פסיעה לבר ארוכה - חשש קו"ף
נראה לי שהה"א נהפכה לצורת קו"ף מחמת אריכות הפסיעה לבר כלפי מטה, והיא נעשית כעין [ושיעור] ירך של קו"ף, והרי זו שינוי בעצם צורתה, והיא פסולה
How about the Bais of Uleovdo?
Popular posts from this blog
Klaff Tanning question:
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)
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...
well, shouldn't we show it to a tinok?
ReplyDeleteRav Moshe holds it's pasul and hence a tinok is not called for.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know? did you show this image to Rav Moshe and he told you? When I do a she'elas Tinok I take a piece of paper and cut a tiny square and then show the child random Hehs, Kufs, Hehs, all randomly and repeated and then i show him the letter and then hes already used to the style of the sofer. I would not call this Heh a Kuf, but it for sure needs a tikkun to be gorer the extra bit. I assure you that if such a Heh was used for a kuf like in Ukeshartom, it woulad also be a pasul kuf. Therefore a she'elas tinok is the solution to define the letter. Am I off on this ?
DeleteIts shem hashem so to be gorer (scrape) is an issue, even if you hold its kosher and consequently it would not be chok tochus it would still be a potential issue of mechikas hashem...
Delete"How do you know? did you show this image to Rav Moshe and he told you?"
DeleteRav Moshe Weiner is the one who posted the image together with his psak that it's pasul. Hence, as I wrote, since he paskened it's pasul, there is no place for a shailas tinok.
"I would not call this Heh a Kuf, but it for sure needs a tikkun to be gorer the extra bit. I assure you that if such a Heh was used for a kuf like in Ukeshartom, it woulad also be a pasul kuf. Therefore a she'elas tinok is the solution to define the letter. Am I off on this ?"
ReplyDeleteLet's leave the psak halachah to the appropriate authorities. Rav Moshe paskened it's pasul. This is a serious shailah and I'd hope a sofer or magia who found such a shailah would know to ask a moreh horaah who's an expert in Stam and not pasken on their own, such as to decide without consultation with an expert, to ask a tinok.
Even if this was kosher, which I'm not suggesting, as R. Eli mentions it's in a Shem. Hence, if one would improve the letter, the option would be to add a little to the right leg.
With regards to the procedure of asking a tinok. There's no need to make a window to test if the child can identify Heis or Kufs. Furthermore, when clarifying if he can identify the letters in question, we must ask random letters as well to ensure that we are not leading him. Finally, when the actual letter would be shown to the tinok, in the case of a Hei-Kuf shaila, at most the words on the line prior to the word that contains the shaila would be covered and some hold nothing is covered. The questionable Hei would not be shown to the tinok from within a "window" (surrounding letters covered).