A place for English speaking sofrim (scribes), magihim (examiners), rabbis and vendors of Stam (Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah scrolls) from around the world to communicate, share ideas, ask questions and offer support and advice.
was just given this mezuza to check. the letters have a lot of cracks. The klaf is very suspicious and i think that maybe it is just paper. How can i check?
Those types of mezuzot are not kosher irrespective of what material they are written on, but if you really want to check you try ripping a corner. If it rips easily, it's paper.
Such mezuzahs can theoretically be kosher if written correctly on klaf but less than 6cm is a telltale sign it is printed. The fact that the back side is upside down is also a sign it was printed. As mentioned you can try to tear a corner but sometimes they print these on klaf.
Someone once asked me, casually, "Can you give me a rule of thumb to tell if a Mezuza is Pasul?" I said, "If it's smaller than your thumb, it's Pasul."
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
We all know that there is no ancient source that requires ink to be מן המותר בפיך . Possibly, as said here before, because in the olden days ink was always מן המותר בפיך and the question was never raised. It was probably self-evident. Nowadays, no decent Rav will approve an ink which is not מן המותר בפיך . Who was the first one to raise this question? Was it raised because of animal ingredients or because of non-kosher wine?
Those types of mezuzot are not kosher irrespective of what material they are written on, but if you really want to check you try ripping a corner. If it rips easily, it's paper.
ReplyDeleteSuch mezuzahs can theoretically be kosher if written correctly on klaf but less than 6cm is a telltale sign it is printed. The fact that the back side is upside down is also a sign it was printed. As mentioned you can try to tear a corner but sometimes they print these on klaf.
ReplyDeleteSomeone once asked me, casually, "Can you give me a rule of thumb to tell if a Mezuza is Pasul?"
ReplyDeleteI said, "If it's smaller than your thumb, it's Pasul."