Negia
Unfortunately the nun and yud are just touching.
It's hard to tell from the photo but I don't think that its thin or light enough to be insignificant. Also, especially with a mem that often has a very small connection at the chartom.
Rabbi Reuvain Mendlowitz clarifies his position on Ksav Chabad (and my final thoughts)
Last week I posted some thoughts in response to a public lecture given by Rabbi Reuvain Mendlowitz regarding Ksav Chabad (the Alter Rebbe's ksav). I felt he did not represent the issue fairly, and since I had received questions about it from a number of people I felt it made sense to write a general response. After I posted my response on this forum, Rabbi Mendlowitz reached out to me by email and we ended up having a respectful and productive email exchange regarding the relevant issues surrounding Ksav Chabad. His position is a lot clearer to me now, and I think he also took certain things on board that I clarified with him. The purpose of the Stam Forum (at least back in it's heyday before all the whats app groups took over) was to connect sofrim from around the world, to promote achdus and build bridges, as well as to offer support and advice. In that spirit, I felt I should write a follow up post, to clarify some of the issues and misconception...
Ask a tinok if he reads them nun yud, yuo may scrape the negiya. If he reads them mem, or fails to read one of these letters - gniza!
ReplyDeletethe fact that it is a yud and not a vov - it does not reach the moshav of the nun - is tzad to be meikel
ReplyDeleteSince a) the only reason we know its a nun yud is really because of the tagim (and a little bit the tzavar of the nun) which have little affect on tzurat ha'ot and b) a mem with a very short chartum is kosher, what's the svara for allowing a tinok? (Sources?)
ReplyDeleteThere are 3 unique changes from a mem: 1) the nun part - all of it, 2) the chartom yud is short, 3) tagim.
ReplyDeleteThis would never be accepted as a kosher mem, therefore it is a shaylas tinok in regard to what this is.
Sorry no sources available, just my svara alone.
Based on the changes mentioned by Rav Moshe, I'd ask a shailos chacham. I'd not be surprised if he would be mekel. If a tinok did need to be asked, it is highly unlikely they'd call it a mem and likely they'd read the 2 letters correctly.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Uvish'orecha? The Yud is longer than the Reish.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that the regel yud is longer than the regel reish. Honestly, I didn't really check further once I got to the nun/yud.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a yud being longer than a reish is not inherently pasul. Perhaps the reish is really short? As we know regel reish only needs to be (l'ikuva) k'mlo ot ketana, which according to mikdash me'at is regel yud. (I know acc to MB it's a yud - discussion for another time).
In this case, if you look at the thickness of the gag of the Reish, the regel of the Reish is about the same length, maybe a tiny smidge longer, but we could say that the regel Reish is about a kulmus. Compare it with the height of the rest of the letters in the word "uvisharecha". A kulmus is an acceptable length for regel yud. I'm not saying this yud is definitely ok just yet.
Obviously a big factor in determining yud/vav status is the context of the particular ktav being discussed. In this mezuza most of the yudim have a regel of at least a kulmus, whereas all of the vavim have regalim of 2-3 kulmusim. In context this means that the yudim are ok. This particular yud however would depend on which side of the line we see it falling. Also take into account that the gag thickness of this yud is greater than most of the vavim, so it's proportions are not totally equal. I'm not convinced it's a vav. Compare it with the vav of that same word.
The Yud is kosher (as is the Reish)
ReplyDelete