Reuven Kirshner: Groovin' to the Torah

An interview about his book chronicling his ten-year journey from first-year yeshiva student to married community founder

Author: Reuven Kirshner

Book: Groovin’ to the Torah

Reuven’s book started way back in 2008 — at a time when Reuven had zero plans to publish anything. Over the course of ten years and the twists and turns of life in Israel, Reuven kept writing.

Through yeshiva, the army (as a volunteer!), back to yeshiva, teaching in yeshiva, university, marriage, fatherhood, and founding a community, Reuven noticed something eye-opening:

The Torah he was learning was impacting the way he saw whatever he was doing in his life, and whatever he was doing in life was impacting the way he was understanding the Torah he was learning.

This led Reuven to select the best of what he wrote over that ten-year period and publish it as a book: to share the experience of living life through Torah and learning Torah through life. I had the privilege of being involved for a couple of years around 2011-2012, and then again to bring it from manuscript to publication. Check it out:

1. Tell us a bit about your background.

I’m a tech professional from Chicago trying to make Israel a better place for my children through the guidance of the Torah. The weekly Torah, haftorah, holiday insights and essays shared in this book are a journal of my journey as an immigrant, lone soldier, student, husband, father, and community founder (Carmei Gat). I also host the Career Canvas podcast, have two songs online (more to come), enjoy teaching, learning, and running. But mostly, I love spending time with my family.

2. How would you summarize Groovin to the Torah?

A journey through the transformative years of 18–28, documented through weekly Torah emails (parsha, haftorah and holidays) along with other essays and insights picked up along the way.

3. What piqued your interest in this topic?

Initially, I started writing to process the intensity of a trip to Poland with Yeshivat Hakotel in the beginning of my shanah alef. The Shabbat we returned was Parshat Lech Lecha, and I shared some of my thoughts and feelings with my parents through the lens of Hashem’s command to Avraham to go to Israel.

Then I wrote the next week because I was still processing. And then another week because at that point, I reasoned that my parents were expecting it.

As I continued writing, I was self-incentivized by not wanting to be “caught” as someone learning in Yeshiva without a Torah idea to share on demand.

Eventually, it turned into an identity and a valued opportunity to share Torah and create meaningful connections with others (shoutout to everyone who got shoutouts in those emails!).

4. What inspired you to write this book?

At first, I didn't have any intention to write a book. I started sharing emails with a weekly Torah idea interwoven with life updates and kept going for ten years. Then I looked back and realized that not only did I have lots of good content, but although I wrote on the same weekly portion, my understanding of it changed based on what I was experiencing in my life at the time. It felt like I was seeing my life through Torah and the Torah through my life, and I felt like I had to share that unique lens with others.

For years, I was encouraged to gather my emails and other essays together into a formal book. I finally put in the work to sift through more than a million characters and find the ideas I most resonated with and thought would capture both the Torah and the insights from that ten-year journey.

In putting these ideas into book form, I hoped to inspire others to work toward their goals and find life guidance in the Torah.

5. What is one major misconception you've found people hold about this topic?

• You need to be a rabbi to gather and present Torah.

• It might take time to achieve your goals (17 years for this book, 8 years to run a marathon, 3 years to record my first song), but if you keep chipping away and using time well (like on the train), you can accomplish more than you think!

6. Who would gain the most from reading Groovin to the Torah?

Everyone should be able to get value from this book, especially if you enjoy a positive outlook on Torah. Someone who is going through or has gone through those formative years will relate to the references and essays about some of the decisions and life changes referenced.

7. Can you share one idea from the book you find particularly underappreciated?

In the introduction, I mapped out what my influences were each year. It's amazing how without realizing, we are constantly changing and evolving in the way we relate to the world around us. Having some sort of journal and reflecting on life leads to some fascinating insights. By the way, you probably have a journal in the form of past letters, emails and messages or social media posts; the challenge is organizing them to be used as a benchmark.

8. If you write another book, what will the topic be?

Building communities, as I mention in the epilogue of the book. Talia and I were the first Anglo family to sign on a home in Carmei Gat, and ever since then, we’ve been fully invested in building up this unique area of our beautiful country. I have learned — and continue to learn — so much from this experience, and it has also made me curious how other (Jewish) communities in Israel were built or are in the process of being built:

• What challenges do they face?

• How do they deal with them?

• How similar are our struggles and victories to others?

• What can we learn from their experiences and share from ours?

9. Did you encounter any challenges while writing this book? How did you overcome them?

Many. So many. For starters, every time I opened the book, I kept tweaking the edits. Endlessly. I also wanted to keep adding more essays (just ask my editor!).

How did I deal with that? Make a deadline and ship. There's always the opportunity for the second edition. I am still repeating this mantra.

10. What suggestions do you have for an aspiring writer?

Start writing, and share that writing with others to ensure you keep writing. It doesn’t need to be publicly sent on social media, it’s enough to send a paragraph a week to a friend for accountability. ChatGPT is a fun way to sharpen your writing, but it’s also easy to get distracted by its capabilities and trying to prompt exactly what you want.

11. What projects are you involved in now?

• Raising a family

• Career Canvas podcast — Interviewing professionals and business owners in different careers about their journeys, interests, and insights.

• Carmei Gat — Right now, we’re building a shul and school, and we have plans for so much more!

• Writing music

• Open to other ideas!

Link to order

Groovin' to the Torah: From Page to Path.

If you’re in Israel, reach out to see if I have any copies left from my limited edition print.