Does Hashem’s Name Appear In The Megillah?

One interesting feature of Megillas Esther is that Hashem’s name does not appear in the entire text. There are however a number of places that hint to Hashem’s name. The owner of the megillah pictured here had the sofer put three dots on top of every word that hints at Hashem’s name. The source for this is from the Chacham Tzvi. I will hopefully bring the exact place that this is brought down. Look three lines up from the bottom at the first four words and you will see the three dots.

Empty…

Just opened a pair of empty battim. How could it happen? Why? What was the sofer who sewed them together thinking? Could it have been an honest mistake? What does it mean for the person who was wearing them? What will happen as a result of all the bracha l’vatallas? Maybe when Eliyahu comes he will answer. tik”o

I will betroth you to Me.

After we wrap the tefillin strap around the middle finger and hand, we say, “I will betroth you to me forever, and I will betroth you to Me with righteousnes, justice, kindness, and mercy. I will betroth you to Me with fidelity, and you shall know Hashem”. This verse from Hoshea 2:21-22  is talking about our relationship with Hashem. Wow, that’s  quite a powerful list of attributes describing how Hashem relates to his faithful people. Wearing tefillin is a clear demonstration of our faith. Day after day, we never miss our oppurtunity to wear the boxes that remind of how Hashem took us out of Egypt, and how we are obligated to serve Him with all of our abilities. Wearing tefillin is part of the process of becoming betrothed to Hashem, and in turn meriting Hashem’s everlasting promise of treating us with righteousness, justice, kindness, and fidelity. The verse concludes by  granting us the greatest gift of all: knowledge of G-d!

Announcement: New Webstore: store.mezuzadepot.com

We’ve been working hard to create a new line of mezuzah cases. At the same time we are working on opening a whole line of handmade Judaica items like tallis and tefillin bags, challah covers, and even music. I would like to invite you to check it out. Keep in mind that we are in the beginning stages of our new store so check back often to see what we have added.

www.store.mezuzadepot.com

Tricks of the Yetzer Horah

How does the Yetzer Horah convince us that material items are so important? He tells us that the particular item in question is not only nice, but its the right thing to own it. Like, “You should get those cuff links because its important for you to look respectable. We buy many things not because we like or don’t like them but because the Yetzer Horah wants us to be involved as much as possible with things other than avodas Hashem (serving God). Notice how unconcerned we are about the opinions of others when it comes to choosing what flavor of ice cream to get, but when it comes to decorating the house we spend a lot of time thinking about what other people’s kitchens look like. That’s because you will be no further away from Hashem if you order chocolate ice cream verses peanut butter, but spending time looking at other people’s tiles, and shopping for tiles, and having tiles installed can totally consume a person, at least for a while. He wakes up thinking about tiles, and goes to sleep thinking about them. That’s the Yetzer Horah’s victory, and sometimes he can have victory after victory, day after day occupying significant amounts of our time and thoughts.

Tekhelet (or tekheles or te cheles)

We have a qualified techeles stringer (my son Naftali) who does custom orders. He makes a nine different types of knots based on the shittos of the rishonim all the way  to contemporary poskim. I have taken pictures of the Anybody who is interest in having tekehelt tied can contact me at 845-290-2546 or send me an email (press the ‘contact me’ button at the top).

Is Anybody Still Fighting The Beis Yosef – Ari Zal K’sav Battle?

There are two types of safrus lettering: Ashkenaz and S’faradi. Ashkenaz breaks down into Beis Yosef K’sav and Ari Zal K’sav. Most people of Lithuanian descent use Beis Yosef K’sav. Most people of Eastern European descent (including all Chasidim) use Ari Zal K’sav. The Labovitch Chasidim use Ari Zal K’sav or Alter Rebbe K’sav which is a type of Ari Zal K’sav.

There are several differences between the Beis Yosef and the Ari Zal in how to make some of the letters. The most significant difference is the letter ‘tzadik’. In K’sav Beis Yosef a tzadik is made by joining a yud to a nun. In K’sav Ari Zal a tzadik is made by joining a backwards yud to a nun. The question is: How do we know that a backwards yud attached to a nun is kosher?

In the past fifteen years I have read many sources that indicate that a person who does not follow the Ari Zal’s customs in general should not use Ari Zal K’sav. Practically speaking, I have rarely heard of a rov who poskens that a person should replace his mezuzos or tefillin if they are Ari Zal K’sav and his minhag is Beis Yosef or vice versa.

One of my customers is a true Yekee (he follows the customs of the German Jewish community). Since he has tefillin that are written in Ari Zal K’sav, I thought I would let him know. He in turn asked Reb Feival Zimmerman, the Rav of Gateshead, also a Yekee. He poskened that my customer need not worry about it, and there is no reason for him to change his parshios.

Another customer told me that he received his tefillin from his father who received them from his father. After many years he had his tefillin checked and found that the shel rosh was k’sav ari and the shel yad was k’sav beis yosef. He asked Reb Dovid Feinstein what the halacha is in such a case and Reb Dovid Feinstein told him that this is a case of tartei d’sasrei (two things which contridict each other) and that they need to be replaced.

Of course, you should not rely on the story for p’sak halacha. If you should find yourself in this situtation you should consult with a rabbi.

Safrus Police Issue A Ticket

When you see your tefillin paint fading, bring them in. Is it halachah or aesthetics? Although b’dieved if tefillin are not black they may still be used, there are those (reshonim) who hold that black battim is a halacha l’moshe m’sini (a law that was passed down orally from the times of Moshe), namely Tosafos, Mordechai, Noda B’Yehuda, Vilna Gaon. If this would be your Shabbos suit would you wear it? The Shabbos Suit Testis my way of making people aware of the appearance of their tefillin. We all understand that it would be incongruous to be makpid (careful) on every detail of our dress on the one hand, and uncaring as to the appearance of  the object with which we fulfill one of our most precious mitzvos. Our crown, our jewel, that’s what we don’t have time to keep in perfect looking shape? what we are going to So be consistent and get your holy tefillin painted.

Retzuous Black On Both Sides That Flip Over

We know that it is not a good thing if your retzuous flip over to the other side. But what if they are the kind of retzuous that are black on both sides? Does this feature elimante the problem? I asked Reb Avraham Tzvi Wosner this morning and he told me that even when they are black on both sides, the outside is still nicer because it is shiny. The gemara says that the nicer side is supposed to be on the outside. Therefore, even if they are black on both sides one should still be careful to not let them flip over.

What Kind of Pen Do I Use For Touch-ups On Tefillin & Mezuzos?

I have gone through many different periods when it comes to correction pens. I guess I should start with the dilemma so you’ll understand where a bodek (examiner of tefillin and mezuzos) is coming from. The dilemma is like this: If I use a kolmus (feather pen), sooner or later I’m going to mess up an expensive set of tefillin. Then instead of earning a few dollars, I’m buying somebody a new set of parshios andthat’s not my idea of fun. If I use a Rapidograph pen filled with Dio (official safrus ink) I’m going to spend all my spear time sucking little bits of dried (bitter) ink and spitting them into the sink. If I use a Pilot G-Tec-C4 I’m hoping that there are no treif ingredients in the ink. Since it is made in some very far away nation, Pilot will not reveal the contents to me. I heard rumors that Israeli Soferim checked it out, but who knows what that really means. Now the Pilot has some real advantages. For one, they only cost a few dollars apiece, so I can afford to lose, break, and give them away to aspiring soferim. And they make a precise dot of ink exactly where you want it. You can still mess up if you don’t know what you are doing, or even if you do know what you are doing but you are in a rush, but safety-wise they are about as good as it gets. Now here is where the story gets exciting. Rabbi Daniel Melamed told me about a kind of rapidograph that although I had seen it, I had never experimented with it. It’s the Rotring Rapidoliner size .25mm. Of course two days latter I was at Pearl Paint in Peramus, NJ checking it out. Not being able to read the  Swiss or German (or whatever they were) directions, I was left to my own common sense to figure it out. Having played around with more than a few pens in my efforts to discover the perfect correction pen, I studied it, determined that it looked promising, and took a $17.91 chance. So far I must say I am impressed, but it hasn’t had too much time to get clogged up. I can tell you that it puts a nice small drop of ink exactly where I want it, and it seems to flow without too much kvetching (not like Kohiner Rapidographs that clog like every two seconds–literally–you have to shake them every few seconds that they are not in use or the ink won’t flow). Of course the biggest advantage is that I filled it with real old-fashioned dio! The first modification that I did was to put a small pocket clip on the pen side (as opposed to the top side where they are normally found). This was done to keep the pen from rolling of the table and destroying the fragile point in the fall.

Update: I’ve been using the Rotring for two weeks, and as long as I dab the pen on my tongue after each use (even if I only use it for a drop of dio), the moisture from my tongue keeps the pen from cloging. Of course if you don’t like the taste of dio (and I’m not quite sure why you wouldn’t (can you say, “Tannic acid”?) you could always dip it into some conveniently placed cup of water.

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