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long yudim?
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By
Dovid Nissan Bressman
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Would one rely on the reading of a tinok in these long curved yudim?
Following the opinion of the Maharshag. What is the border line?
Hi Dovid, Great question! A long Yud, as above, is only problematic when dealing with the modern Ketav Ashkenaz as the proportioning of the letter is normally restricted to a height of 3 Kolmosim.
However, a Ketav Sepharadi is proportioned differently. The height of the Sephardic writ can extend from 3.5 Kolmosim to sometimes 4 Kolmosim in height. Therefore, what appears to be in one Ketav as a long YOD may not necessarily be the case when considering another writ.
Therefore, when a rule gets established that a VAV is 3 Kolmosim tall, we must comprehend that this is not a universal rule. Rather, it is only relative to the tradition which the posek is documenting.
In the above case, the YODS are valid, for the proportioning of the Ketav is almost 4 Kolmosim tall.
One must understand that in the above case, there are no clear "generic" border line guidelines. Likewise, one does not need a tinok. All that is needed is a true sense of proportionality.
The 2nd Yud in kimei is the worst of the 3 shown.Were it straight it would be a shailos tinok. However, because it's angled I'd say it just passes. Were it any longer, the angling would not save it from a shailas tonok.
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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...
Hi Dovid,
ReplyDeleteGreat question! A long Yud, as above, is only problematic when dealing with the modern Ketav Ashkenaz as the proportioning of the letter is normally restricted to a height of 3 Kolmosim.
However, a Ketav Sepharadi is proportioned differently. The height of the Sephardic writ can extend from 3.5 Kolmosim to sometimes 4 Kolmosim in height. Therefore, what appears to be in one Ketav as a long YOD may not necessarily be the case when considering another writ.
Therefore, when a rule gets established that a VAV is 3 Kolmosim tall, we must comprehend that this is not a universal rule. Rather, it is only relative to the tradition which the posek is documenting.
In the above case, the YODS are valid, for the proportioning of the Ketav is almost 4 Kolmosim tall.
One must understand that in the above case, there are no clear "generic" border line guidelines. Likewise, one does not need a tinok. All that is needed is a true sense of proportionality.
The 2nd Yud in kimei is the worst of the 3 shown.Were it straight it would be a shailos tinok. However, because it's angled I'd say it just passes. Were it any longer, the angling would not save it from a shailas tonok.
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