Acquiring and Maintaining Stam: Difference between revisions
From Halachipedia
→Buying Mezuzot
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==Mezuzot== | ==Mezuzot== | ||
===Buying Mezuzot=== | ===Buying Mezuzot=== | ||
====Price==== | |||
# A person going to buy mezuzot should be ready to spend money and not look to get the cheapest deal.<Ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:7</ref> | # A person going to buy mezuzot should be ready to spend money and not look to get the cheapest deal.<Ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:7</ref> | ||
# It is a mitzvah to get more beautiful mezuzot. Some say that it is an obligation to spend up to a third of the minimal amount for a basic kosher mezuzah, while others hold it is a mitzvah but not obligatory. It is proper to be strict if one has the financial means.<ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:25 based on Shulchan Aruch O.C. 656:1 and Mishna Brurah there.</ref> | # It is a mitzvah to get more beautiful mezuzot. Some say that it is an obligation to spend up to a third of the minimal amount for a basic kosher mezuzah, while others hold it is a mitzvah but not obligatory. It is proper to be strict if one has the financial means.<ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:25 based on Shulchan Aruch O.C. 656:1 and Mishna Brurah there.</ref> | ||
#Included in the mitzvah to beautify the mitzvah and get a nice mezuzah is to get a mezuzah that is valid according to all the opinions.<Ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:28</ref> | #Included in the mitzvah to beautify the mitzvah and get a nice mezuzah is to get a mezuzah that is valid according to all the opinions.<Ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:28</ref> | ||
====Klaf==== | |||
# Ideally the klaf, parchment, for the mezuzah should be handmade with intent to be used for mezuzah. There is a dispute if machine processed klaf is considered lishma and it is similar to the dispute about machine matza.<ref>Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 288:5 writes that mezuzot needs to be made upon klaf that is made lishma. Agur Bohalecha 6:1 writes that the minhag is to use machine processed klaf but it is proper to be strict to use handmade klaf. </ref> | |||
====Writing==== | |||
# The writing must be written on scored straight lines called ''sirtut'' (heb. שרטוט; trans. scratched) that are pressed into the klaf.<Ref>Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 288:8 writes that a mezuzah without scoring, sirtut, is invalid.</ref> | |||
# The parchment although rolled up tightly should be able to be opened. If two parts of the parchment are stuck together so that unsticking it will invalidate a letter, it is invalid.<ref>Agur Bohalecha 6:10</ref> | |||
<gallery> | |||
Rambam_spacing.jpg|Spacing of paragraphs according to Rambam | |||
Taz_spacing.jpg|Spacing of paragraphs according to Taz | |||
</gallery> | |||
# There are two minhagim about how to space the first two paragraphs of Shema in a mezuzah. According to the Rambam, there should be a space of 9 letters at the beginning of the line before the paragraph of והיה. According to the Taz, there is a combined space between the end of the line after the paragraph of שמע and the beginning of the line before the paragraph of והיה that is the space of 9 letters. Sephardim and some Ashkenazim follow the Rambam, while other Ashkenazim follow the Taz.<ref>Agur Bohalecha 6:12</ref> | |||
===Selling Mezuzot=== | ===Selling Mezuzot=== | ||
#One may sell a mezuzah in order to use that money to buy tefillin or a Sefer Torah. This concept is known as מעלין בקודש ואין מורידין, a person should always elevate in holiness and not go down.<Ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:43 based on Shulchan Aruch O.C. 143:1</ref> It is a dispute if this applies to personal mezuzot but it is proper to be strict.<Ref>Shulchan Aruch O.C. 153:10 cites two opinions about this matter. Agur Bohalecha 5:56 is strict.</ref> | #One may sell a mezuzah in order to use that money to buy tefillin or a Sefer Torah. This concept is known as מעלין בקודש ואין מורידין, a person should always elevate in holiness and not go down.<Ref>Agur Bohalecha 5:43 based on Shulchan Aruch O.C. 143:1</ref> It is a dispute if this applies to personal mezuzot but it is proper to be strict.<Ref>Shulchan Aruch O.C. 153:10 cites two opinions about this matter. Agur Bohalecha 5:56 is strict.</ref> |