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Klaff Tanning question:
By
Rabbi Eli Gutnick
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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.
Rabbi Reuvain Mendlowitz clarifies his position on Ksav Chabad (and my final thoughts)
By
Rabbi Eli Gutnick
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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...

נראה לי שמותר לתקנו בהוספת דיו כי הסדק דק, ועל כן העוקץ מצטרף לצורת האות
ReplyDeleteWithout the oketz there's no rosh. So is the oketz enough of a rosh, even if it were to be mechubar?
ReplyDeleteלא, העוקץ אינו מספיק ראש אבל בצירוף העוקץ והוי"ו נראת לתינוק - נראה שמותר
ReplyDeleteלתקנו
I agree with R' Moshe. If a tinok calls it a vov it can be fixed.
ReplyDelete@ R' Eli, Please tell me: on what basis is there no "rosh". I am completely dumbfounded such an assertion. The regel is about 5 or six time more narrow than the gag. The fact that the the break between the regel and the gag is not perfect does not "transform" the gag into a simple extension of the regel.
The Kotz certainly helps to crystallize that there is a gag there which arguably is more vital in this case since the break between gag and regel isn't so pronounced.
But how does one go so far as to say there is not rosh? And what are the sources for such a view?
If you ignore for a second the ( broken) shpitz coming out of the top, look at the tzurah, it is like an "ice cream cone" where it gets wider as it goes up but this is NOT considered a halachic rosh. Now, there are those who say that such a tzurah, even with a small shpitz coming out to the left of the wider upper part, is not a proper rosh either. I, personally don't hold like this but I wanted to hear what others say, in particular Reb Moshe, who has asserted this view many times on this forum. Hence my surprise when he said (or at least I understood) that the problem is related to the hefsek, not to the lack of rosh. So I asked - to clarify his position - if he felt that without the nifsak, would the shpitz still be enough or would it still be insufficient (and require fixing). That was the purpose of my comment. I hope that clarifies it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the clarification. I really appreciate it.
DeleteOn the "guf ha'inyan" I obviously disagree with the machmirim... ESPECIALLY as R Reuven wrote plenty of vovs like that. And.. I hsve yet to see the source for such a position.