by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com Because of the proliferation of back yard minyanim, numerous shailos come up about the kashrus of different letters in the private sifrei Torah that are used.  There is almost nothing available online for someone to check in an emergency. I have written a sefer called Mezuzah a Comprehensive Guide with a section in the back about each letter.  It is available on Amazon.  It has haskamos from Moreinu Rav Yisroel Belsky zt”l, Rav Aryeh Schechter a leading Sofer, Rav Dovid Kviat zt”l, Dayan Roth, and Rav Scheinberg zt”l.  Apologies for not including the pictures. The following is what to look for when checking each of the letters of a sefer Torah. We shall go through each letter and discuss what constitutes an invalid letter, under what circumstances it is permissible to correct, and other applicable Halachos[1]. In this section the letters (and consequently the Mezuzah) are described as either invalid, valid, or the issue must be resolved by showing the letter to a child.  This is called Sheailas tinok.  [There is also a fourth category where one must show the letter to a halachic decisor. This is called Sheailas chochom.]   The source of the law that certain types of letters must be shown to a child is from a passage in the Talmud (Menachos 29b):   Raami the son of Tamri had a vov in the word Vayaharog that broke. He came before Rabbi Zeira. (Rabbi Zeira) told him: “Go bring[2] a child that is neither very bright nor stupid. If he reads it as vayaharog then it is kosher. If he reads it as yeyareg it is invalid.”   From this section of the Talmud we can derive a number of insights. The child that is asked to read the letter must be proficient in identifying the letters and in reading it properly. Yet the child should not be intelligent or mature enough to be able to decipher the letter using contextual clues[3]. It is to this type of child to which the Halachos below refer.   If the child does not recognize the letter immediately, but only recognized it after contemplating it, we view the situation as if the child was never asked and the question should be presented to a different child[4]. One may rely upon a majority of Tinokos as well[5].   When the letter is shown to the child one should cover the letters that precede and follow the letter in question[6]. When the letters can only be identified in relation to the other letters such as a vov being to short or a zayin may look like an Final nun, the letters re not covered[7].   Some Halachos to Know:   Rishumo nikar– If a letter was erased but its outline is discernable to the extent that a child can still identify it, the Mezuzah is still valid[8]. A discolored letter- If the blackink came off a letter and what is left has a reddish hue, this is considered a change in the letter’s appearance and the Mezuzah is invalid[9]. However, if the color of the ink merely changed because of age, the Mezuzah is still perfectly valid[10]. Also, if even some of the black remains, the Mezuzah is still valid[11]. If the Mezuzah became water-damagedand stains appear on the […]

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