2 Q's
1) Sha''s throughout praises the use of the reed as the sofer's writing utensil. When and why was the feather (turkey!) phased in? Does anyone still use reeds? Where can I buy a reed in Yerushalayim?
2) When a lamed hits the end of the sirtut, what part of the lamed hits the side sirtut, the top of the vuv or the bottom, and why (keeping in mind that closeness of letters is determined by the bottom of the vav/top of the chuf)?
1) They didn't have reeds in Europe that could be used as pens, therefore Ashkenazi Sofrim adopted goose quills, which in the "New World" have been replaced by Turkey quills. Reeds are available many places in Israel; a lot of Sefardi Sofrim use them.
ReplyDelete2) We normally try to contain the whole writing within the sirtut.
What do those who hold that turkey is treif use?
DeleteNo one (except maybe Shlah who claimed he heard of one that was דורס) really thinks that turkey is not a kosher bird, just that practically speaking Ashkenazim may not eat it due to lack of mesorah. Plus technically speaking there is no requirement for the pen to be מן המותר בפיך.
DeleteI was always under the impression that everything used in sta"m, at least behiddur, needed to be מותר בפה, whatever it actually means (considering that some very dangerous chemicals fall under that halachic categorisation.
DeleteThe Chasam SOfer, in his Haskama to Kesses, writes that we use a quill instead of reeds because it's closer to מותר בפיך in that we eat the bird but we eat nothing that associated with the reed.
ReplyDeleteThe Chasam SOfer, in his Haskama to Kesses, writes that we use a quill instead of reeds because it's closer to מותר בפיך in that we eat the bird but we eat nothing that associated with the reed.
ReplyDeleteA good piece of hard bamboo can be made into a very good reed pen similar cutting to a kulmus but not exactly
ReplyDeleteA good piece of hard bamboo can be made into a very good reed pen similar cutting to a kulmus but not exactly
ReplyDelete