The International STa"M Forum

So I was looking at different STaM videos on YouTube, and I found this video giving the main ideas on how to write STaM quicky. The two ideas that stood out were: Writing a line in 3-4 mins and the need to downgrade a Ktav by 20% in order to write faster. Now I understand that the main idea is to write faster, but it does not make sense to me that you should downgrade a ktav just for that. It almost in a sense disregards the idea of זה קלי ואנוהו. Here is the actual video:

Someone asked me to source them various mezuzos but only wanted to spend a minimum amount (and therefore wanted basic mezuzos). i could offer them basic ARI mezuzos or mid range BY. I know that they have some mezuzos up which are BY. They are not observant yet so don’t really have a minhag. Is it problematic to have different mezuzos with different csav up in the same house? Should I push for them to have the mid range BY over the basic ARI ? Would appreciate your opinions. Thanks

A Mezuzah was brought in for inspection today, when unrolling we realized that two thin klafs were rolled as one. Is there a difference between afixing 2 mezuzos  where according to most is over baal tosef   or roling two klafs as one is fdifferent since it was afixed as one. 1. was he yotze 2.should bracha be made when reafixing 3. should he do tshuva for baal tosef 4. does he have to search for seller and return your thoughts please

They're in Bnai Brak. The fact they're selling tefillin on Amazon, etc. starting at $157, leads me to be suspicious. I am on a campaign and I told someone that his tefillin were pasul. He ignored what I had to offer and went online to shop for tefillin even though I warned him that Amazon, eBay and Judaica shops are not the place to purchase Stam. When I saw he didn't care and was more interested in the price I offered to contact the seller and request specific information about their basic gasos. He ignored that offer as well. Amaratzus.

what’s with the אות צ in these mezuzos ?

This video shows a sofer writing a sefer Torah. This sofer has a good hand, writes at a nice pace, and can ask a decent price. But one can also tell how the sefer Torah industry has commercialised the process, allowing for better productivity. Note the following: 1) The sofer is writing on a light table, which means he does not have to worry about planning the spacing and can just trace over the letters. This saves a lot of time. This also minimises mistakes and saves time of repairs. 2) The quill is a plastic kulmos with a repository, which means you need to dip it into the ink every few lines instead of every few letters. Also you do not need to sharpen it and make new quills. Both of these save time. 3) The klaf today is more refined and smooth, easier to write on. Not uneven and rough like the old days. I'm sure lots of "mei klaf" is added. This enhances writing speed and quality of writing. 4) Double sirtut. Again this enhances quality and nea...

Are tefilin sales taxable in NJ. Clothing is not, accessories are. (I would prefer an opinion that was asked and confirmed by a professional.) Thanks, Yitzchok Weinberger

The lamed of lecha... I was given back these parshios from the koneh who went to someone to show them he said this lamed was to short since the vav on top never left the tzurah of a yud. I always have heard that as long as the foot of the vav is bigger than the kolmus of the rosh of the vav it was lechatchila. Any thoughts?

ב׳׳ה I custom ordered a couple sofrus knives a little while ago based on info I got from this old post: http://www.stamforum.com/2013/08/quill-knives-and-how-to-sharpen-one.html Thank you for that. I ordered a quill knife as well as an old style klaf scrapping knife, for erasures. The quill knife has a smooth, curved back surface that lends to smoother surface on the kulmus. The sturdiness of the blade and handle really helps have more control in the cuts and allows more precision. I still use the 11 scalpel for some things though. The klaf scrapper is a big boon and is just easier to use than the 10 or 15 scalpel. The tip allows for erasing small negios (when it's permissible, of course) and the curved surface allows for adjusting the surface area of the erasure so you don't erase things by accident. Just thought it would be interesting to other sofrim. This is not an edorsment or advertisment, although I do recommend you try a quill knife, from wh...