The International STa"M Forum

I would like to hear opinion of rabonim  sofrim and the SoferForum community, at what price range when selling ksav arizal tefilin do we have to be makpid on the roshei hashitin of the Ariza"l? (in ksav b"y we are not makpid to follow shulchan aruch siman 35 since that seder only works when doing stimas harosh- however from the fact that shulchan aruch designated a siman for roshei hashitin we see that its somthing very important)

One of the practical problems with pshutim mehudarim batim is that the titura easily warps. Not only because they are thin but because they are often used by people who are not careful with wet hair or gel etc. So my only solution until now is to hermetically seal them after sewing, like I do with gassos.  It takes a lot of extra time but the superglue that seeps in holds the titurah elyona and the titura tachtona together strongly, largely preventing warping and curving of the titurah tachtonah. Recently, when discussing this issue with a mocher tefillin in Israel, he told me that he overcomes this problem easily by using a drop of PVA glue on the inside of the four corners before he sews up the tefillin. He explained to me that its not problematic because PVA takes a while to dry and he sews it up quickly, well before the glue dries. So my question is, is this really acceptable? To me it sounds a little questionable, but I'm not a posek and if it is indeed done and acceptable

Everyone working in STa"M should be aware of this website: www.tefillinfinders.com Another good reason for the internet

Aside from regular safrus, I write on paper for various things including gittin, kesubos, and calligraphy. Nevertheless, I have still not found an ink and paper combination I like. I have experimented with all kinds of ink, including dio and many commercial inks, and many different kinds of paper, and I just can't seem to find the perfect combination to make nice, sharp, letters. Nothing seems comparable to parchment. With paper, too, I have tried many different kinds, and believe it or not, my favorite is plain copy paper! Anyway, I would appreciate any and all advice, and hearing about what combinations work for you and for what. I would especially like to hear from people who write gitten. Thank you!

Here's my mark up of the interesting Reish from 3 posts down:

Interested in the opinion of the pros. It seems like an interesting idea...

I need to help someone make a "matlit" for a Megilat Esther. I know how to do one in theory, however, I've never needed to do one myself, so I don't have any practical experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here are two interesting situations that I came across recently that I am not completely sure what to do with. The thing that bothers me about this Ayin is that the line that points up at the bottom of the letter is almost like an additional Eiver to the letter that shouldn't be there. I think it is Kosher anyway, or at least can be fixed by adding ink. What do you think? This one bothers me more. The question I have is, at what point does a Reish become a straight or diagonal line? If it would be bent at the proper angle, the halacha is that the regel only needs to be "Kmlo Yud" to be Kosher Bedieved, but I am concerned that in this case it is not enough due to the angle of the bend. The tinok reads it correctly, but I am still leaning to say it's passul. 

I would like everyone's input on this ende-tzaddik please. Here it is at about 600% (depending on your screen setting) : And here it is in context: And here is the entire parsha in actual size (or close to it depending on how your screen is set) : This is from a very old shel yad. I welcome all comments, even ones non-related to the tzadik, thank you.

Considering most sofrim write the gug of a kuf from left to right.....

Alfa Beisa -nun  pshuta shall be like zayin but longer,do not shorten less than 4 kulmus including head Alfa Baisa 2 nun  pshuta shall be like zayin however length shall be 4 kulmus including head so it can be bent into nun kfufa Darkei Moshe siman 36  quotes Boruch Sheamar  "nun pshuta shall be 4 kulmus including rosh. Mikdash Me'at" os nun: (4)quotes  Darkei Moshe and stresses 3 kulmus for regel Mikdash Me'at" os nun: (5)quotes  Darkei Moshe in name of Mordchai IF NUN SOFIT WAS WRITTEN LESS THAN ABOVE SHIUR IT IS STILL KOSHER ,if in doubt then show to tinok Ksov Lechaim-Shmulevitzer  http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=32842&st=&pgnum=24  has no mekor but writes it should have four and a half kulmusim (now remember he is not a posek actually according to many he misquotes the boruch sheomar many times.) Rabbi Silberger pictures nun sofit with 3 and a half kulmusim and quotes above ksov lechaim and meir eini sofrim  http://hebrewbooks.org/

Firstly, here is my Arts and crafts for Reb Shmuel's Shailah: I think Reb Shmuel in his previous post may have accidentally  reduced the size of the rosh when he pasted the white margin (of his kulmus image) a little over the bottom right of the actual rosh. If you look at  the original image, there is a shpitz (and some body ) coming down on the bottom right and we measure the size of a rosh from edge to edge, as I did in my picture above. You could also argue that the ink between the two tagin on the left is part of the rosh, but I did not include it. Even if you do not include the shpitz, the extention is still less than half a kulmus. When I saw the original shailo, my gut feeling was that the regel had max 2 and 1/4 of the rosh in it. I blew up  the zayin and used a graphics program with a grid to draw the red lines. The program pixillated the image a bit but you still get the idea. Moving on from Reb Shmuel's post to the general issue. Below are the correct pro

נתבקשתי מאת הרה"ג ר' דוד לייב גרינפלד, להעלות מאמר זה בשמו בענין זייני"ן נוני"ן לפורום:  דוד יהודה (ליב) גרינפעלד מייסד  ועד משמרת סת"ם בארה"ב תשומת לב לבודקי סת"ם על מכשלת זייני"ן שרגליהן ארוכים למטה משאר האותיות שלא יכתוב זייני"ן נוני"ן - הזהירה הברייתא במסכת שבת (דף קג ע"ב) בין שאר אזהרות חז"ל שם המסתיימים " וכל אלו יגנזו ", שאם האריך את רגל הזיי"ן משיעורו אין לה תקנה אם כבר כתב להלן. הנה רבותינו הראשונים למדו כמה וכמה דיני "לכתחילה" מתוך משמעות דברי ברייתא זו, כגון שירך אות גימ"ל יהיה ארוך מרגלה השמאלי וכו', וכהנה בשאר האותיות כמבואר בברוך שאמר ובב"י. ברם אזהרת הברייתא על אורך רגלי ווי"ן יודי"ן, זייני"ן נוני"ן (פשוטין) אינם דינים של לכתחילה, אלא הם לעיכובא כדסיימה הברייתא "וכל אלו יגנזו". אך בספקותיהם יש הבדל בין ווי"ן יודי"ן לבין זייני"ן נוני"ן, כי בספיקות של ווי"ן יודי"ן הורו חז"ל (מנחות כט ע&q

Arts and crafts can be very tricky, as you can see the head of the zayin has a thick side and a thin side -i actually used one kulmus cut to the thin and one cut to the thick side and we still have half a kulmus under the line. I also placed the zayin at the end of the word. My point is not to prove kosher or posul,my point is we are splitting hairs on a safek deorayta. most of us when showing an etrog to a rav and he slightly twitches his nose we are out there buying a new one. First all of the magihim should send back such mezuzos to the sofer, as "SOFEK PSUL" Is an Aguna involved that we are splitting hairs to save the mezuza when the sofer clearly violated the beraysa? THE BRAYSA MEANT OUR SHAILA the braysa didnt come to warn us not to make a zayin with 3 kulmusim. What bothers me even more is when i ask sofrim why is the vav shorter than the zayin, they often reply "i was worried the vav will become a nun sofit" it is embarrassing when a sofer clearly i

Hi Shmuel, I guess this is a ZAKHOR that not many of us are going to forget.  Please note the following on the above picture.  I have taken off the head of the ZAYIN and placed two exact reproductions along its side to provide us with some more objective perspective.   Well, as one may see, the body of this Zayin turns out to be twice the width of its head. 

if you blow up you will see a line and the zein is half kulmus longer then the rest of themoshavim

Hi all, I once remember hearing that while one cannot use maaser money for purchasing his own tefillin / mezuzos, one can use maaser for the extra cost between a basic kosher and mehudar product, ie if basic kosher tefillin cost $300 and one buys a mehudar pair for $1000, one can use / deduct $700 from maaser funds. 1) Can anyone who looked into this confirm if this is correct 2) If it is, a source / sources would be appreciated. Thank You