Mezuzah Blog

Here is your vocabulary word for the day. Sofer Stam - a sofer (scribe) who writes STaM - an acronym for Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzahs. A Sofer Stam also writes Megillahs for Purim and may write other items like a Get (divorce document) or a Ketuba (marriage document).  The funny thing is that the word Stam in Hebrew also means plain or not special. So whenever I introduce myself to a Hebrew speaker as a Sofer Stam, I get the same joke. It goes like this:  Them: What do you do for a living?  Me: I am a Sofer...

This is a picture of a Mezuzah which hangs in the office of Rabbi Landau in Bnei Brak. On the bottom is written, "this Mezuzah was written by an Arab." It just goes to show how important it is to make sure that you get your Mezuzah from a reliable source. The Jewish law mandates that Mezuzahs be written by a Jewish, Torah observant scribe who is thoroughly trained in the laws of writting a Mezuzah.

What is Gevil you say? Let me tell you. Gevil is a type of material that a Torah scroll or Megillah can be written on. When skin is processed to make it into writing material, it is usually split into two portions. The outer portion is called Klaf in Hebrew. Klaf is the type of parchment that is commonly used today for Mezuzahs, Tefillin and Torahs. The inner part of the skin is called Duchsustos. If you make parchment out of the full skin, it is called Gevil (sometimes spelled Gvil or Gewil).  According to the Shulchan Aruch, Torahs should...

Kosher hot dogs, Kosher pizza, Kosher Mezuzahs. Which one of these doesn't fit in? If you said Mezuzahs, you are in good company. All of the time people come into our store or call us or email us asking us what does it mean for a Mezuzah to be Kosher. We know that food is Kosher when it conforms to the rules of what a Jewish person is allowed to eat according to the Torah, but what makes a Mezuzah Kosher? The word Kosher literally means proper and it can really be applied to anything. A business deal can be...