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...
It's Schachter from Haifa.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that Rabbi Shechter( whom I met personally many years ago and i was impressed by his knowledge yiras shamayim and good character)has simply taken the no folds idea and is making it in a factory-assembly line setting.
ReplyDeleteNow the difference is the same difference that you will find between a goldberg bayis and a feder bayis-you can purchase both with the same hidurim however a factory bayis will cost half the price of a "homemade bayis"
sheinfeld and reb dovid starik are homemade batim meaning that they personally work with every bayis every step of the way versus the factory where they must produce a certain amount-they must use most leathers they purchased they must use some low pay workers so the finished product can be great but its not the same thing as having the mumcha work on the bayis from a to z
I agree with beis Hastam. You may as well call one of the factories and ask for a fold free bayis.
ReplyDeletePersonally though, fold free is a bit of a hype
To clarify, fold free refers to folds not in the dangerous places (such as on the wall of the bayis). That is how I refer to them (fold free) when I request them from the mashgiach at one of the factories I buy from. Sorry if I wasn't clear.
DeleteJust came across this. In order not to have folds in the titura the batim are made in a different way. As far as I know, the few who make them don't share how they do it. One can't just go to any maker and request no fold batim. Of the 3 makers I know of offhand, Ateres is far less expensive as explained above. He's priced in between the lowest priced privately made miksha and the factory miksha. (The 4th source, the originator of these batim only dabbles in it.) These batim aren't any more mehudar. There are advantages to no folds and a few disadvantages. I don't really see the point spending 100's more for it. However if one can afford/wants top of the line then there's reason to consider them over similarly priced non fold free miksha.
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