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Rabbi Reuven Taragin

News and updates about Rabbi Reuven Taragin

Personal Growth series:

How the world connects us to our Creator

Studying and appreciating the way Hashem reveals Himself to us in His interaction with the world strengthens our faith.

How the world connects us to our Creator

Personal Growth series:

How the past inspires faith in the future

Jewish history has never been a straight line. We’ve seen soaring highs and devastating lows, and those low points can be especially difficult to endure. But from our nation’s first low point, Hashem taught us how to handle future ones.

How the past inspires faith in the future

Personal Growth series:

How the Torah strengthens our Faith and Feelings

Torah study exposes us to Hashem through His thought process, making us meaningfully familiar with Him.

How the Torah strengthens our Faith and Feelings

Personal Growth series:

G-d In our hearts and minds

What is the way we walk before G-d? How do we remember Him during the day?

G-d In our hearts and minds

Shimon the Maccabee wrote 2015 years ago: This land is our land!

Shimon the Maccabee’s words remind us that this is not the first time our rights have been challenged. They also help us formulate a response.

Shimon the Maccabee wrote 2015 years ago:  This land is our land!

Personal Growth series:

Our G-d

Though Hashem created all human beings in His image, He chose us as His children.

Our G-d

Personal Growth series:

Our foundational relationship

Two descriptions encapsulate Hashem’s relationship with our world.

Our foundational relationship

Personal Growth series:

Protecting ourselves

One who truly cares about avoiding sin protects himself by distancing himself from it.

Protecting ourselves

Personal Growth series:

Showing our values

Honoring those performing a mitzvah reminds us of and reinforces our appreciation for the great value of mitzvah observance.

Showing our values

Personal Growth series:

True life

This week's piece is dedicated to the refu'ah of my nephew- Noam Avraham ben Atara Shulamit. May Hashem grant him and all the other chayalim a complete and speedy recovery.

True life

Personal Growth series:

How mitzvot help us

The meforshim present different ways that mitzvah observance helps us.

How mitzvot help us

Personal Growth series:

Completely Committed

Our commitment to mitzvot should be comprehensive — we should endeavor to observe all of His commandments.

Completely Committed

Simchat Torah:

How to celebrate the year after 5784

We should not allow the challenges we are facing to cause us to lose sight of the broader good and special times we are living in. We have much to celebrate and be thankful for.

How to celebrate the year after 5784

Chag Sukkot:

What we learn from displacement

The mitzvah of sukkah requires more than just eating meals in the sukkah; it involves moving our lives and most cherished items from home to sukkah.

What we learn from displacement

Rosh Hashanah at a time of war

How to channel our fears.

Rosh Hashanah at a time of war

Personal Growth series:

The Essence of Mitzvot

Naturally, we prefer to be free to make our own decisions and live as we please. Mitzvot call upon us to recognize our dependency upon Hashem and subjugate our will to His.

The Essence of Mitzvot

Personal Growth Series:

The source and centrality of Mitzvah observance

Mitzvot were a pre-condition of redemption. They were also its implication.

The source and centrality of Mitzvah observance

Personal Growth series:

We got it

We possess all the resources we truly need within ourselves. Our growth and our mission in this world are squarely within our grasp.

We got it

Doing what we can

Great people accomplish great things when they fulfill their (relatively) small role with the faith that Hashem will complete the process - or when they continue a process that He has begun.

Doing what we can

Personal Growth series:

How struggles inspire growth

When we rise after a fall, we can reach a higher level than before.

How struggles inspire growth

Shabbat Nachamu:

How to find consolation this year

How can we find consolation when over 1500 Israelis have lost their lives, thousands more are wounded, and over one hundred are still being held hostage?

How to find consolation this year

Personal Growth series:

Falls and failures

Everyone makes mistakes. The difference between the Tzaddik and the Rasha lies in their response.

Falls and failures

Personal Growth series II

When we lose faith in ourselves

Though humility is an important character trait, when applied in excess, it leads to sin.

When we lose faith in ourselves

Personal growth series, part I:

The significance of our actions

Humans are the only ones who believe that their lives are supposed to matter and, thus, the only ones who become depressed when they feel they are not impactful.

The significance of our actions

An ideal Jewish army on a full stage

Today we have soldiers who embody the living proof of the integration of what Chazal referred to as the sifra (book) and saifa (sword).

An ideal Jewish army on a full stage

Ethics of the Fathers:

True Freedom

Rebbe Yehoshua Ben Levi taught that only those involved in Torah study are truly free. How?

True Freedom

Ethics of the Fathers:

Life in the Corridor

Our world is likened to a corridor that leads to a palace.

Life in the Corridor

Ethics of the Fathers:

Earning our lives

Chapter 3 in a series.

Earning our lives

Ethics of the Fathers:

What we want

The Gemara says that “one who says that they have only Torah, lacks even Torah.” What besides Torah does “having Torah” depend upon?

What we want

Ethics of the Fathers

The foundation(s) of our world

The first Shabbat after Passover we begin reading a chapter a week of Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, a 6-chapter compilation of teachings and wise maxims found in Tractate Nezikin. Introduction and chapter 1.

The foundation(s) of our world

The real reason we are hated

Every generation has its own reason and some have no reason at all - for hating Jews.

The real reason we are hated

Sharansky’s Seder Night Lesson

We look for G-d’s presence not in the life of the individual, but in the life of the nation – what G-d does for us as a people.

Sharansky’s Seder Night Lesson

Where w/He takes us

Learning to distinguish between our plans for the future and our view in retrospect.

Where w/He takes us

Reflections from Mt Herzl Military Cemetery

Thoughts while attending the funeral of Captain Daniel Perez.

Reflections from Mt Herzl Military Cemetery

A powerful Brit Milah

We cried over the fact that Yehonatan was not there but also celebrated Aviyah and his family’s resolve to continue raising their children with the timeless traditions of the Jewish people.

A powerful Brit Milah

The Director behind the scenes

We rarely experience evident miracles; we need to realize that though His Hand is not visible, Hashem directs behind the scenes.

The Director behind the scenes

Our need for personal growth

Hashem creates us together with ourselves. He begins the process; we complete it.

Our need for personal growth

Living in Hashem’s world

Hashem’s ownership of the world also gives Him the right to set the conditions for its existence.

Living in Hashem’s world

Our need for personal growth

Man is truly alive only once he develops himself spiritually and fully appreciates his soul.

Our need for personal growth

Yom Kippur as purification

Though we generally associate Yom Kippur with atonement, the Torah defines taharah (purification) as the day’s goal

Yom Kippur as purification

Being On The Team

The Talmud teaches that one who does not identify with the community’s suffering will also be excluded from their eventual consolation.

Being On The Team

Where Wisdom Begins

Chochmah and yirah are two central aspects of human experience that are generally perceived to be disconnected from one another

Where Wisdom Begins

The foundation(s) of our world

Torah, Avodah, and Gemilut Chassadim — are what the world  exists for and what we, therefore, should be focused upon

The foundation(s) of our world

How We Rise Up

The Greatness of Torah Learning

How We Rise Up

World of Tens

Significant actions significantly impact a significant world

World of Tens

Pirkei Avot

'If Not I' - we are responsible for ourselves

Others will not, cannot, and are not meant to be responsible in our place.

'If Not I' - we are responsible for ourselves

Parent Principles: An introduction

Moses received the Torah from Sinai, and gave it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets.

Parent Principles: An introduction

Redeeming Ourselves

Redeeming Ourselves