Yated Ne’eman Israel in its Tuesday 27 Tammuz edition publishes a report pertaining to the kashrus of tefilin. The sad news is that R”L many persons are wearing pasul tefilin while making a bracha and believing their tefilin are kosher and in many cases mehadrin/mehudar.
There have been reports in the past pertaining to pasul retzuos manufactured by people who are clueless to halacha or simply because a factory owner realized a new business opportunity without concerning himself with the halachic ramifications of his actions.
According to the Yated report, today, the situation is far worse as the economic realities surrounding leather tanneries in Israel today are such that it is a dying business, one that does not turn a major profit. While the leather for tefilin may have been prepared in Israel in the past, few are continuing to do it today.
Yated reveals the marketplace has been flooded with retzuos that are pasul, including some sold as ‘mehudar’ and ‘avodas yad’. At times, a synthetic layer is glued to the retzuos with a heating process and while it is not detectable, it is a part of the retzuos which are quite pasul.
Yated conducted testing that anyone can do at home, using an organic solvent that can be purchased in any paint store. This solvent revealed the painful reality, that the pasul retzuos have flooded the marketplace, made of two layers rather than in accordance to halacha.
Yated turned to HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shaul Klein, who published a warning for all to be aware of the troublesome reality in the tefilin marketplace.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
I do not understand this. Everyone should be bringing their Tefilin in to a Sofer to check two times every seven years. So this issue should have been detected on the first time the Tefilin were brought to the Sofer after they were purchased (for the Bar Mitzvah or whenever.) So it should have been realized, on average, within 3 and half years after the Tefilin were first bought.
Yeshivaworld editor: It would be a big chessed to provide a list of locations (Sofrim, Judaica stores, etc.) that were carrying these Pasul Retzuos. That will help people know up front if they may have a problem.
חוטא ומחטיא את הרבים????ם????
Why and how could they? What’s the rationale?
How could it even be explained???
Can we have a direct link or a pdf copy of the actual Yated story & Rav Klein’s warning?
Is there agreement amongst major poskim that there is a problem? People should be careful not to become alarmed by whatever new halocha scandal comes up. It is important to look to the major poskim for guidance and to follow whatever they feel is the proper way.
Doc, I believe you are confused with Mezuzos. If Tefilin are tightly sealed and not left in hot/cold areas, they do not need to be checked. Surely not twice every 7 years.
To no 1 who calls himself doc
You are dead wrong. There’s no Halacha that your tefilin need to be checked twice every 7 yrs. so next time you post stupid comments get a clue first & learn a little something. I mean open the books go to a class SOMETHING! Is that too much to ask??
#1′
You write “Everyone should be bringing their Tefilin in to a Sofer to check two times every seven years”
There is no halacha that tefillin need to be checked EVER (as long as they have a chezkas kashrus and there is no reason to believe that they became pasul).
also, until this story broke, there was no reason to belive that such a thing was being done, therefore this issue was never checked for.
Anon21. Have you ever heard of Ona’as devarim? Derache’ha darchei noam? Misga’eh b’klon chaveiro?
One who belittles a fellow Jew, especially when he seems to enjoy it, is not a ben torah or Talmid Chacham no matter how much he knows.
How can one do the test. What type of solvent. Can you post instructions please