Rabbi Shais Taub | |
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 Shais Taub (left) and Abraham J. Twerski in Pittsburgh, 2011 | |
| Native name | שת טויב |
| Born | Chicago, Illinois |
| Subject | Addiction recovery Tanya |
| Notable works | God of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction (2009) |
Shais Taub is an American Hasidic rabbi and author. [1] He writes about Jewish mysticism and is also known for his work in the field of addiction recovery. [2] He is a weekly columnist for Ami magazine.
Taub grew up in a Lubavitcher home in Chicago. His father is a psychologist and his mother a speech pathologist. [3] As a teen, he studied in the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and received his rabbinic ordination. [3] [4]
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Taub credits his father's work as influential in his decision to a pursue a career in addiction therapy. [5] He entered this field without any prior training, first leading a recovery group for Jewish men at the Chabad House in Milwaukee in 2006. [3] Afterwards he undertook his own research in the field and wrote his first book, God of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction, in 2009. [3]
In his 2009 book, Taub asserts that ancient Jewish principles relate to 12-step treatment programs. [6] Publishers Weekly called the book "a thoughtful counter to one criticism occasionally heard—that the 12 steps are implicitly Christian - and a singular and valuable resource for those in need." [7] Taub posits that drugs are the addict's solution rather than his problem, and that those people who turn to chemicals or other compulsive behaviors such as overeating or gambling are attempting to fill a spiritual void. [8]
He has compared his work to that of Abraham J. Twerski, another Hasidic rabbi who has written extensively on addiction and who is also a Milwaukee transplant to Pittsburgh. [9] Twerski endorsed God of Our Understanding, stating that the book "should be read by all clergy, therapists, people in recovery, people who should be in recovery, and their family members". [10]
Following a February 2012 visit to the iconic Boys Town orphanage in Nebraska where Taub trained clinical staff on addiction treatment, The New York Times wrote about Taub's influence beyond the Jewish world, noting that "in saying overtly what the recovery movement often leaves deliberately ambiguous... Rabbi Taub has become a phenomenon. Even as he is anchored within the Hasidic world, he has transcended it, first by reaching unaffiliated and secular Jews and then, most unexpectedly, by finding an eager audience among Christians." [3] In that same article, Taub clarified his approach to teaching non-Jewish groups by saying, "It's not about interfaith ... I'm a Jew who's been able to study my tradition, and I have information, and I can be helpful to the extent I can share the information." [3]
Rabbi Taub is an exponent of the foundational Hasidic spiritual text, Tanya, for which he composed Map of Tanya for Kehot Publication Society, as well as the curriculum for a survey course on Tanya for the Jewish Learning Institute. [11] [12]
He and former NFL lineman Alan Veingrad, who became a Chabad-Lubavitch adherent after his retirement, [13] hosted a "kosher tailgate party" at Lambeau Field during the 2007 season. [14]
Rabbi Taub's column in Ami Magazine, Ask Rabbi Shais Taub is a place where readers can send him hashkafic questions and they can be answered in the magazine. Selected letters were published in 2019 in the book The Ami Letters with a foreword by Rabbi Yitzchak Frankfurter, the founder of Ami.[ citation needed ]
Taub currently resides with his wife, Brocha, and children in Five Towns, New York. [4]
Meshullam Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, commonly called "Reb Zalman", was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecumenical dialogue.
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known to adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply the Rebbe, was a Russian-American Orthodox rabbi and the most recent Rebbe of the Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch, is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of the largest Jewish religious organizations. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad mainly operates in the wider world and caters to nonobservant Jews.
A Rebbe or Admor is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties. The titles of Rebbe and Admor, which used to be a general honorific even before the beginning of the movement, became, over time, almost exclusively identified with its Tzadikim.
Shneur Zalman of Liadi, commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He wrote many works and is best known for Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Tanya, and his Siddur Torah Or, compiled according to the Nusach Ari.
The Tanya is an early work of Hasidic philosophy, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Hasidism, first published in 1796. Its formal title is Likkutei Amarim but is more commonly known by its first word (tanya), which in Aramaic means "it has been taught". Zalman is referring to a baraita in "Niddah" chapter 3 in the word’s first usage. The Tanya is composed of five sections that define Hasidic mystical psychology and theology as a handbook for daily spiritual life in Jewish observance.
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Kehot Publication Society is the publishing division of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Abraham Joshua Heshel Twerski was an Israeli-American Hasidic rabbi, a scion of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty, and a psychiatrist specializing in substance abuse.
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Hasidic philosophy or Hasidism, alternatively transliterated as Hasidut or Chassidus, consists of the teachings of the Hasidic movement, which are the teachings of the Hasidic rebbes, often in the form of commentary on the Torah and Kabbalah. Hasidism deals with a range of spiritual concepts such as God, the soul, and the Torah, dealing with esoteric matters but often making them understandable, applicable and finding practical expressions.
Mashpia or feminine Mashpi'oh lit. "person of influence", pl. Mashpi'im is the title of a rabbi who serves as a spiritual mentor in a Hasidic Jewish yeshiva.
Like many other Hassidic movements, Chabad-Lubavitch has its own unique niggunim, or traditional melodies. Chabad niggunim were either composed or taught by the Rebbe of Chabad or their Hassidim. Niggunim are used to aid for meditation during Chasidic prayer or Torah study, as well as during farbrengens. some of these ancient Chabad melodies have recently made their way into mainstream music.
Chabad philosophy comprises the teachings of the leaders of Chabad-Lubavitch, a Hasidic movement. Chabad Hasidic philosophy focuses on religious concepts such as God, the soul, and the meaning of the Jewish commandments.
Rami M. Shapiro, commonly called "Rabbi Rami", is an American Reform rabbi, author, teacher, and speaker on the subjects liberal Judaism and contemporary spirituality. His Judaism is grounded in the perennial philosophy.
Nissan Mindel was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi, author, editor, and served on the administrative staff of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Rabbi Zalman I. Posner was an American rabbi and writer associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Posner served as a congregational rabbi and community leader in the American Southeast for five decades, serving the Orthodox congregation Sherith Israel and founding an Orthodox Day School both in Nashville, Tennessee.
Dirah betachtonim (Hebrew: דירה בתחתונים, romanized: dirā bəṯaḥtonim, lit. 'a dwelling in the lowly realms' is a significant theological concept in Chabad philosophy describing the ultimate desire of God as relating to the manifestation of the divine presence within the material world.
Yehoshua Mondshine was an Israeli rabbi, scholar, researcher and historian associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch, Hasidic movement. Mondshine worked as a librarian and bibliographer at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.
Hasidic Judaism in Lithuania is the history of Hasidic Judaism and Hasidic philosophy in Lithuania and parts of modern-day Belarus. Hasidic Judaism in Lithuania began with R. Aaron Perlow of Karlin (Karalin) (1736–1772), R. Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk (1730?–1788) R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Lyady) (1745–1812) and to a lesser extent R. Hayim Haykl of Amdur (Indura), all of whom were disciples of R. Dov Ber of Mezeritch (Mezhirichi), who in part was the successor to the R. Israel Baal Shem Tov who founded Hasidic Judaism in Western Ukraine. In its earliest years, Lithuanian Hasidism suffered immense persecution by the Lithuanian Misnagdic rabbinate, who attempted to ban and excommunicate Hasidism on several occasions in Lithuania beginning with R. Elijah b. Solomon Zalman of Vilna (1720–1797), who was the earliest disseminator of anti-Hasidic thought which flourished in Lithuania.
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