The International STa"M Forum

Following my recent post regarding the geder of pshutim mehudarim batim, I dug up an old article I was asked to write for a Chabad publication regarding the halachic status of pshutim mehudarim batim according to S"A Harav and shut T'T.  See below (click to enlarge)

I am still searching for a good quality mehudar retzua at any cost.It seems like nobody makes retzuot like the ones made just a few years ago. I tried: Zonnenfeld Shimborski Weissman Wider Chazut Rav Landau I keep on getting returns for cracking and peeling. I have retzuos for over 20 years and they are in great condition however new retzuos in case you had luck seem to hold up only a 3-6  years.After all if somebody purchases a $2000 set  and wants the best what can i give him.

Almost all mochrei stam I know sell pshutim mehudarim tefillin (batim). Many of these vendors try to keep a minimunm standard of Kosher lechatchillah, including myself. While the parshiyos they put into the pshutim mehudarim batim may be kosher lechatchillah, are the batim (and consequently the finished pair of tefillin) kosher lechatchillah? I have asked numerous poskim this question. They are certainly not mehudar. And the old style pshutim are definitely bedieved.  But some poskim seem to be reluctant to call pshutim mehudarim kosher lechatchillah, because the bayis is glued at the edges. On the other hand many of the older style pre- war batim, worn by may chosheve yidden (including notable rabbonim) were essentially made in the same way as pshutim mehudarim are made today. Furthermore pshutim mehudarim have some advantages over cheap commercial gassos that have all sorts of serious problems such as false charitzim, tiach, holes etc, problems which which do not exist in opshuti

Moadim Besimcha, I would like to know which type of knife is most recommended to open gassos sealed tefilin? In the past I have seen several types used by various magihim/battim workers. I untill now used a boker plus knife. Thank you

A Gut Moed and a Gutten Kvittel to all: In the two pictures below we have the same shailo, a gate sitting under a roof. The roof is not connected to the doorposts of the gate itself, rather it is free standing, supported by it's own pillars that have no connection to the actual doorframe. I have always assumed that the roof is still considered like a mashkof and it would require the gate to have a mezuzah. The correct place for the mezuzah woyuld be on the actual doorpost of the gate, and not on the pillar supporting the roof. This type of gate is common here in Melbourne and i thought I would get to the bottom of it once and for all. it seems no one here assumes it is chayev and I can't see why it would be potur. Feedback appreciated.        

Hi I am about to embark on the sale of a sefardi sefer torah to a customer in America, he was looking for a sefer at around the $25,000 mark, here is a sample of what I have chosen for him. Can anyone tell me if there are any chisronot in the ktav (I'm not so mumche in sephardi ksav) or what they think of the price? I'd appreciate a bit of a confidence booster from anyone who has more experience in sefer torah sales - Thanks!

I will take the initiative of opening the second year with an interesting mezuza scan, I received before Yom Kippur: Here is the same scan, with a problem throughout the mezuza, noted with red square [click to enlarge]: Most of the yudim are written above the sirtut , although hallachicaly bdieved this should be kosher (this also isn't pashut, the Daas Kedoshim and Divre Chayim - R. Chayim of Tzanz hold that csav that isn't attached to the sirtut is pasul. Tzarich Iyun what they would say in the case at hand - the yud is attached above the sirtut and not under the sirtut) - this is abnormal, as no sofer writes lechatchila any letter above the sirtut !!   The mezuza has a double sirtut [although many sofrim mehadrim do this to straighten the csav, it seems this scribe had a different reason] ??!!   Last, the sirtut of this mezuza is not shokea [pressed into the klaf from the correct side] but pressed outward from the back of the klaf. This is a big problem! Is th

Last motzoi Yom Kippur, I was sitting around after the fast and my younger brother showed me how blogspot works. I had been talking about the idea of an online interactive forum with a number of fellow sofrim for some time, and I figured why not just do it. Looking back, I think it was definitely worth the effort.  We have almost 450 informative posts, with many good shailos and insights. We have had over 60,000 hits, thats an average of about 200 hits per day. And we have had many meaningful and educational discussions on all topics in Sta'm. I know I learned a lot from some of them. The best thing about it is that all past discussions and posts remain available as a resource for future reference. I thank everyone for their contributions and for being part of this. A special thank you to Rabbi Moshe Weiner for answering so many of the general shailos. Also thank you to Yehoshua Deitel for bringing many of the  shailos to Rav Shammai Gross. My future plans for the for

The nun pshuta of "nosen" is backwards [click to enlarge]. It is pasul. The question is can it be fixed in tefilin, according to opinions that a letter that a tinok can read correctly may be fixed (without chashash of sh'lo csidran)?

This Tav is in tefilin. A tinok was asked and read it a Tav. Can it be fixed?

Hi, I have been a sofer for some time and I ma qualified for ketivah at mishmeret stam. I am now looking to focus on Hagaha, so I can be qualified to check as well. Could anyone please tell me what is involved in studying to be qualified as an examiner? Thanks and Gemar Tov.

What would you say of a Mem Sofit that is shaped like a triangle on it's inside?

May everyone have much hatzlacha in their avodas hakodesh in the coming year, parnassah in abundance with menuchas hanefesh, health, nachas and happiness!

Dear Editor, Thank you for your your informative article on the controversy over the Kashrus of retzuos for tefillin by Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter. As correctly reported in the article, this issue was first raised on an online forum for sofrim, back in December of 2011. However the name of the forum was incorrectly quoted in the article as being called "Soferstamblog". The correct name is "The STa"M Forum" which can be viewed online at www.stamforum.com . The forum, which is completely non commerical and non profit, started with a handful of sofrim less than a year ago. Today there are dozens of contributing members from around the world, mostly sofrim and others in the STa"M (Sefer Torah, tefillin and Mezuzah) industry who regularly post shailos and discuss halachic matters relevant to STa"M. Over 600 articles have been posted to date, with the site receiving several hundred hits per day. It is proving to be a valuable resource for

How about the Bais of Uleovdo?

In regards to the Parshiyos of the Tefillin shel Yad is there a difference in "kedusha" between the parshiyos (more or less "kedusha") or is each one on the same level in terms of kedusha. Not so much of a nafka mina but a thought that came to mind.

Can I have the publics opinion on these Zayin's of the word Mezuzos? Aren't they a serious Shaila of a Nun? I have a few Mezuzos which I checked today, and all have more or less the same problem.

I just wanted to share an interesting sefer I came across today, it's call אניה דיונה, and is contains all the halachos of ס"ת מזוזה מגילה תפילין according to the simanim of the shulchan aruch. Whats unique to this sefer is that the halachos are written as poems with rhyming lines  Here is a link http://www.hebrewbooks.org/31425

This morning in Shul I sketched a picture of a negiyah between a reish and chof pshuta and showed it to a child, who read it as a lamed (see below). While I agree the case I posted yesterday was very mild, and not much of a chshash, I think in cetrtain cases  a reish / chof pshutah negiya such as the one in this picture below can indeed  present more of a  problem. Particularly in cheaper mezuzos where not all the letters are written so perfectly. An especially in sefardi ksav, where lechatchillah  the lamed is more like a reish on the bottom than a chof. Negiyos, at least for me, are very nervewracking because the gravity of chok tochus essentially being a much more severe issur  (other problems that can be fixed by adding ink and not scratching are less nervewraking because you always have a tziruf in your back pocket (sofek shinuy tzurah and sofek what is considered lo kesidran) however you do not have the second sofek by negiyos (unless possibly if they happened after kesiv

Someone today asked me for a special mezuzah written as mehudar as possible with as many valid chumros as possible. Other than Avodas yad klaf and making sure my writing comes out as perffect as possible, is there anything else anyone could suggest?