Safrus Expert Claims Ksav Chabad is “Extremely Problematic”

By Rabbi Eli Gutnick, a Chabad sofer stam in Melbourne, Australia, and founder of the International STa”M Forum

I have received a recording from several people over the past few months and I probably should have responded to this earlier. It is indeed disturbing to hear such a distinguished personality in the STa”M world speak with such obvious exaggeration and overt bias against Ksav Chabad.

Ksav Chabad has become a common name for what is known as “Ksav Hameyuches” or “The Alter Rebbe’s ksav.” This is an ornate, older style ksav which originated centuries ago in Russia, and was said to have been taught by the Alter Rebbe himself to his sofer Reb Reuvain. (In this article I refer to this ksav mainly as the “Alter Rebbe’s Ksav”. Chabad also use Ksav Arizal, which is considered more mainstream in the sofrus world.)

The person speaking in the recording is Rabbi Reuvain Mendlowitz. He is a popular American sofer and posek residing in Israel who wrote a very well-received book called “Inside STa”M”, available in both English and Hebrew. On the whole, he seems to be quite a learned and sensible person, and I often refer people to his book. This recording was taken from a talk he gave to a group of Rabbis at Yeshivah University on the topic of “Basics of Hilchos Sta”M For Rabbis.”

VIDEO: From the website YUTorah.org

About 15 minutes into his talk he discusses the concept of the different types of ksav (writing styles) available today. Ksav Beis Yosef is used by Asheknazim/ Litvish, Ksav Arizal is used by Chassidim/Nusach S’fard, Ksav Velish is used by Sephardim, and ksav Chabad (the “Alter Rebbe’s Ksav”) is used by many Lubavitchers. He goes on to explain that it’s better to use a Beis Yosef sefer in a Litvish shul, rather than Arizal or Velish.

This makes perfect sense. In a similar vein, a Chabad Shul, for example, would prefer an Arizal Or Alter Rebbe ksav to a Beis Yosef ksav. It is not their minhag, and likewise a Sephardic shul would want none of the above. A responsible seller of Sifrei Torah, who has customers from different backgrounds, would first need to ask what type of Shul the Sefer is going to. He should then offer options only with the appropriate ksav – for the simple reason that the receiving shul would rather not use something that is not their custom.

However what Rabbi Mendlowitz says next is nothing short of shocking. He says that (unless you are Chabad) the Alter Rebbe ksav is basically not acceptably kosher. He describes the ksav as “spidery” and brings examples of letters that are “extremely problematic”.

What is even more puzzling is that Rabbi Mendlowitz is a long-standing talmid of Rabbi Mordechai Freidlander Z”L of the Vaad Mishmeres Stam. I also received my ordination as a sofer from Rabbi Freidlander and we often discussed the Alter Rebbe’s Kasv (as I have with other mainstream poskim) and no such sentiment was ever expressed. On the contrary, I find that many outside Chabad often marvel at it’s hiddur and aesthetic beauty.

Of course, just like any ksav, the Alter Rebbe Ksav can have problems and shailos. It is a very difficult ksav to write, and should only be written by a mumche (expert). This is why (on average) it is more expensive than other writing styles. There are plenty of competent sofrim in Chabad who can write it in a beautiful and punctilious halachic manner.

Yet, Rabbi Mendlowitz doesn’t say that. He asserts that the ksav is inherently problematic – for anyone outside Chabad. It seems that he is saying that even a top-level Alter Rebbe Ksav would (often) be problematic and the only reason why one could make a bracha on such a sefer Torah is by relying on the leniency of the Rambam. (The Rambam maintains that one may make a brocha (bedieved) on a possul sefer Torah). Furthermore, saying that it’s only kosher for Chabad insinuates that somehow Chabad does not follow Shulchan Aruch – and that Ksav Chabad is based on some odd, unacceptable tradition.

As a matter of fact, The Alter Rebbe ksav is almost identical to the typical Russian ksav that was written by everybody in the times of the Alter Rebbe (and even much later). This is well established, and even today, many used Torah vendors attempt to sell old Russian Arizal sifrei Torah as “The Alter Rebbe Ksav” because it is practically the same. (It is accepted that certain small nuances were specified by the Alter Rebbe to his sofer Reb Reuvain, but these are not what Mendlowitz is concerned about).

Moreover, many of the Beis Yosef Ashkenaz STa”M being written at that time had a similar style, not just in Russia but all over Europe. The most noticeable differences between the Alter Rebbe Ksav and the mainstream style of ksav today are the pay, shin, beis, as well as the pointy “diamond” shaped style of the “feet”, and overall ornate, thick style of lettering. This was all considered mainstream – up until the early part of the last century. While the style of today’s Alter Rebbe beis was common for centuries in Ksav Arizal, particularly in Russia, it was also prevalent in older Ashkenazic STa”M from in Germany 400 plus years ago.

Would Rabbi Mendlowitz say that all the tefillin, mezuzos and Sifrei Torah written in those days and used by vast segments of Klal Yisroel, (including great tzadikim and gedolim) are also a problem?!?

Perhaps we should look at the two examples he mentions that he considers being “extremely problematic letters”, namely the yud and the beis (the beis being the “biggest problem”). I apologize if these paragraphs get a bit technical , but I will explain as best as I can. Let’s look at what he says:

Regarding the yud he says “Very often the kotzoi shel yud will be going to the left instead of going down”, sometimes the kotz on top of the yud will be going in wacky directions and sometimes can be very tall, and sometimes the regel will be very short.” I’m not going to get into the technicalities of all this because I don’t think he is implying that these are so problematic, only a little different to how the yud is normally written today. Furthermore, I rarely see the kotzo shel yud going completely sideways (if usually goes both down and out which is no problem whatsoever). Nor have I ever seen a yud with a foot so short that it is considered a problem.

With regards to his complaint of the “tall, wacky kotz on top”, most Alter Rebbe sofrim simply do not make the kotz “tall and wacky”, and even if they do make it a bit taller than usual, it is rarely a halachic problem, only a nuance which is slightly different to the typical yud in other writing styles.

Now let’s look at what he says about the beis, which he says is the “biggest problem”.

We all know that the main difference between a chof and a beis, is that a chof is round on the lower right side, and a beis has a (square) “eikev” or “okev” (heel) that protrudes out of the lower right side. In the Alter Rebbe Ksav, this is an eikev “ov” – a thick heel, which is thicker (taller) than the regular eikev written today, and is slightly angular. (Many consider this to be the original eikev ov mentioned in the Alpha Beita, which explains its popularity in centuries gone by.)

Yet even in Ksav Chabad, this “eikev” is supposed to protrude clearly and has sharp corners. As said previously, this is how virtually all the Russian sofrim wrote the letter beis in that time, (and even older Ksav Beis Yosef originating from Ashkenaz as far back as 400 plus years ago had a similar “eikev ov”). Below is a picture of a random Alter Rebbe beis that I cropped from a standard set of Alter Rebbe parshiyos I had handy.

Rabbi Mendlowitz correctly says that in Ksav Chabad this eikev is thick, as explained above. But then he says “very often mamash looks like chof, it is indistinguishable to a chof”. Now if a beis presents as a chof (or is indistinguishable to a chof), it is outright possul! No one would argue with that, Chabad or otherwise. It would be possul according the Shulchan Aruch Harav, the same way it would be possul according to the Mishnah Berurah. Does he really believe that professional, ordained sofrim in Chabad are writing letters which are not kosher according to Shulchan Aruch?

Sometimes, in poorly written ksav Alter Rebbe, the eikev can be a bit round-ish. But it still has a pronounced eikev and is still kosher. Of course this is not ideal and it’s not how one is supposed to lechatchilah write a beis according to the Alter Rebbe. But are these really indistinguishable to a chof?? It almost always will still be considered an eikev, and even if somewhat rounded, it will still pass as a kosher beis.

This leads me to my next point. In every ksav you have sofrim who write more perfectly and and sofrim who write more poorly. And then, sadly, you have sofrim that write so poorly and they misform letters so badly, it is hard to pass their writing as kosher. This happens in all styles of writing, be it Beis Yosef, Velish, Arizal and yes, even Chabad. Over the years I have put many Beis Yosef Mezuzos and Tefillin into genizah because the writing is so poor I could not pass it as kosher. Does this mean Beis Yosef Ksav is a problematic ksav in general?!? And that one can only make a bracha on a Beis Yosef sefer Torah because the Rambam allows one to make a bracha on a Possul sefer Torah?!? Of course not!

In conclusion, Rabbi Mendlowitz is not the first one to pick on the Alter Rebbe’s ksav, and probably won’t be the last. I think it is time for the official Safrus establishment to come out once and for all to put these misconceptions to rest. The Alter Rebbe ksav is a beautiful, halchadik and unique ksav with a strong tradition dating back hundreds of years.