The International STa"M Forum

נראה לי שכ"ף זו מרובעת ופסולה [לפי מנהג אשכנז]. פשוט שיש לתקנה [כפסק הפמ"ג] בהוספת דיו ואז תהא כשרה [ואינה תיקון שלא כסדרן, כי מעולם היתה לה צורת כ"ף, כמבואר בפמ"ג].

יש כאן נקב או חתך בגג התי"ו. השאלה, האם זה היה משעת הכתיבה שאז יהא פסול משום שאינו מוקף גויל [עד שיגרר מעט מעובי הגג מעל הנקב וסביבו, לעשותו מוקף גויל], או שנקל לומר מסתמא אירע אחר הכתיבה, ואין חסרון היקף גויל שאחר הכתיבה פוסל במשנה ברורה מבואר [כמדומה בשם הנו"ב] שאם יש סיבה חזקה לומר שלא היה בשעת הכתיבה, כגון שנוכל לסמוך על חזקת הסופר (או המגיה) שבודאי אם היה נקב זה היו תופסים הדבר, ויש להם חזקת כשרות, [או שמצורת החיתוך ניכר שקרה אחר הכתיבה] - יש להקל ולומר שאירע הדבר אחר כן. (אבל אם יהא ספק שקול, יש להחמיר בספק של תורה) איך להתאים פסק זה למציאות - תלוי בעיני המורה, האם מכיר את הסופר שיש לו חזקת כשרות וכו

קיי"ל ספר תורה מנוקד פסול [יו"ד סי' רעד] האם הדין שוה למזוזה ותפלין מסברא נראה שכן האם מישהו יודע איזה ספרים מדברים על זה

http://community.digitalboutique.co.il/globerman/en/ R' Sholem was a member of this Forum, any assistance would  be appreciated.

I have a customer with a shel yad (Rabeinu Tam) approx age 40 years, which has cracking on the end where the parsha begins being rolled. The ink is weak along a cluster of creases which exist at the far left edge of the parshiyos (in this case shema parsha). It's unlikely that even if I go over it, that it will be strong long term and will likely continue to crack. The Rosh parshiyos and the first three of the yad parshiyos seem solid and I'm not worried about them. Do I: 1) Fix as best as possible even though it will likely continue to deteriorate as the ink is quite brittle in that section? 2) Replace the last 2 parshiyos (I have some newer ones of similar level from a sofer that had a psul in the first parsha. So it won't cost the customer anything and therefore expense is not a factor in this decision). Although I am confident this option will last longer, the disadvantage is that the yad will now consist of two pieces (glued together). Which option is preferred...

It is with great shock and sadness that I wish to share the news of the untimely passing of Harav Hagoan R' Mordechai Friedlander, one of the top Rabbonim in Sta"m and Moreh Tzedek of the Vaad Mishmeres Stam ( Yerushalayim) and Badatz Eida Hacharedis. Besides for being a giant posek and a top class Moreh Horoeh, Rav Friedlander had the ability to connect to thousands of talmidim with his approachable and warm demeanour, and his fluency in Hebrew, Yiddish and English meant that sofrim from all nationalities and backgrounds were able to have a shprach with him. He was often quoted on this forum. This is an enormous loss for us all and he will be greatly missed by the Sta"m community. We wish his family much comfort and Besuros Tovos to all.

Does anyone know a source or reason why the Aron Kodesh stays open during the entire hakafos for a Hachnasos Sefer Torah?  Is this the correct minhag? This is what I have seen by all the places that I have been to. It seems that since the Aron Kodesh is emptied out from all its Sifrei Torah there is no issue of disrespect. (That is why we do not keep the Aron Kodesh open on other occasions since there are other Sifrei Torah inside and it would be disrespectful to leave it open.) However, this still does not explain why we  דוקא leave open the Aron Kodesh.

This is just a sketch but it is not uncommon to see this type of tzurah and doesn't seem to bother too many people. Is it OK?

B"H Does anyone know where the sefer Zichron Eliyahu זכרון אליהו on Hilchos Tefillin is sold? Is the new version now in print? Freiliche Chanukah,

A frum woman who is a family friend is doing a master's degree in ritual objects, and, for a project, would like to observe and document the process of making peshutim batim.  Does anyone know of a batim macher in Brooklyn that would be open to this? Thanks, and a freilikhn Chanukah!

I am not clear if this biur halacha allows to fix only a nifsak that top is less then shiur or also a letter that was written with a yerech less than melo os.

MY THOUGHTS ON THIS REISH M''B WRITES IN SIMAN 36 REISH : ויריכה יהיה קצר ואם עשה רגל הריש קצר כמו יוד די בזה בדיעבד   WE ALL REMEMBER MB 32/44 : מלא אות קטנה היינו יוד ובקוץ התחתון שלו   (הקול סופרים  באות ד לכאורה חולק  שהרי מסביר או"ק  היינו עובי קולמס )  יד אפרים לומד שבמלא או"ק צריך תינוק והמ"ב מביאו  בדף 88 ביאור הלכה  ד"ה כשר וחולק עליו NOW THE QUESTION IS:  A REGEL  REISH SHOULDN'T BE TOO FULL KULMUSIM SIZE OF YUD IS LARGER THEN KULMUS-PROBABLY KULMUS AND HALF IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ONE AND A HALF KULMUSIM IS BDIEVED BUT ITS SUPPOSED TO BE SHORTER THAN 2 KULMUSIM. THREE EXPLANATIONS: 1)the word bdieved means should be longer but not that the os is bdieved after the fact 2)can we explain רגל הריש קצר כמו "רגל" היוד 3)can we explain יריכה יהיה קצר " מגגה" כדי  ACCORDING TO 1 KOSHER ACCORDING TO 2 LECHATCHILA ACCORDING TO 3 KOSHER BDIEVED ACCORDING TO YAD EFRAIM -SHALAS TINOK ומי שרוצה להחמיר כיד אפרי...

This  24 cm sefer torah vanished while being transported by sofer to USA this past summer. Lets leave the exact investigation to the experts,however if anybody is offered this sefer or is called in to do a siyum or has any idea as to the whereabouts please contact me thesofer@yahoo.com

Full situation: in the last line, as I finished the line, I realized I had forgotten the Yud of Veyehi. I thought I had enough space to add but now I'm afraid it's too close to Mimochoras. 1) is it ok as it is? 2) if it's not, how can I fix it? If I make the Mem of mimochoras smaller is it Chok tochos ? 3) I welcome any other comments on the writing YK

This is primarily directed to Rav Moshe. I've seen a number of times that you refer to an os gedola as the shiur for kuba/zanav. I'm aware of Rav Elyashiv's opinion that the shiur is an os ketana (width of a Vav/Yud) and The Shevet Halevi (chelek 2 siman 155) writes that the shiur is a word (which word?) and then he says, "and less than a full word tzarich le'ayen ledina, nevertheless the width of a Vav or Yud certainly doesn't pasel". (Based on this, more than a Vav/Yud (which is less than an os gedola) may be the shiur.) What is the source for an os gedola?

I don't have a relationship with the sofer so I don't know if this is a fluke or if he and those who've been checking his parshios have overlooked it. He's been writing for decades. We sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture when focusing on individual letters/the smallest details so it's important we remember make sure the spacing is correct, the shiur parshios have the correct shiurim and that ends of lines don't form kuba/zanav. I've often found issues with these even by very good sofrim.

Hello, I received an order for a custom 11 line Megillah, it is for an Adom Chashuv and the person who is buying it for him wants "all" the Hiddurim. He also wants the ksav to be very large since it is for an older person so about 1.6mm or 1.8mm per line. When I called my Klaf contact to order the special sizing he mentioned that there is a new tikkun from R' Chinagel on the 11 line Megillah that is more Mehudar. Basically, the columns are much narrower and therefore they are taller than wider so it is more Mehudar. I never heard of this extra Hiddur so I called R' Chinagel and he told me that the Hiddur is basically because it is easier to Lein from a narrower column and also that the word "Amudim" means standing (taller than wider), and the regular Tikkun for 11 lines is wider than taller so it isn't really called Amudim. I got my hands on some pages of this Tikkun and I am not so crazy about it, maybe I am just used to typical 11 line Megill...