The International STa"M Forum

This is a very low quality Mezuzah, (I have to check several similar to these) if you see the י of והיה it looks almost like the letter J on an angle. It does not have a Rosh and instead a hook for a body. I assume it is shinui Tzura, I would appreciate your opinion on this.

I'd like to pose a conceptual idea that, even if some people don't get too involved as it's not completely practical, I think is important for STa"M anyway. I think there is value to determining the exact, perfect tzura of the otiot, even if it's not practical to hold written STa"M to that standard. Mishnat Sofrim brings from Beis Yosef that the nekuda tachtona of the Aleph should be 1.5 kulmusim from the top of the body. Traditionally I have always read explanations that describe this parameter as being the distance of the leg of the lower yud, as shown in the picture below (this is an aleph I've written previously, not for the purpose of this post so isn't geometrically accurate for this purpose). My STa"M rav and teacher suggested that this poses two potential issues. In order to comply with this, since the width of the gag and the yud are both 1 kulmus then it would mean that the total height of the Aleph would be 3.5 kulmusim, which seemingly...

I was checking a mezuzah yesterday, in the word ירבו the ב' has a little tiny Chut hasara that seems to connect to the roof giving it a possible appearance of a ם. Although I must say it is not so noticeable by the naked eye, however I did catch it without a magnifier glass. The Mezuzah is 10 cm big, to give you an idea of how small it would be. This was the Rabbi"s answer; צריך הבחנת תינוק, ע"י כיסוי האות וי"ו שלאחריו  Los Angeles

The yudim in the first mezuza have a regel that is very long [see also the word בניכם] – much longer than the width of the head of the yud. This causes a big shayla! Are these yudim kosher or maybe they are classified as vavim?! And fixing them in tefilin or mezuza is pasul since it is Sh'lo C'sidran. It is obvious in the poskim that the defining point that divides yud from vav is shailas tinok, if so does this automaticaly accept any yud at any length because in regard to the general csav the yud is shorter than other letters, or maybe there is a shiur for the yud that it may not pass, as the [opposite] minimum shiur that the vav can not be shorter. In the second mezuza the yudim are worse, not only the regel is longer than the width of their head – the regel descends straight down, without a curve inward at all. To my opinion these yudim are pasul, they are [more a] vav than a yud!!! Although these yudim are shorter than the general csav, the porportion between the yuds' ...

Question for Reb Moshe: Today I checked a pair of tefillin where the ribuah of the bayis was OK on the top but towards the bottom the bayis got a little wider and swollen (probably from moisture or sweat). When measurimng with a caliper it was like 1.7 out (between orech and rochev). So I used a knife to shave off some of the bayis from both sides. I took off about .5 of a mm from each side, thus bringing the ribuah back to a kosher size. My concern is that I remember once speaking with R' Yossi Altien, (a sofer and batim expert in the US) who told me to be careful when shaving batim as it could open a "fold" and one could unwittingly make a hole. I am no expert on batim, so the big question is,what are the chances of this happening? I lifted the batim to the light after I shaved them before I repainted them. The dull light came through but I did not see any "bright light" indicating a crack or hole. Also when looking at the actual bayis where I shaved, I se...

i am so excited about this idea, and i really hope it kicks off well, its mamesh a pleasure and so important for me to be able to join this blog. thank you. heshy benshimon ordained sofer and magiah montreal, canada.

Since launching this forum a little over 24 hours ago, I am pleased to say that there have been almost 300 page views from something like 40 computers from  around the world. I personally sent the link to a few dozen of my contacts whom I felt would be interested, however I'm sure there are many more people who would be interested in a site like this. I encourage you to forward a link to this site to any persons you feel may be interested, the more people involved, the more beneficial it will be for all. We are very fortunate to have Rabbi Moshe Weiner involved in this forum. Reb Moshe is a tremendous talmid chacham and he has been of invaluable assistance to me over the years in answering many difficult shailos. Feel free to post shailos for him to answer and that way your shailos can be viewed by all. In such a way we can all gain shimush and experience. if you wish to post and have not received an invite to become a member, please feel free to email me at info...

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) ...

I tried leaving a comment to Ari's post and for some reason my comment is not being published even though I am logged in. Any ideas anyone?

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

b"h hi ely i think this is a great idea moshe weiner

Welcome! My name is Rabbi Eli Gutnick and I am a sofer, magiha and socher STa"M serving the community in Melbourne, Autstralia. I have been active as a sofer for over 12 years and during this time I have amassed hundreds if not even thousands of emails of shailos and discussion between myself other sofrim and rabbonim from around the world. The emails range from scans of shaalos, discussions about Stam in general, and even business assistance such as helping fellow sofrim and sochrim find certain Stam products they may need. I am sure other sofrim, particularly those working in communities outside of Eretz Yisroel such as myself, often find themselves communicationg with other sofrim and rabbis on a regular basis. In todays age of Globalization and technology, there is no reason why such information should not be more widely spread between all those in the industry, such as fellow sofrim, rabbanim and others with an interest in Stam. As we all know,...