Secrets Of Safrus

I first want to welcome Yehuda Kroopka back home and I thank [applause] Yehuda Yehuda brought Yehuda brought invited today and came today with somebody who's an old friend. We were say to be many years together in Camp Heller which Camp Shorashim Heller that's just what I call Shorashim but we were say to be I want to express about that camp. That camp Rabbi runs a camp and I want to express that many many many many guys have grown in that camp and grown through the camp and what the camp it's like a very it's a very holy place. I went DRS my nephew was playing in a hockey in a semi-finals game and he's an excellent goalie I think the best goalie in the league in this uncle's biased opinion but he's an excellent goalie and they he stood on his head he played incredibly well and they lost an over five not due to his fault they lost a very close game in overtime. I was supposed to speak to the school DRS to a lot of the guys after the game and guys were sad there was like a sadness and I've learned from the guys here I've learned from my own kids I was not Yehuda in the space like to cheer guys and let's go no none of that not what to say to me this no. I was like sad with the school we were sad together and I felt it was like a very holy sadness. You could say what do you mean they lost a hockey game? It was a very very special sadness that they they played together as a team my nephew became a Ben Torah there in that precious school in that holy place and the hockey team was part of his process part of his journey and helped him and was a big thing it was a it was like very sad it was the end of a certain to cool for that was is beneficial. I want express that I think this world's important. A few guys two nights ago there was a basketball game in the Shiva playoff game. It was wonderful to watch Avi direct his team, to watch Aviad. It was like wonderful. It was so nice and it matters. I think things in this world matter. And the fact that there's an environment yesterday we went on a ski trip and people the Shiva like for bringing together worldly things matter. When I read the Torah it's all about very worldly things. When you read the whole safe for abrasions about the others is traveling, making, building, creating. This world matters a lot. People function with name a sham and people connecting and doing things together. So I always appreciate I vitalize beautiful camp. Many of us come from there. Israel winter was there many years. Akiva was there. [applause] Many of you who do you with there? You who the trip was there. So I was together with Reb Benet. We worked in that camp. We actually with teammates in leagues for many many years. We rode on Reb Benet's shoulders towards we always got like to a certain place in the playoffs but through the semi's no further. That was like our space. comfortable space. But I I really want to express appreciation that Reb Benet's here. I like idealistic people. I like presenting to the guys idealistic [clears throat] people. Reb Benet is somebody involved who has been involved in Hinukh. Today comes Stam as a friend of mine, as a friend of us but I want to I want to talk about Safros for a few minutes. Like yes, Reb Benet is a safer who's in middle of writing I believe a safer Torah. He's in middle of writing a safer Torah. I want to I want to talk about something for a few minutes. I want to talk about the mitzvah of rice. We actually have a mitzvah of the rice. One of the 613 is the the kiss for the Shira Zois. To write a safer Torah is a mitzvah of the rice. A year has a say void. Every single one of us in this room, every one of us kind, one of our 613, I would like to be my kind that mitzvah. I would I I have ways I'm my kind of now. I would like to write a safer Torah one day. As a sham, I will be as a sham. We have a mitzvah of the rice to write a safer Torah. The outer kiss for the Shira Zois to write a safer Torah. If I could share a cool story about our about our mitzvah does mitzvah of writing a safer Torah, it's a precious mitzvah. Now, the mitzvah is to write a safer Torah and learn from it. The mitzvah is to write and learn. The swaram do bring that by a small when you go by a safer, this is the Shira Zois. When you buy a safer, it's a key of the mitzvah of the rice of kiss for the Shira Zois. I like when guys buy their own swaram. Buy swaram that you need you who do you need a safer? Go to the store. You're going to prepare I like this Daniel. I beg you before Pesach. There's a couple weeks to Pesach. Go into a swaram store. English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, whatever language works for you. Buy a safer on Pesach and read it. Buy a night I try to go every year. I try another. Before a young kid, I try to find a kid. I want you to go to a swaram store from now till Pesach. We're off the Shabbos. Go to a swaram other swaram stores in Lakewood, Akiva? There are a couple. They could find one. Go to a swaram store, Akiva, and find a nice safer on Pesach that like looks tempting to you. Could ask around. you could ask friends, and you buy a safer to mitzvah d'oraisa of ot kissful chamisha as ois to write Torah. The point is to learn from it. It's as a mitzvah to write s'farim. Buying s'farim says it's part of that mitzvah. When it comes is it? Wow. That's amazing. So, Avi, I want you this week this There's a s'farim store in Passaic. Go to the store and buy a safer on Pesach. A nice safer. English, Hebrew, something that looks tempting. An author you seem to like or you heard about or somebody told you. That's a mitzvah d'oraisa. Then you read a few pieces from a safer you bought. That's a mitzvah d'oraisa of kissful chamisha as ois. Yisrael Averit told you the story what happened with our safer Torah in the mesivta. I've told you the story. We wanted in the mesivta did not have our own safer Torah. We actually were borrowing one, which was is a I don't want to say the word embarrassing. It's just not a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a The after Eli and Donny were nifter it it became like obvious to me that we should write a safer Torah for them, for the mesivta. They both were deeply connected to this mesivta, and we should have our own safer Torah. We made a safer Torah campaign, Yisrael. We made a campaign to write a safer Torah. Now, this is not taking away from any safer Torah campaign. Maybe they add to it. Typically, often, when you see you see Yisrael one of your yeshiva or a shul makes a safer Torah campaign, and And nothing wrong with this, they do is they raise money. They raise Let's say it takes $50,000 to write a safe of Torah, let's say. They'll raise $400,000, and there's nothing wrong with that, Chaim. They want to make money for the Yeshiva. It's a beautiful thing. And they also write a safe of Torah. A typical safe of Torah campaign, and there's nothing wrong. They're just doing mitzvahs, and they're also making money for a Yeshiva, which is is beautiful. We were writing a safe of Torah. We were raising money for a safe of Torah. I like I I like being focused. We were writing a safe of Torah for the Mesivta. It was not an attempt to raise money. We were literally raising money to have a safe of Torah for Eli and Dovid. And that's what we did. The safe of Torah we used yesterday morning was the Eli and Dovid safe of Torah. That money was raised by the families, by the Schonbrun family, by the King family, by the Yeshiva. We were raising money for the safe of Torah. So, we wrote a safe of Torah in the memory of these two precious guys in the Yeshiva. After the safe of Torah was I told you the story, Andrew? After the safe of Torah was completed, so one of the families wasn't ready for us to use it yet. To have a safe of Torah maybe the one of the most [clears throat] beautiful things you could be at in the world is a safe of Torah. There are three parts. I'll tell you about the simcha. It's like the nicest simcha in the world. Writing a safe of Torah. There are three parts I'll talk about in a minute. So, we wanted to have a safe of Torah. One of the families wasn't ready. And we waited and waited and waited. It was not easy, cuz we really want First, we wanted our Torah. It was written for the Mesivta for and and but the family wanted to wait. They worked hard. And I totally totally who understood. At the end of the winter's month, it was my mission now. The sun was just coming out. Mamish now. The family said we're ready for a message of Torah. We're ready. The last Sunday of this month, of the winter's month, it would be equivalent our last Sunday is a week from this Sunday. Is the last Sunday of this month. That's we're having our final Shabbos a week from this Shabbos. And then I think Monday or Tuesday the guys go home. They were leaving Akiva that Sunday night. So the last Sunday for this month the whole Yeshiva was leaving. The last Sunday of this month and the family was masking a message of Torah. It was gorgeous. It was It was one of the most beautiful events I was ever at in my life. I I even what could say Simcha Liner was in town pumped. Everything's hashgacha. And somebody called him. We had sung around Eli and Dani with with Nifter a day apart from Rachel Imenu. And we had sang in the Yeshiva a lot called Baruch Hamnishma. Rachel Imenu Rachel Imenu crying for her children. And he was pumped in town. He was He was in town for a separate reason. Somebody told him Simcha Liner Somebody told him in Rabbi Oberlander's house a message of Torah and he came to Rabbi Oberlander's house house. And he sang Kol Barama. I saw in a newspaper article somebody asked him when was the most meaningful time you ever sang your Kol Barama? And he said in Rabbi Rabbi Oberlander's house at the message of Torah. In this house Yesrael it was otherworldly. There are three parts to a message of Torah. Let me just give the camera the three parts. Part number one these are all minhagei Yesrael. Part number one is this is the >> [cough] >> coolest minhag is that the sefer always has a beautiful handwriting. And Be'ezrat Hashem I'll ask Rabbi Benet to describe a little about safrus. I have the worst handwriting in the world. I was not designed to be a safer. I have a horrible handwriting. Typically is I probably was meant to be a doctor I think. I think is I'm not certainly not a safer. Daniel, part of the at the end of the safer is worked hard. How long does it take to write a safer Torah better? Depends on how much how much >> How much hours a day? Give us a sense. If a guy works For a standard guy, each line takes about 10 minutes. And there's 245 columns. Each column has 42 minutes or 42 lines. So, you do the math. 42 * 10 * It's way more than a year. Yeah. A year is if you're working a full day on it. Is that a fear? 42 * 42 * 10 * 245 42 1,700 hours He He said 1,700 hours. >> [laughter] >> Well said, Daniel. To write a safer Torah, the bottom line is obvious. Somebody works a whole year on a safer Torah. At least a year, but I'm talking about full-time. Talking about a guy has no other job and he works yom u valayla. Takes a year to write a safer Torah. Full-time, yes, sir. So, and the safer is meticulous. Yes, he's an artist, amazing artist. The safer is meticulous and writes it like exact and works a year. The min Yisrael Moshe is bizarre. The last letters of the Torah the whole Torah is perfect. And the last letters we let people write it. Safer and typically get very nervous. Even in letting people write, I don't like this is a minix. I don't want to knock it. Some safer will say touch my hand or something. I'm not I'm I don't play that game. I'm not making fun there's such a thing. I'm either writing or leave me out. There is there such a thing? Maybe. So some people like hold the safer's hand. It doesn't it doesn't these type of things they don't work for me. What? Yeah, these things don't work for me. So some safer and do that I don't I don't want to hurt a safer, but they do it. They they wrote a beautiful safer tire and now people are coming messing up the final letters the whole gorgeous safer tire. The whole thing has to be kosher chaim. Now other safer and do the outline. This is what I ask. They do the outline and they let you do I can I can color in the lines. That I could do. But even that like to trust me I'm not great at it even that. Now some safer and let you do stuff. Even coloring in is real. That's very very real. Now it's crazy minute you throw because the last letters are not always perfect and safer and they they they use they have these things to like erase ink and they got the person worked one year. Yom of a lay line and what the reason for this minute is so needs studying. And like don't like simplify this is the reason. I don't know the reason. And safer and I've I've spoken to safer and min hug and safer and are worthy of studying. We're a holy people. Israel are min hug and like have shot them. You know this min Israel? You've seen it? You know shot in it? Gorgeous thing at the end like people messing around and coming up. You wouldn't just hold on to his hands. He said don't don't don't go for that. To me it's like it's sort of a game. Good safer and do it. I hear. I don't want to like hurt. Safer and are holy and if you hadn't do it also I don't want to knock. I like do the outline and let me fill in so that I I trust me I get the safer's hesitation. He's afraid you know some guy comes up and he worked a year on this. It's very serious. Excuse us, if turn the the person you want to maybe go to the mikvah. There things that there people I know are makpid that you want to write a letter you went to the mikvah. It's a holy thing. You're you're finishing completing a safer Torah. Hail, the reason that resonates by me. I don't want to say this is the reason for the minhag Israel. I don't know the reason. What resonates by me is even human imperfection. Every year bring your ice. Bring your ice. It's messy. It's this. It's that. Let's go. You get involved. To me something that even the messiness of the ice. Better a messy ice but people contributed than than than it's all neat and you didn't stay out of it. Bring your ice. Bring your ice. Get involved. It I remember Rabbi Russ trying to convince a guy to come to sheer. The guy said, "Rabbi, I can't sit still, right?" Russ said, "Throw spitballs. Just come. Come. Jump. Run. Make trouble. Just show up. You don't get here. Kid doesn't come and shh. Chevre, what's going Come. You're talking. We'll we'll we'll I promise we'll survive." "Come." So, the messy ice is something you throw. It's beautiful. I mean, hugim are gorgeous. Something in that nature is probably the minhag. You could say it in different ways what I'm saying, but the completion of the Torah requires you didn't come and write. You the need is not I don't know what He Reb Ben is writing a safer Torah right now. I don't see what he should do at the end and I can't I'm talking not from the sefer's perspective. I cannot fathom what the sefer feels, you know. Somebody worked putting >> stressed. >> [laughter] >> I can't imagine. Somebody I can't imagine a sefer worked his head off. There has to be a good system. I can't picture he hands the the the he hands the that the the quail to somebody. I don't know. So, first of all, guys, you need steady hands. What kind of somebody What happens if a guy messes up in ice? At the end, you have things to like erase, but it's not as nice. >> What do you want to tell us? You do show and tell. It's not as nice, but it's a big thing. It's a big thing to write in ice. Maybe we'll even have the chance today. I don't know. Again, somebody has to somebody has to come and write. So, that's wow. Shalom Aleichem. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. >> [applause] >> So, So, that's part number one of the of the K'siva Sefer Torah is is is the that's the first min you throw. Afterwards, there's dancing with the Sefer Torah. Afterwards, people dance the Sefer Torah. At this at this one, we danced it from Rabbi Oberlander's house to the Yeshiva. quite a nice quite a nice journey. So, that's step two of the of the of the party, the dancing. I love the Yidden dancing with the [music] Torah. To me, the that's part of the mitzvah of kiss for the Torah as I say is our excitement, our kavod at Torah. That's displayed and everybody dancing with the Torah. And different places, wherever you're putting the Torah and storing the Torah, the dances the Torah there. There many minchagim how that goes. People bring out the existing Sefer Torah Yisrael. There many minchagim. That event, the parents were there, the whole Yeshiva was there. It was otherworldly. Where's Yehuda Shulman? I saw Yehuda before. Your brother was at this. I have a beautiful picture of us dancing at What did you say? Yeah, beautiful picture. Ezra was there dancing. It was it was it was otherworldly, Yisrael. We danced the Sefer a to the Yeshiva. And then the third part that Kol Yisrael does by save Torah is Sodah. It's a Sodah's mitzvah celebrating Shavuot, the completion of the Torah. So, there are three parts. One day Yisrael you do your mitzvah of the Torah. You write a save a Torah, put it in a place where it's used. Don't store it in your house. If you have it in your own house, so you use it a couple of times. It should be used. Write a save a Torah that's used. People lend it You don't donate it because then you might have a to write one again. Find a way to use it. Maybe be Mavis Seder from it. Do you know anybody who writes to save a Torah and is Mavis Seder from it? They're big tzaddikim that Reb Ezzy, do you know anybody? Reb Ezzy, do you know anybody who's Mavis Seder from a save a Torah? To we we a Yid reads the Torah every week we read the parashah twice. You read the parashah. Does anybody know a Yid who's Mavis Seder from a save a Torah? To we we read the Torah twice every parashah. We read the Torah twice. So, do could somebody read it from the save a Torah itself? Did I hear Reb Ezzy did it from the save a Torah? Did you hear that? I heard it now. No, no, but I want to make sure it's accurate. Let's ask you the Reb Ezzy. Reb Ezzy. What? No, no, no, I'm not I'm not from this type. Maybe we should get a timer what maybe maybe. You know anybody who's Mavis Seder? It's hard because if you don't read well, so it doesn't have any codes, it's hard. Somebody has to know the Torah well. You who do you know anybody who's Mavis Seder from the save a Torah? Could be Reb Ezzy. Could be I heard that. Yisrael, that's the third part of the of this of this occasion. Excuse me, say for tire. We did this the last Sunday of the Yeshiva. We did these three parts. And then somebody thought we had just gotten the safer tire with Sunday. Everybody went home. We just had the the staff who lives in Waterbury was in Waterbury. We decided to read the safer tire Monday morning. The safer tire we had here we we made a minion that wasn't a minion kavourer. The high school's away. When the high school wasn't here to make a minion but we said we just wrote the safer tire. Let's we were we were itching to use it. So Monday morning we make a minion and from Crohn's starts reading and the first words we read the safer tire was written for two Bachmann nifter on the way to Yeshiva. On the way to Yeshiva two Bachmann nifter and the first words we read from the safer tire we have here none of us thought of it it's a pillar. We made a minion and it was delayed frustratingly in the first words were my name and carbon of near a sham they are mostly. About the deaths of the two sons of Aaron when they came close to a sham that's the first words we ever read from the safer tire. It was such like an exactness of run and a sense we all like felt like the moment was us. The first words we read from this precious tire were were my name and carbon of near a sham they are mostly as moments. I I'll never forget as he was there rather I'm from leads it and we all just like stunned disbelief. Nobody none of us thought of it none of us showed all that wasn't the whole thing happened very quick. Israel is that amazing the first words we ever read from the safer tire dedicated to two people who were nifter the carbon of near a sham they are mostly moments moments. This was the words. So I wanted to share that story, but I wanted to express how precious is a year being ice sick and writing a safer Torah is a big deal. It's a very, very big deal. It's our mitzvah the right so all of us have to write a safer Torah. One can pay for a safer Torah and have a shliach. One could be memuna a shliach. That's why even at the end what somebody could do is come up and say be my shliach. The filling in some people fill in the insides. Is that what some people do? It's a special quill you need to make that. Cuz normally that Cuz usually it just gets filled in automatically. So >> It's like a thinner one. Yeah, so you need like a special one to make that. So, they were so much just nervous about I don't blame I don't blame a safer at all. >> [clears throat] >> The person wrote the whole thing and it could be be memuna a shliach. Yeah. Um is is Azriel here? Before Reb Benet is going to speak, I asked him to share with us some I want the guys I want the chevra to hear about writing a safer Torah. Maybe some relevant halacha, some just to before Reb Reb Benet shares us a bit, our custom is to greet with music. Reb Benet traveled from far. Azriel, come. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are we writing our chills in the safer Torah? It's not the end. You have to come to the end. It's not the end. This is the middle. If we come to the end, you never know. How far in are you to Uh hopefully starting this one and You wait and see. You have to wait and see. Come Azriel. What's wrong with you? I don't know. I'm sorry. What's wrong with you? No idea. What did you do something wrong? Obviously. Thank you guys for that. >> [music] [music] [singing] [music] [singing and music] [music] [music and singing] >> I [music] sing in silent only to find [singing] this light that's shining bright for the one >> [singing] [music] >> above. I sing in silent only to find this light that's shining bright >> [music] >> for the one >> [singing] >> above. I can't >> [music] >> do it all my heart. I give you with all my heart. >> [music] >> Oh, yes. >> [music and singing] >> Oh, [singing] yes. Oh, yes. >> [music] [singing] >> Oh, yes. OH, YES. >> [applause] >> GOOD MORNING, MR. HARVEY. >> YEAH, NO NO. HOW'S IT GOING, MR. HARVEY? GOOD. >> [clears throat] >> ONE SONG? YEAH. Say that we all stay here. Please don't make me sing it. Cuz I won't read it. I don't want to really talk about >> [music and singing] [music and singing] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [clears throat] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [singing and music] [music] [singing] [music and singing] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [applause] [clears throat] >> Right. So, first of all, I just want to thank uh Judah for bringing me. Uh it's quite a shkacha that he uh could have texted me a couple weeks ago, software related, um and then I put two two together that Huda is actually a Dur- Is it Waterbury Durham? Like what do we call it? Like Waterbury Yeah, yeah, yeah. Part of the Wolfpack. And um I had uh tried making work and I think it worked out. So, the reason though I wanted to come here specifically, I live in Philadelphia. Um flew up here. 4 hours. Flew up here in 4 hours. Um [snorts] and the reason why I wanted to come is actually um as the Reb said, you know, to to write a Sefer Torah you have to it's a big commitment. Um and I'll I'll talk about the story about how I started and why I started. I'm not a full-time sofer. Um but when I'm writing, it gets very quiet. And when I first started writing, you know, I was going through different shiurim that I would be listening to and then I couldn't listen to anymore and then I had to go through some music that I was listening to. And then I found the Waterbury podcast. And Baruch Hashem, I think I'm like all caught up and I'm just waiting for the next episode. But when I when I do write, I actually listen to your shiur every day. And I know Rabbi I know Rabbi Klein speaks about you know, how what you guys are doing here isn't just in Durham. It's actually it's worldwide. And personally, I I'm just a random guy from Philly and I literally just listen to you guys every single day. And the fact that you guys have some Torah and you guys got some music that actually hits both sides of it. So, it keeps it fresh and exciting for me. So, I have a lot of hakaras tov to Rabbi Klein because I feel like you guys are actually all part of this journey and and Rabbi Ezi and and [applause] uh and in THIS SHIUR ALSO. SO, 5 YEARS AGO, I STARTED working at in property management in a Phil- in a in a building in Philadelphia. And the building was it it was in West Philadelphia. So, if anybody knows Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, that's where it all started. In West Philadelphia. And I was working in this building, and the building was a 369 unit 55 and older building, and it was a Section 8 building. So, if people are familiar with Section 8, people can't necessarily afford things. So, the quality of tenant wasn't the greatest, let's put it that way. And when we got there, the the building was about 40% occupied. So, if you think about it, 369 units is only 40% occupied. My job, first time in property management, was to get there, try to get the building up and running. And one of our strategies that we had was is that there was a very big veteran population in the actual building, and the veterans, we gave them pretty much the keys to this massive building to do whatever they wanted because they were they were just bored and didn't have jobs. And we said like whatever like if you want to renovate or if you use your hands or if paint or make a a room for yourself, you know, feel free to do so. And one day I walked into my office and I walk in there and it's like a it's like it's it's pretty big office, and I see from the other side, I see something that looks like a safer Torah. So, it's like one of those moments where like you're on vacation like in somewhere random and like you see somebody that you know, and you're like, "What what are you doing here? Like I'm here, what are you doing here?" It's like one of those like weird moments. And I see the safer Torah in this office in West Philadelphia, and I run over to it. I'm and and it was this massive safer Torah in my office. And I was just so confused. And I called the maintenance team, like, "What's going on? Like, who found this? What is this?" And they said that the veterans were cleaning out one of the rooms, and in one of the closets, they found this. And before throwing that out before throwing it out, like they knew we were Jewish, and they they figured, "Let me let's ask you if it's holy or not." And I said like this is like actually the holiest thing we have. Like, so thank you for not throwing it out. Happens to be that 60 years ago, this building had a very big Jewish population. The population died out, and there was there was a Torah in what was actually an aron in one of these rooms. And I called my boss and I'm like, "Alex, you're not going to believe it. I just found a safer Torah from the from company who owned the building." And the first response was, "Another one?" I was like, "What do you mean another one?" They're like, "Yeah, when we first bought the building, we found a safer Torah. It was passul. We had we had ended up burying it in shaimos. But like, there was a safer Torah that can't believe they found another one." So she's like, "I'm going to come to come back to I'm going to come down tomorrow and I'll take it and I'll bring it to the owners and see what they want to do with it." So before that, I actually invited one of my friends who I who I heard of was a sofer around around my around around Philly. And I asked him, "Do you mind coming over? I found this safer Torah." He's like, "What are you talking about?" I'm like, "I also don't know what I'm talking about." So he ended up coming over. He ended up checking it. He said it's passul. I'm like, "What should I do with it?" He's like, "You should keep it." I'm like, "It's not mine to keep." But he's like, "Yeah, but if you could convince your boss to keep it, like it's going to cost a lot of money to fix it and I'll help you fix the safer Torah." I'm like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "I'm actually starting a chaburah." This is on a Wednesday. He says, "This motzei Shabbos, we have a chaburah that we're starting. I'm going to teach guys how to do it. We're actually looking for a fifth guy. Do you want to be the fifth guy?" How do you like that? Yeah, how do you like them apples, Rabbi Zevy, right? So so it was it was and I'm like, "I'm in. I'm in." So I went on this journey, convinced my boss to actually keep the safer Torah. And it the safer Torah is still in my house. I finished learning all the the the letters, the halachos, and whatnot. And then I got to the point where I'm going to go fix this safer Torah. And he said like, "It'll be our project. Like we'll work on it like while we're doing other stuff." And they started trying to fix it. And what I noticed is is that with the old ink and the new ink, every time I'd go over a word, it just it would wouldn't pick it up. And I was I was there with my rebbe and I was like I'm like, it's going to I I I'm going to go over each letter seven times. I could probably write seven Torahs in the amount of time that it'll take me to fix fix this one that it's not even going to look nice. And he goes, "So, why don't you just write your own safer Torah?" Like, "I'm not doing that. Like, I'm a I'm a pretty regimented guy. I'm like, I want to commit to it. Like, I know how big of a commitment it's going to be." You know, if if if I do seven lines a day, which was what what I was doing at the time, it'll take me seven years. And that's like doing it like six days a week. I'm like, I as much as I want to commit, like, that's a very long commitment for my soul. He goes to me, he's like, "But, what if you start, you do it for a year, and then you stop for 2 years, and you pick it up for another year or two, and you stop?" He's like, "Let's say it takes you 20 years. Let's say it takes you 30 years. Would it be worth it?" I'm like, "Yeah, probably." He's like, "So, just start. Start and see what happens." And he convinced me to start writing a safer Torah. I started this about 2 years ago. And I started with seven lines a day. And then I pushed it to 14 lines, and I did 21 lines. And for me, as a sofer, the way that I think about it, I think about it per line. Because each line has a certain amount of space on it, and you can only fit a certain amount of letters and you're following a tikun and whatnot. But, so for me, I'm I just think lines. That's all I'm thinking. That's just that That's how I think. So, as long as I hit these lines per day, then I'm going to be able to hit my goal. And I made a sham. Hopefully, after sukkas, we'll be having a nice safer Torah. Right? Uh it would take about 2 and 1/2 years, right? And there were times that I was on and off. Summers, I I put like I just like schedule-wise, which was very difficult. Um and there have been times that I was writing 35 lines a day. So, it's practically a whole column a day, which is like crazy. Um I do go to the chiropractor twice a week. So, I do I do say that because it's like very physically. I'm in the same position, and it's it's hard. So, my neck, I wasn't able to move my neck for like the first after the first 6 weeks. My wife was like, "I'm making an appointment for you. You're going to the chiropractor." And then she did and I'm like, I do that. Um, but it's it's an incredible thing. And And what's cool about it is that, you know, Rebbe has mentioned the fact that there's literally a mitzvah one of the 613. It's actually mitzvah number 613. It's a good just fact. Mitzvah number 613 is to write a safer Torah. And only afterwards I have like, "Oh my gosh, I'm literally fulfilling this mitzvah." You know what I'm saying? I wear my kipa every single day. I was like, "I'm literally fulfilling this mitzvah." Which is an incredible thing. It was never on my bucket list. Um, I did think it would be cool if I would write my son's tefillin. I thought that would be cool at one point in my life. Yeah, so you can start. You can definitely stop stop once you start. Yeah, you can definitely stop. Yeah, like honestly the last I was I was in Israel in January. So, for those 2 weeks I like didn't I didn't barely write anything. Yeah. Yeah. You have to give to someone else. No. You can stop. Um, I mean, hopefully if you're stopping you can continue writing at some point, you know? Like if you want to They say that different sofrim should like let's say you have like five different people. So, each one wrote a different one of the five books of the Torah, right? So, somebody did Bereishit. They say that you shouldn't do that. They say you shouldn't have different sofrim writing different sections. That's what they say. Um, but if it's a scenario where somebody's let's say older and they're in the middle of writing a safer Torah and then they passed away, I'm sure there's some leniency about like let's try to finish it or whatnot. So, um, that's that's that. So, um, there's I'll I'll talk just talk about a couple of cool ideas I think that that hit me when it comes to safer Torah. Um, and um, afterwards ask some Q&A and then perhaps we will write some letters to the I don't know. I I got scared now. Rebbe whether we'll we'll write some letters, but um, hold Um, what we'll actually do is we'll do some show and tell right now. know. Yeah, I'll have you in mind. Um, well actually we'll pass these around. These are These are just sample cloth. So, if you guys want to just feel what a feel what a cloth is uh just pass it around, touch it. What? Um, so I what? This one? Cuz it's in here. Take it out. I just asked the only rule is no drinks around the safer Torah. My rabbi said he one time he was writing and some guy was holding a cup of Coke and he got bumped and spilled it all over the safer Torah and he uh yeah, he ended up like getting it out quickly, but that's the number one rule. So I don't know. We learn from his experience. Um, he actually No, no, but it's Um, I am actually I'm pretty far in. Um, I'm coming up to Ves'chanan. So, uh which is in Safer Devarim. So, out of 245 I'm up to come 205. So, about 80% done. You can start in the middle. There's no condition. So, we'll talk about that. So, there's four different main halachos and we got to go through We got to go go through this. But, there's four different main halachos when it comes to Sefer Torah or just Sefer in general. Um the first one which goes finishing the Torah. So so Yeah, we're at the end. Baruch Hashem. Yeah, we're at the end. Yeah, and then we got to do the check. We'll talk about the whole process. But, yeah, yeah, finishing parshas parshas Devarim, parshas Devarim. So So, some guys some of the halachos and this actually goes towards the Rabbi Rabbi Kales what he's saying in regards to the writing um is that one of the halachos is tsuras os, which means you actually have to have the the right shape of the letter, which sounds very silly. But, when I actually wrote an aleph for my son last week in in Tsav, he's like, "What is that? What What letter is that?" He had no idea cuz he's used to a different script. So, sura sa'os is actually very very important when it comes to hilchos Sefer Torah. So, if I would ask somebody here to write an aleph in the Sefer Torah, they might write a different type of aleph. Or if they write a dalet or a yud, which is very seems very simple to write a yud and some say you could just make a dot as a yud. We don't poskin like that. But, there's certain things that you're going to need certain crowns. They're not ma'akev, but there are different parts to actually writing all the different letters. Another halacha is this idea of hekef gevila, which means that each letter has to be fully surrounded by parchment. So, let's say you have two letters touching each other, so each letter is not fully surrounded. Right? Makes sense. Let's say there's a letter that is on the on the on the bottom line of the Sefer Torah. So, for example, it's it's like lying right on the bottom over here, so it's not doesn't necessarily have hekef hekef gevila because it's nothing underneath it. So, that's also another halacha you need to have. Um another one is kasidran. So, kasidran is an interesting one because it actually only applies to mezuzah and to tefillin. Kasidran means you actually have to write it in order. Which is a big bracha because if you're writing a Sefer Torah, you find a mistake in it, if it was kasidran, you can't fix it. If you think about it, right? Because if you're fixing a mistake, so then you're not actually writing it in order. When it comes to tefillin and mezuzah, and the reason why they're so expensive is expensive is because they need to write it in a specific or in in an order. So, what hap- what happens when somebody actually makes a mistake in tefillin, a sofer, or it writes a makes a mistake in tefillin or in mezuzah, they'll actually stop, they'll correct the mistake, and then they'll continue. But, you can't go back and fix it. So, for me, I have many lines on the side that, you know, I just want to clean up and whatnot, so I could do that in a Sefer Torah. Right? But, when it comes to uh mezuzah and tefillin, you can't do that. You actually have to write it in the in in the right order, and that's why right? Reb Bunim I believe asked, "Do I have to start from the beginning?" The answer is no, because it doesn't have to be considered. There's actually certain times at the end of the line where I know I have one word left and I have a lot of space, and there's certain letters you can stretch and certain letters you can't stretch. I'll actually write some of the letters going backwards to make sure that it's going to fit appropriately, right? So, you actually have to think about all these things when you're writing. I made many mistakes where I didn't keep that in mind, and now I have like a massive space where I got to erase like two words in order to like make it longer. So, it's like a whole thing that you have to like think about when it comes to that. But, one of the most interesting halachas that I I and I would I would be curious to hear what the rabbi here has to say, cuz I have a kasha on this. I think it's a nice idea, but I got a kasha on it, so it's not it's not amsak yet. Is that there's a halacha of um chok tochos, okay? So, let's say somebody has Let's say I'm I want to write a mem sofit, right? So, I want to make this like square, but by accident my ink spills, whatever it is, but I have this blotch, blotch of ink. And instead of me writing the letter, what do I want to do is I just want to scrape out the middle of that of that letter, or I can just cut it out around the edges. So, instead of me creating the letter, I'm detracting from the ink in order to create the letter. You guys get it? Everyone got that? So, there's a halacha you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to create a letter by taking away from it. And I think it's a beautiful idea if you think in just in general, just us as being productive and and and people who want to add things is like we want to be proactive, and we want to add to things. We don't want to detract in order to make something. So, you can make an aleph, you can make a mem, you can do it You can make any letter by either taking away from it and creating the letter, or by adding to it. And I think it's a beautiful idea that we have this that that that that I think we have. The only kasha I have is bris milah. What does Rabbi say? That's a good kasha. So, you're asking about bris milah that we make ourselves shalom by subtracting. So, that's different than this concept. I I have an answer, so anybody has an answer, I love I love the p'shat. Um but um but I I think the reason Yeah, the question the question is there is a um there's a halakha when it comes to writing a letter that you can't detract in order to create the letter. So, if you have a big blotch of ink, I can't use an eraser to sharpen out a letter in order to create it. So, I think it's just a beautiful idea in terms of like the idea of you know, we want to proactively create letters as opposed to detracting in order to create something. Like you don't want to like make fun of a guy in order to build yourself up. Like that's how that's what I think about. Right? You want to pick another guy up and that helps bring you up also. So, the kasha I have on that is bris milah. The whole idea is we're take we're getting rid of something in order to make ourselves complete, make ourselves whole. So, I don't know how how it fits. And the reason why is So, there's a gemara I wrote over here, right? In P'sachim. So, Rav Shimon Hamtzunei talks about the idea where he went through every single "s" in the Torah. Right? And he darshened things out of it. So, when it says um "Kaved es avicha v'es imecha", it's talking about your older brother. And every single time it says the word "es", and I'm telling you somebody who's writing all the "s"im in the Torah, there are a lot of "s"im in the Torah. All right? It's a very very common word. And it was incredible, the fact that he came to one pasuk and he wasn't able to find out what it meant. And what he said is that the whole thing is like Okay, if if if it doesn't work for this one "s", then I must be wrong. And I think it was It took such courage from him until Rabbi Akiva came along and he said, "No, it it it even includes talmidei chachamim and whatnot." But the whole idea that, you know, we we all have these these these things that I think we want to we want to add. We want to be amastek. And I think this is something that Rabbi Kalish, you know, tries to do. And I think this is why so many people, you know, flock towards you, Rabbi. It's like, we're so it's such emes. It's so right. And it just makes so much sense. So, first of all, just thank you in general, but um that's that's my question on chok tovos. I have a another idea. Do you want to do a niggun first? Yeah? Yeah. Another niggun first? Yeah. Rabbi, what's what's your second initial thought about that question? Talking with the congressman. They're safe for writing to >> [clears throat] >> No. I'm going to That's That's what I'm going to >> [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing and music] [music] [singing] >> Oh. >> [music] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [singing] [music] [singing and music] >> Yeah, yeah, >> [music and singing] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [singing and music] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [music and singing] [music and singing] [music] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [singing] [singing] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [singing] [music] [singing] >> Yeah, yeah, >> [music] [singing] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [music] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [singing] [music] [music and singing] [music] >> So there's Rabbi Hirsch mentioned before the fact that some people go to the mikvah before writing. So really it's a strong minchag to have mikvah. It is Well that there you go. So you could to go to the mikvah it's a strong minchag to go, but it's really for the shemos. Meaning it's for Hashem's name. All of Hashem's name. When it's referred to him as Hashem's as Hashem. You don't need to go in before each letter, each time each word, but you go one time in the morning and then it covers covers your day for you. So it's two doors down from my house, thank god. Um but what something that I'm doing actually is I'm actually skipping shemos. And then I'm going to have mikvah days where I'll just go in and I'll just go because there are certain days that I'll be writing that actually won't come to Hashem. And there just just keep myself moving forward and making sure that I'm actually going to do this thing. I needed to strategize around is this something my rabbi did? So I feel like okay I could do this also. Um and I'm going to go back. I have to be more cautious about it making sure I leave enough space and all that stuff. But it's something that's that that that that some people do. Another idea I heard a beautiful idea I heard actually also when it comes to to writing in general is that when you write a word before you write it, you have to say how ready you go save before you start before you're sitting. Um and then you actually have to say the word before you write the word. Okay? So you say the word before you actually write the word. The question is why? Why do you have to say the word? So maybe it helps you focus. Maybe Before every word you write, you say the word. It's a It's a It's a strong another strong minag. Okay? But you're supposed to say the word. Say for Torah, megillah, mezuzah, whatever you're writing. Okay? Every time you say Shem Shem, there's a special Harayni Harayni Kosev that you say. But when you write the word Harayni Kosev Shem Kedusha Shem. And you say and then you write it. That's what When I So in the morning when I sit down, I say Harayni Kosev Shem Kedusha Shem for Torah, and then that covers me for my for my sitting and whatnot. Uh but every time I say write a Shem's name, Harayni Kosev Shem Kedusha Shem, and then I write a Shem's name. There's a beautiful idea I think when it comes to actually writing a Shem's name or just writing any of the words, when you say the word, what what's the shot? So when we were all created, when Adam was created Hashem, we all know, blew into blew into Adam a neshama. And we all as individuals all have that neshama inside of us. And that's a beautiful shot. I think I think it's some type of Kabbalah that when we're writing the words in the Torah we are Keviyachol Lavdil, like Hakadosh Baruch Hu, are blowing the neshama into the letters. So we're actually creating the letters. And there's a Gemara, I believe it's in Avodah Zarah, but Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon and when he when he was alive, he was one of the Asarah Harugei Malchut, so it's one of the 10 people that were that were killed. 10 10 great rabbis that were killed. And there was a ban on teaching Torah. And regardless, he still continued to teach Torah. And the Romans found out about it. And we're going to kill you. So what did they do? They They made they magic like this whole big procession. They brought everybody to like the town square as you can imagine. And they took a Torah. They wrapped it around him. And they lit him on fire. They burned him. They burned him to death. And while he was burning his talmidim asked him, "Rebbe, like looks like something's going on in there. Like what what's going on?" Because they saw he was like looking up. And he said, "The cloth is burning, but the letters they're going up to shamayim. I see the letters going up to shamayim." And I believe as a sofer is writing the letters, he's not just writing the letter, but he's saying it. He's actually giving chiyus to each one of the letters. And I think I personally think that's what Rebbe Chanina was actually looking at. He saw each letter happens to be on a cloth, but it's the letters themselves. And I think it just says so much about the way that we talk, the things that we say, not just about holy stuff, but even internally. Like I do a lot of work with like guys in high school and got you you young adults. And the negative self-talk that we have about ourselves, we don't think we we don't think it actually has any it has doesn't doesn't have an effect on us. But it's such a deep effect on us. We we we don't understand it. And because we don't understand it, we continue to do it. But if we could just understand how a little bit, hey, you know what? The way I talk about myself, the way I talk to other people, the way even if I'm by myself I'm just talking out loud, like it really has a deep effect on us. And I think that story from Rebbe Chanina Rebbe Chanina ben Dosa, like he literally saw letters flying because in essence those were actual letters that were brought into the world. And to me that was something that I think is that is that is very powerful when it comes to actually writing. Every day, every time I say a word, that I have to write the word, say the word, and actually giving it a chiyus. And to me that's like a beautiful thing that that I can What did Rebbe think? That's That's Um Anybody have any specific questions? Answer some questions that I had had questions. And then afterwards maybe we'll write some letters, yeah? Yeah. If I say something negative about myself, I believe So what's the difference? So it's not not Torah related but is it true? I just don't say it but I still believe it. About what? Saying it versus not saying it? Yeah, let's talk about the tagin. So the the crowns, so the the tagin the crowns are actually nama akiv on a safer Torah which means that if you don't have them they're it's still a kosher safer Torah. Which also means if you think about it, this is where it gets a little like in in into the details. If somebody is sitting there writing a mezuzah and they forget crowns, so is that considered to can they go back or not? Because technically you're not you have to write it in order but if a crown isn't akiv are you allowed to write or not? I believe the answer is yes. Double check on that. But they're crowns there's there's three crowns and there's one crown so there's shotness gets shotness gets are all the letters so shin ayin um tes nun zayin gimel and tsadi are the letters that have three crowns. There's another acronym for the ones with one and some don't have any. I don't know the deep secrets. I don't know the deep secrets. You got to speak to Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva speak to Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva that's what they said. They used to darshan the the tagin so there is something there. You put the crowns while you write the letter So it's a different mahalkin. So Huda does differently. So I do it as I'm writing. Huda does it after but both Really? You put it in you put it after you write it. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. is What has Huda written thus far? How long you been writing? And what is Huda in the middle of writing? Who is not in the middle of? He's in the middle of writing. Yeah, yeah. Tell us a little more about you. Who's Who's Beautiful. Beautiful. Cuz it's nicer than mine. Nicer than mine, for sure. Um Huda has a beautiful style. I'm sure if you follow his status, you'll see all the other cool stuff that he does. And he writes as he's banging out like one of them two. You should see him on his status. That's That's what he's doing. Um the feather that Chochmah brings down that you have to use a What's the word? [snorts] Kutz. A kutz. Yeah. Reed. Is that it? Kutz. A kutz. A reed. Okay. A feather is not a reed. A feather is a newer iteration of what Allah actually talks about. So, a reed is like one of those like long I I believe it's one of those things in like a swamp. Some type of plant or some type of something like that. Um so, a feather is actually not even the thing that Allah talks about. Why? How? Why? I don't know. At some point in history it changed to a feather. Um nowadays people actually have this really cool pen, very fancy pen that Huda has. Quill? That's a quill. It's a ceramic quill. Oh, baby. Yeah. If anybody wants to sponsor mine, please do. It's pretty loud. It's pretty loud. Doubles as a mini guitar. Um and and we were we were talking about this before. So, which one Which one's better? Is it better to use a feather? Is it better to use the quill? Right? The Sura wise, this seems like it's a lot longer. However, the quill it's going to be more consistent because every column or so I have to sharpen this, which is a skill in itself to learn how to sharpen. And then also, if it's not sharp, if it's dull, it's not going to look as nice, not going to look as sharp. The quill, on the other hand, is going to look sharp, is going to look the same every single time. What? What's on the other hand? The This. This is actually This is a lot sharper. So, this dulls very easily. This is not supposed to dull ever, or at least that's what they say. No, so this is made out of ceramic and this is just a feather. The feather has to be from a kosher bird. And the cloth the cloth has to be from a kosher kosher animal. Most people use cows just because it's apparently the biggest. Um but you can apparently use like a bird also for a cloth. >> What made you choose this size? Is there a hidden or a certain For me, when I write smaller I have more control over it. Yeah. And also I don't want such a big safer Torah. So, I would feel like a medium size. If I do it again, which I'm not not not now, I'll probably go even smaller. You can write neither when you write small. >> I For me personally, I write neither when I write small. >> The quill would have to be smaller than that. The quill is a lot smaller. Yeah. And if you if you look at look at the feather over here. Pass this one around, but I really don't want to. Can I trust the feather? Yeah. All right. And then the rabbi says, "No, don't do it." I have a question. What's the size? Yeah. It's so boring. That's why I listen to you guys. Yeah. No, I get I get bored very It's It's a It's a long time. Like I nowadays Not now, but when I when I was in the zone, I was doing about 2 and 1/2 hours a day. Wow. >> And it's very it's very boring. Sometimes it's very boring. But you try to remind yourself this is something that I want to do. Um and then you hit milestones. I was making milestones for myself. Uh getting into the divan was a big milestone. And then throughout the Torah you also see cool different things that you that are not normal throughout the rest. So, sometimes they'll have a letter that's bigger. There's actually one letter which I never knew this. And some by the way Korea actually misses. I forgot where it is. I made a video I somewhere. Um there is a letter that's There's a letter I think I think it's a vav somewhere that is actually cut in half. Shalom. Shalom. Yeah. It would be like some holocaust are mistaken here. Yeah, it's supposed to be there's one. YES. YEAH, there you go. Yeah. What's shot? What? What's up shot Reb Ezi? Cuz cuz cuz what? Let's sing a song. >> [applause] >> Oh oh I know. CAN I SAY ARE you asking me? There you go, amazing. Right? Sure. I got it. Yeah, I I heard another idea. Yeah. I heard I heard idea that it wasn't the best way that he did it. Meaning cuz he had that kill because he had Zimri. It wasn't the best way. So it wasn't really shot, it was shalom for uh You ever heard of shot on the on the shalom why it's cut to him? Because uh You know we say shalom. I'm not saying I am but Yeah. Where do you buy cloth from? It's a great question. Not on Amazon. Um there is I get my stuff from Israel, from Eric I stroll. Um there's places in my city you can get. It happens to be in the states it's a lot more expensive. So I usually buy like a a bulk at a time and then Yeah. Where do you buy it from? In Eric I stroll. Yeah, the supplies for a safer tour itself the cloth I think cost around $3,000 total. Um and then feathers are like very cheap. And then the ink probably like one or two bottles of ink for for all of them. A lot of like that, yeah. Yeah, so yeah, just like a lot of time. What? So there's no brocha but there's a there's I say I knew the same for Torah and then I just say the word and write. So there's no actual brocha on it. There's something to I think get you on the zone. No, just once when I sit down, every time I sit down and do it. Have you heard the cash of There's no you never finish the mix. You were asking when would you make the brocha? You make it at the start, you're still writing. You just says when would you make it if you made a brocha? What would be the last season? And if you have a mix that continues so long, what's an example of mix that goes long and yet we make a brocha at the beginning? Learning. I want to do You have a mix of that. What did you say? I want to do mix of that. I think I all right. >> [laughter] >> Wait, so what was the That's the shot? It's also it's it's a de rasha, so So somebody will make a shas. They don't have to make it and like they'll eat a new fruit or make a shas for yom tov. But it's not a specific bracha on this one. I got to look into it. I I think the p'shat that's brought it's not that that part of the mitzvah is to learn from it. That on the learning we have a bracha, but that's only if It's only if it's there is a bracha on the mitzvah. I saw that though good If you write it and never read from it, are you mekayem kislach? If a person writes a sefer Torah and never reads from it, I don't know if you're mekayem kislach as I say. The chiyuv is to write and to read cuz the similar chiyuv is to write and then learn it. Yeah, from that Torah is to write If a person writes a sefer Torah and never use it, is it a kiyum or v'ezeh? If a person writes a sefer Torah and never use it, puts it away and never uses it. You're not yotzei kislach. Who has to use it? The point of writing is to learn from it. So could be because of that. >> is I'm not yotzei? Yeah, I don't know. If someone else learns I think Rashi just disagreed. That's what just happened. >> I'm sure. Neither is everybody else. Somebody writes a safe entire never learns to pass on that year. So when would you make the bracha? I'm sorry. Right. I think that if I wrote it would I have to learn from it or would someone else learn from Somebody else could learn from it as long as somebody else That would make sense then there's no bracha because it has Since the rebbe rebbe suggested >> has a bracha that actually No, it's funny how it's the entire right kiss of the Torah Rebbe Rebbe said in the beginning of the safer Torah you don't want to write it cuz you might not finish. And then the last let's say made a mistake. Did you ever I believe that's why they that's why they said there's no bracha. Really? What What about finishing If you finish it and check it then I got to look into it. It could happen. I swore this guy said that if you don't learn you're not yotzei. I think that's part of He said that the mitzvah is with the learning and the learning has a bracha. I guess I'll have to learn out of it. I don't think it's zikaron afterwards a person should read to be What a party. Should we do mine? Everyone to say nice. Could you tell the chevre I want the guys to hear this. Judah Josh I want Josh. Reb Benet tell the chevre about the You guys have noticed in the safer Torah there scratches? Oh, yeah. Could you tell the camera about that? Judah, I want you to see it. Come closer. Come up. Everybody come up. Yummy, yummy, come up. Yehuda, come closer. I want you to see this. Yeah. It's actually actually It's actually a really cool idea. Come check this out. Yehuda, I want you to see this. You see there lines here? Yeah. It's called a sear tool. Is that the mean So, tomorrow I'm getting that Zion. It's called a Right. How do you make them? I don't make them. They usually don't let me, yeah. They don't let lefties, right? What's That's true. So, I think if you are only a lefty, I think you can. People say it, but if you're ambidextrous, which my son is, I'm nervous. It's more complicated. Yeah. I write with my right hand stronger, and I write with my left hand, so I'm They never let me. Why? Is that Is that a sign of confusion? Like what what what's the This is >> [laughter] >> I'm saying what the Lefties are not considered to be This is likuva, the See this, Judah? People don't notice the lines here. They're likuva. All right, that's good. It's been a while. Sear tool, the lines, the Yeah. So, this one This one doesn't have it. If you can see, this one doesn't have it. When the When the guy who actually cuts it, he has a machine that scrapes. And I And I believe he actually says I really go save also like for that. So, when you buy this cloth at all this With the lines. I didn't know that. You write and you use those lines, those So, So, they're they're margins here. If you see the margins What? My finger's on My right hand is like the bottom. This is where you stop. This is where you stop. The margin on the bottom is bigger than the one on top. That's how you know what's the top, what's the bottom. Um For me, whenever I have a triangle, it means a shame. One of the shames I have to put in. Whenever I have a line, it's usually after a shame because I usually keep an extra word out, so it gives myself a little more conservative with the lines, or it's it And if a question mark is a major that the clean up or whatever. Do you have Who does the the stitching the cloth and together you do also? >> So my McGill as I did and it took me like 2 hours to do like four pieces which is like really only three connections. I'll say if I'm not sure I'll do all of them. Maybe I'll do one or two but it's going to take forever. >> So is this someone else's work? You have your whole safe entire now in pieces? >> Yeah, the whole thing comes in pieces, yeah. So are you going to give it to somebody? >> to somebody to check. >> This professional stitching >> I'm sure they'll I'm sure it's by somebody. Oh wow. I'm Do you know how to lay it? I know it has nothing to do with Um I used to No, I'll probably once finish writing. How often do you have to start dancing? >> [laughter] [laughter] >> Can you can you skip Can you skip This is the end of it? You're allowed to skip a word. Yeah, I used to What's chatting then? You make lots of mistakes. I'm hugging myself exactly. Inevitably you're going to make mistakes. The Orach Chaim Shulchan Aruch said today I love that he set up minhagim. The Orach Chaim Shulchan Aruch was prior on respecting minhag Yisrael. He even got in trouble. He explains why ladies didn't cover their hair when they were making Yeah, and he like defended the minhag to to like the end of the world. Yisrael did but there's a big lesson to like learn minhag of the side of Chaim Shulchan Aruch. He said about saving the world. I didn't know that I didn't know that you have to see it. >> Can you Let's say you like get up to like a hard word and you're just like can you skip over a word and come How long does it take to finish? >> You'll skip over and come back to it. You're not going to forget about that word. I'll make a mark So you won't skip that much. You just skip the hardest letter. Yeah. There's so much going on. A lot of money has been money though. Get like 50 100 dollars. But it's elegant. Are we writing letters or we're not writing them? Uh yeah, we're going to write letters. That's what I said. That's what I said to the people. Regarding the of where a letter has What are the kids writing? We're writing. They'll go crazy. You know about it. Why does it really matter if it's Are we writing? Are we writing? If you don't know about it. Are we writing? Are we writing? Are we writing? If you do letters in church you make it so recognized. What do you say? Is there Do they have a office? Stencil an outline and then fill it in or they like draw the outline by hand? I'm saying why Why do they have that outline? Yeah, if you can if you can still read it, why does it really matter? make the rules. And if you mess up once like a little thing you just have to throw it out. Wait, how are we writing them? So so shamos. How can we even write it? If you mess up on the sham's name. So any erasing These are the erasers I use when I when we're when we're sharpening when we're erasing stuff. Sharpening our pencils. I sharpen the feathers. If somebody if somebody messes up on a sham's name. So you're not allowed to erase a sham's name. It's not his sham's name if you messed up. Oh ho. But let's say you say good. But let's say you mess up on the last letter. So you created a hey and then by accident you wrote a munches or something. That happens. And you had it there for a second. Right? So there's certain there's certain sofers who are so good with the razor that they can actually cut out the letter and lift it up. Very few people that can do that. Um otherwise I think you actually have to you cut out just the hey and cut out the wow. And it wasn't the wow. Um hours of work. But you have a magnet file. What if that ever happened? What? What if you just mess up on a regular letter? Regular letters I can just I can erase. Have you ever messed up on a god's name? I was going to ask Oh shalom not not What was your biggest What was your biggest boo boo? And had any deals? The biggest boo boo was really really embarrassing. It's like camera. It's It's good for me. I um When I started writing, I didn't want to