Rabbi Emeritus Reuven Taff
Shalom and welcome to my webpage.
I am delighted you have come to visit Mosaic Law Congregation's website, and if you are a Sacramento area resident, I hope you might consider becoming an integral part of the Mosaic Law Congregation family.
We are excited to welcome our new spiritual leader, Rabbi Ben Herman, his wife Karina, and their adorable daughters. Rabbi Herman, who began his tenure on July 1, 2022, joins Cantor Ben Rosner and a wonderful team of educators, lay leaders, and support staff as our synagogue strives to be the dynamic spiritual home for those individuals and families who desire a congregation imbued with the values of Conservative Judaism.
On this page, look for articles, videos, and other interesting media on topics of interest to me, and hopefully, to you as well. Visit my webpage as often as you wish and feel free to email me.
About Rabbi Taff
I have been blessed to serve as Rabbi for the Mosaic Law Congregation community for 25 years, retiring in August 2020. Since arriving in the summer of 1995, according to the files in our office, I have officiated at the following life cycle events:
490 Bar and Bat Mitzvah Ceremonies
421 Funerals
350 Unveilings
144 Weddings
35 Gittin (Jewish Divorces)
200 Baby Naming and Brit Milah Ceremonies
180 Conversions
When you add these numbers, you reach the sum total of 1820 life cycle events. That does not include the ufrufs, shiva minyanim, hospital/home visits, and classes I have taught, or programs in which I was involved. It also doesn’t include the invocations and benedictions at community events or letters of recommendations that I was asked to write for students applying to college or graduate school, or reference letters for scholarships or employment. And, It does not include our synagogue trip to Jewish New York and the many congregational trips to Israel. Along with those, I am sure that there are many other holy tasks that I left out.
But 1820 life cycle events is no insignificant number.
You see, I did the research, and the four-letter name of God actually appears in the Torah 1820 times. Yud Hay Vav Hay . . . there are 1820 of them in the Torah. I know you will find this astonishing that 1820 just also happens to be the numerical value of the famous Torah verse that the great sage, Rabbi Hillel, used as his way of summarizing the entire Torah, V’ahavta l'ray’acha kamocha (Vayikra 19:18), “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
In 50 years of serving the Jewish community in various capacities, I have always emphasized the Centrality of God and the Need to Love One Another as the highest precepts in both life and Judaism. Imbuing these to the young and old was my highest priority for 25 years as Rabbi of Mosaic Law Congregation—one of the best synagogues I could have ever been blessed to serve—and 25 others as a Cantor, Hebrew school teacher, Jewish camp director, Camp Ramah music director, head of a religious school, day school teacher, director of a Jewish day school, youth director, and mohel (short time with no pun intended). These two concepts, while simple in nature, unfortunately remain so elusive to so many, which is where we can all do our best to lead by example in whatever way we can.
In retirement, I am staying active, serving on an Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness, teaching for the Melton School for Adult Jewish Learning, leading Torah Study, participating in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), writing, traveling, and attempting to improve my golf game.
I am blessed to share my life with my wife, Judy, her two adult children, Matt (Lindsey) and Chelsea (Maciek), and my three sons Avi (Amy), Josh and Ari (Tirzah). The icing on the cake is our three grandchildren Ethan, Eliana and Noa, all of whom continue to make us proud each and every day. And I cannot omit our Bernedoodle, Shayna, whose unconditional love (especially for Judy) is certainly something to celebrate!