By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com Newspapers across New York City have reported on New York Mayor Eric Adams’ new job search for a leader in the city’s war on rats.  Mayor Adams wants someone who is “somewhat bloodthirsty” and committed to the “wholesale slaughter” of vermin. The position is known as the “director of […]

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com The Chofetz Chaim writes that of the 248 positive Mitzvos of the 613 Mitzvos in the Torah, there are only 77 that are applicable today.  The Chofetz Chaim writes in his preface to his Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar that a person should review these Mitzvos twice a week.  What follows […]

Watch what Reb Roy Neuberger has to say on Kanye West, American culture, the Parsha, and the Mitzvah of Tzipisa Liyeshu’ah

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com This article is an attempt to help us focus and shed light upon a fundamental achrayus, a responsibility, that we all share equally. It is an achrayus which we as a community have not, as of yet, adequately addressed. The fact is that more than 1 in every 2 people […]

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com Imagine an adult playing with children’s toys.  This is us, when we involve ourselves in the pursuit of gashmius – physical luxuires.  Man, a reflection of Hashem’s Divine Image, was meant for much greater things – the pursuit of the ruchnius.  This is just one of many of the […]

(By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com) No, this article was not sponsored by one of those fancy sink stores.  But the fact is that a number of people are installing washing stations in their dining area.  It is a great convenience for elderly people, for those with trouble walking, and for, well, the just plain […]

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the S’fas Tamim Foundation QUESTION: My wife often asks me to do chores that involve a lot of manual labor. I am not really up to it at times. There is a corner deli about a half mile away where day laborers gather to be picked up by contractors to […]

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com The leading cause of death in this country is medical error.  And, this author has been told, we, the religious Jewish family members, are the leading “pain in the neck” ethnicity at hospitals, because many a frum patient has relatives that stay at the hospital round-the-clock.  But this latter […]

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com Recently, a story emerged about a French Avreich in Kollel Chazon Ish who was left millions of dollars in a will by his 80 year-old observant father that involved a successful chain of some twenty hotels.  However, since the will under discussion (if there was one for him to […]

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com YH: First off, thank you for the interview, I realize that it is getting close to Shabbos in Yerushalayim.  Our topic is the 4 biggest problems in shidduchim. What would you say is the biggest problem in dating today? HT:  After working in the realm of shidduchim for decades, […]