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
Yes, you have to redo the sirtut. It is done with what I think is called in English an "awl". See picture here. Of course you can use anything similar.
ReplyDeleteיישר כחך
ReplyDeleteI use a rose thorn glued to a piece of dowling - nice and natural and not too sharp that it would tear the k'laf. You must have sirtut if it erased - see Keset Hasofer 3:5 and R. Ganzfired says that they should be re-ruled lishmah (though based on Pri M'gadim this isn't necessary). The B'ney Yonah states that even for one letter there should be a rule but most others say three. I am assuming here that this erasure is such that you are still writing the mezuzah k'sidran.
ReplyDeleteMordechai,
DeleteIs a perennial blackberry thorn okay to use? The only rose bushes I have available have very small soft thorns. I also currently use and all-metal awl "angled correctly".
(I don't currently write any STa''M, just learning.)
Elad ben Avraham/Dale Edmons
just a tip when using an awl it should be not pointed straight down because then it might make a hole in the klaf the trick is to hold it on a slant almost flat some people use a stone to make it not so sharp but this is unnecessary if you hold it like that and also then you can decide how big of a sirtut you want and how wide by pressure you put and the angle you hold it(by pressure it will just bend the metal a little) and you can also decide to which derection you want the sirtut to go its hard to explain in words without showing someone
ReplyDeletethanks all the tzadikim!
ReplyDeleteFor years I use a very small screwdriver, the corners originally dulled by scraping against stone or concrete.
ReplyDelete