[Avodah] How to Paint Tefillin Straps

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Feb 02, 2011 at 04:45:08PM -0500, Zev Sero wrote:
>> 1- There is a hiddur of lishmah, not a chiyuv.

> "They must be blacked by an adult competent Jew, lishmah. If he blacked
> them shelo lishmah, or a nochri blacked them, it's passul even bediavad"
> (Kesset Hasofer 23:3).

Compare to SA OC 33:4 -- "tov sheyeishachreim Yisrael lishman".

And while the Rama says that retzu'os would be pasul even bedi'eved,
the MB says the Peri Megadim and "sha'arei ha'acharonim" disagree.
It's also unclear if the Rama is disagreeing with this half of
the SA, or the "Yisrael" part. See the Taz, MA, etc... who all discuss
whether a Yisrael can repaint them.

IOW, AFAIK, we don't hold this way.

>> 2- Saying "lesheim qedushas tefillin" is a tool to help lishmah, not
>>     even a hiddur.

> "And if he did not say it with his lips but only thought it in his
> heart, some rule it passul even bediavad, and some rule it kosher
> bediavad, and so seems to be the halacha" (Kesset Hasofer 4:1)

This is about writing, not coloring retzu'os.

But even WRT writing, I don't know where R' Shelomo Ganzfried gets it
from. So, it just shifts the question.

>> 3- The only part of the retzu'os that MUST be black are on the shel rosh
>>     up to the kesher, and the loop and the part up to going through the
>>     loop on the shel yad.

> The mimimum length of the Shel Rosh retzua is on both sides till the
> navel, and lechatchila the right one should go down to the milah.
...
> It's clear that *at least* that entire length must be black, and
> therefore that that at least that length must be blackened lishmah.
> Whether the rest of the retzua must be black too is in doubt (see
> Biur Halacha 33:3)

The "litefor mitzad yemin line" is as I gave it (33:5).

BeQitzur (pun intended) it seems to me that the QSA and soferim have
a mesorah to pasqen far beyond the shuras hadin one finds in the usual
sifrei halakhah.

I was unfair, though, to assume it was due to the first sofer I
encountered to articulate it.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For a mitzvah is a lamp,
micha at aishdas.org        And the Torah, its light.
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