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Klaff Tanning question:
By
Rabbi Eli Gutnick
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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.
The forum is back online...for reference and research purposes.
By
Rabbi Eli Gutnick
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Dear Readers and Members, The forum has been down for over 6 months because the domain name (www.stamforum.com) lapsed and it is no longer available to re purchase. Although this forum is now defunct (it has morphed into several whatsapp groups), I have had many requests to put it back online because it contains so much information (over 1,800 posts and thousands of comments in the discussions, on a wide range of topics related to STa"M). I have therefore put the forum back online at blogger, so the address is www.stamforum.blogspot.com. The forum lasted for a decade...not a bad effort! It was pretty popular back in the days before whatsapp and managed to receive over a million hits in it's short life. It was one of the only organised forums in the STa"M world and definitely the largest in it's heyday. I would like to thank all those who cobtributed over the years, particularly the early members who helped build it up. Thanking you all, Eli
Indeed, these are being printed in Ashkelon... BEWARE!!!
ReplyDeleteSee article
Are they obviously printed (ie on paper or with obvious texture) or are they using some kind of screen or stencil to make the letters, which is harder to detect?
ReplyDeletePlease "click" on the above "See Article" link to read and view details.
DeleteAlberto, if it was only Ashkelon, it wouldn't be so bad....
ReplyDeleteI try very hard to have my own sofrim, even though it is a lot of work, and only buy from wholesalers as a last resort. (And anything I sell geder "Mehudar", I personally know the sofer, or know of him and what his ksav looks like. The chances of ending up with forgeries is much greater when buying from a wholesaler, and even if the wholesaler is ehrlich, there is a good chance the wholesaler won't know, because he probably isn't dealing first hand with the forger.
It used to be that you could tell the fake ones because many of them would be identical. The Ashkelon racket however had computer technology that altered the lettering so that no two were identical.
You can, however, see in the picture I posted that the letters ended up a fraction over the sirtut, (not directly under the sirtut as most sofrim are trained to write). This is a giveaway, as would be if the writing was a fraction under as well. (You cannot make the sirtut after the printing).
It is much harder to forge parshiyos or sifrei torah with such machines,so the main problem is mezuzos.
The mezuzos they found were higher quality, not pshutim, which makes sense. I think most forgers who are already doing a very professional job would want to get more money for their efforts.
Bottom line, write them yourself or buy from sofrim you know.
Indeed, that is the first thing one notices. The letters don't align well under the sirtut. Likewise, they also rotate different screens so that they will not all be identical. It's a sad situation. There is nothing sacred anymore. The ESH ZARAH comes even into the KODESH KODASHIM.
ReplyDeleteAnd they made such a fuss about the peeling retzuos, which was accidental and no where near as shocking...
ReplyDelete