The Beis Din of Crown Heights (Badatz) issued a public letter on Friday, 1 Tammuz, 5785:
In continuation of our earlier letter from 7 Shevat, regarding the kashrus of Tefillin and Mezuzos written by Mr. Yaakov Shlomo Itzkovitz (from the city of Zinkov, in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine):
We have been informed that there are still mezuzos and tefillin circulating in the market that were written by him, and they continue to be found among STaM dealers and checkers, despite the fact that they are obligated to protect the sanctity of STaM and are warned not to enable others to stumble (chas v’shalom).
It has therefore been decided that to facilitate the overall correction process, a special time slot has been set aside in the Beis Din offices—every Wednesday between 5:00–7:00 PM.
At this time, mezuzos and tefillin may be brought in to compare their handwriting to that of this particular sofer.
To do this, one must call the Beis Din during these hours at the phone number listed below (and provide the names of those bringing in the items).
Since this is a serious matter, we hereby notify the public to urgently act with anyone known or suspected to have mezuzos or tefillin written by this sofer—so that it will be possible to determine whether they are indeed his writing, and whether the items are kosher or invalid, as was stated in the previous letter.
And may it be His will that in the merit of keeping kosher STaM, we will merit the fulfillment of the verse: “And all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of Hashem is called upon you and they shall fear you” (Devorim 28:10).
This will remove all harm from upon us and the world, and then we will merit good news with Hashem’s kindness, the complete Torah and complete redemption, with complete faith in the immediate coming of our righteous Moshiach.
With blessing,
Rabbi Avraham Osdoba
Rabbi Yosef Yeshaya Braun
347-522-2050
Maybe it should be publicized who is selling these articles.
When a kosher grocery store sold non kosher meat the store was named. There was no notice that in our community there is a store selling non kosher meat.
The store selling these mezuzas are continuing to sell them since shvat. The time has come to be honest to the consumer and the store must be held accountable.
What about Shluchim that can’t bring their Mezuzahs.
Plase let us know where they were sold them
The translation has many mistakes, here is a correct one: _Free Translation_ *Beis Din of Crown Heights* BH, Friday, Rosh Chodesh Tammuz 5785 To Whom It May Concern Following our letter of 4 Shevat last year, regarding the kashrus of Tefillin and Mezuzos written by Mr Yaakov Shlomo Itzkowitz (from the town of Zinkiv, Poltava region, Ukraine), Whereas it is known to us that Tefillin and Mezuzos written by the aforementioned are still present in the market (the blame for which rests squarely with the sellers and dealers in Stam, whose sacred duty it is to guard diligently against causing… Read more »