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.
There is a small hole under the yud of v'yitzharecha. When looking at against the light with the naked eye it looks like it is touching the yud but when you blow up the picture or look through a magnifying glass, you can tell that there is a separation and the letter is in fact mukaf g'vil.
Does it need to be corrected, presumably by scraping off a bit of the bottom of the yud? (MB 32:60)
Gut moed (assumption is that the hole was there b'shas kesiva) If the hole doesn't appear to be against the edge of the letter when looking at it with the naked eye (20/20 vision) with normal overhead light then it need not be fixed. If it appears to be touching kneged hashemesh (background light) then this doesn't require it to be fixed. Magnification is used to confirm what one sees with normal vision. It's not kovea on its own lekula or lechumra.
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.
Dear Readers and Members, The forum has been down for over 6 months because the domain name (www.stamforum.com) lapsed and it is no longer available to re purchase. Although this forum is now defunct (it has morphed into several whatsapp groups), I have had many requests to put it back online because it contains so much information (over 1,800 posts and thousands of comments in the discussions, on a wide range of topics related to STa"M). I have therefore put the forum back online at blogger, so the address is www.stamforum.blogspot.com. The forum lasted for a decade...not a bad effort! It was pretty popular back in the days before whatsapp and managed to receive over a million hits in it's short life. It was one of the only organised forums in the STa"M world and definitely the largest in it's heyday. I would like to thank all those who cobtributed over the years, particularly the early members who helped build it up. Thanking you all, Eli
Gut moed
ReplyDelete(assumption is that the hole was there b'shas kesiva) If the hole doesn't appear to be against the edge of the letter when looking at it with the naked eye (20/20 vision) with normal overhead light then it need not be fixed. If it appears to be touching kneged hashemesh (background light) then this doesn't require it to be fixed. Magnification is used to confirm what one sees with normal vision. It's not kovea on its own lekula or lechumra.