The International STa"M Forum

While looking through an old Sefer Torah and some old tefillin and I found that consistently the second hey in the four letter name is rounded like a reish on the top right corner (example attached).  None of the other heys are like this. According to the Mishna Berurah these would be b'dieved heys. Does anyone happen to know the source for this?

Does anyone happen to have or know where I can find a tikkun for a 48 line Megillat Esther with only parshiyot setumot (both of these being requirements mentioned by the הגהות מיימוניות) with bnei haman the same size as the rest of the ktav (like the Gra)? Also I keep getting mixed answers about this but some soferim have told me the columns after Bnei would need to be a different width. Is this an absolute or preferable? Is there any problem with the columns being different widths? Also, while looking through some old megillot from the Israel national library, I found that there were quite a few varying traditions when it came to smaller letters in Bnei haman. (They all had the bigger vav of course) If anyone could suggest poskim who discuss this matter that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

What does everyone think of the yud in לבניך? It's not clear if the light part is actual mamashut dyo or if it's just a roshem.

Does anyone have knowledge of this Rov? I recently checked a pair of tefillin and the parshiyos are definitely not mehudar. The customer would like to go back to where he bought them and ask for a refund.

Is there a resource available that lists instances of shem Hashem in a given text? To be more specific, I'm writing Megilat Rut and I'm wondering about 1:16, where Rut says "Elokayich Elokai." Since she's speaking generally, I would guess it isn't considered shem Hashem, but I'm wondering if there is a place to look these things up? Thanks.

As per my previous post, this door frame is structured as follows (picture taking standing on the outside of the house looking in, by the left door post):  - an outer door frame  - then a sliding fly screen on the outside of the house  - then an "inner door frame"  - then a sliding glass door on the inside of the house. In the previous post, several suggested the mezuzah should go on the inner door post, which as now confirmed is between the fly screen and glass door. I would like to argue that the mezuzah should go on the far right outer door frame, as this is the most outer door frame. What are your thoughts?

I've been at this for many years and have been satisfied with Rotring. (I tried multiple brands and this is the best.) However, recently I'm having far more than normal trouble with air bubbles that is forcing ink out and making it very difficult to work. I switched to a new head and still have the problem. I cleaned the other head and tried it again and nothing has changed. I even switched to a new cartridge. I open and pop the air bubbles and put take the head on and off a few times to release the air. Ink is still often coming out the tip. I'm using Dio Lanetzach (I don't want to use over the counter ink and I had been using Hadar 17 but it was very difficult to work with.) Could the ink be the issue? The bottle is a few years old and maybe something to the remaining ink in the bottle?

הר' קטנה - דינה שאלת תינוק. [לי זה נראה כרי"ש, אבל בכל זאת היא קטנה, ואפשר תינוקות יטעו בה ביחסה לגודל שאר הכתב]. כמה תינוקות נשאלו, אחר שהראו להם רישי"ן ויודי"ן מכתב זה, וכולם [פרט לאחד] קראוהו יו"ד - ופסלוהו.

The red is where you add a stroke of ink so now the left רגל is now clearly coming out of the right רגל and not questionably going right up to the back of the גג. Then  you can scratch a little from the גג  to perfect it. The area to scratch is marked in green. Whether or not you choose to fix it is up to you , but it is definitely kosher even without fixing...

Hi. How many Mezuzahs should be on this door frame(s)? and where should they be positioned. To describe the frame: there are 4 glass panels the 2 middle panels are sliding glass doors. There are door posts separating each glass panel. There is currently a mezuzah at point C marked in the image. Many thanks

Our work always bring interesting things our way.  A few days ago I received a young Russian man working on his Doctoral PhD in a local university in my studio.  With him were very old Chabad tefillin which he wanted for me to restore the Batim. Upon seeing them I remarked, these are at least over 100 years old!  Yes, he remarked with much pride: "they span 5 generations!" The housings are 4.4 cm x 4.4 cm and are painted with a hard shinny lacquer finish similar to those used in old pill-sized tefillin from the period.  Besides encasing the entire batim, the paint also extends to the underside of the base creating a case of Hatzitzah for the wearer. Their construction is very different than our modern tefillin.  These would roughly fall into our category of Peshutim, but certainly not perudot.  The divisions for the four interior housings of the Shel Rosh are created by gluing three separate pieces of leather to the interior of the head compartm...

Here is the reverse of the PEN sheala, the regel is at least 2.5 kulmusin but it looks like a zain because it's next to the Pay, can you do a shealas tinok on it?

היו"ד אמנם כשרה ביחס לעצמה, אבל היא גדולה מדי ביחס לתיבה שבתוכה היא נמצאת - ויש כאן בעיה של "כתיבה תמה" של יחס האותיות בתיבה זו לזו, כמבואר בדברי האחרונים בבעיה של "פן" כאשר הנו"ן פשוטה אמנם כשרה, אך ליד הפ"א היא נראית כזיי"ן. ונראה שכאן מותר לתקנה בגרירה, למעט את עביה, כי אין חק תוכות אלא בעשיית צורת האות, וצורת היו"ד הזו עליה. ראה דוגמא נוספת:   פורום לנושאי סת"ם: יו"ד גדולה מדי

The bottom nibs are 76cm high

According to the SA Harav (and pashtus from the Shimusha Rabbah himself and also sefer Hatruma, Eshkol, Pri Megadim) the bayis shel yad need not be 2 etzbaos, which according to SA Harav refers to the ketzitzah (hence ketzitza is 4x4). Even according to those that it applies to the yad (See siman 32 Bach, Eliyahu Rabba and Be'er Heitev), this shiur is only lechatchila according to the Shimusha Rabba.On the other hand, according to the SA and Rama the bayis shel yad must fit on the muscle no higher than the 1/2 way point of the humerus bone. Presumably, a "4x4" bayis can't be accommodated within this space for some/many(?) bar mitzvah boys. If so, lechatchila, shouldn't a smaller bayis shel yad be (temporarily) chosen for such situations rather than to place the bayis higher up and rely on the Gra? (See Mishnah Brurah 27/4; Biur Halachah 32/41 “Ain Lo Shiur” in the name of Shulchan Shlomo; Aruch Hashulchan 27/4, who writes that one who has a sore and can'...

ה"א הראשונה בשם המסומן אני חושש שזו שינוי צורת אות, בגלל הצטרפות כמה שינויים בצורתה

The hint is in the subject line.