Collection of Parshiot of Tefillin Written by the Famed Scribe Rabbi Nachman Sofer Papirna - Scribe of Leading ...

Collection of Parshiot of Tefillin Written by the Famed Scribe Rabbi Nachman Sofer Papirna - Scribe of Leading Rebbes, of Rabbi Yitzchak Ze'ev of Brisk and of the Chazon Ish
Collection of parshiot of tefillin written by the famed scribe R. Nachman Papirna. [Jerusalem, mid-20th century]. Tefillin, according to Rashi's tradition, ink on parchment, Chassidic script according to the Arizal and the Taz. The collection contains: Parshiot of three and one half sets of tefillin - three parshiot of tefillin shel Yad, and four parshiot of tefillin shel rosh (16 units) + one pair of batim for tefillin, including straps and matching boxes. R. Nachman Sofer Papirna (ca. 1895-Chanuka 1986), was a prominent Chassid and tsaddik in Jerusalem. Son of the famous R. Moshe Papirna of Pinsk, descendant of the Lachovitz Rebbe. In his wandering during WWI, he and his father reached the city of Siedlce, Poland, and they became close to R. Yehoshua Asher of Siedlce and R. Nachman became one of his closest disciples (many things cited in the name of the Siedlce Rebbe and other rebbes were heard from R. Nachman Papirna). He ascended to Eretz Israel in the 1920s and was renowned as one of the greatest scribes in Jerusalem. He was well known for his great expertise in meticulously writing parshiot of tefillin and mezuzot in holiness and purity. Some of the most illustrious rebbes ordered their tefillin from him. When the Rayatz of Lubavitch visited Eretz Israel (in 1929), he ordered mehudar tefillin from R. Nachman Papirna for himself and for his sons-in-law. His son-in-law, the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was careful to don these tefillin until the end of his life (see enclosed material). In 1955, R. Yochanan of Karlin dedicated a mehudar Torah scroll, partly written by the scribe R. Nachman Papirna (Beit Aharon V'Yisrael, Issue 15, p. 137). R. Ya'akov Yosef Twersky of Skvira used to purchase parshiot for his tefillin only from R. Nachman Sofer and he would recommend all who asked, to be careful to purchase parshiot written by R. Papirna, since he writes them with great meticulousness with all stringencies with pure fear of Heaven. Upon the aliya of the Brisker Rav, R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, to Eretz Israel, he ordered tefillin for himself and for his sons written by R. Nachman Papirna (in Brisk, the Griz donned tefillin written by R. Nachman's father, R. Moshe Papirna who also wrote the tefillin of his eldest son R. Yosef Dov in 1929. When the Griz arrived in Eretz Israel, he ordered new tefillin with parshiot written by R. Nachman). The Brisker Rav used to don these tefillin for the Shacharit prayers, calling them "Chassidishe tefillin" [written following the opinion of the Taz which was adopted by the Chassidim, which differs from the opinion of the Rambam]. See the article in the Beit Aharon V'Yisrael anthology (Issue 138, p. 154, note 10). In the book Orchot Rabbeinu (Part 4, pp. 292-293 of the Bnei Brak 2014 edition -this story also appears in Pe'er HaDor, Part 4, p. 109), a story is told that the Chazon Ish recommended as a segula for bearing a son, to purchase mezuzot which contain the verse "that your days and the days of your children should be multiplied", to fix on the doorposts. The Chazon Ish suggested purchasing the mezuzot from R. Nachman Papirna in Jerusalem, and indeed, that couple was blessed with a son after one year. Upon returning to the Chazon Ish with the happy tidings of the birth of their son, he told them that this was not in his merit, rather in the merit of the mezuzot. In the book Orchot Rabbeinu (ibid, p. 293), R. Chaim Kanievsky says that this segula for sons can be publicized in his name. These parshiot have been inspected and were definitely written by R. Nachman Papirna, in his beautiful mehudar scribal handwriting, when he was a young man and his writing most elegant. These parshiot have been proofread by hand and by computer. Enclosed are letters of confirmation for these parshiot, with a handwritten and signed statement by R. Shlomo HaCohen, an "authorized magiha" in the Lishkat Mehadrin V'Tashmishei Kedusha, under the inspection of the "Committee for inspection of Stam (Sifrei Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzot) of the Eda Ha'Charedit". He writes: "…I have carefully inspected the parshiot of Rashi Arizal-Taz whose images appear on the verso of this leaf and they are in the handwriting of R. Nachman Papirna from his prime years, and are in excellent condition, and look like they did on the day they were written. They are kosher, beautiful and very mehudar…". 3 parshiot shel yad, height of parchment: 33/35/42 mm. 16 parshiot shel rosh, height of parchment: 25/36 mm. Two batim of yad and of rosh. Dimensions of square: 40X40 mm. Size including titura (the wider base to which the straps are attached): approximately 55X76/75 mm. + straps connected (on the tefillin shel yad, the knot was made for a left-handed person) + matching plastic boxes (shaidelach).