The International STa"M Forum

Today I re-glued a matlis that came loose by a seam. I noticed that the seam is stitched almost from the top edge to the bottom edge. It is my understanding that the seam shouldn't be sewn from edge to edge so that the klaf wouldn't tear. I checked a few more seams and they were sewn in the same manner as well. This particular sefer is used for rosh chodesh and yomim tovim. Should the seams be redone, or would it be better to leave it as is since it's not used as often?

I was checking a new set of parshiyos today for a basic kosher lechatchillah set of tefillin I am putting together to sell. The hagoha was going really well until the last parsha, where I encountered this: It is clear that some sort of (suspicious) mechika was made on the kuf. I bought the parsha from a socher (although I prefer working with sofrim for this exact Reason -but I didn't have a choice really). While the socher vouches for ksav kabollah and general ehrlichkeit (don't they all), I really get bad vibes when I see a mechika like this. A Lot of scratching between a gug and regel of a kuf is not a good sign.  On the one hand it's b'chezkas kashrus. Certainly if it was someone's personal tefillin already in use, it's not my business to be a forensic detective, and obviously I wouldn't say a word to the customer. But these are new tefillin and the customer is trusting I give him something I'm happy with... If I was dealing with the sofer di

Is it מעכב if the תיתורא תחתונה doesn't meat up with the עליונה How is it fixed?

Would any one consider the vuv of the Shem to be OK?

I am looking to restore a pre Holocaust  Sefer Torah I need a Lab in NYC that can wash all the years of dust off does anybody have info on a reliable Lab Thank You

It's been a few years now that this hechsher with these mezuzos are going around we can't only blame the public for being ignorant when buying stam but we also have to stop the bad seller's

B"H Shalom rabbonim and STaM chevre, question: what price (in dollars) should a sofer with mehudar ktav charge per amud (including klaf) for writing shir hashirim and megillot eicha and rut? how many amudim does each one have? thank you for sharing your wisdom, experience and expertise

It seems that there are retzuot that are laminated instead of painted. Retzuot covered in Plastic

I recently upgraded my computer checking program to DUK version 3. It uses the Cannon EOS 1200D camera. Before that I was using an older version with an A3 scanner that was sharp and reliable. I find the camera images are dark and sometimes blurry on the edges. Also the light reflects off the letters sometimes. Are there any tips that anyone can offer to take better images? Thanks

Recently I saw Mezuzos shrink-wrapped. Is that really a smart idea? Some people use saran-wrap, others use wax paper. I've seen Mezuzos wrapped first and then rolled up so that the plastic covers all the words, is that oisgehalten? I can't find a reason to prohibit it, but it just seems to me that it might be a problem. How do you wrap your mezuzos?

What do you think of these yuddin, and the vav? (Enlarged many, many times.) Here's the entire mezuzah with the penny for scale. There's this embossing from the other side, but it's only visible from this side. Ever seen that before? Please comment with your opinions.

Since there has been a spate of posts pertaining to fraud, I feel compelled to post this truly shocking case that just came my way. A good Jew from Melbourne who has been very ill (life threatening) asked his Rabbi to bring me his tefillin for checking. The tefillin were bought for $500 USD at a "Tashmishei Kedusha" store in the old city of Yerushalayim. The buyer met with the sofer himself (see attached card) who assured him the tefillin were strictly kosher and that he had put them together himself. The sofer  wore a beard and Yarmulkah and presented certification. I recognised the "certification" that came with the tefillin as I had encountered problems before from this sofer. So I opened up the tefillin together with the rabbi, and what we found was mindboggling: Please see the pictures below and note the following: 1) shel yad old mashuach possul letters, kav moshuch, cracks,  no tagin etc. 2) shel rosh - every parshah from a different sofer (no way it c

Does anyone know when the practice of writing the letters in outline for a siyum sefer Torah began? And where / by whom did the practice originate? Thanks

I hope everyone had an easy fast. We discussed this once a while ago but does anyone have an official reason or explanation why the custom according to the Arizal of making the right side of the choteteres of the ches thicker than the left is largely ignored? Furthermore it is brought down in SA Harav so why aren't the Chabad sofrim makpid? Any insight would be appreciated. Tthanks

An ink Blot fell right on the Shem, and after carefully blotting the wet ink immediately, all that was left was a very light shadow, which would not be disqualifying at all. After cleaning it a little more with an eraser, nothing at all was left from the ink that fell, and the original shem remained as clear as before. What are your opinions on the matter, with sources/reasoning please?

This is not the first time I've encountered this problem in a mezuza. Again, I'll reiterate - it is not easy to distinguish between (1) a yud whose Rosh is slanted and also functions as a "kotz" אליבא דחתם סופר ודעימיה and between (2) and yud that has only a kotz and no Rosh. In this case I believe it's the latter. (Btw we've been here before www.stamforum.com/2014/02/yud.html though I think this case is worse)

סכנה: רצועות תפילין עם חותמת כשרות מזוייפת דוד קורצוייל כ״ו בתמוז תשע״ה 13/07/2015 http://www.93fm.co.il/radio/214311   סיפור עגום על זייפן תשמישי קדושה נחשף הערב במהדורה המרכזית של קול חי. מדובר על איש בליעל שבעבר נקשרו בשמו סיפורים על זיוף תפילין ועוד תשמישי קדושה. הערב דווח במהדורה על על חותמת כשרות מזויפת, כביכול מבית דינו של הגרמ"ש קליין שמתנוססת על רצועות תפילין שאינם כשרות. לצרכנים קשה מאוד לדעת שמדבור בזיוף כשרות. זה מוצר שנרכש פעם ב– ואנשים לא עוקבים חודשים אחרי לבדוק האם פרשייה שנחשפה קשורה למוצר שקנה אי פעם. הרב ישראל יוד ממכון פאר שוחח עם אבי מימרן ונתן 'טיפים' לזיהוי מוצרים שאינם כשרים. "מאז ומתמיד היו כל מיני יצרנים שהמציאו לעצמם תעודת כשרות פרטית ומפוקפקת. לאחרונה זה הגיע לרצועות שם יש בעיה קשה כי נכנסו מספר יצרנים לתחום. ברצועות יש יותר הלכות מאשר בבתים. הלכה למשה מסיני זה ברצועות. זה צריך להיות מעובד לשם קדושת תפילין עם צביעה לשמה. בשנים האחרונות זוהתה שיש בעיה ולכן אצלנו ב'פאר' יש רצועות רק בכשרות העדה החרדית או הגרמי"

I am presently learning hilchot safrut to the best of my ability, however, I would much prefer to learn with a sofer. Furthermore, the schul I daven at during the summer has three passul sefarim which need to be corrected, including a beautiful, small, Sephardi sefer which we used to use for regular k'riah and our former maftir sefer. While I know of one sofer, I have yet to hear back from him (and I feel uncomfortable giving his name because I'm not sure whether that would be to'eles). Kol tuv

I have been trying to learn the halachot of k'tivat sta"m, however, I am still looking for the relevant sefarim, seeing as the ones on Hebrewbooks.org are mostly illegible. One sefer that I've noticed is Likut Sifrey Sta"m. Does anyone know how good this sefer is? Is the type clear? The illustrations? Are there any alternatives which are likely a better choice? On talking with a sofer in the NY area, I was advised to wait on this sefer and to look instead at Mishnat Hasofer. Does anyone know if it's possible to find this for under $30US?