Both the Shulchan Aruch Harav and the Mishnah Brurah use similar terminology when describing the importance of the shin being "pointy" on the bottom and all three branches of the letter shin meeting at a point or "chad" at the bottom of the letter. There is a strong foundation in Halacha for this and for the bottom of the shin to be flat like a moshav (base) is considered questionable (Pri Megadim) and definitely not Kosher Lechatchillah. It is worse if the moshav is very wide, but it is still questionable if it is lechatchillah if there is a thick noticeable base rather than a chad. Even for Sephardim, who lechatchillah make an angular base, it is still important that the base is indeed on a (significant) angle. If the base is flat, even if all three branches of the shin come out of the base connected , as in the top picture, it is problematic. It is worse in the bottom picture below where the right head/ branch comes out of the right part of the base and the m
Besides for the sofer who checks his own parshiyos SA 32:21 The minhag is for the sofer to have his tefillin and mezuzahs parshiyos checked by a magiah and even if the sofer is also a magiah it should still be checked by another magiah, ol derech haremez - "ain adam roeh as negah otzmoh" (Although miikur Hadin, the sofer alone suffices).
ReplyDeleteIn addition to this many poskim require computer checking. Some are extra mehudar to have 2 gavra and computer.
Concerning Sefer Torah basically it is preferred to have 2 gavra and computer checking.
2 gavra meaning two seperate people to be magiah? (plus the sofer who does it himself, plus the computer?)
ReplyDeletecorrect.
ReplyDeleteOn a sefer Torah, 2 gavra and 2 computer check are really a must and at least one gavra should be a high quality check and not the typical cheaper check. Otherwise, it's most likely something will be overlooked.
ReplyDelete2 gavra and 1 computer is also the wise choice on parshios and mezuzahs.
ReplyDelete