[Avodah] ksav she'i efshar l'hizdayyef

[David Riceman]

Zev Sero wrote:
> David Riceman wrote:
>> We went off to visit a sofer the other day to chat about getting 
>> tefillin for my son's forthcoming bar mitzva.  While talking about 
>> the chemical properties of parchment he mentioned how easy it is to 
>> erase letters (via razor blade), and I added that that's why one 
>> shouldn't write a kesuva on parchment (see HM 42:1).  The sofer then 
>> told me that he had arranged to find parchment for a prominent 
>> person's son's kesuva.  Neither of us knew an obvious reason to 
>> permit it, but we both agreed that one might exist.  What could it be?
>
> What did Chazal write their shtoros on?  Papyrus?
>
I don't know what archaeologists have found for the period of Hazal.  
But see Bartenura Shabbat 8:2 s.v. "niyyar".  And for a slightly earlier 
period see Cowley's book "Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C."

David Riceman