Printed, Silk Screened Mezuzah

This picture was emailed to me by the Vaad Lishkas Ha Kodesh. It is a mezuzah that was printed on klaf and afterward the sofer wrote on top of the printed word. This is called ksav on top of ksav, and is assur (forbidden) according to EVERYONE! This issue is really an outgrowth of a topic that the Vaad Lishkas Ha Kodesh brought up several years ago. At that time it was found out that there were people who were silk screening tefillin, mezuzos, and even torah scrolls. They wrote a long article which included the opinions of many many poskim that this was forbidden.

If you look closely you can see where the printed letters still show underneath.  Also, and even more obvious is the perfect spacing, and perfectly consistent lettering. Notice how the exact same amount of space is between each letter, and between each word. Even the best tefillin and mezuzos have slight variations in spacing. Even top quality lettering is doesn’t come out like a computer font (I believe that the hand written quality is actually nicer than a computer font,  just like real art will always be nicer than computer generated art).  It’s just a bit too perfect and consistent. Human beings just can’t write that perfectly!

I’m guessing that your question is, ” If the sofer still has to write all the letters, what does he gain?” The answer is simple. If I could write two and a half (good quality) mezuzos in a day without using this trick, I’m sure I could write five or six mezuzos using it! That’s a pretty big increase in profits! On top of that, I would completely eliminate the possibility of making a spelling mistake. Remember, if the sofer makes a spelling mistake and doesn’t catch it, the whole mezuzah is possel, and if he does catch it before he writes Hashem’s name, he will have to spend a lot of time fixing it, and he will likely have to lower the price of the mezuzah if he doesn’t do a really careful repair.

What Kind of Mezuzos in building with Ashkenazim and Sephardim?

This was taken from the Feb 10th issue of the Yated Ne’eman which in turn took it from Bakehilla (Feb 2, 2012). Rav Elyashiv was asked what kind of mezuzos should be used in the public areas of a building where both Ashkenazim and Sephardim live? Should the mezuzos be Ashkenazic ones, which are mostly written in ksav Beis Yosef, or Sephardic ones, which are written in ksav Ha’ari? His reply was that the mezuzos should go after who is the majority in the building. As for public buildings, such as hospitals, where the population is always in flux, it is best to use mezuzos written in ksav Beis Yosef, since it is more mehudar.

My comments: Separadic mezuzos are not written in ksav Ha’ari, they are written in a form of writing called ‘velish’.  I really doubt that Rav Elyashiv said that Sephardi ksav is the same as Ari. So my conclusion is we can’t learn anything from this article because there are clearly mistakes. My guess, something got lost in the translation.

Mezuzah Guidelines For Factories

I recently consulted with Reb Wosner about a factory that I was hired to take care of the mezuzos. There were hundreds of doors, and the factory had a very strong chemical smell (the kind of smell that makes me never want to use anything that has chemicals in it again). Here are the guidelines that he gave me:

1. All offices in use require mezuzos.

2. Office hallways need mezuzos.

3. Storage rooms need mezuzos.

4. Doors to the outside need mezuzos.

5. Rooms where Jewish workers don’t regularly go do not require mezuzos.

6. Rooms with bad chemical smells don’t need mezuzos.

In this particular factory, this eliminated many of the doors. In all, I put up about ninety mezuzos.

Mekubal Comes To Town

Many people call me to check their mezuzos because a mekubal told them to get their mezuzos checked. Usually the mekubal tells them unbelievable things about them that nobody could know. Sometimes he tells them there is a problem with a certain mezuzah in their home (usually a bedroom). Here is where the story starts to get tricky. Sometimes he will give them a mezuzah and tell them where to put it up. One of my customers told me that the mekubal gave him  a mezuzah and told them to put it up on their bedroom door. Since I checked their mezuzos in the past, he asked me if I could make the switch. I took down the mezuzah from the bedroom, and looked at it. It was an absolutely stunning mezuzah. The writing was beautiful. On the other hand, the mezuzah that the mekubal gave him was way below average. I told this to the customer, and he said, “But the mekubal gave it to me for free!” In other words, since the mekubal wasn’t even making any money from the mezuzah, it must be that he is giving him a very holy mezuzah with no alterior motives. I asked him if he gave money to the mekubal and he answered that he did. So the customer probably gave him $200, and the mekubal gave him a $20 mezuzah. Could it be that his twenty dollar mezuzah was written by a very holy sofer and I just couldn’t see the kidushah (I’m not a mekubal so I can’t see kidushah, I can only see when mezuzos are written according to halachah), and the beautiful one hundred and fifty dollar mezuzah that he was using while beautiful to look at, was written by someone who had improper thoughts or some other problem that can’t be discerned by an examination?   I guess it could be. I told the customer to ask his rabbi, or someone else that he trusts. My opinion is that there are real mekubalim out there, but they are quiet people who aren’t running a ‘business’. I am definitely not qualified to tell you who is real and who is not. Ask your rabbi if he knows the person you want to speak with (he doesn’t, trust me). Don’t be impressed because he told you something nobody knows but you. Don’t be impressed with white beards, and long lines of people sitting in a waiting room (looking like they are carrying the world’s problems on their shoulders). Most importantly, don’t assume that he is real because he seems real (he’s got the right  look and voice, etc.) One final thought: The Vaad Mishmeres Stam does not require or encourage soferim to be versed in the kabalah seforim that deal with tefillin and mezuzos, but they require thorough understanding of the large body of halachos that deal with these topics.