Recently I got a call from the U.S. from a young man you was shopping for kosher tefillin gassot. He said he was interested in buying from us, but was a bit wary because our prices were lower than those of many of our competitors. He had a number of questions to ask about the kashrus of the tefillin gassot we sell.
The parchments are checked using a special computer scanning program. Basically this only ensures there are no missing letters or added letters. This is important, but it’s certainly no replacement for a human check by a certified magiyah. Our tefillin parchments are then checked at second time by experienced magiyi’im under the guidance of Rabbi Chakshur.
The main things a magiyah looks for is connected letters (“dibbuk“) and misformed letters (“lo k’tzurasa“). In the case of the former, usually it can be repaired simply by scraping away the extra ink with a knife, but in the case of misformed letters you have to scrap the parchiyos from that point onward, because everything must be written in order (“k’sidran“) and if a letter was misformed it’s considered as if it wasn’t there, so you can’t go back and fix it.
Our tefillin are endorsed by Rabbi Shimon Elitov of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
“Who produces the battim for the tefillin gassot you sell?”
The current supplier of battim for the gassot tefillin is under the kashrut certification of HaRav Yaakov Meir Stern of the beit din of HaRav Shmuel Wosner of Bnei Brak.
“So who does the overall supervision of the tefillin, including the parchments, battim, painting, straps, giddim and assembly?”
Tefillin production and assembly is overseen by Rabbi Eliron Chakshur, a graduate of Yeshivat Oz Meir. He himself wrote mezuzah, tefillin and Torah parchments for years, and has vast experience overseeing the production of tefillin, mezuzahs and sifrei Torah. Over the years, Rabbi Chakshur has mastered various aspect of the craft of tefillin making – scoring, writing and proofreading the parchments, inserting the parchments, sewing and painting the battim, and tying on the straps. Rabbi Chakshur personally knows every sofer who writes tefillin parchments, and ensures tefillin buyers get top value for their money.
Go to Tefillin Gassot page>>
