אות זיי"ן פסולה
הזיי"ן הזאת פסולה. הראש של הז' צ"ל עובר מב' הצדדים, וכאן אינה עוברת כמעט על צד ימין. וגם המעט שעוברת הוא בצורת עיגול שדומה לוי"ו
לכן יש לפסלה, ואין להתיר אפילו קריאת התינוק
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...
I would be machshir with a שאלת תינוק.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the above ZAYIN is that the YERECH comes out way too close to the right edge of the ROSH and the head is rounded on the right. Therefore, this letter has lost its shape. As such, I agree with R. Moshe, that even the reading of a TINOK would be of NO avail.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if the YERECH were to start in the MIDDLE and extend close to the right edge of the ROSH due to extra ink at the place where they both meet, in such a case, it would be KASHER as is, and a TINOK not required.
In any other (in between) case of SAFEK, I would agree with R. Yankev that a TINOK would definitely be of avail.
ז' ...ראשה צריך להיות עובר מב' צדדין שלא תדמה לוי"ו – לו, ב
ReplyDeleteלכתחילה צריך לכתוב... אם שינה לא פסל אלא א"כ הפסיד צורת האות לגמרי – שו"ע אדמו"ר הזקן לו, א
ובספרדית... ועובר על גופה משני צדדין אבל לא בשוה, כי הירך יוצא ממנה בצד ימין קרוב לסופו, ועל כל פנים נוטה מאמצע הראש לימין... – קול יעקב לו, ס"ק ז
והרי בשו"ת נ"ב חי"ד סי' פ' הביא ראיה מכתב וועלי"ש להכשיר בתמונת האותיות, הרי פשיטא לי' דכתב וועלי"ש כשר בדיעבד, דהיינו שכן כותבין בספרד ע"ש – שו"ת צמח צדק יו"ד סי' רה
וכשספק על צד אחד אם זה הוי עובר כראוי או לא, בעי תינוק – מקדש מעט אות ז
וראה שו"ת צמח צדק אבן העזר סימן קסה עמ' כד, ד – כפי שמצויין על הצד בשו"ע אדה"ז לו, ד
בבקשה מי שיש לו מראה מקום לפסול ובפרט בלי שאלת תינוק, שיזכה את הרבים
Please take a look at Sefekot HaSofer - OT Zayin #9 & #10. Study the slight differences between both of these cases in order to understand why a case like the one above would be passul.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, it's true that in many older Sephardic and Middle Eastern scripts the yerech appeared to reach the right edge of the ROSH. However, in this style of "velish" writing the letter always maintained a distinct shape.
Some of them, would be written similar to the previous post by R. Gutnick on "cheap stam" where showing a Tinok is considered only a CHUMRA. Others, would have the Rosh of the ZAYIN inclined at an angle (like in the Leningrad and Aleppo Codexes).
In all of the above cases, even though the YERECH extends to the right, the ROSH always remains SQUARE. It is the combination of the rounded flat head + the foot emerging way too close from the right side of the head that causes the ZAYIN in our case to loose it's shape. In such a case, a TINOK is of no avail.