Ultra Double Black Retzuous

It took me a while to become convinced of the value of retzuous that were black on both sides. At first I thought it was a gimick. After a while I changed my mind for two reasons. Firstly I reasearched the halacha. I saw that the Rambam considers it a good thing if the back of the retzuzous are the same color as the battim. The Ohr Zeruah sides with this Rambam, as well as the Beis Yosef, the Darchei Moshe, and the Lishkas HaSofer (Reb Shlomo Gansfried). Secondly, I saw that many people who have regular retzuous are wearing posul tefillin. My Ultra Double Black Retzuou are dyed before they are painted so that even if some of the paint comes off, they will still be completly black. Take a look at the picture below. I purposely sanded the retzuah in such a way that had it not been an Ultra Double Black Retzuah it would have become posel, just like in my post entitled, Posel Retzuous. As you can see they are still black, and completly kosher. The price for a set (shel yad & shel ros) is between $85 and $125 depending on which quality leather  is used. These retzuous come with a letter certifying their kashrus. I can put on new retzuous while you wait, so if you are passing through Monsey, and you would like to have me evaluate your current retzuous, give me a call at 845-290-2546. Or if I am doing a Mezuzah House Call in your neighborhood, I can take a look while I’m working on your mezuzos.

Does This Beam Need A Mezuzah?

When I went to this house to do a Mezuzah House Call I noticed that they had a mezuzah on this beam. Although I understood why they thought this spot needed a mezuzah, they were incorrect. Their thinking was: “Two beams, one on either side, and a beam on top, sounds like a doorway to us”. The reason it does not need a mezuzah is because these beams are not there to make a doorway, but rather to hold up the roof (לְהֲחְזָקָת תִקְרָה). Beams contribute to an obligation when they are there to create a doorway, not to hold up a roof. By the way, they mezuzah that they had here was very badly water-damaged, rendering it completely posel (invalid).

Asking a Child

Sometimes we are not sure if a letter is kosher. Since we know what it is supposed to be we cannot rely on our own judgment. In cases like this sometimes the halacha dictates that we ask a child who is neither a fool or a chochom (wise person). This means that the child should know how to read the letters but not understand what he is reading. In a case where there is a 50% chance that the child will read either one of two possibilities we can rely on his ‘psak’ (decision). If you look at the vov in the picture you will see that it is touching the lamed underneath. When we covered up the bottom part of the Lamed (which was necessary) the child read it as a nun. If the sofer would scrape away the part that was touching he would be turning a nun into a vov out of order, rendering the mezuza posel. By the way this would also be chok tochos (creating a letter by carving with a knife instead of by writing with ink).