The International STa"M Forum

Few days ago the Daf Yomi in Kesubos covered the Halacha that a person shouldn't keep in his house a Sefer that contains errors (Sh'eino Muga), be it missing words or misspellings, because somebody might interpret this sefer erroneously. I'm writing my Sefer Torah and some bigger tikkunim I'm leaving for later, because I'm looking for better equipment for erasing (ie machine). Is the problem of Sefer Sh'eino Muga applicable, and perhaps I (and all of us) should take care of any errors immediately rather than pushing it off? Thanks YK

What is the going rate for checking a Sefer Torah? Specifically a Sefer Torah that is generally in decent condition but with a lot of fading Tagin and occasional broken letters. Thanks.

My set up is a 24x18 drawing board on a DIY PVC stand. I started safrus a number of years ago in NY, but it fell to the wayside when I moved to FL. I've been trying to get back on track, but now since my job stabilized I have more time to devote to safrus. Right now I'm practicing on paper with ink thickened with gum arabic. I order klaf about a week and a half ago to write a megillah for myself and I still have half a bottle of nahari ink that is still good. As you can see, I still need some practice before starting on klaf.

I've never really gotten into the second hand sefer Torah business, however recently a shul here  bought a few new sifrei torah and couldn't finish paying for them. As a settlement, Rabbi Yurslavsky paskened that they could give me some of the older seforim and I could sell them and take the funds off what they owe. I'm not looking to get top dollar and this may be a good opportunity for someone looking to buy a second hand sefer. I plan on advertising them. However I have no idea what to charge.  This is the best one (pictured). Its alter rebbes ksav, (new it would be $35,000 -  $40,000), second hand I'm sure is a lot less. Its in very good condition, NOT a pre war holocaust sefer, the entire sefer is jet black ink with black tagin‎. Clear beautiful writing, see attached picture. Even the sirtut is strong. It's also smallish and light (I think 45cm klaf size) so its not like the older heavier ones. Any Ideas how to price something like...

Someone from Baltimore called me looking for a hand written ketubah for $400.00 or less, or else a nice printed ketuba in which the Sofer can fill in... If you provide this service please respond with your contact info. I will pass it onto him. Thanks

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,...