The International STa"M Forum

Does anyone know what today's morei horoa have to say on such a negiyah pls

A friend of mine is having a small hanachat tfillin celebration, and asked if I could do a short program for their son and a few of his friends (aged 12/13, obviously), with something halacha-y, if possible. He's already seen the "putting the klaf in the bayit" when he bought his tfillin. Anyone know of other ideas of things to do for that age? Thanks.

What can be done for battim that the shel rosh compartments are split in a way that it affects the ribua? Of course, I am referring to those that do not allow any glue in between the compartments whatsoever.

I found this parshah I put aside months ago with a nun pshutah I wasn't sure how to deal with. Shailos tinok or possul?

Hi Eli, Writing a round Ketubah can be a lot of fun! I still remember my first, written about 20 years ago. I couldn't find a compass to make a large enough circle, so I ended using a large pyrex bowl to trace the outline in light pencil.   During those days one had to innovate, and my wife's kitchen was fertile territory. The circular outline served as an exact guideline to set the limits of the text; which I later erased once the ink dried.   I also had someone else working on the illumination, which was done as a separate piece with the center cut-out.  It took some planning to interact with the artist, but these eventually dovetailed together with the text sitting perfectly in the middle.  Be sure to let us know how yours progresses.

Hi all, I have a request from a customer to write a round, circular shaped kesubah. While I often write kesubos for private customers, I've never done this, nor do I know if it is halachically acceptable. Especially since the customer wants no border around the text. Any insights?

Someone told me that Rav Vozner in NY (I'm not sure if it was Rav BZ Vozner or Rav Vozner from the Mishmeres STaM) that he said they were "karov lepasul". Can anyone confirm this and explain it? While I'm aware some don't like it because we don't have a mesorah for it (It's easy to make yet we never did) I'm not aware of any reason that it would be pasul. In addition, Rav MS Klein himself (Rav Shmuel Vozner's close talmid) holds its mehudar, in addition to Rav Friedlander, Rav Shternuch (the Edah) and Rav Landau and Rav Friedlander told me that Rav Elyashiv didn't have an issue with it (in order to ensure kosher/lechatchila retzuos).

Anyone familiar with these batim?

I just saw atzei chaim in which the upper and lower handles are removable to make transporting easier. Does anyone know who makes them?

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.