By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com There is a new sefer, purportedly written for children called Junior Chofetz Chaim.  It has already sold out.  The program is designed to be reviewed three times each year.  The anonymous author agreed to be interviewed by Rabbi Yair Hoffman. What inspired you to write a Sefer Chofetz Chaim for children? Without a question – I did it for my kids! I have been looking for appropriate material for my kids for a long time. And I really like the original Sefer Chofetz Chaim, which I have done 2 halachos a day for a while. But how could I teach that to 10-12 year-olds? That is when I thought of simplifying the material into something user-friendly for kids. Of course, my first thought was, “This can’t possibly be done!  – Can it??”  But then I decided to give it a try…. It was done well – and brought the issue to life, making it interesting.  It is often hard to take complex material and present it in a manner palatable to kids – have you had experience in this area before, and what? Zero! I did gain experience in understanding Sefer Chafetz Chaim and writing it over when I worked on a different book, for adults – called “The Laws of Lashon Hara and Rechilus.” The truth is, that was also “born” because of my kids. But, it turned out to be way too complex for children. I read a lot as a kid…I guess I picked up writing a bit…. What other topics are in the pipeline? Well, Junior Shemiras halashon is in the works. I am not a mechaber by nature. I am just a very plain guy. But now that Junior Chofetz Chaim appeared, I hope b’ezras Hashem to complete it with Shemiras halashon as well. After that, I have no plans to write. Any suggestions? How about Taking on Ahavas Chessed next?  Our girls do fantastic chessed – maybe our boys could use a few pointers too.. Have you gotten any feedback on it yet? Not much directly but through my publisher  -Israel Bookshop. Boruch Hashem, the book is going very nicely. I was surprised to hear that the first edition of over 2000 copies is almost sold out, they said they will run out before Rosh Hashanah. This is a huge surprise to me, I wasn’t expecting that. Some of the feedback I got were things like: “Stunning!” “A work of art!” “This is not Junior, this is for adults!” or, “I have been learning Chofetz Chaim for years, this is really a great review for me!” On the younger end, I have heard that some kids are really enjoying it. My own 11 year old daughter made this comment: “The examples are the best part.” 🙂 As an aside, I would not expect to get any real feedback until after Rosh Hashanah, when the calendar starts and people start learning from it. I hope they don’t find too many mistakes! Which of the sub-sections was the most fun to work on? AMAZING FACTS, hands-down. Why? Because I was amazed by the facts! I have found that, in all the Chafetz Chaim’s works, not only in Shemiras Halashon, he often weaves in massive chiddushim and very original peshatim “derech […]

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