A place for English speaking sofrim (scribes), magihim (examiners), rabbis and vendors of Stam (Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah scrolls) from around the world to communicate, share ideas, ask questions and offer support and advice.
These were found by a friend of mine, they are both evenly off the sirtut the entire Mezuza, the sofer (after yelling that you know nothing!!!!) said that it just happens sometimes! Any limud zechus?
I woulod check for any anomalies in the writing, and see if they are also present in the other mezzuzot. That would prove that it is printed. I worked for many years as a magiah in Israel. Some Bnai Brak sofrim regularly wrote just below the sirtut. They claimed that they were acting on a psak of Rav Wosner z"l. True, Rav Wosner said this was kosher, but I know of no psak that it shoulkd be done l'chatchilah.
Rav Vozner and Rav Ovadia were machshir (bedieved[Rav Vozner]) if written below the sirtut as long as the ksav is straight, meaning that the sirtut was used to maintain straight lines. However, Rav Elyashiv and others pasel ksav written below the sirtut. Rav Elyashiv held even 3 letters below is pasul and irreparable. Some poskim permitted fixing by adding ink to the heads to reach the sirtut. Hence, the sofer who yelled as if there was no problem is wrong. At best there's room to be machshir bedieved and if the mezuzahs belong to a shomer mitzvos should be replaced. With regards to printing, below the sirtut is one chashash but is hardly any proof on its own.
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.
Dear Readers and Members, The forum has been down for over 6 months because the domain name (www.stamforum.com) lapsed and it is no longer available to re purchase. Although this forum is now defunct (it has morphed into several whatsapp groups), I have had many requests to put it back online because it contains so much information (over 1,800 posts and thousands of comments in the discussions, on a wide range of topics related to STa"M). I have therefore put the forum back online at blogger, so the address is www.stamforum.blogspot.com. The forum lasted for a decade...not a bad effort! It was pretty popular back in the days before whatsapp and managed to receive over a million hits in it's short life. It was one of the only organised forums in the STa"M world and definitely the largest in it's heyday. I would like to thank all those who cobtributed over the years, particularly the early members who helped build it up. Thanking you all, Eli
I woulod check for any anomalies in the writing, and see if they are also present in the other mezzuzot. That would prove that it is printed. I worked for many years as a magiah in Israel. Some Bnai Brak sofrim regularly wrote just below the sirtut. They claimed that they were acting on a psak of Rav Wosner z"l. True, Rav Wosner said this was kosher, but I know of no psak that it shoulkd be done l'chatchilah.
ReplyDeletethe top of the lines are very straight and not the bottom. If he's so good that he got the top perfect he should have done the same on the bottom.
ReplyDeleteRav Vozner and Rav Ovadia were machshir (bedieved[Rav Vozner]) if written below the sirtut as long as the ksav is straight, meaning that the sirtut was used to maintain straight lines.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Rav Elyashiv and others pasel ksav written below the sirtut. Rav Elyashiv held even 3 letters below is pasul and irreparable. Some poskim permitted fixing by adding ink to the heads to reach the sirtut.
Hence, the sofer who yelled as if there was no problem is wrong. At best there's room to be machshir bedieved and if the mezuzahs belong to a shomer mitzvos should be replaced.
With regards to printing, below the sirtut is one chashash but is hardly any proof on its own.