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It is with deep regret that we share the petirah of HaRav Yitzchak Abadi zt”l, a towering posek and marbitz Torah from Lakewood’s early years. Rav Abadi zt”l was born on March 12, 1933, in Venezuela. When he was just two years old, his family moved to Teverya in what was then Mandatory Palestine. From […]

The Powerball jackpot has grown to an estimated $1.25 billion for Wednesday night’s drawing after lottery officials said no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Monday night. The U.S. has seen more than a dozen lottery jackpot prizes exceed $1 billion since 2016. Here is a look at the largest U.S. jackpots won and the […]

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The U.S. military said Monday that it attacked three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of eight people as scrutiny over the boat strikes is intensifying in Congress. The military said in a statement on social media that the strikes targeted “designated terrorist organizations,” killing three people in […]

Two more victims of the Sydney massacre on Sunday were identified as a Jewish couple, Boris and Sofia Gurman, H’yd, who were murdered after they heroically confronted one of the terrorists, Sajid Akram, and even briefly disarmed him. Akram, 50, grabbed another rifle and executed Boris, 69, and Sofia, H’yd, at close range. The Gurmans, […]

HY’D: Another victim murdered by the Sydney terrorists on Sunday was identified on Tuesday by Australian media outlets as grandmother Edith Brutman, H’yd. She served as the vice president of an anti-prejudice committee in the B’nai Brith organization.

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​​For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.

Another victim murdered by the Sydney terrorists on Sunday was identified on Tuesday by Australian media outlets as grandmother Edith Brutman, H’yd. She served as the vice president of an anti-prejudice committee in the B’nai Brith organization. “Former vice president of ADU and long-time member of Aviv, Edith Brutman, was killed in the massacre. She […]

Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, arrived for a brief visit to Sydney, Australia. The minister met with leaders of the local Jewish community and, together with them, put on tefillin at the site of the Bondi Beach terror attack.

No winning ticket was sold in tonight’s Powerball drawing, pushing the jackpot to an estimated $1.25 billion. The next Powerball drawing is scheduled for Wednesday night.

LISTEN:

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Stories4Life-Shiur-514-Build-Ponovezer-Rav.mp3

Footage shows the moment a Coast Guard helicopter rescued 14 people from a fishing vessel after it ran aground in Dingle Bay, Ireland.

BREAKING: U.S. Southern Command confirms that three vessels suspected of drug trafficking were targeted by U.S. forces earlier today in the Eastern Pacific, resulting in eight suspected traffickers killed.

WATCH: Vice President JD Vance is seen greeting Reb Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association as he arrives at the Chanukah event at his residence this evening.

A 20-year-old Lubavitcher bochur who grew up in Texas and recently learned in Brooklyn for a year was shot twice during Sunday’s massacre in Sydney. He underwent surgery and is being treated in the ICU, where he is in critical but stable condition. He suffered a significant amount of blood loss and faces further surgery […]

Hakeem Jeffries: Republicans got high on their own supply. These people actually believed that America was moving their extreme direction. It is not.

Conservative actor James Woods: “There is now a jihad…this country, over the past 4 years…there’s been an invasion. If you look at Europe, see how far ahead the invasion is progressing there – it’s going to end this country as we know it!”

In newly released dashcam footage, a heroic older couple is seen trying to tackle the Sydney terrorists with their bare hands and disarm them in the moments before the massacre began. The husband succeeded in briefly disarming the older terrorist, Sajid Akram, 50, before he recovered his weapon and shot and killed the couple. The […]

By Rabbi Berach Steinfeld

One could ask whether someone who does not own a home and is literally homeless has a chiyuv to light the Menorah. Perhaps the obligation applies only to someone who has a roof over his head.

The Shailos u’Teshuvos Igros Moshe, Yoreh Deah III:14, discusses a person who has no house in which to sleep and spends the night in the street, such as someone stranded while traveling in a desert, with no one at home to light on his behalf. At first glance, this question may hinge on Rashi in Shabbos 23b, who explains that Chazal instituted the bracha of ha’ro’eh for neiros Chanukah in cases where a person is on a boat and cannot light. When he sees candles from afar, he recites the bracha of ha’ro’eh. The Taz (670:3) writes that one recites this bracha only if no one will be lighting that night in his home at all. From the Taz it would seem that someone who is outside and has no home would be exempt from lighting the Menorah.

Reb Elyashiv was asked directly what a person with no home should do regarding Chanukah licht. He answered that such a person has a chiyuv to rent a house in order to be able to light the Menorah.

Reb Chaim Kanievsky explains that Reb Elyashiv’s psak is rooted in the Rambam in Hilchos Brachos (11:2–3). There, the Rambam distinguishes between mitzvos that a person must actively perform, such as tefillin, sukka, and lulav, and mitzvos that apply only under certain circumstances, such as mezuzah and maakeh. If a person never owns a home, he is exempt from those obligations. The Rambam adds that the same distinction applies to mitzvos deRabbanan. Some are an absolute obligation, such as Megillah, lighting Shabbos licht, and Chanukah licht. Others are conditional, such as eiruv and netilas yadayim, where one is obligated only when the situation arises. From this Rambam it emerges that a person is required to arrange a living situation so that he can fulfill the obligation of lighting the Menorah.

On the other hand, Tosfos in Sukka 46a explains why Chazal instituted the bracha of ha’ro’eh specifically for Chanukah. Since the miracle was so beloved, and not everyone has the ability to light because they may not own or rent a home, Chazal provided an alternative through the bracha of ha’ro’eh.

A related question arises regarding someone traveling overnight on a train, where he is paying for his room and board. Can such a place be considered suitable for lighting the Menorah? The Maharshdam (4:146) rules that one would be required to light. He explains that when Rashi states a person does not light on a boat, it is because boats in earlier times lacked a roof and therefore were not considered a bayis. A train, however, would qualify as a bayis despite the fact that it is in motion. The Aruch Hashulchan, Orach Chaim, Hilchos Chanukah 677, writes that if a person will not arrive home until the next morning, he should light on the train if possible.

The Tzitz Eliezer (15:29) disagrees with both the Aruch Hashulchan and the Maharshdam. He maintains that the chiyuv is on the person to light in the place where he eats and sleeps, and that even without a roof overhead he would still be obligated. According to this view, Rashi’s exemption from lighting on a boat applies only where the person has no candles or where lighting is not permitted. The same would apply on a train: if lighting is prohibited due to danger, one would be exempt.

May we all be zocheh to light the candles in the proper place, and may we be zocheh to see the lights of the Menorah of the Bais Hamikdosh.

{Matzav.com}