The International STa"M Forum

As I was editing the other post, an important question popped up:  Are the organizations that give Ktav Kabbalah opened? (Vaad Mishmeres STaM/Yd Refael)  Anyone has any information on this?

 Excuse my inactivity, recently I have been trying to plan my trip to Yeshivah in Israel, and too much has been going on.  I around 3 weeks ago wrote this Pitum Haketoret, right before I tested positive for the coronavirus.  Baruch Hashem, there were no severe symptoms and I finally got cleared to fly out to Israel. I wanted to know if there is anything I should work on my Ktav, (especially since I will soon try to get my Ksav Kabbalah in Israel) Details: 8mm lines, written by a plastic kulmus (Not used to writing 8mm ktav) As always, thanks for the help! 

This Video was surfacing social media, have no idea who this is, but was wondering if this a Joke or Broad daylight robbery?

It is with great sadness that I heard about the recent passing of Zvi Shkedi, a member of this forum, who was the inventor of "Dyo Lonetzach", a revolutionary type of ink that is waterproof and does not crack or flake.  His many articles and discussions can be found on this forum by searching his name in the search bar on this page. Here is some info on his life and achievements, which can be found by clicking the link below. https://collive.com/zvi-shkedi-73-obm/ I hope his ink continues to be produced, as I have personally found that the Stam written with his ink are easier to check  - as there is no cracking or bruising apparent in the ksav, particularly  on the folds of the shel rosh in tefillin, which, when written with regular ink often need touch ups as they age (particularly if the tefillin are checked often). If anyone has any personal stories or further info about the production of Dyo Lonetzach, please feel free to post. Boruch Dayan Hoemes.

Shalom. I apologize if this is off the usual halachic topics here, but maybe someone on this forum can help me out. I am coming out with a book on the Beauty of the Hebrew Letter, and I naturally want to include beautiful examples of STaM. I know beauty is a subjective matter but if you know of a person who does outstanding work in STaM - I am looking for both Ktav Ashkenazi (Beit Yosef or Ari), and Sephardi, and maybe even Chabad, and who would give me permission to use their work, it would be greatly helpful. I would be willing of course to contact the person myself if you have contact information. I am really looking for the best of the best - I already have very nice examples but I am looking for outstanding work. I am not looking for calligraphic works with ktav Ashurit, but rather pure STaM - mezuzot, tfillin, megillah or Sefer Torah. I don't want to take up room on the forum with this request. I can be contacted privately at izzy@impwriter.com Thanking you in adv...

 Yes, we hope for "chatima tova" throughout the entire year. As Soferim, this is a rather crucial quality of our profession. So now, before Rosh Hashana, those words take on greater significance as THE Sofer considers each and every person, and writes their fate for the upcoming year.  To my dear colleagues, teachers and friends in this incredible work we do - שנה טובה ומבורכת

These Israeli WhatsApp groups have some real Tzadikkim!  I made it into a google file so anyone can download, print etc etc Maker: Romi Brener   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-1OJRMp6Y_mas7PHyqVtFtNIStxt4WtZ/view?usp=sharing *Please inform me of anything that might need to be fixed, I will contact Romi to fix*

 Dear fellow sofrim, I would like to know what Kabbala/custom you have received/do on the following points in the mezuza which i have seen a few opinions of. If you can post the way you do it and who’s opinion and/or the reason why you do it that way it would be very great! 1) The extra tagim in the mezuza besides שעטנז גץ like in שמע אחד etc.. 2) the spacing in between ובשעריך and והי׳ where do you end ובשעריך and where do you start the והי׳? 3) the כוזו on the back do you do it exactly against the שמות or a little on top just touching? Thank you very much  Chaim

Over the past several years I keep getting added onto Sta"m and Safrus whatsapp groups, mostly Israeli in origin. I am currently part of about 25 such groups and while I hardly have time to follow them and rarely post on them, I have found them useful on occasion.  The best example of how they are useful to me would be in an emergency situation such as when I have a sofer in Israel that I usually buy from and I want his work computer checked before he sends it to me -  but the regular computer guy is not available -  I will post on the groups looking for someone else in his area who does computer checking.  Or sometimes my metayeg is busy so I will post that I am looking for a metayeg in a certain area in Israel. For such situations, the Israeli whatsapp groups are extremely helpful. Occasionally too, If I urgently need something, and I cannot get it from my regular trusted sofrim or suppliers, I may advertise that I am looking for a particular item and will usually ...

 Received the following question: Someone is giving me an old Torah that needs me to review and fix many mistakes and faded letters. How do I charge? I'm assuming by the hour. What's the going rate for this work in the USA?

 One of the WhatsApp's Safrut group I am on gave a file containing a transperency and fold tikkun for a Ktav Chabad mezuzah size 20.  The group mentioned that everyone is allowed to give the tikkun to others I had to upload it on a Google drive in order to share it. Here is a link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LmWtIfHp2U3pbOU0FLTPmqCqsSziR5WQ/view?usp=sharing

I recently found this youtube channel that posts shiurim on STaM by Rabbi Shlomo Mulaaum.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5vQkMHPPMfYqcYBkujk2gw Very good videos! 

I was "surfing the web" as they say looking for anything STaM related and I found this klaf manufacturing company that sells klaf online. https://ktavsofer.co.il/ The prices look very tempting, but does anyone know or buy from them? I do not want to experience another Megillah klaf that is very hairy and not smooth to write on. (Let just say the "Too good to be true" idea came up in that purchase) (Of course, any purchases will be done after Tisha bAv) As always, thanks for the help!  Michael Arashebn 

This is a sketch of a common shailo. Please ignore the right foot, its just a bit of a rough sketch . The left foot is the one with the problem. It does not protrude properly on the left. But it does have enough that it is not a shinuy tzurah (to a ches) . It is borderline and these are common and tricky. Do you fix this or put in gniza? You can't really ask a child since the child cannot rule on a ches. It's a tough call....

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT POST UPDATED WITH THE LETTER BELOW Any sofer using NAHARI ink purchased in the past 6 months or so should stop using it immediately. It seems that there are three problems, which I outline below: 1. The recent batches of ink are hard to write with and the ink can spread and expand after a letter is written (not sure how long after this happens) making the letter thick and ugly and sometime can loose its shape. 2. The ink bleeds to the back and is visible on the back of the parchment.This becomes is visible only after a few weeks. I have already seen it on items sent to me from sofrim in Israel (see picture). This is a problem for mechikos, because places where the ink was rubbed out, the erased ink will reappear a few weeks later under (in brown or grey) under the new writing. So if you make a mechikah, even if you erased it well, the original writing will come back lightly and it cannot be erased. 3. If parshiyos and mezuzos or written yer...

A question I received: A mezuzah has a cut in it, and I'm worried it will get bigger and tear into a letter. Am I allowed to tape it with regular tape from the back?  Or does it need a parchment patch?

I am an apart of this "Tips for Soferim" group and this notice was posted:  זוהי הודעת תפוצה "לכל" סופרי היקרים... עקב פגם בדיו נהרי בסמיכות רגילה/ בינונית. מהיצור של ה4 חודשים האחרונים שגורם שהדיו לא מתייבש מספיק ואחכ נדבק לקלף שמעליו ומשאיר סימנים של אותיות חלשות .גם בחבילות מזוזות וגם בפרשיות וסת ומגילות . אם אתה לא משתמש בדיו זה, ראה הודעה זו כמיותרת. ואם אתה משתמש בדיו הזה. אנא ממכם בדקו היטב אם נתקלתם בבעיה כזו ותזהרו מאד מנזקים שיכולים להיות גבוהים מאד....... ותחליפו במיידי הדיו.  ותבדקו היטב את מה שכבר כתבתם, אם זה מזוזות, אז שלא נדבקו מזוזות אחת לשני או שהדיו עבר למזוזות מעליהם לאחר שהנחם אותם אחת על השניה לאחר הכתיבה. ואם זה פרשיות או סת ומגילות שבגלגול הקלף לאחר הכתיבה, לא נדבקו והעבירו צבע וצורה של אותויות לקלף שמעל. מה שצריך לעשות במיידי זה לחכות הרבה הרבה שיתייבש ואחכ לא לגלגל חזק או לצופף חזק. אלא שיהיה מאוורר ולא מהודק של ידבק.... תודה שלמה

החתך בגג התי"ו נעשה אחר הכתיבה, ולכן התי"ו כשר ואין פסול של חסרון היקף גויל, כי נכתב בכשרות. טוב להדביק מטלית מאחורי הקלף לחזק את הקלף, שלא יתפתח קרע. הה"א מוקפת גויל ואין החתך מגיע אליה. אבל אם היה מגיע החתך אליה, היה צריך לגרר ביניהם. כי אע"פ שאנו מקילים בחסרון היקף גויל לאחר שעת הכתיבה, היינו רק בנוגע להיקף גויל הנוגע לאות עצמה, אבל לא לדין היקף גויל שצ"ל בין שתי אותיות. (ואמנם שאלה זו במחלוקת האחרונים, אבל יש להחמיר ולגרר ביניהם, ולא לסמוך על הקולא שאין היקף גויל לאחר שעת הכתיבה. כי דין היקף גויל שבין האותיות, חמור מדין היקף גויל לאות עצמו).

This was posted in another forum and there were various opinions. It was my opinion to be machshir as is (and to fix) while some felt a tinok should be asked. I showed this to Rav Reuvain Mendlowitz and he agreed that a tinok wasn't required.

Today many sofrim find themselves in places that lack physical access to an expert posek in Stam. Especially the last number of months with few traveling and many wary of meeting with others unless maintaining some social distancing and wearing of masks, access to poskim via phone, email, text or WhatsApp has become a greater need. If anyone would like to share the name/s, a little bit about the posek/poskim and means to access him/them please do so in the comments.