Posts by Rabbi Yair Hoffman
Bikkur Cholim – Understanding the Obligation
WHAT IS OUR OBLIGATION OF BIKKUR CHOLIM? There appears to be three major halachic approaches to the important Mitzvah of Bikkur Cholim, and among them Maran Rav Chaim Kanievsky zatzal’s view. There is a fascinating Rambam in Hilchos Avel (14:1). It is both fascinating and perhaps slightly confusing at the same time. He writes that…
Read MoreChometz Found Over Pesach
The Gemorah in Psachim 111b tells us that one who hangs his bread up in the air – it is considered kasheh l’anius, it causes one to become poor. How then does the Shulchan Aruch (OC 436:1) write that if one finds chometz over Pesach, one covers it with a pot or vessel or one…
Read MoreRav Chaim zt”l’s Last Answers to Shidduch Questions
A woman who teaches in a Beis Yaakov recently got engaged. Her husband wishes to move to Lakewood from New York. She had signed a contract that she would teach throughout the year. Is she permitted to break the contract or must she adhere to it? What if it is liable to affect the Shidduch?…
Read MorePassing Inappropriately Dressed People
Trips When there are Inappropriately Dressed People. Even HaEzer What are the parameters of “alternative routes” regarding inappropriately dressed people? There is a Tosfos in in Avodah Zarah 48b that discusses the parameters of what is considered dracha acharina – an alternative path in which one would not be confronted with someone inappropriately dressed. The…
Read MoreGiving Tzedakah With a Smile
In Yore De’ah 249:3, the Mechaber cites the halacha that one must give tzedakah, charity, with a smile, with joy and good-heartedly. When there is a poor person, one should empathize with him in his struggles and one should speak to him with words of consolation and comfort. If he gave the tzedakah in a…
Read More9 Things to Know About Maariv from Maran Rav Chaim zt”l
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman The following are 9 things to know about Maariv from Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l. The minhag is to recite, “vehu rachum” before maariv. In some places they they recite shir hamaalos hinei borchu etc, (Shoneh Halachos 236:1). After one recites, “Borchu”, it is considered equivalent to being in the middle of…
Read MoreRav Chaim zt”l Answered: Shabbos or the Non-Jewish Girlfriend?
Picture a non-observant young man with his entire life ahead of him. Nachal lives in Teverya with his father, mother and two brothers. He engages in water activities and has a girlfriend. Nachal discovers, however, that his girlfriend is not Jewish. It bothers him slightly, but not that much. Teverya is one of the four…
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