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.
Yes, you have to redo the sirtut. It is done with what I think is called in English an "awl". See picture here. Of course you can use anything similar.
ReplyDeleteיישר כחך
ReplyDeleteI use a rose thorn glued to a piece of dowling - nice and natural and not too sharp that it would tear the k'laf. You must have sirtut if it erased - see Keset Hasofer 3:5 and R. Ganzfired says that they should be re-ruled lishmah (though based on Pri M'gadim this isn't necessary). The B'ney Yonah states that even for one letter there should be a rule but most others say three. I am assuming here that this erasure is such that you are still writing the mezuzah k'sidran.
ReplyDeleteMordechai,
DeleteIs a perennial blackberry thorn okay to use? The only rose bushes I have available have very small soft thorns. I also currently use and all-metal awl "angled correctly".
(I don't currently write any STa''M, just learning.)
Elad ben Avraham/Dale Edmons
just a tip when using an awl it should be not pointed straight down because then it might make a hole in the klaf the trick is to hold it on a slant almost flat some people use a stone to make it not so sharp but this is unnecessary if you hold it like that and also then you can decide how big of a sirtut you want and how wide by pressure you put and the angle you hold it(by pressure it will just bend the metal a little) and you can also decide to which derection you want the sirtut to go its hard to explain in words without showing someone
ReplyDeletethanks all the tzadikim!
ReplyDeleteFor years I use a very small screwdriver, the corners originally dulled by scraping against stone or concrete.
ReplyDelete