A place for English speaking sofrim (scribes), magihim (examiners), rabbis and vendors of Stam (Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah scrolls) from around the world to communicate, share ideas, ask questions and offer support and advice.
A little ink got smudged in a bad place - inside the Reish. Can this be a shinui tzura to Hei? The smudged ink is rather small but I’m curious to know your opinions.
Thank you They are two small dots, the upper right one is darker while the other one is less dark. It was a smudge that happened while I was writing the next words. My biggest concern is if there is a shiur to be considered a little yud of a Hei - although each dot is very small by itself.
By the way, I got a psak leheter because the smudge is two dots, and one of them is actually just out of the area of the roof. Question then becomes if the two small dots can be mitztaref lehumra, but apparently we don't say that. I was told that there's discussion is regards to joining two dots lekula - I'm interested if anyone has more info on that. I was encouraged to make a Sheilas Tinok to be extra sure, and it resulted in it being indeed a Resh, not Hey. Thank you and git voch
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.
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...
Is it dark? (Photo not always accurate)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful ksav btw
Thank you
DeleteThey are two small dots, the upper right one is darker while the other one is less dark. It was a smudge that happened while I was writing the next words. My biggest concern is if there is a shiur to be considered a little yud of a Hei - although each dot is very small by itself.
By the way, I got a psak leheter because the smudge is two dots, and one of them is actually just out of the area of the roof. Question then becomes if the two small dots can be mitztaref lehumra, but apparently we don't say that. I was told that there's discussion is regards to joining two dots lekula - I'm interested if anyone has more info on that.
ReplyDeleteI was encouraged to make a Sheilas Tinok to be extra sure, and it resulted in it being indeed a Resh, not Hey.
Thank you and git voch