The place where you meet our Rabbis

I have been a spiritual seeker since a very young age. With that search and yearning came a restlessness, and an ever-present spiritual battle with self and circumstance. For the past twenty-six years I have dedicated my life to helping others. I have worked with, taught, guided, and counseled adults and teens as a community rabbi, a mentor and case-worker for youth and families in crisis, and a teacher and spiritual guide at a yeshiva geared for youth finding themselves. I help teenagers learn how to become self-aware, develop the language to talk about their thoughts and feelings, their inner world, lives, experiences, and relationships. I help kids process and navigate new and confusing situations, learn how to make good decisions, develop life skills, find help, and pursue positive opportunities. I accept them unconditionally, hear, see, and validate them, therefore they feel comfortable, safe, and open with me. Ultimately, they become more authentic. I help teenagers and parents improve their relationship. I help adults walk through life’s challenges, navigate relationships, experiences, and the many elements at work in their lives. I teach people how to talk about and process themselves and their lives in a healthy, grounded way, become self-aware, open, spiritual, and authentic. I help adults, spouses and parents identify, and move out of destructive, unhealthy patterns and into more alignment with their true selves. I walk with you, and together we find the inner strength to rise to life’s challenges and move forward with positivity. I successfully help people who are struggling with addiction and recovery, anxiety, depression, trauma, and more. I provide spiritual counseling, guidance, support, mentorship, and coaching for teenagers, parents, adults, and spouses. I work with individuals, families, and couples. I am a consultant and advisor for parents on matters relating to parenting, education, and effectively identifying and treating the complex issues that children struggle with. I bring a deep care for people and a deep insight into human nature. I work with immersive empathetic listening, identification, and I am proficient in using meditation and somatic healing.

I was born in Israel to Russian-immigrant parents. My family immigrated to the United States when I was five years old. Growing up in New York as a middle child, my parents instilled within my brothers and I a deep sense of responsibility to help others in any way we could. It was the seed they planted that would guide me throughout my life. I developed a unique appreciation for helping people. As my journey into Judaism deepened, I became more aware of the spiritual side of life, and I had an epiphany. Helping people develop their unique relationship with the Divine is the greatest way to help people. I attended yeshivas in New York and Israel, and seven years later received my rabbinical ordination. I am fortunate to have spent the past two and a half decades teaching, counseling, and helping people from all walks of life, from New York to Belarus, from Israel to Miami. When I was a rabbinical student, one of my mentors told me, “Shmuel, you make the order within the chaos.” Thank G-d, the gift that I have is to counsel and help people through tumultuous times in their lives. I have a unique ability to distill the chaos and darkness, and help people make room within themselves to find meaning and growth when they don’t believe it's possible. The idea for the Wartime Rabbi grew organically from years of counseling people through personal wartimes in their lives. I am grateful for the opportunity I have every day to help people uncover their strengths, gain clarity, and get inspired to overcome their challenges and live happy, fulfilling lives. My wife and I spent the past fifteen years running a Chabad on Campus Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. We recently moved to Miami where we work with teenagers and young Jewish professionals.