[Avodah] Keser on Shin on Tefillin

[Micha Berger]

Yet another minhag survey....

Does anyone know if having a keser on the shin's (both three and four
headed) on the outside of the bayis of the shel rosh is a matter of
minhag or personal taste, and if minhag -- which qehillos have this
minhag? What's the sevara pro or con?

Actually, pro seems self-evident...

Ashkenazi batim have shin's that resemble the Kesav Bet Yosef. Sepharadi
batim, Vellish. I never looked that closely, but I presume Chassidish
batim have a Kesav Ari shin. (With the leftmost "head" connected to the
upright line at the bottom-right corner, rather than in the middle -- as
per the Beis Yoseif. So if we make the shin look basically the way it does
on the kelaf, why not (other than extreme difficulty) make it exactly?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The true measure of a man
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