B'dieved Mezuzahs

When my husband and I bought our first mezuzah, we asked the man at the store if we could inspect the klaf and he said sure and handed us a stack of them. We looked at all of them and chose the one that we thought looked neatest and most painstakingly written. (Obviously neither of us is a sofer, but we used our own judgment).

When I rented an apartment, we had the mezuzos we inherited from the previous tenant. We had them inspected and found they were kosher but not mehudar at all. The sofer said he’d say 2 of them were kosher b’dieved. We replaced all the mezuzos with mehudar ones.

Shortly after, we bought a house. We got lucky that while a Jewish tenant was taking over our apartment, the landlord wanted to do a lot of work there first, so we were told to take the mezuzos with us. We needed more than what we had in the apartment, so I called my uncle who is a sofer and asked him to get me some. He lives pretty far from me, but luckily, we moved in May, and a co-worker of mine was visiting his in-laws for Pesach, who live near my uncle. He brought them back for me.

It turned out we mis-counted the number we’d need, and were one short. I put up one of the old non-mehudar ones temporarily, and ordered one more mehudar one. When it came, I switched it. I gave the others to a Rav who told me he could use them to give to people sometimes when they needed them quickly.

am also a seasoned baal koreh, and have seen ksav from ancient to new, from east to west, and I understand how letters spring, fade, crack, and wear. Buy mehudar, but never have it checked without planning to replace, because given the qualities of the ink and the klaf, when unrolled from that tight wrap, the letters will have vertical cracks. This is also somewhat of a problem with parshiyos shel rosh. A hardedned liquid applique to a flexible base, it does not fold well.

If you have a gentle touch you should be able to unroll a mezuzah without cracking it

ryaakovweinbergztlfan: As someone who is also in the business, that number sounds a little high. You can get lechatchilah mezuzos for as low as $35 if you know where to look (not factoring in checking because at that price it’s a mixed bag). Mehudar start at 55, 60 or so.

twisted: That is simply not true. Sta”m ink can last for decades, sometimes centuries without cracking. Also, many sofrim (I haven’t but I don’t write for sochrim) have switched to a flexible ink called dyo lanetzach that doesn’t crack at all.

In E”Y, after talking with many avreichim and after moving into many apartments that have had previous kollel families living in them, and myself trying to be careful about mezuzos, I have more than once found that the people before you are “relying on the people before them.” And, many times, it traces back to someone who wasn’t the biggest yarei shomayim, and, at times, even someone who wasn’t really frum! One guy told me, “we don’t even use those doors!” and, lo and behold, the mezuzos were pasul. I found a mezuza was even put in UPSIDE DOWN in an apartment: TWICE. So many b’nei Torah don’t even think about it – and they after all told me excuses.

Then, ESPECIALLY after talking with sofer friends, about checking their friends mezuzos in rentals in E”Y, DO NOT trust what came before you. ALWAYS check. Besides the fact you need to check twice in seven years. Call your local gemach to borrow to go and check. If you don’t have one, make one. If you can’t make one, take some maaser and donate to one.

A person could inspect the klaf against a reputable tikkun sofrim.

I have seen a handful of mezuzah cases that are partially glass, so you can see a bit of the klaf. So far I haven’t found one I like, which is a shame, since I do think the klaf should be displayed if possible.

Oppen Scrolls is off Rockaway Turnpike in Lawrence, not Far Rockaway. It is in the parking lot right on the block between the LIRR tracks and the BOGO Pizza place.