The International STa"M Forum

The Hebrew title now reads: פורום לנושא סת"ם בינלאומי In correct Hebrew it should read: פורום בינלאומי לנושא סת"ם   May I suggest the revision?

I just received a batch of mehudar mezuzos with the kuzu done in the above manner. Is there any makor for this? I've never seen it done like this before, nor can I imagine why it should be.

I recently received an order for parshiyos for size 31 batim w/o the parshiyos going into the titura elyona. Does anyone know the approximate dimensions of such batim? How tall can the klaf of the parshiyos be and how wide can the diameter of the shel yad and the length and width of the shel rosh be? (The order is for parshiyos on klaf that is m'ubbad ba'afatzim, which is generally much thicker than standard klaf, so all of the dimensions are important.) I am assuming that he will most probably be using either Sheinfeld or Dovid Starik fold-free batim, if that makes a difference as far as the chalalim.

I have a friend whose shul is interested in buying a used sefer Torah, not written on klaf mashuach.  Does anyone have any suggestions or leads?

Here you have another new innovation in this Megillah which is not part of our Massoretic tradition. The fact that the Shem HaShem doesn't appear in the Megillah doesn't deter this scribe from highlighting any allusions.   In this case the sofer has highlighted the  "Rashei Tevot"  H-V-H-Y in order to bring to mind that HaShem is " hidden" and working in the background.  The fact that the letters are in reverse order is most important, for one can only be cognizant of the YAD HASHEM when looking "backwards"  and examining all of the events after they have taken place.  In a similar way, we have also done the same by adopting the modern convention of initiating many of our columns with the word HaMELECH.  This is our way of bringing out the same concept that, in the story of the Megillah, HaShem is hidden and working in the background.  Therefore, we interpret that whenever HaMELECH is written by itself - this refers to HASHEM; but,...

The new way [introduced by Cesiva Tama] of a pai - in the pai peshuta.

I remember seeing the previous post and I saw this on E-bay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fine-Antique-Complete-Esther-Scroll-Megillah-On-Parchment-Bible-Poland-Ca-1860-/371111871478?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5667fdc3f6

Long story short, I had an unexpected and sharp increase in the humidity in the area in which I normally store my klaf . One of my yerios was open on a table and it became hopelessly stiff and bumpy.  Is there any way to save it? (its only half written) In addition, the ink appears to have taken on a "grainy" texture. Any thoughts? (If not, does anyone know where you can purchase klaf by the yeriah in NY :(

Does anyone know if there is a 'גליון ג of the קובץ תורני לבירורי הלכה ומנהג בעניני סת"ם put out by לשכת הקודש?

RABBI AVRAHAM MARKOWITZ ONE OF THE TOP 10 SOFRIM AND ONE OF THE BEST SAFRUS TEACHERS IN THE WORLD HAS PASSED AWAY. The above aseres was written by him as a tikun to accomplish most shitos including the m"b kiflayim.

Regarding the question of osiyos challolos (left at the end of a sefer Torah for a siyum in outline) if such letters are kosher, the common answer is that they are (because ain shiur beuvey haos) EXCEPT for the yuddin, which is a machlokes. Does anyone know who the machlokes is betwee? Thanks

We've been through this before but I recently had another case and  found some new discussion of this in the sefer zichron Eliyohu, which I did not previously notice. It is well documented that we are more lenient about parshiyos protruding into the titurah elyona of the yad than by rosh - reasons are well explained in  perek aleph siman daled (of the sefer zichron Eliyohu). In a phone call to Rabbi Moshe Shaul Klien Shlitah some years ago he echoed this understanding by telling me that if the parshiyos (letters) protrude a little into the titurah elyona in the shel yad the tefillin are still geder mehudar, but in the shel rosh not. (Obviously it cannot extend into the area opposite the "filler" (piece added into the titura in the middle) which does not have the din of bayis. he is talking about the titurah section above the filler). Regarding shittas Chabad, I have heard conflicting opinions based on S'A HaRav, with most rabanei morei horoah explaining  that si...

At the back of the Ot Y'tsiv is this photo of aseret b'ney Haman from a Megillah which appears to have an ayin rabati. I've not seen any source for this before. Is this something that others have come across? Been meaning to post this for a while.

a Sofer asked me to put this up on the blog so he could get critique from experts in the field. All feedback is welcome.

One yeriah of a megilla klaf is "wavy" or "bumpy" which makes it difficult to write upon. Does anyone have a technique or process to improve this yeriah?

If I can shorten the ayin would the nun sofit be kosher?

The Nun from hotziyonu has a small kotz coming out the back of the bottom right, possibly a shailos tinok. I felt certain the child would read it as a nun, esp compared to the other gimmels. To my surprise, the tinok read it as a gimmel. My gut feeling is to show another few tinokim and go with the majority, since I feel the child may have erred on this. However at what point does one decide to negate the original tinok and show it to more than one tinok? Am I doing the right thing by showing it to other tinokim just because he surprised me? He is the tinok I usually use and generally fares well. What does Reb Moshe (or others) think? I never understood the criteria of using multiple tinokim.

My regular source for retzuos (I only use avodas yad) under Rav M.S. Klein is out for about a month. (I have plenty Edah retzuos.) I need a number of rolls and someone recommended retzuos from Rot also under Rav M.S. Klein. Does anyone have any experience with them?

AHRON TOUCHED A RAW NERVE BY ASKING IF THERE IS ALSO A MEKOTZETZ. The above parshios seem like decent tefilin however they were made on an assembly line and the sofer has no rebbe or no yiras shamayim, and the metayag is definitely a young bochur who has no idea what he is doing and  its very possible that he is not mekadesh -which again on tagim wouldn't pasel. None of the following pasul the parshios but are wrong : alef beis yosef in ksav ari eikev habeis to long gimel head should be square-it should be rosh not gag , eikev hadalet too long eikev hay too long sometimes right foot is in middle of gag as second hay of hazeh hay of shem not according to kabala -these are ari parshios vav missing tag-ari zayin-is long ,head is not square  לא יהא רגלה ארוך מב' קולמסים,וראשה- ויהיה מרובע ches makel too short הוא כמו תג גדול yud-MEKOTZETZ  for those who need source that tag elyon should be longer then kotz see pm"g kaf- square inside LAMED IS MEHUIDAR YAY IT H...