Trimming Retzuos
Question: We are giving our son my late father’s tefillin . The retzuos of the shel rosh are too long. May they be shortened? Answer: There is a related machlokes regarding whether one may trim excess gilyonos from the klaf after the parshiyos have been written in order to fit them into the batim . The Magen Avraham (OC 334:24), quoting the Masa’as Binyamin (100), writes that while the required margins share in the kedusha of the tefillin , any excess beyond what is necessary does not, and may therefore be removed. He adds that where it is normal for a sofer to trim such excess, we may assume that there is an implicit stipulation that this material was never intended to retain kedusha . However, the Magen Avraham limits this and suggests that once the item has been used, the kedusha may extend even to the extra portions, and he cites the view of the Maharam of Rothenburg who records that there was even a cherem against cutting the margins of a Sefer Torah. The Maharsham ...