The International STa"M Forum

I need a sofer with ksav kabala in Johannesburg, Please post here

ALWAYS buy from qualified Sofer Stam.  NEVER buy from a Judaica store or shul gift shop. Examine this picture very carefully. A local store sold these to a fellow with a certificate of kashrus and a computer scan report on the parshios. The fellow wore them for almost TWO MONTHS before anyone in his minyan noticed the problem.

The daily task of checking mezuzot that are not written by properly trained sofrim is daunting.  In this mezuzah, there are letters that are not properly formed.   Please take a look at the MEMS and NUNS. In the above case the roof of the MEM is greatly separated from the VAV and descends to the bottom of the CHARTUM.    In the subsequent case the NUNS already appear like KHAFS. These appear to be straight PASSUL.  However, it is not so simple.  With the MEM, because the thickness of the descending line; it appears that, on the left it connects to the middle of the VAV, and on the right at the bottom.  Perhaps, we have to be lenient like in the case of a GIMMEL where the left foot connects to the right foot near or at the top of the roof.  Would you be lenient with such a MEM?  Your comments please.  

I always struggle with the ends of the lines on the cheaper Mezuzos, I always understood that if it has three lines one ending a kulmus further then the line above its possul. but ive been told its not so poshut to passul a Mezuzah because of this... also what about a Mezuzah such as the one in the picture where its all wavy, whats the din?  any thoughts or guidelines that i can work with? Thank you

Very basic question, I use a drafting table to write which is fully on a slant, what can I use as an inkwell to leave on the table?

I was asked to write a hand written Ketubah for someone who is getting married in the summer. I then found out there are several Nushachim. The groom is Yemenite, and I would like to know if there is some knowledge between the users here. What is the best option regardless of family backround? For a Yemenite, is there one option or more? What is best? Thanks to all in advance.

As requested I took of the previous post and apologize if anyone was offended. What disturbed me is that not everyone has enough שכל to understand that the time stamp is not an indication. If someone will want to attack someone else over the internet (very common) he can easily say "מחלל שבת" and bring a screen shot. Who will bother to check out if it was true or not? To accuse it is easy but to prove innocence, well that's a different story. Just like the case I mentioned. I tried to make it a little humorous, but apparently not everyone (I'm referring to myself) has the talent. And again I apologize if I offended anyone.

Gute voch, A question for those who write with Alter rebbe ksav. : How difficult is it to learn for someone who did mostly Beis Yosef and never Alter rebbe? How many hours should it take to learn the differences? Thanks

I think the zayin in the word be'chozek is pasul. It is a narrow dalet (tilted a bit), not a zayin. I would appreciate your opinion/thoughts.

I'm left-handed and I write upwards. (I turn the klaf 90 degrees, so the lines are vertical) The issue: when writing I need to support my right hand on the klaf, now if I wrote already a few lines my right hand is on the letters. Then, even if they are dry my fingers get dirty and when I move my hand I make the klaf dirty with small black dots. (you can't see from far but its not clean) So what I did was to put piece of paper on top of the lines I wrote and put my hand on the paper. Now, after I wrote a few lines I removed the paper, but the paper got stuck in the letters. I don't see a piece of paper on the letter, just very light marks of paper. Do I need to scrape every thing? Can I just pass ink over it? Thanks. ps. I'm writing a meguilah

A letter TAV that is written with both feet coming out from the same point on the rosh, although not written in accordance to dikduk, is still kasher.  In the above case, however, the first TAV of TITEN has the right foot as partially appearing to come out from the left yerekh.  This is due to the thickness of the line, as the rest of the the right foot emanates from the roof. There is another problem with the above TAV.  If one observes carefully, the right foot appears to emanate  from the middle to"west" of the middle of the roof.  The halakha is also such, that if the right foot of the TAV emanates from the middle of the roof, although not written bedikduk, the letter is still Kasher BediEved. Summing the two above problems, it appears that this letter should be rendered passul.  Although one may argue as to the kashruth of each separate case, here they seem to compound thus changing the Zurat HaOT. Your comments are appreciated.  Is the above TAV redeemable or i

The "ך" of "והמלך". Can I scrape the small dot inside? Thanks.

What do you make out of the first Zayin of Mezuzot? When magnified there appears a slight zavit on the right of the head.  However, this is not the case on a normal scale where the foot appears to be just plainly thrown to the right.  My inclination is to follow the Sefekut HaSofer and call it PASSUL.  However, it may perhaps have a redeeming quality that can save this beautiful mezuzah.  Your comments are all appreciated.

This came to the Beis Horah today by R' Shammai Gross. The psak was pasul.

I was planing to write "עלי" in the same line but there is a "ך" on the line on top. Should I write a long "מ"? Is the "ך" ok?

By way of mechika I have made a hole in the klaf of a megillah. The hole is very small and I would like to fit a tlai on this spot in a cosmetic way where the evidence of the tlai's presence (either when looking from the front or the back of the yeriah) goes undetected. Can anyone with professional experience describe how to go about this delicate procedure? Cheers, Pesach

I was asked if one may take out a Sefer Torah (which the choshen was donated by the family)for the purposes of the Bar Mitzvah boy to take pictures with. The family (traditional-not Orthadox) considers it very important to take a picture with the Torah. I heard there is a halachik issue of non kavod LeTorah for taking it out for reasons other than reading or fixing it. Based on Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 135:14) there are halachik limitations to where a Torah is allowed to be transferred as the Mishna Berura puts it (ibid:47), "that it is a dishonor to bring the Torah to people who need it rather the people should go to it". The Rema (ibid)writes that for a adam chashuv it is allowed to bring a Torah to him in any scenario. The Mishna Berura ibid:50 interprets adam chashuv as a gadol beTorah, the Mishna Berura also brings the opinion of the Magen Avraham that a adam chashuv is not enough rather in addition they need to be an anus (unable physically to come to the Torah).

A torah that I'm due to check shortly has apparently had it's top and bottom margins trimmed some years ago quite drastically (to within 3-4mms near the otiyot) to fit the atsey - I don't know who did this. Assuming that the letters are still mukaf g'vil then b'dieved this is kasher even though it should be 3 thumbs and 4 thumbs thickness (though varies for big and small sifrey). Is there a source that I can rely on for this as most of the discussion I've seen is around what is appropriate for margins depending on the relation to the size of the script.

 Gute voch, shavua tov! What size of klaf fits for the Chabad 4x4 batim, both shel yad and shel rosh and what is the height of the letters?  Thanks.