I noticed that in many Sifrei Torah, Sofrim prefer to "stretch" certain letters. It seems that these letters are stretched to end a line if there wouldn't be enough space to start a new word. That's not always the case, though; sometimes these letters appear in the middle of a row. Some sofrim use this technique often, while others don't use this at all.
Is there a reason for stretching the letter other than what I just mentioned? Is it some "artistic" form? Are there limits to either which letters are allowed to be stretched and how much stretching is allowed?
Note: I am not asking about large (rabbati) or small (ze'ira) letters. This has been addressed in a few other questions. I am talking about the horizontal size.
Answer
Pasted from my answer to this question:
Stretching letters is not a matter of custom, but one of practicality. Halacha requires the columns be justified. Microsoft Word handles justifies text by widening spaces between words and letters. You can't do this in a sefer torah, so the sofer stretches letters instead. Good tikkunim minimize the number of "short" lines that require stretched letters, and good sofrim regulate their ksav so that the stretching is less noticeable.
While some people (myself among them) think that stretched letters add something aesthetic to the calligraphy, Halacha considers stretched and cramped writing a lower quality ksav.
Some sofrim will prefer to stretch a letter in the middle of a line instead of the end so it looks more artistic and less like they're filling up space. (Personal experience covering up bad planning.)
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