The International STa"M Forum

A house here has brick pillars on either side as you walk down the path to the front door. The problem is that the pillars are cnnected on the top with a wooden mashkof. It's hard to see in the dark but lechorah this should contitute a tzuras hapesach, and should these pillars require mezuzos? they are definitely not there for support, rather to form a series of modern gateways as you progress down the path.

A very cheap mezuza, the word uvechol is problematic. I hesitate to accept the beis, the caf, and there is an unexplained [and unnecessary] space between the caf and lamed.

This is a illustration of something I was asked lately [about a mezuza] - is the caf and yud a definite pasul as mem, or still can be fixed.

This was posted on my hebrew stam-blog, and I thought it quite interesting. The foot of the left hays' are extended way under the line - does this make them into a type of kuf? I think that since a tinok will not think of them as a kuf because the thickness and form of the yud, they are still kosher and should be fixed by lengthening the right foot a bit. If the left foot would not be an [ashkenazic] opposite yud (but a sefardic type of foot, that is a simple line) it would be pasul, since it would be a kuf.

If a person follows Chabad practice and uses Hekker ztir to acertain mezuzah placement, what is the din in the case where the back ikker door is a sliding door and there is a secondary security gate that sopens OUTWARDS to the garden. The garden has access to the street (around both sides of the house) so normally If it was just a sliding door I would do yemin haknisah into the house. However the security door throws a spanner into the works. Please see picture.

I came across this Sefer Torah for sale on ebay (sadly). The seller states that it was written in the mid 1800s in Europe, and eventually came to Eretz Yisrael with other rescued Torah Scrolls, which, based on the photos, seems accurate. Two interesting things caught my eye: 1) The Alef at the bottom of the column is stretched out in a very strange way, which seems to me to be a shinui tzurah: click to enlarge Here's a larger photo of the area in question. Also note the alef at top left. The bottom alef appears to be an exaggerated version of the alef on top: click to enlarge And here's the alef out of context. I think it would fail a shaylas tinok, and at first glance out of the corner of my eye, it appears like the word "af", almost like it's an alef-fey ligature: Here I've digitally made a break in the letter, illustrating what looks almost like an incomplete alef and an incomplete fey: If he would have made the gag of the al...

There are minhagim to read Pitum Haketores and/or a Lamenatzeach menorah on klaf in ksav ashirus. There are many different sources for the customs, which is a topic in itself. Many people carry their own klaf containing the above, and some shuls might have framed versions on the wall. I understand that these are all minhagim which can vary and may be based on various different sources. Nevertheless, I have a number of questions to which I would be interested in hearing possible answers, opinions, and approaches. 1) Upon examination of a number of the above mentioned items, I have noted that: a) Some of these items are badly printed on unusual parchment without any sirtut or attempt to make them look real to anyone who knows anything about safrus. b) Some of these items are printed on klaf with sirtut in an attempt to make them appear as if they were hand written to the layman. c) Some of these items seem to have been printed and then traced over or finis...

 The picture above is a front porch that leads in from the street. The archway at the top of the stairs definitely needs a mezuzah. There are two other archways on either side of the porch that lead off the porch but into a flower bed, not a pathway (one is visible in the picture, the other is opposite it on the other side, exactly ther same). The question is are these two side archways chayyev a mezuzah and if so on what side do they go? The second beis on the top line does not have  a proper ekev. It is round and is not really bolet. I showed it to a tinuk who read it a s a chof. I showed it to a rov here who said it is a shailos tinnuk, and when I told him I already showed it to a tinuk who read it as a chof he said he cannot see a way to be machshir.

Question:   Are parshiyot of yad on klaf that was glued from 2 pieces, [the kadesh, vehaya and shma, where on the first klaf, and the last parsha vehaya im shamoa was written on another klaf, and later glued to the first], are they kosher lechatchila? Answer:   They are kosher lechatchila. Although it is a mitzva lechatchila to try to write all 4 parshiyot on 1 klaf as written in SA and poskim, this is a mitzva lechatchila for the sofer to try to produce the best yad, but if the sofer could not write all 4 on 1 piece for any reason, then the yad is kosher lechatchila as is [after the klafim are glued as written in Rema 32:47]. There is no pgam in the hidur because it isn't on one piece. (see Mishna Berura 32:219, Mishnat Hasofer  Biur Hasofer p. 236. Indeed the terms lechatchila and bdieved must be clarified, IE the oilam in general does not use these terms with the correct meaning. In our case, once the issue is bdieved for the sofer, then the parshiyos a...

I remember seeing a long time ago in שו"ת שבט הלוי that ink must float on the klaf  צף על הקלף . I don't remember the exact location, and I don't have שו"ת שבט הלוי on hand. I could not find it by searching hebrewbooks.org either. Can anyone please help and find the exact location?

There are a few things to learn from this story so I'll share it... Especially what was said by R' Shammai Gross afterwards. A nice American Avreich came today with his friend to the Beis Horah to ask a few shailos on his Tefillin that had just been checked. The megia found 3 problem. A reish that had a small amount of dio on the bottom and a small mark on the klaf that perhaps turned it into a Beis (this R' Shammai said shailos tinnok.) As well a Vav that was a little short (this wasn't so much of a shailo just the megia had marked it off, R' Shammai said kosher.) And then the real shailo, a yud that was missing dio between the rosh and the right regel (seemingly was there and peeled off over time.) This R' Shammai said was pasul. The megia had brought the shailo to begin with to R' Mordechai Friedlander who of course also pasuled it and said "chalilah" to wear such Tefillin. However this Avreich also (before R' Shammai and after R' Frie...

if someone wrote a hei instead of a daled, can he add ink and round out the top right corner like a reish, then erase the left regel, then add ink and make the reish a daled?

The Nabataeans lived in the middle east near Eretz Yisrael roughly during the time of the Chashmonaim. They spoke a dialect of Aramaic and wrote using their own written alphabet which has the same letters as Hebrew. Their script has many similarities to the Hebrew (Ashuris) alphabet.  One of their examples of the letter Ches (below right) has a chatoteres, somewhat resembling the Ksav Ashuri Ches according to Rabbeinu Tam: The Nabataen Ches (Heth) One of their examples of the letter Yud (below left) vaguely resembles the Ksav Ashuri Yud, with a sort of tag above, and an ooketz below: The Nabataen Yud (Yodh) One of their examples of the letter Tzadik (below left) is similar to the Ksav Ashuri Tzadik (albeit crooked), with the right head facing right as in Ksav Ari zal. The Nabataen Tzadik (Sad'e) You can see the entire script here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataean_alphabet

In regards tot he Tefillin Shel Rosh, may one write the parshiyos (lets say at least the first 2) on one whole piece of klaf then cut the klaf in half with one parsha on one half and another parsha on the other? Is there anything wrong with this?

Question:  A Shul that has an old and used sefer tora that is kosher, although not a most beautiful csav [maybe also condition], they want to make a hachnosas sefer tora (IE  $$$$) by taking away the last yeriya and ordering a new one written instead. Is this permitted lechatchila? After the fact (bdieved) if done are those that participate by buying/writing letters fulfill the mitzva of csivas sefer tora? Answer:  It is forbidden to release the last yeriya as long as it is kosher, since they are mevatel this yeriya from its mitzva, and paseling a sefer in vain. Even after the fact [as long as the original yeriya is intact] they are not fulfilling a mitzva of csivas sefer tora.

A while back there was a post ( http://www.stamforum.com/2011/10/what-ktav-is-this.html ) showing an image where the word "uvechol" was written twice: It was mentioned that it would be problematic to scratch out the extra word because it would leave too large of a space, and that it would be problematic to make holes in the klaf (see the above link for more). As a possible solution, I would like to propose the following: 1) Scratch out the lamed of the first "uvechol" and the vav, veis, and chaf of the second "uvechol," leaving the lamed of the second "uvechol" intact. 2) Scratch out the tag (only) of the chaf of the first "uvechol." (Restore the sirtut if necessary.) 3) Stretch out the chaf of the first "uvechol" to reach the lamed of the second "uvechol," adding a tag at the new end of the now stretched out chaf. It should now appear as in this graphically altered illustration: ...

I have an interesting query - which may become a reality if a particular sefer torah comes my way. Some synagogues, if they have a seam split between yeriot will repair them themselves. Sometimes they may not use giddin - in which case obviously this has to be changed. Sometimes however they will use giddin. In which case that should be fine. However not all members of a synagogue will be shomer and it may be that the 'handy-person' who made the repair was not shomer. If the sofer receives such a torah and is not aware of who made the repair and even where the repair is - do they assume that b'dieved all is well and the sefer is kasher. One wouldn't expect to restitch the whole Torah. Now what happens if the sofer knows for sure that the person is not shomer. Is the sefer kasher or does all the stitching have to be removed. Or is this similar to the story where a sofer said they didn't sanctify Hashem's names to the person who commisioned the Torah because t...

Yesterday Peretz posted pictures from a sefer tora, and here are some of them. The csav is a quality csav, and the shape of the letters are csav Ari, but the shemos where written without the cavanas hacsiva according to the ari !! Quite interesting !??