The International STa"M Forum

Has anyone heard of a batim macher called Chaim Zis from Tzfat?

Some of the Vavs, while the same length as the other standard letters, are almost hard to accept as Vavs. Is there any point where we'd draw the line? It's not as if the sofer had no choice. He could have made the letters end at the halfway point between the sirtut rather than fill most of the space. (This also caused him to make a shortish neck on a Lamed and create a shaila on one of the Dalets.

Someone asked me if a security gate leading to an enclosed property from the street opens INWARDS away from the house, does it have the same din as the front door (ie no matter how the door swings it goes on the right), or do we say that since this is not the front door of the house, we follow hekker tzir... Rabbi Bressman et al, pls comment....thanks

People who daven Nussach Sefard, do they לכתחילה use Ksav Ari or Ksav Beis Yosef? Or is either completely acceptable by first choice?

Has anyone heard from one of the talmidim of the Shevet Halevi if he held halachah lemaaseh that mloh os ketana (Yud) is like the Mikdash Me'at (and Kol Sofrim, Imrei Shefer Ksov Lechaim), that it's 1 kulmus or like the MB/Chazon Ish, a bit more than a kulmus (to account for the leg)? [Interestingly, the Binyan AB wants to suggest that mloh os ketana refers to the width of a Yud, which would also be a kulmus.) Has anyone heard directly from any of the gedolei haposkim whether the shiur of the MB is a kulmus plus a bit or a kulmus plus a bit longer than the shortest possible oketz RT? [Understandably this is a very slight nafka mina.] There's discussion about this is some recent seforim including Yerios Hasofer, Ksav Hasofer and Mishna Brura Oz Vehadar. Food for thought. Maybe there's a nafka mina between Sephardim and Ashkenazim since many Ashkenaz poskim consider the lower oketz to be an integral, required part of the letter. In fact, Rav Mualem just told me that...

Is this a kav mashuch? can I fix it and how?

I had a quick look through a pdf of this new sefer and it has very practical info on a variety of topics including  comprehensive guidelines on the zayin / nun pshutah issue discussed many times on this forum...

ב׳׳ה Someone posted this page with textual variants for Chabad Megillas, however, it appears that not all Chabad Sofrim follow the same minhag with regards to them (especially the four marked with arrows?). Also, concerning the sons of haman being aligned, I've seen differences. If someone could kindly explain where this differences come from and what "most" of the Chabad sofrim do or what they hold, it would be a great help in deciding what to do with my own meggila.

Some useful things I found on the interney that Soferim can use (all found on the Or LaSofer website): 245 Amudim Sefer Torah Chart https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5gAZiX9kp2ZNVNkTFlnc3JkMU0/view 248 Amudim Sefer Torah Chart https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5gAZiX9kp2ZT1JhNjVFMzJQejg/view 226 Amudim Sefer Torah Chart (Yemenite) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5gAZiX9kp2ZVVRUMS1xRmxxR00/view

Can anyone recommend a maker (not a supplier) who's easy to deal with and will offer them at a decent price even if not buying in volume? I had been taking from Daskal but he stopped making. A few other makers I contacted are difficult to deal with or won't offer a decent price unless taking in volume and regularly. I'm personally looking for makers (direct) under the Edah in the lower price point, which would be closer to $400. (At least for me personally, for private batim or more expensive Edah batim I have sources that are easy to work with in small volume.) Perhaps if there's other forum members in a similar situation we could form a group to purchase together to command a better price? Please include contact information and details with your recommendation or contact me directly at sofer@stam.net.

ב״ה This months post is simply התעוררות to study the אותיות דרבי עקיבה .  The Baruch She’amar brings an azhara that sofrim should be well versed in this medrash and Rabenu Tam has this azhara in his הלכות ס״ת .  It makes sense that when one thinks of any concept in Torah, a pasuk or a halacha, one automatically thinks of the Torah Shebal Peh associated with it, the words of חז״ל and their drashos on it. While knowing the halachos are paramount and one must concentrate on the tziur of each letter in order to write it properly, you also want to have the Torah perspective, a deeper meaning to contemplate on, as you write. Sefer Ohr Zarua לר׳ יצחק מוינה   copies down the entire medrash as the hakdama for his entire sefer of Halachos! It obviously is more far reaching in its significance than hilchos Stam גרידה . When A sofer thinks of the letter Alef, for example, right away the drasha א ' מת ל ' מד פ ' יך and פ׳יך ל ' מד א׳מת should come to mind...

What is the Din re: bringing in a knife/blade into the Beis Midrash / Shul in order to fix a Sefer Torah (or even as a Sofrus "show and tell" to students)?

We would like to welcome our newest members to the Forum: R' Chaim Dray R' Shmuel Kleinbart R' Yossi Hein R' Michael Arashebn R' Noach Tuchinsky R' Brian Klein

Do we Mekadesh Shemot in a Pitum Haketoret? I have heard some opinions saying that you do not? Anyone have any sources? Thanks, Michael Arashebn

Asked a Tinok, he got all the nuns and zians correct and called this a zian

This gave me a "Safrut smile"... OK, I realise that this is not Ktav STaM, however it is interesting what happens when graphic/font Hebrew becomes too stylised. Case-in-point, a colleague and I were visiting the mayor's office in the Gaza Belt region of Shaar HaNegev (adjoining Sderot). He is new to reading Hebrew and pronounced the welcome sign as " brooning " or " broobing " (instead of the intended " brookhim ". I replied that he was more correct than the graphic designer, as the letter meant to be a " khaf " was closer to a halakhic "Nun" or "Bet", and had this been Ktav STaM, the letter would likely be considered pasul as a "Khaf".

How is it that a sofer with such a nice ksav either doesn't know or care enough to make the right tag of the Lamed taller/longer than the left? Even though it's an easy fix, it detracts from the value and puts the sofer into question. In addition, there's spacing in between words which appear to be 3 kulmusin wide, which is a bigger issue and not correctable without erasing/rewriting and in some cases stretching/thickening letters. It's not uncommon for even very good sofrim not to realize they are doing this so I have less of a ta'anah on the sofer. The sofer either needed to make a slightly wider kulmus or make his columns a bit more narrow.

Is the Dalet of the word "Yadcha" still valid - or is it more like a wide Zayin?...

A Gut Vuch, Does anyone know the official opinions on using ksav ashuri for other works of art like chapters of  tehillim etc.. Thanks!

I returned this parsha to the sofer. It was pretty clear to me that it was pasul, thanks to the metayeg (which is a topic unto itself). Supposedly he asked a local mot'z with expertise in stam and was told it was kosher and lechumra he should ask a tinok. I was quite taken aback. I send the shaila to Rav Mualem and showed it to another posek, a talmid of Rav Friedlander like myself and in no uncertain terms they agreed it was pasul. Had this posek said a tinok could be asked for a bedieved, that's one thing but his psak was off the mark.