A place for English speaking sofrim (scribes), magihim (examiners), rabbis and vendors of Stam (Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah scrolls) from around the world to communicate, share ideas, ask questions and offer support and advice.
Its a nice ksav, however what makes me nervous are some of the nuns.
I know its less of an inyan by A'R ksav, but when the gug of the nun is SUBSTANTIALLY wider than the moshav, I fix them. Look at the nun form "nishba" or "levonecha", I would fix them, as well as some others.
Also, Rabbi Yurslavsky once told me that if the eikev of the beis goes up on an angle all the way to the bottom of the gag, it is not mehudar and should be fixed. Look at the first beis of uuveshochbecho (p' shma) compared to the second one. The second one is much better. there are other beises like that too, where the eikev isn't done perfectly. Its hard to see on the screen but if they go up on an angle all the way to the gug, it should be fixed.
Finally, the lower yud of the alef is supposed to have a tiny protrusion to the left. while this is less pronounced than in Arizal ksav, there should still be a mashehu. I notice he does not do it on some of the alephs.
I should add re the alephs, that even if you follow the Rebbe Maharash's megilla (which we usually don't, we follow Reb Ruvain for A'R diyyukim), namely, that there is no blita on the left of the loer yud of the aleph, Yet the sofer makes the blita 70% of the time, and such a level mezuzah should be consistent.
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
Following Ari's post, I have cut and pasted an article I wrote for a local publication some time ago on this very issue. I think it sums up this issue and the various shittos. I also suggest Rav Yonason Hershlags kuntres on this topic called "stumah shebestam". The different ways of forming the"Hefsek Parshas Stuma" in tefillin parshiyos. Introduction There is a common misconception that the only difference between the different minhagim (customs) of tefillin parshiyos is the ksav (font) they are written in. For example if a person is Sephardic, the ksav will be "Vellish", a script that is unique to Sephardic Jews; If one is of traditional Ashkenazic and non-Chassidic background, then he would usually get the "Beis Yosef" script; If one is "Chassidic", he would get the "Arizal" script, etc. While this is correct, there are also different opinions and minhagim on how to make the spacing between the parshiyos of th
Its a nice ksav, however what makes me nervous are some of the nuns.
ReplyDeleteI know its less of an inyan by A'R ksav, but when the gug of the nun is SUBSTANTIALLY wider than the moshav, I fix them. Look at the nun form "nishba" or "levonecha", I would fix them, as well as some others.
Also, Rabbi Yurslavsky once told me that if the eikev of the beis goes up on an angle all the way to the bottom of the gag, it is not mehudar and should be fixed. Look at the first beis of uuveshochbecho (p' shma) compared to the second one. The second one is much better. there are other beises like that too, where the eikev isn't done perfectly. Its hard to see on the screen but if they go up on an angle all the way to the gug, it should be fixed.
Finally, the lower yud of the alef is supposed to have a tiny protrusion to the left. while this is less pronounced than in Arizal ksav, there should still be a mashehu. I notice he does not do it on some of the alephs.
It's a geshmakeh ksav though overall
I should add re the alephs, that even if you follow the Rebbe Maharash's megilla (which we usually don't, we follow Reb Ruvain for A'R diyyukim), namely, that there is no blita on the left of the loer yud of the aleph, Yet the sofer makes the blita 70% of the time, and such a level mezuzah should be consistent.
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