The International STa"M Forum

According to the SA Harav (and pashtus from the Shimusha Rabbah himself and also sefer Hatruma, Eshkol, Pri Megadim) the bayis shel yad need not be 2 etzbaos, which according to SA Harav refers to the ketzitzah (hence ketzitza is 4x4). Even according to those that it applies to the yad (See siman 32 Bach, Eliyahu Rabba and Be'er Heitev), this shiur is only lechatchila according to the Shimusha Rabba.On the other hand, according to the SA and Rama the bayis shel yad must fit on the muscle no higher than the 1/2 way point of the humerus bone. Presumably, a "4x4" bayis can't be accommodated within this space for some/many(?) bar mitzvah boys. If so, lechatchila, shouldn't a smaller bayis shel yad be (temporarily) chosen for such situations rather than to place the bayis higher up and rely on the Gra? (See Mishnah Brurah 27/4; Biur Halachah 32/41 “Ain Lo Shiur” in the name of Shulchan Shlomo; Aruch Hashulchan 27/4, who writes that one who has a sore and can'

ה"א הראשונה בשם המסומן אני חושש שזו שינוי צורת אות, בגלל הצטרפות כמה שינויים בצורתה

The hint is in the subject line.

אין לה מושב. (ולענ"ד אי אפשר להכיר האם זה טי"ת או חצי עיי"ן. במלים אחרות: איני יודע אם זה ט' שחסר מושבה, או עיי"ן שחסר מושבה)

I'm seeing more Ashkenazi sofrim who are not doing their own tiyug. While I expect this of sofrim writing low quality mezuzahs as they are knocking them out at the rate of upwards of 200 monthly and don't want to be "slowed down" by tiyug and their tiyug is likely of similar quality to their ksav so a metayeg would potentially do a better job, but even good sofrim are taking the lazy way out even though it's been our mesorah for the sofer to make tiyug, usually b'sha'as kesiva. I just saw an expensive 15cm mezuzah with tiyug that was obviously done by a metayeg. It had a metayeg's typical "signature"  little straight lines without ziyunim whenever in the vicinity of a letter above rather than take a few extra moments to make properly, particularly in a mehudar ksav, (laziness and amaratzus) tagei Yud, which few Ashkenazi sofrim do While he he was fairly successful in putting most of the Bedek Chaya tagin close to the left edge, there we

הממי"ם הללו פסולות כי עיקר גופן עגולה כסמ"ך, ולא מרובע כמ"ם. ולא מועיל העוקץ הקטן שהוסיף לעשותה מרובעת, כנגד ציורה הכללית של האות