by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com FEEL FREE TO PRINT AND REVIEW.. CHANUKAH HISTORICAL CONTEXT Chanukah occurred during the time of the Second Beis HaMikdash approximately in the year 3596/165 B.C.E. The Seleucid Greeks (or Syrian Greeks) ruled and enacted decrees against Klal Yisrael, outlawing the Jewish religion. The Greeks forbade Torah study and the […]

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com By the time most people usually get home from work, the time to kindle the Chanukah lights has already arrived. And by the time the whole family gets together to actually light, another ten to fifteen minutes may have elapsed. What’s the story with sneaking in a quick taste […]

by Rabbi Yair Hofffman for the Sefas Tamim Foundation HALACHA Please note that some of the details of the question below may have been altered to facilitate the privacy of individuals involved. QUESTION:  I am a Rebbe of some very cute young boys.  Recently, two of the boys made what I deemed to be a […]

By Rabbi W. Wolfe Wernick Presented By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com **Please note:  This author is looking to make a video about the Mir Yeshiva in Poland and is looking for sponsors – if anyone is interested, please email yairhoffman2@gmail.com*** In a dark and barely furnished boarding place of the Yeshiva students, over a […]

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com If housekeepers for Shabbos prep and use were free – would more people have them? Their presence would certainly reduce the pressure in many homes. So there is no question that this halacha should be further explored. The Gemara (Beitzah 15b) tells us that money we spend for Shabbos […]

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com His name was Rabbi Theodore Lewis z”l (1915-2010 – yahrtzeit 27 Tishrei).  He was the Rabbi of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island and was a talmid of Rav Yeruchem Levovitz zt”l and Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel zt”l as a student of the Mir Yeshiva.  Later in life, […]

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 […]

The 1st of 77

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 […]

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