionably” f rum Jewish males of all ages (most without ksav...

The above Nun of Einekha is confused with a letter Bet.  This is not only due to the width of the OT but also to the KUTZ at it's right hind which gives it the appearance of an EKEV.  How would you rule? Is it straight passul or can it be fixed if a Tinok reads it like a NUN?

Can anyone recommend a source for high-quality small Batim? By "small" I mean 28mm and under, including pitzponim . I am looking for good craftsmanship as well as hiddurim such as truly prudos , holes for chut ha-tfira on the outside, etc. Preferably a Batim Macher you rely on personally or has an excellent hechsher such as Eidah Chareidis . Thank you.

What do I do with a mezuza like this thay im checking? Fix It, or leave it as no-good?

The pey of "pen" - shinuy tzurah?

 the line going from the ches to zayin is dark and goes all the way through

mazal tov mazal tov! i am proud and happy to share that i was just commissioned to write a sefer torah! it will be my first b"H and i have quite a few questions regarding technical details and arrangements that must be set in place prior to starting. there is no socher involved -- it will be a direct arrangement between me and the private client i am interested in receiving feedback from those who have experience writing sifrei torah and can explain considerations regarding: formulation of a contract agreement timelines and completion dates for specific parshiyot etc pricing for klaf and other materials  (including how much and how often to receive payment) sizes and variational options of sifrei torah dimensions (i prefer to write 8mm size ksav) hachnasas sefer torah ceremonies, etc any other relevant information based on professional experience also important to mention is that the ksav is mehudar (based on the opinion of a magiha musmach with over 30+ years exper...

I received a call from the seller of Orel retzuos. They make machine and handmade (regular and all black.) I'm not familiar with them. The family has been in the leather business for 40 years and expanded into retzuos. They presently have a local hechsher and am told Rav Moshe Shaul Klein in now giving them a hechsher as well but they don't have the letter from him yet. They claim there will not be any problem of paint peeling and that they are very good quality and that each stage is done by hand and even the melicha is done by a yid. I don't know anyone who is familiar with the nor have I spoken to Rav Klein yet. Does anyone have any more information or experience with this maker/these retzuos?

I started writing my Sefer Torah, and here's my first shaala. Is the Yud acceptable? Thanks!

Can one sand the back of sefer torah klaf to make it thinner and lighter (obviously after you've written on it but before it's been used). The only problem I see with this is sanding the back of the shaimos. If one marks the place of the shaimos and keeps away from that area, is this acceptable?

I took a long break from writing and only started again last week. In the picture below the peh in the word v'eyfer came out quite ugly. The question is: Is it kosher and therefore I can clean it up by removing some of the ink? Note that although it is hard to see in the picture, the internal bet has a long tail that goes into the right side: This leads me to another question: If you haven't written for a while, what you you usually do for "warm-ups"? Write the whole aleph-bet?

http://www.vosizneias.com/143202/2013/10/10/brooklyn-ny-maimonides-study-reveals-mezuzahs-dont-transmit-viruses/

enlarge for better picture I have a doubt if this type of chatoteres on the ches is kosher, since it is not connecting from the closer edges of the zayinim, rather from their center or far side?

Today I had an instance when I  was fixing a letter and got a little worried if during the tikun I may have done lo kesidran . Its one of those things that keep nagging at you even after you are done. I'll admit it happens to me every now and then. It was a nun that was quite far from the letter on the right. So I added ink to the back of the nun to make it closer. First the gag, then coming down to the moshav. When reaching the moshav I made the bottom right thicker with a series of thin strokes to the back of the moshav. I did the strokes in quick succession, sort of sketching it. Its very possible that after one of my strokes I had created a tzurah of a gimmel. But before I had  a chance to fully comprehend the situation, I had already continued with the successive strokes and filled in the gap, and was left with a fully kosher nun. So the question is, since I do not have access to slow motion replay, only a bad fee...

This is a quite common shyla that magihim pose: the nun has a tiny  koitz extending down, making a shayla of gimel. From my experience no tinok gets mixed-up and never read it as a gimel, therefore [l'mayse] a shaylas tinok is not even called for - and one can go ahead and erase this tiny koitz.

Those in chabad who use the heter of the tzemach tzedek to fix sofek kav moshuch in tefillin and mezuzos, does the heter apply to the right head of a tes that does not really curve to the left it just has a thin line coming from the top (ie there is no rosh just a thin line)?

A local Sofer was asked to check someone's Tefillin and as he was examining the Batim, he noticed two scratches very close to each other in the paint. He had the paint removed and discovered glue. He had the glue removed and this gap was revealed. As a Magia, the question is: How far is one meant to go? Examine the Batim if there are any scratches? And if yes, to go remove the paint...  

Does anyone know if there is a problem taking down a paroches from an aron kodesh (with wood doors) for a few weeks so it can be fixed? I am assuming they don't have an old paroches to put in its place. Would a sheet or the like need to be put up during this time?