Q. I believe I asked this question in the past but did not receive a reply.
Nowadays, most Sifrei Torah, their pages are "typset" and arranged according to a standard configuration where every page, except six, start with a Vav. Almost every Sefer Torah has the identical configuration as every other.
It was customary in some of our pre-War Ashkenazic Kehillos that had no Kepeida on starting every page with a Vav. Rather, their Kepeida was to end every page, either with an Esnachto or Sof Pasuk.
Is there any rule that says I may not commission to have Sifrei Torah written according to that Kepeida instead of the Vav for first letter of page Kepeida?
A. Rema on Shulchan Aruch (Y. D. 273: 6) mentions the minhag of "vavei hoamudim," that has every amud begin with the letter vav. His opinion is that one should not insist on keeping this minhag. Moreover, even the ones who do, should not shorten or enlarge the writing to meet this specification, since it has no real roots.
Birkei Yosef (ibid.) and others quote different opinions in regards to this tradition. Pischei Teshuva (ibid. 8) and others mention that the roots are in Kabbalah.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that, there are different accepted minhagim in the ways we write the amudim of the Sefer Torah. And if one hears the reading of the Torah from an accepted, albeit differently set Sefer Torah, from the one he is accustomed to, he will still comply with the reading. However, one should maintain the traditions of the Seforim of his congregation.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Important Numbers
