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.
Matters which size yeriah... the 48cm is 8mm lines and the 42cm is 7.5mm lines, the 36cm is about the same as a 15cm mezuzah line and the 30cm is about the same as a shel rosh line.
ReplyDeleteIs there any Yeriah size that has lines for 10mm? Or is that not common since it makes the Sefer a lot heavier?
DeleteThe larger yeriah is 50cm usually only used for sfardi sefer torahs. I dont think it would be 10mm though... and 10mm is a very large ksav, no?
ReplyDeleteYes it is a large ktav, I use 10 mm as the size i normally write, so I was wondering if there would be such a size.
DeleteThanks for the information!