Minhag Hamedinah
Common Commercial Practice #19
Q. Our shul received a new sefer Torah. During the year, we found several mistakes and paid a local sofer to correct them. Is the original sofer responsible for paying for the corrections?
A: Rashba (Responsum 1:1056) writes that although a person who pays for a sefer Torah expects to receive a kosher sefer Torah, it is common to find occasional mistakes, and almost impossible that there be no errors.
Therefore, if there are only a few errors, as common, presumably the buyer is mochel and the sofer is not liable to pay for the corrections. However, if there are more errors than usual, due to the sofer’s carelessness, he is responsible for all the corrections (Rema C.M. 306:8)
Nonetheless, this is subject to minhag hamedinah, so that if the common practice is that the original sofer corrects even occasional mistakes, he must correct them. Where the common practice does not require him to correct them, but he did so of his own accord, he can charge for the corrections like one who enhanced another’s property (Gra 306:26).
