Understanding the Mezuzah Debate
1. That there is a unified, objective standard by which to be machshir or passel a mezuzah.
There is not. The way it actually works is that a sofer develops what is called a tviyas ayin, an instinct of sorts that after a couple of years will guide him while checking. Tvias ayin is subjective in nature and – this is crucial – no two tvias ayins are alike.
2. That all magihim pasken according to the same set of rules.
They don’t. As with every area of halacha there are myriads of poskim whom to follow and every sofer has his own mesorah of how to pasken. In my years in the business I have noticed that generally, the older generation of sofrim follow the tradition to rely more on meikilim and are machshir in many more situations.
Whereas many of the younger sofrim tend to rely on more contemporary poskim who are machmir and passel.
What this means in simple terms is that A. No two sofrim will necessarily find the same shailos and B. Even if they do one will be machshir and one will not.
Point one is hogwash. Period. Tvias Ayin for what exactly??? how beautiful it is? how much he can charge for it?
Hogwash.
He is right that there is no unified standard, but that is because different communities can consider different achronim, posek achron. Mishna Berura vs. Shulchan Aruch HaRav vs. Aruch Hashulchan vs Yalkut Yosef etc. (but this is his second point!)
Within one community there should basically be a standard what is Leikuva and pasels, and what is bedieved, and what is lechatchila.
There are a number different areas a person must master to become a magia.
1) He has to learn the relevant halachos well - and remember them! Mukaf gvil, kesidran, Chuk tochos, Tzuras Haosios. What can be fixed, should be fixed, should not be fixed, what is Pasuk, bedieved, hidur, what can be a shaylas tinuk, how to do a shaylas tinuk etc...
This is the Standard. Each kehilla has its seforim that it regards as the posek achron. In the litvishe world its generally the Mishna Berura,and Keses Hasofer (Rav Shlomo Gantzfried - author of the Kitzur SA). Every magia in a particular Kehilla SHOULD be checking to his kehillas standard.
2) learning how to SEE the issues in a parsha. practice, practice, practice. how to look closely, pay attention to the fine details. See touching letters, shinuy tzuras haois, writing off the sirtut, missing/extra letters.... Every would-be magia gets tested with parshios that have known issues on them to see if they find them ALL.
3) Learning the Grey areas. THIS is where tevias eyin comes in to play. For example, the letter VAV. If the leg is too short it looks like a YUD, if its too long it can look like NUN Sofit or KAF Sofit. If the head is too long, it becomes a RAISH. A magia sits with a more experienced magia to get shimush, what is too long, what is too short... After a while he gets a tevias ayin in this shayla.
When I was learning Tzuras Osios from a master Magia in Yerusholayim, he told me that you can find shinuy tzurah shaylos in the letter YUD where it can appear like most other letters. Figuring out when has the tzura has changed, is also a skill learned with shimush, . He showed me a YUD, and told me that it was pasul because the KUTZ on the left side was too long and it now appeared to be a CHES.
With regards to his second point, It is true that there is an evolution in the way the shaylos are decided and even in the proper tzuras haois, but I have no way to comment on his experiences.
However the statement "No two sofrim will necessarily find the same shailos" is problematic for us all. How could it be that a magia will miss a shayla??? what is he doing??? his job is to find every shayla!!! If a magia
ever discovers that other magiim are consistently finding shaylos he missed
its time to find a new job! He may pasken that its ok, with no need to mention it on the report of the check, but not to find it at all??!!
Here’s the thing though: Being meikil doesn’t make one an unreliable sofer. Just as being machmir doesn’t make one a more reliable sofer. Again, this is not a judgement call as to which is better, I am merely explaining why we have this range of opinion from one sofer to the next.
I'll fix it for him
Being meikil and not telling me about it makes one an unreliable sofer.
We have two shaylos here. One is the Kashrus of a particular mezuza/tefillin, a shalya in Orach Chaim. The second is is it approprate to market this mezuza as being a particular standard, a shayla in Choshen Mishpat.
In my opinion, someone who is machmir in the Choshen Mishpat shayla is reliable, someone who is maykil in the CM shayla is unreliable.His next point is incomprehensible.
A Tale of Two L’chatchilas
So now you’re saying OK fine, they’re kosher mezuzos. But how can you say they are kosher l’chatchila? These mezuzos have real shailos in them and are written in a way that the Shulchan Aruch says l’chatchila not to write like that?
There are two l’chatchilas here: First there is the l’chatchila of writing. That is to say the way a sofer should write l’chatchila. And then there is the l’chatchila of fulfilling the mitzvah of mezuzah. That is to say that now that the mezuzah is before us can I put this mezuzah on my door?
To be clear: the question before us is not ‘should I take it down if it is up already.’ The question is ‘can I put it up with a bracha to begin with?’ And the answer is yes.
Why? Because they were checked by a highly qualified sofer, a yerei shomayim who determined that they were kosher. And now that we have determined that they are kosher – even though we were soimech on a meikil – one can certainly put it on their door l’chatchila.
So, to recap: it should have been written like this originally but now that it exists you can l’chatchila use it.
So if I have a piece of meat that almost every Rishon and Achron says is treif, the tur and Rema, Shach, Taz Bach GRA Knesses Yisroel, Rashba Ritva Rif Rosh Riaz Rid Issur Veheter Haaruch, SA Harav, etc, etc... says is treif, and someone who is "highly qualified...a yerei shomayim" finds a shita in the back of a sefer from Rav Eliyahu Bachur who writes a snif lehakel beshas hadchak and therefor paskens that the meat is kosher based on that...You want to tell me that the meat is Kosher Lechatchila??? What are you talking about???
So anything that is bedieved, once the Rav says that it's ok bedieved, It's Lechatchila?
Lets say this differently. Lechatchila means that it's first choice, the correct way to do something from the start, from the shoresh "TECHILA". Bedieved means
since it's already done, we won't make you change it, its good enough , from the shoresh "AVAD".
Lechatchila, you buy and put up a mezuza that is kosher lechatchila. Bedieved, once it's up, we dont make you replace a mezuza that is kosher bedieved.
Of course you can say a bracha when you put up a bedieved mezuza, it's a kosher mezuza! But it's not Lechatchila to buy it in the first place! It's Bedieved.
I dont know the author at all, but he seems to be a Mocher who has written a piece defending their business practices. It appears that he may have never studied the halachos, which is another issue entirely. Opening a Judaica shop does not grant one any amount of halachic knowledge, and def not smicha in anything. The proprietor is at the mercy of his suppliers, and just parrots "this is kosher lechatchia, this is hidur level one, two, three..." the same way he sells silver.
also
@Mtrasb it would be nice if you credit where you copied from...
