The International STa"M Forum

Shavua Tov, Dov, a sofer friend of mine has asked me 'do the shemot in haftarot require kidush? Does the word 'shalhevetya' in Shir HaShirim require kidush? 'haleluya' in Tehilim?' I would say yes to the first and no to the other two, but I can't actually find any sources that back this up and I've been reading through quite a few books to see if this is specifically mentioned. Anyone out there have any specific references to sefer haftarot and the other two that I can pass on to him . Many thanks, Mordechai

BH I just heard about your blog and wonder if you could post a question for me? I have a pair of meyuchasdike parshas Rashi Tfillin written in 5741 by R' Yaakov Silberman obm in Montreal. There is now a psul in the 2nd and 3rd parsha of shel rosh. I wonder if anyone knows of someone who might be interested in selling Rashi parshios from Reb Y. Silberman, or has put away the last 3 parshios mehudorim - ksav Admor Hazaken - written in the last 30 years? Sinai Weinbaum Montreal email SinaiWeinbaum@gmail.com   Note: Obviously Mr Weinbaum would need a whole new rosh by Rav Silberman, since there is no real way to ascertain kesidran unless exact dates can be verified.

An interesting thing happened to me in the word Nisan here in this Megilla today. As I was finishing the Samech, on the very last point of connecting it in its top right hand corner, I touched the Koz RT of the Yud. There is no Shinui Tzura so I would usually be able to be Gorer and destroy everything in the Samech from the that point on. Since the point of Negia is also the point of finishing the letter what do I need to do? Can I just separate them? The real question is what do we consider as happening first, and if it happens at the same time then do I need to Mevatel Ha'Ot (since it happens Be'Et Ketiva)?

Is it muter to make a megillah with an Eitz Chaim like a Sefer Torah? Or since l'maseh it has to be an like an igeres then this is ossur to do?

Something like this. is it a shinu tzurah? can it be fixed in tefillin and mezuzos? Yehoshua, can you please ask ravs shammai? conceptual only, I am not asking about this particular picture.mteh case is that there was a thick low chotteteres but no actaul rosh on 1st vav

I am wondering, what are your thoughts regarding this Sefer. A friend bought this in Israel, and is a bit unhappy with how the lines are sometimes coming out of the sirtut. It also has some letters that are misshapen (such as his chet where he makes the vav part shorter then the zayin part etc) Do you see this as kosher or kosher b'dieved? mehudar or not? I did not find a whole word coming out of the line, but a lot of letters coming out.

I recently checked through a Torah that had been rescued from Germany just before Kristallnacht in a suitcase. It is going to require some considerable restoration and means a great deal to the family and congregation that it is loaned to. However, four or five amudim have very bad moisture creases. I have been in touch with the British Library regarding parchment restoration and also chatted with a sofer colleague but was wondering whether anyone on the forum has practical experience of dealing with this. I don't want to replace the yeriot if I can help it because of the historical nature of the Torah - it has lots of marvellous kabbalistic taggin and special otoyot. Also, I would be interested in the view on kashrut if the crease is particularly heavy and obscuring the letters even if they are a) there and b) complete when the creases is pulled back, as I've only dealt in the past with relatively minor creasing where the letter was still guf echad or where addition of ink mad

A hefsek in the Yud between the guf and the regel - may be fixed, as all nifsakim.

I know there is a debate in the Acharonim as to may one fix this lamed in tefilin and mezuza. My opinion is, that le'maase we can be meikal and fix [even shlo csidran].

The Viznitzer Rebbe of Bnei Brak was nifter (as many probably know) last week. Many from different Mosdos and groups of Chassidus signs were put up in honor of him as what usually happens when someone well-known is nifter here in Eretz  Yisrael. My friend noticed in Mea Sharim one sign that had written on it the following (as it appears here wtihout any changes "כי מלאך ה' צבאות הוא" Usually the signs are covered over within a weeks time and then eventually torn down and thrown in the trash is there any problem from that fact that it was written "צבאות" on the sign? (As this is one of the Shemos "shaino nimchakim")? It could very well be that my friend was mistaken and that there was some sort of shinui made however let's evaluate what would be the halacha if this did happen.

I have been seeing recently, a lot of Soferim who let a woman hold the tip of the feather while the Sofer is writing during a siyum and was wondering what is correct halacha? In the past, I let the women dip the kulmus in the ink and then me and their husbands do the letter, but am now facing a lot of Rabbi's who say they saw so and so let women hold the kulmus, and why I don't do the same? Thanks, Shabbat Shalom

The second zayin in mezuzos - is lacking a complete rosh on its right side. I think it is pasul. Here is the same picture, at the smallest size available for the blog. In reality it is even smaller - cut the screen size to 50-65% - for a more accurate size - and the blita of the right is unnoticable.

In the nineteenth century, there used to be made a knife that was created especially for removing ink from parchment.  It's blade was shaped like an aspen leaf, hollow-ground and exquisitely sharp.  The shape of the blade in some ways imitates the shape of the lunellum, the knife which the klafmacher uses to thin and smooth the skin during processing and it is therefore extremely suitable for making erasures on parchment. Unfortunately, they are no longer made, but they can still be found fairly easily on any number of sites specializing in old writing paraphernalia.  They cost usually between 20 and 80 dollars or more, but are definitely a tool worth investing in.  When sharpened properly, say to about the same degree of perfection as a knife used in shechita, these knives really are the very best thing for thoroughly removing stains and unwanted letters.  They are much sturdier than a razor blade, or an X-acto knife, and give better results.  They can also be resharpened.

We have all experienced the morning after Simcha Torah.  Broken atzei chayim, ripped parchments, seams to be repaired, etc.   Shuls turn to us to repair their bruised scrolls and patch-up their ailing Sifrei Torah.  With a sense of duty we all rise to fulfill our call to be true Torah doctors. What about the morning after Purim?  Did someone's drinking ever affect a Megillah?  Today, I received this one.  It didn't necessarily happen on Purim, but some liquid went over it causing the writing to run and staining the parchment. Tomorrow, I will try to clean it up a bit.  Before doing so, however, I would like to hear from your experiences and what you have done to remedy similar mishaps.

I was totally stumped today when someone asked me why sefardi sksav is called vellish and where the word comes from, particularly since it sounds like an ashkenazic name. Anyone?

Just to add to Nachman's shayla - here is a caf with a problem, its is round but seems to have an akev.

hi, what would be the din of a beis with a very minute eikev, and roundish , such as the picture here. I have some cheap mezuzos with such beises.

There is a problem by a Sefer Torah if it is "menumar" (I can't find right now where it says this in Hilchos Sefer Torah so if someone could post where exactly I would appreciate it.)  Does this din also apply by a Mezuzah? By a Sefer Torah the problem is since it is read b'tzibbur, but by a Mezuzah no one will see it. The shailo came up like this. A Bachur learned how to be a Sofer and even has a csav kabbalah already. His father wants him to write for him mezuzos however this bachur doesn't want to write any Shemos so he will get someone else to write the shemos (c'sidran obviously.) But with someone else's csav you could run into the problem of menumar. The shailo is if it's even noge'ah by a mezuzah at all.

Switching gears to the fast approaching Purim, I need help finding a Makor for a new post. Melech in this post claims that the Chacham Tzvi is the source for highlighting the letters of the Shem throughout the Megilla The owner of the megillah pictured here had the sofer put three dots on top of every word that hints at Hashem’s name. The source for this is from the Chacham Tzvi. I will hopefully bring the exact place that this is brought down. I can't find the Makor - does anyone one knows and can you provide a link from Shut Hacham Tzvi which is available in Hebrewbooks. Purim Sameach YK

I admit that I found a Rishon that clearly says - the dyo must be mutar bficha, as all the rabbis mentioned in the blog claimed. The tshuva is from Rabbi Eliezer ben Natan from Lunel [ba'al sefer Hamanhig]. see in source: http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=31524&st=&pgnum=34&hilite= ויראה הטעם מדכ' למען תהי' תורת ה' בפיך צריך שכל עשיית התורה לשם ה׳ בין עשיית העורות בין הכתיבה .. וכתי