The International STa"M Forum

"particularly the Rabbis of the Vaad, who's job it is to protect the kashrus and integrity of stam." WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO HELP THE VAAD HELP US? if the vaad charges a few cents more for computer check we run to the cheap computer,then we expect the vaad to have money to run an office send out flyers investigate etc THE VAADS ONLY INCOME IS FROM COMPUTER CHECK. WE ARE KILLING THE VAAD WITH OUR OWN ACTIONS

After seeing informative posts from Reb Zvi and Reb Avraham Chaim about dio,and the posts by Reb Moishe and myself prooving how many problems "metaygim" make is it not about time we boycott tagimmachers? or for the least they should have kabala and use ink with hechsher. Here is a recap of the problems: 1)dio might not be kosher 2)according to bnei yona dio rapidograh is not dio 3)matyeg forgets to be mekadesh sheimos 4 )metayeg makes jumbo tags that change tzuras haos 5)metayeg widens rashe hanun 6)metayeg who makes little mistake can easily do chok tochos or shelo kesidran to fix up 7)reb moshe showed how kutzo shel yud can get killed by metayeg.

We all know that there is no ancient source that requires ink to be מן המותר בפיך . Possibly, as said here before, because in the olden days ink was always  מן המותר בפיך and the question was never raised. It was probably self-evident. Nowadays, no decent Rav will approve an ink which is not מן המותר בפיך  . Who was the first one to raise this question? Was it raised because of animal ingredients or because of non-kosher wine?

I have started having trouble with these Tefillin about a week ago, I started noticing a crack in the paint where the shel yad would be opened (first picture from top), and the left bait (when looking at the picture) of the shel rosh was starting to separate a little from the rest (Second picture). I was keeping it tight in its box to try and save the Shel Rosh and it improved a little. Then this morning before the tefila I opened the Rosh and a big piece of the paint from the bottom of the Shel Yad just fell off in one piece.  Can anyone tell me what is the status of the Tefillin, meanwhile, can I wear them? I live in Slovenia and until I can get someone to fix them it will be at least a couple days. 

I have a customer placing mezuzot on his office building.  One of the doors is an emergency exit which can only be utilized as a fire escape and leads out to the front sidewalk.   Normally, such a door would be considered an entrance into the building, and the proper place to affix the mezuzah would be on the right as one is coming in from the street. There is one caveat, however.  From the outside the solid door has no handles and no key!  That is, even if one wanted to use it as an entrance into the building, it would be impossible to do so.  Would the user of such an office building be exempt on this doorway?

I wrote an article about the kosher/non-kosher status of shellac which is used in all forms of India Ink for a rapidograph. http://dio-lanetzach.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-post_14.html I want to include also what HaRav Mordechai Eliahu said about it. I was told that it can be found in אנציקלופדיה לכשרות המזון,  להרב אדרעי, עמ' רנ I don't know which volume. I don't have access to it in our little Shtaitle in Pennsylvania. Can someone in this forum maybe find it and post it here? Thank you.

Baruch Hashem I honor chumros, but .... chumros should not get out of hand, may tend to bend things a bit more important. I honor the discussions mentioned in regard to dyo and feathers, and every part was quite interesting, but .... The simple hallacha is that any kulmus is kosher for writing with (even a non kosher feather, chas vshalom . It may be gnay  and not mehudar for the sofer - but doesn't invalidate the stam!!) The same regards the law of dyo - dyo doesn't need al pi din to be mutar bpicha . It is true there is a whole debate in the acharonim on the issue, and it is quite important to understand why dyo is different than klaf, batim, retzuos and gidim that must be "min hamutar b'ficha"?! [a simple terutz would be: that all types of ink/dyo used in talmudic times, never included parts from animals. so the question didn't arise]. But for fact it isn't mentioned in the talmud, rambam, tur or shulchan aruch such a rule that dyo must be min ha...

Who are those that speak about the issue that the names should be written straight and not one bolet to the left side. The Minchas Yitzchak has a teshuva about this and writes that it's only a mitzvah min hamuvchar not like the Beis Shlomo that wanted to say that it's pasul even b'dieved. However tzrich iyun since if one looks into the 2 teshuvas from the Beis Shlomo that he brings down it seems to be talking about that the names of bnei haman and the "v'es" shouldn't be bolet to either side (meaning at the beginning or end.) However does not seem to speak about if the names themselves are not even. The shailo and what the Minchas Yitzchak is talking about is quite clear however I'd like to find others that speak about it. If anyone has any mareh makoms please comment, Thanks! (The Teshuva of the Minchas Yitzchak can be found here:  http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1600&st=&pgnum=131 )

Can R' Zvi or any of the scientific minded members of this forum please comment on the kosher status of commerical glues used today such as super glue or PVC, both which are used commonly in Sta'm. I have not heard of any of these glues being certified for sta'm use. Is there any signifigant risk of them being made of non kosher animal products, particularly PVC?

I'm of the opinion that the best feathers for making kulmusim come from the first five feathers on either wing of the wild Canada goose which have been naturally molted from a mature bird.  They're strong, have much longer barrels than turkey quills, need much less resharpening and one such quill, properly tempered, can last for months of full-time writing. These quills do however require a much lighter touch than say turkey quills. Next best, I think is the Toulouse goose.  These birds often reach 25 lbs or more and produce very large feathers.  Because they're raised in captivity their feathers seem to be not as strong as those of birds which fly.  Nonetheless, their quills are highly desirable and make fine, long wearing pens. The average white domestic goose has potential, but seldom is allowed to reach a size, or an age where it's quills are large, or hard enough. Most common of all for use as kulmulsim are the feathers of the turkey, mostly white d...

I don't know how this would be but someone told me tonight that the Kol Yaakov writes that there is a shita that holds a Megillah has to be written c'sidran. I looked through the sefer on Siman 691 but didn't find anything. I made a search on the sefer as well for the word "כסדרן" on Hebrew Books and nothing came up in that Siman. If anyone knows where this is or has any idea who else might bring it down, please share! Thanks!

A "Tav" was written instead of a "Hei". The sofer before erasing the regel of the Taf put down something on the klaf to soak up the dio a little that it should be easier to erase. After doing so he saw that the "reish" part of the taf had also lost a bit of it's color and before erasing the regel re-wrote the reish part. Is this considered Nictav b'psul? Since that chelek was written b'kashrus, only the regel makes the ois pasul he only has to erase that. However now before erasing the regel he re-wrote the reish with the regel there in place. Maybe this is not called "Nictav b'psul"? There was seemingly enough dio still (and dark enough) that it would be considered Kosher. However maybe writing over it makes a problem now. Any thoughts please share!

I came a across a mezuzah case, where it slides off the rack, this is to allow easy access to have it checked without the pain of having to put new wholes in the wall. It is a special patented invention, sounds cute and smart, however this is not an adequate setting to the doorpost which halacha requires. See Yoreh Deah 189:4- that one should affix a Mezuzah with nails, (as to make it permanent). Note, that the blessing we recite is "Likboah Mezuzah"... to set a Mezuzah (scroll)- showing that it should be made on a permanent way. It is self understood that one could not make a bracha on seting such a case either. Now it is shown to me that this case was already mentioned in the Sefer Pischei Shearim p. 334 that it is not kosher.

Here is a response to the "disturbing news" in the previous post. I have some photographs of ancient STAM. The right side head of the letter Tzadik is not a straight Yod and not an inverted Yod. It is like the letter Zain, which has protrusions on both sides of the neck. It looks like Beit Yosef took half of it, and the Arizal took the other half. Open the following image in a new tab or new window to see it full size.

There is a disturbing news, a Sofer in Cedarhurst is poisoning the minds of any one who has tefilin with Ksav Arizal and convinces them to change to Beth Yosef  Here is a Teshuva from the baal Mishmereth Stam against this practice http://bit.ly/xES2Q6 דע מה להשיב

Just want to share something extremely interesting as a continuation of our topic on Lemarbe.  We have seen how our tradition documents two variant writings going back to the 10th Century, one in two words and the other as a wholesome word, as per the Aleppo and Leningrad Codices.  However, in both cases the MEM is written as a SOFIT.  I have always wondered what would we see if we could travel back in time 1,000 years prior to that and be privy to see a much older scroll.  Would they exhibit the same nuances and scribal traditions?That would truly be a fantastic thing! Today we have the incredible resource of being able to see a scroll of Yishaya found in Qumran which forms part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The sefer dates back to approximately the year 100 bce.  How is Lemarbe written there?  Let's take a look! Yishaya 9:6 - Courtesy of the Israel Museum If you read carefully you will see that it is also written in two words!  This is an amazi...

I occasionally check very old Tefillin Parshiyos. They usually were a yerusha from the zaide to the grandchild. These old parshiyos are often in bad shape (and there is only so much a magiah can fix). I sometimes feel to let the tefillin owner know that he should possibly switch to a new pair since there are many "issues" with the Tefililin, although kosher . I notice that some people are annoyed at even hearing that the Tefillin are anything but perfect, basing it on the fact that their zayde was so holy... The question if they think they are wearing halachikly mehudar Tefillin and to my opinion in its current state it is not mehudar, how to address this sensitive matter. Any suggestions? Side question, I found parshiyos wrapped in synthetic string, (since sayros are halacha moshe msinai), is there anything to be concerned with the parshiyos (the ksav is not nice but basic kosher)?

Is there a standard size for shura on a Megillah with 11 lines that is concedered THE MOST mehudar or beautiful?

The kotz Rabenu-Tam is not at the left edge of the yud. I think that although lechatchila it should be made at the left edge, and in the given examples lechatchila should be fixed [if easily accomplished], bdieved it is kosher - since basicaly the yud has a protrusion on the general left part. Other thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.