5cm mezuza not kosher
was just given this mezuza to check. the letters have a lot of cracks. The klaf is very suspicious and i think that maybe it is just paper. How can i check?
How about the Bais of Uleovdo?
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shin in "Alter Rebbe" script
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
Not a "khaf"
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".
Those types of mezuzot are not kosher irrespective of what material they are written on, but if you really want to check you try ripping a corner. If it rips easily, it's paper.
ReplyDeleteSuch mezuzahs can theoretically be kosher if written correctly on klaf but less than 6cm is a telltale sign it is printed. The fact that the back side is upside down is also a sign it was printed. As mentioned you can try to tear a corner but sometimes they print these on klaf.
ReplyDeleteSomeone once asked me, casually, "Can you give me a rule of thumb to tell if a Mezuza is Pasul?"
ReplyDeleteI said, "If it's smaller than your thumb, it's Pasul."