The International STa"M Forum

Canadian Jewish News featured yesterday online. Also, a beautiful YouTube video showing a Sofer STaM: Click here .

Very old sefer Torah.  Has anyone ever seen this minhag of the inverted nun's  seems problematic to me.

I am very excited to announce this course. It is unique in that it is the ONLY course which offers both practical training in כתיבה coupled with a rigorous curriculum of הלכה, quizzes and tests, and Shiurim. I will be running this between Sukkos and Pesach as well B'ezras Ha'shem. Please email me for the full syllabus, cost, requirements etc.

Just went to one of the wealthiest families in the country to put up mezuzos. They spent thousands purchasing mezuzos from the finest galleries and boutique shops in Israel. As a traditional Orthodox family they asked and were assured everything was kosher. I decided to do a quick inspection and, believe it or not, every single mezuzah but one was a paper print! Very unpleasant explaining to these nice people that they'd been comprehensively defrauded... UPDATE Since writing the above post, I emailed this link to some of the vendors, with an explanatory email as to why their selling counterfeit mezuzos, while possibly not a concern to them, is unacceptable and shocking to some of their clients. I have added some of their names in the labels below, so that people searching for their products may come across this post and be warned . Am I wasting my time? Who knows. But the more people they hear it from the better. At least two of these are very popular Judaica artists and if I...

out of town sofer gave me this parsha to check while he was visiting. I found that he  wrote כי twice,  I  instructed him to 1.erase first yud and second kuf  2.widen the kaf  gradually. he corrected it and left town. As our minhag we recheck prshios that needed correction. I have a sofek as it looks currently, however since correction was done gradually we must also view it at every step of the way if it had a shinui tzura

On my way to the departure gates at Ben Gurion Airport, I noticed the mezuah on the wall before the duty free shopping area. So, my thought was what size / what kind of kulmus made was used to write these letters?

Thoughts on Reish?

I have always been in the practice of saying "kol mah s'hani osay hayom..." before switching on my desk lamp and working for the day, as a precaution lest I forget to say "leshaim" before making a correction or even a kesher etc. I have always understood that this is bedieved OK and covers you if you forget. I instruct my staff who sew tefillin to do the same. Yet recently, someone told me that this is not worth anything and if you forget you cannot be "covered" by a proclamation at the beginning of they day. He did not provide me with any sources but if anyone knows if there is basis to this, please comment...

It looked ok from far, but after a closer examination, is could well be a kosher zayin...

Is anyone aware or have sources for the mesora for yekkis as to whether they should make the setuma in parshios according to the Rambam or Taz?

When checking someone's private tefillin (or mezuzos) , is a  magiha obligated to amend Tagei Kabollah that are not written correctly? (i.e. add if they are missing, scratch out if extra?) Most people I have asked over the years including those I learned from say not to. But I consistently see (mostly in) tefillin where these have been altered, most likely by others who have checked before me. It seems some are definitely those out there who feel strongly enough to do this. (Sometimes I even see the kaballah tagin have been played with but seemingly more necessary repairs overlooked.) Id be interested to hear what others have to say about this?

I search ebay periodically trying to find stolen tefilin.In Brooklyn iyt has become a makat medina, so far I have not seen any surface on ebay. I did come across this post and it seems legitimate , if anybody is interested and needs somebody local to look at them I can try to help. I have not contacted the seller nor do I know who it is http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tefillin-Written-By-Lubavitcher-Rebbes-Personal-Scribe-/172149881960?hash=item2814eebc68:g:hoUAAOSwSHZWe~~H You are bidding on two beautiful pairs of tefillin - a Rashi and a Rabainu Taam set, written by the late Rabbi Eliezer Zirkind (crownheights.info/notices/442422/boruch-dayan-hoemes-rabbi-eliezer-zirkind-83-obm/), the Lubavitcher Rebbe's personal scribe. They are extremely rare, in great condition, and were checked roughly three years ago. 

I want to know if some circles will do a siyum sefer torah during the sefirah days. (I understand that there is a debate among Ashkenazim and Sefardim about how one counts the mourning days.)  Here is my conclusion: During the S efirah  days (the days between  Pesach  and  Shavuos ), the Poskim differ if one may perform a siyum sefer torah with dancing and music,  it seems proper to avoid unless there are particular circumstances that preclude the celebration being done at another time. Certainly on  Lag B’Omer  one could make a siyum sefer torah since it is a day of celebration. Likewise a few days prior to  Shavuos  one may make a siyum sefer torah. My reasoning: Shulchan Aruch Harav (Orach Chayim 493:1)  holds that one is not allowed to dance [nor play music] even for the sake of a mitzvah during the sefirah days. (See however  Hiskashrus (vol. 246)  which understands the view of the  Shulchan Aruch Harav...

I can't remember if we've discussed this before but my many of my Ashkenazi customers ask me to fasten a gid to their kesher shel yad so that it doesn't move away from the bayis. I notice on some tefillin that this is done with fishing wire and sometimes even elastic, which is much easier to connect and also stronger (as the gid tends to break). Is there an inyan that this must be done specifically with Gid? And if not, why do so many people use gid if you don't have to? If anyone has looked into this or has any further info on this issue it would be greatly appreciated.

 כחיזוק לדברי ר' אלי גוטניק בנוגע לשי"ן, ברור שאין לו להיות עם מושב שטוח אלא מושב המסתיים בחוד שלא יהא ראוי לישיבה כמבואר בגמרא וב"י ושו"ע רבינו שהשי"ן אין לו עמידה משום ששק"ר אין להם רגלים. ולכן השי"ן שהביא כשר רק בדיעבד ואינו צורתה לכתחילה בשתי הדוגמאות אפשר לראות ברור שמושב השי"ן אינו שטוח, אלא נוטה אלכסוני לקיים דברי הגמרא והלכה הנ"ל בנוסף לזהירות בשי"ן לעשותה נכון כנ"ל, יש להוסיף גם זהירות באות סמ"ך שיהא מושבה עגולה ממש כלפי מטה ולא שטוחה עם קוץ בצד שמאל - כי גם זה אינו נכון לכתחילה

I am currently reviewing and cataloguing a collection of over 100 older Torah manuscripts and fragments.  Within the collection, there is the above scroll which is approximately 200 years old. The klaf seems to have been cured by tanning as evidenced by its rich golden brown coloring.  Because of the script and jet black ink, I identify this scroll as coming from Russia. This Russian type script is the precursor of the Ba'al HaTanya's script. Here one can notice the clear upward curved strokes similarly employed in writing the Alter Rebbe's Shins. With the quill held at about ten degrees off vertical, the stroke rises to meet the bottom of the right top tooth of the Shin.  It is this upward rising stroke that creates the angled pointed base of the Shin that's so distinctive of this unique writing style.  Subsequently, the middle and leftmost teeth are then connected to the uppermost corner of the base, giving this letter it's final and alluring shape. The sa...

Both the Shulchan Aruch Harav and the Mishnah Brurah use similar terminology when describing the importance of the shin being "pointy" on the bottom and all three branches of the letter shin meeting at a point or "chad" at the bottom of the letter. There is a strong foundation in Halacha for this and for the bottom of the shin to be flat like a moshav (base) is considered questionable (Pri Megadim) and definitely not Kosher Lechatchillah. It is worse if the moshav is very wide, but it is still questionable if it is lechatchillah if there is a thick noticeable base rather than a chad. Even for Sephardim, who lechatchillah make an angular base, it is still important that the base is indeed on a (significant) angle. If the base is flat, even if all three branches of the shin come out of the base  connected , as in the top picture, it is problematic.  It is worse in the bottom picture below where the right head/ branch comes out of the right part of the base and the m...

Does anyone have his email address?

I saw this in a recent publication put out by Machon Stam in N.Y.