Each of the letters in STAM must be one unbroken unit, except for the letters ה and ק, which must be two separate parts. If the left leg of a ה or ק touches the main body of the letter, or if any of the other letters are broken into two or more parts, the STAM item is pasul. The letters ס and ם have an additional characteristic, in that they must be completely closed, and if not they are also pasul. Although split letters are pasul, in some situations they might be fixable even in tefilin and mezuzos (which must be written kesidran), depending on the shape of the letter and the nature of the break.
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STAM 101 introduction & index