The International STa"M Forum

I recently tried this kosher ink for my rapidograph and I am extremely pleased with it. It does not clog the nib like other kosher rapidograph inks, and it's very dark and strong. It's at least as good as the Rotring commercial grade rapidograph inks (of course these can only be used with batch numbers that have been lab tested and  approved kosher),  and in addition you do not need to add a drop of regular Sta"m ink (as per the instruction of the Shevet Halevi, which is messy and time consuming).  I was wondering if anyone else had an opinion or comments with regards to their experience with this ink...

אני חושב שהס' הזו פסולה משום שינוי צורה, היא יותר מדי מרובעת בגופה

I write Eshet Chayils (paper and quill) to practice my Ktav most of the time. Thoughts? (Everyone's input will be appreciated very much!)

ב׳׳ה There are several passages in Zohar Hakadosh  ואתחנן  that are first makor for writing the shem Shakai on the outside of the mezuzah. In chelek gimel 266 A, it states: “when bad things (sheidim) draw close to a persons door, they lift up their head (since they are compared to a snake they have to “lift up their heads” to see it. -Ramaz) and see the holy name on the outside, that is Shakai, as it is crowned, and rules over all of them, they become fearful and run away. R’ Yitzchak asks, if so, why do you need the whole parsha, just have the name?! In answer, it is specifically when the name is “crowned” by the parsha(s) it is as a king who comes out flanked by his entire army... it is then when they fear him. Come and see that the name  והיה  is spelled from bottom up (the tziruf is not the order of Shem Havaya) so Shakai is on the outside corresponding to this name,  והיה  is on the inside while Shakai is on the outside. Thus a person is guarded f...

Great food for thought and a must watch!  In accordance with the Kabbalah of the Arizal only the Kotz Elyon of the letter YOD is to be inscribed, and NOT the KOTZ of Rabbenu Tam.

The stitching is loose, some of them are not in the charitz or completly touching the bayis. Yet the bayis is hermetically sealed. It seems obvious that the bayis is therefore being held closed by the glue and not the stitching.....thoughts?

I know of the halacha that a מגילה אסתר is similar to the halachot of a Sefer Torah, but i noticed that my brother's megillah's top and bottom margins are two cm on top and 3 cm on bottom. 1) What is the halacha Lemaasah? 3 and 4 or 2 and 3 for the top and bottom margins? 2) Is there any hiddur with the 2 and 3 mesurement?

Fixable?

Does anyone have a template of a standard Torah contract?

In addition to those noted who speak English, Rav Zions speaks English as well.

I usually fix a ה which has a left regel which extends too far across to to the right. Many poskim hold that anything past the half way mark (such as the above picture) is not lechatchillah. I once discussed this with Rav Freidlander who said its kedai to fix, so I do.  Other poskim like Rav Stern don't worry too much about this issue. I noticed R' Moshe Weiner is exceptionally machmir when bringing down this case in his sefer. In a picture not dissimilar to the one above, he seems to say it is a major problem. I was wondering how other members of this forum deal with this commonissue...

I was doing some Tagim practice with my rapidograph, and I noticed the ink bubbling up at the tip of the pen a couple minutes as I am using it. Does anyone else have this problem at all? I use Dyo Lanezach Ink for the rapidograph, and here is a picture of the pen. Could it be the heat from my hand which causes the ink to flow faster and form a bubble?

Tinok Or Posul -that would be the debate if it were a used parsha. It is unbelievable that although every single sefer on stam quotes  the braisa "be careful not to make zayins like nuns" We still have higher quality sofrim ignoring this warning. Since this is a new set I would not debate if a tinok will help or not I think the debate is if this sofer should be writing before he reviews the halachos again

Does anyone have the schedule?

THIS is the case of the ברוך שאמר. No need for "Sofer's Lomdus" to see that it is no longer a ז. To any normal person - including a child - it does NOT look like a ז. "ברוך שאמר: "...פסול לכו"ע, אחרי שאין שמה עליה "שלחן ערוך: "...הפסיד צורת האות לגמרי Pls note: Questioning a letter's shape that's not perfect, with  just  a "Sofer's Lomdus", is probably compatible to the reading of a תינוק טיפש. - שאם טיפש אינו יודע לקרות אלא אות שלימה. (:רש"י מנחות כט) Which "L'halocho" can NOT make it פסול. Here is the same above picture, before erasing the leg of extra Vov.

When you look at it at first glance it presents as a vav. When you look at it closely (see enlarged image) there is probably enough coming out on the top right to be kosher as a zayin. Shailos tinok, kosher or possul?

This is what I found regarding what I posted about a Zayin which might seem like Dalet Hafucha: (And by the way - Reb Yisroel - please show me the Mareh Makom regarding the issue with long Raish in Mishnas Avraham, for I cannot find it,,, Thank You,)

I just publicized this following article I wrote, explaining why even the Mezuzah "holder" should not be neglected... " ופסח ה' על הפתח ולא יתן המשחית לבוא אל בתיכם לנגוף " What you should know about The Spanish Inquisition while Pesach-cleaning By Rabbi Shea Lindner Sofer Stam On February 20, 1997, The New York Times published the following fascinating article, under the headline: “When Household Habits Betrayed the Jews”. I will first quote the article in its entirerty: “Do you sweep dust toward the center of the room instead of straight out the door? Did you buy a new set of dishes last March? Do you suffer from such severe headaches that they prevent you from cooking on certain days of the week? And by the way, do you prefer to cook in olive oil rather than lard?” If you had lived in Spain, Portugal or their American colonies from around 1480 until the early 1800's, your domestic habits - or rumors about them from neighbors and ...

Would like to know everyone's opinion on this Zayin of the word Bechozek on the last line. Is this a serious Shaala of a Dalet Hafucha?...

As we were reading Parshat אחרי מות during Mincha on Shabbat I noticed that the Sefer Torah was missing some Tagim. I forgot to take a picture before the תיקון, but the new תגים  are on the words אשר על It looks like there was some erasing where אשר על is, and the sofer (Metayeg?) forgot to put the תגים afterward. A חג כשר ושמח to everyone!