Blue pen in space of vov, see pic
Rabbi Reuvain Mendlowitz clarifies his position on Ksav Chabad (and my final thoughts)
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...
התמונה לא מספיק ברורה, אבל נראה בפשיטות שהוי"ו כשר. ומותר ורצוי לגרר הדיו הכחול
ReplyDeleteHi Eli,
ReplyDeleteNot only is there an ink mark there, but also after 1) ELECH, 2) ANASHAV, 3) SONeAV, 4)VAYELAKH. Obviously, someone marked all of the ends of PESSUKIM with blue ink, rendering this TORAH passul... for we admit of no extra marks on the scroll. There is no other choice, but to go and remove all of them.
Question, is the blue ink so engrained and absorbed into the KLAF, so that when you scrape, you are not able to remove it in its entirety?
For example, it appears from the picture that you have tried removing the mark after ELECH. However, there is still a small residue remaining. Ultimately, if the ink has been absorbed into the klaf, there is a point at which one can no longer proceed; for by scraping one risks making a hole onto the parchment.
Does anyone know of a good chemical process for removing blue ink? I have just tried a little alcohol, as well as acetone on a q-tip. Both seem to work by helping dissolve + lifting-up the ink. Any other ideas out there?