Protect Your STaM From Water Damage

 

Be viligant when it comes to water. Many people bring me megillos that have come into contact with water. Store your megillos, and mezuzos in waterproof containers. If you keep your megillah in a silver case put it in a plastic bag before you place it in the case. Many people have told me stories about housekeepers that decided to polish the silver case, thinking they were doing their employer a favor only to find out that the employer was not as enthusiastic as they thought he would be. In fact, there is a megillah in my office awaiting repair for this very reason. The megillos pictured above were in a closed breakfront.  A pipe burst from the ceiling, dripped onto the breakfront, trickled inside and ruined the megillos. Are they still kosher? Probably. Although I will not be able to make them look new, I will be able to make them usable.

Used Megillah For Sale: $450.00

This Megillah is about sixty years old. The writing is nice and for the most part strong and black, but there are some spots that are fading. I am selling it ‘as is’. I will not put time into fixing up the faded spots because that would necessitate raising the price. If you have $600 to spend you should go with a new megillah. This megillah is right for you if $450 is your limit. If you look closely you will see that somebody wrote in some of the cantillation marks. You will also notice that the last amud (column) was rewritten and sewn on.

 

Putting an Eitz Chaim (Wooden Pole) on a Megillah

Although the common minhag is that we don’t attach an eitz chaim (wooden pole) to the megillah, many people ask me to put one one for them. The reason for this seems to be based on a gemara in Baba Basra 13b which says, “One who wishes to attach torah, neviim, and kesuvim into one scroll may do so, providing he leaves enough blank klaf at the beginning to wrap around the amud” Rashi says, “Amud refers to a wooden pole that the scroll is rolled on”. This was the minhag of the Ari and of the Gra. The Mishnas HaSofer writes that it is very appropriate to follow this minhag.

In the pictures you can see me and my son Zerach working on a project for one of my customers. He wanted an eitz chaim for his megillah but he also wanted a megillah case. Since the eitz chaim adds a great deal of height to the megillah, we had to find a huge megillah case. Even with the biggest case I was able to find, we had to modify the eitz chaim by shortening the handles. Actually since a normal eitz chaim has one short handle (for the top) and one long handle (for the bottom, so you can easily grasp it with your hand), we took two sets of eitz chaims, and gave one set two short handles and one set two long handles. Since the diameter of the case was too narrow for the eitz chaim, we sanded about an inch off of the eitz chaim with my Delta sander.

Yes, it was a great deal of work, but what won’t I do for my (paying) customers?

If you would like an eitz chaim for your megillah, or perhaps new ones for your sefer torah, call me at 845-290-2546 or email me at offices@mezuzadepot.com.

Megillah For Sale, Free Shipping

I have an unbelievable selection of Megillos. If you are planing to buy a megillah this year please give me a call. Just to give you an idea of the price range, a very inexpensive megillah would be about $650. A middle range megillah would be about $1000 and for a really nice megillah plan to spend between $1600 and $1700. If you are looking for top of the line, that would be between $2500 and $3500. If you are looking for a present for somebody special and you want to impress him, a $1400 to $1700 megillah will do the trick. If you are not local I can often email you a photograph of the megillah so you can see what you are getting.

You really should call me so we can discuss exactly what you need. 845-290-2546.

Come Visit My Fully Stocked Office

I keep a full selection of mezuza cases, tefillin boxes, battim, mezuzos, and megillos on hand at all times. I also have ketores, new and used sefrei torah, and embroidered tefillin bags.