The International STa"M Forum

1. Can I erase corners that spread to the right of the מ and ו in ומה? Or do I need to erase the whole letter? Is this still tziras haOs? 2. The א  in ראו enters the ר a bit, is this a problem? Should it be fixed? Can I just short the א leg? 3. The ש in פרמשתא is after one erasing and the ink is spreading, can I keep this one? Thanks, Robert

I received this for a friend who lives out of town (no local sofer): My 16 year old son is interested in learning safrus. He has tremendous artistic ability and has read and watched many videos. He has been practicing on paper with ink and quills with what he knows. What would u suggest he do to learn it properly? Any specific books or videos etc?

ב׳׳ה So, the Rama Mifano in  Yonas Eilem perek צ׳׳ב describes the knots of the head and hand Tefilin as having a certain number of "חוליות." He describes the knot of the hand Tefilin as having three חוליות on one side and 3 (or 4) on the other side. The head Tefilin has "two that are four" חוליות, two on the top knot and two on the bottom of the knot. מִי כְּהֶחָכָם וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ פֵּשֶׁר דָּבָר? It seems to me that this has to do with the number of "loops" used when tying these knots. I would be grateful in anyone can shed some light on to this description what is meant by  חוליות here .

As some of us may have a little more time on our hands, it would be a good opportunity to review the halachos of Stam. I can across some online shiurim in Hebrew on www.kolhalashon.com.  הרב ברוך כחלון  Rav Kachlon is the co-author of the 2nd volume of Yalkut Kisrei Haosios.  הרב שלמה וינטרויב Rav Weintraub is a mo"tz and rav in Modiin Ilit. I'm told he was close to Rav S.Z. Ulman zt"l.

Rabbi Grannetstein was in hospital with Covid-19 before Pesach, however Baruch Hashem he has improved considerably and is now out of hospital. I spoke to him today and he is in fine spirits and sounds much improved. We wish him a continued refuah shelaima and good health to continue his holy work as the head of the Mishmeres Sta'm in Israel.

There was a song written many years ago by Abie Rotenberg, in his Album Journeys 1, about a Sefer Torah that survived the Holocaust.  The Torah was found all alone in a place that it didn't belong.  These days, our Sifrei Torah find themselves alone once again.  However, there is a major difference.  The scrolls are in the precise place in which they belong.  This time it's us that find ourselves in a place that we don't belong.  I hope that you will all enjoy this new beautiful and meaningful new composition from Abie Rotenberg.