I received this question via email. I am not really a klaf expert, I was wondering if anyone could answer this question: Dear Rabbi Gutnick, I am writing to you because a good friend of mine has put the idea into my head that the klaf in my tefillin were not really tanned and therefore are not kosher. He referred me to Megilla 19a re diftera. From the research that I have done so far, it seems that the klaf that is used today is tanned only with a lime wash. On all of the tanning websites I’ve seen so far, they say that the lime doesn’t accomplish tanning but only the removal of the hair and some other pre-tanning effects. Would you be able to explain to me or refer me to a website that explains how the tanning process that is used today takes the hide out of the category of diftera? Thank you very much.
I once came across a translation on the net. However, I am not sure whether it would be ideal to suggest, because it was made by a woman who writes sta"m (despite the explicit p'suloh in Siman 1, which she translates). If you want it despite its provenance, I can find it fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteJust for curiosity's sake, why aren't you using Mishnas Sofrim (Mishnah Berurah to OC 36)?
Is it permissable to use the "torah"-work of a woman who rejects Chaza"l?
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