The International STa"M Forum

This new stuff called "Spray Klaf."  The claim was that it was Mei Klaf in spray form.  I have been using Mei Klaf(usually with an Eida Chareidit Hekhsher) for years.  I have never seen Mei Klaf do this.  The letters litterally are not davuk to the klaf.  I can erase them with a rubber eraser, and break them by running my fingernail over them.  Here is a picture of a Mezzuzah that I wrote with "Spray Klaf" treated Klaf.  The damage done occurred from simply rolling the Mezzuzah.

b"h hi ari my name is moshe weiner from jerusalem i would like to comment on your lamed - the source of kav mashuch is from the beit yosef and shulchan aruch ch.32 regarding the top yud of alef and resembling letters that have yudin (yudei shin, ayin etc.) Rabbi Wozner in his shu"t Sheivet Halevi writes that a diamond shaped yud (something like the lamed you have) is not obvious kav mashuch. He concludes that although there is place to machmir, one that is matir such a alef is acceptable [his lashon is: אין מזניחין אותו] i dont know to translate exact, but it means one cannot disregard such an opinion. [if anybody can give the correct english for this - thanks] i understand his psak as fitting what you were told, this is a case of safek mashuch (or maybe R. Wozner indeed thinks that we dont have permision to pasel such a kav mashuch, but didnt want to openly meikal) second: there is a additional dimension of the law of kav mashuch, since the rishonim (beit yosef above) ...

This is a great initiative! To kick it off, here's a shaila I sent a number of years ago. Answer I received was that since there's a little blita at the top of the Lamed and since it widens at the top it can be considered Safek Kav Mashuch and fixed. It was of interest to me as it taught me that R' Shtern in Mishnat HaSofer (a big reference source for me) is quite machmir regarding kav mashuch and that taking into account other poskim we can rely on saying that kav mashuch is really fully pasul when it's a straight line like a stick, not a diamond shape with a bend. May I also suggest that each person who posts add their location and credentials, just makes this correspondence easier! Kol Tuv, Ari Posner Qualified Sofer STa"M and Magiha Ba'al Keri'ah Perth, Western Australia www.klstam.com