About Rabbi Shimon Gruen
Rabbi Shimon Gruen is an experienced relationship counselor, author, and speaker who has spent over a decade helping individuals, couples, and families navigate the challenges of marriage, parenting, and interpersonal relationships.
Known for his deep understanding of human nature and personality, Rabbi Gruen brings a practical, Torah-based approach to addressing complex situations. His work focuses on understanding the people involved, identifying what is really causing difficulties, and finding realistic, effective ways to improve relationships and resolve conflicts.
Drawing on his extensive counseling experience, he also shares his insights through books, articles, and widely followed weekly shiurim in English and Yiddish.
Practical Guidance for Everyday Relationships
Rabbi Gruen's work is about helping people. Individuals, couples, parents, and families come to him when a relationship has become difficult, confusing, or painful, and leave with a clearer understanding of what is happening and practical steps they can take.
Navigating Relationship Difficulties
Rabbi Gruen helps individuals and families work through difficulties in their relationships, at home, in the extended family, and with others in their lives. He listens carefully, helps each person see the situation more clearly, and guides them toward realistic solutions.
Resolving Conflict and Improving Relationships
When people are caught in ongoing tension or conflict, he helps them understand what is really driving it and how to move past it. The goal is not only to end the conflict, but to build a better relationship going forward, in families and in business.
Marriage and Family Guidance
He offers guidance on the everyday realities of marriage and family life: communication, expectations, differences in personality, and the challenges that come up over the years.
Parenting and Chinuch
Parents turn to him for practical direction in raising and educating their children: understanding each child's nature, responding to difficult behavior, and building a warm, healthy relationship at every stage.
Shiurim, Lectures, and Classes
Rabbi Gruen speaks and teaches on these subjects at shuls, schools, and community events, and gives weekly shiurim in English and Yiddish, available on the Shiurim Hotline, on TorahAnytime, and on this website.
Understanding Yourself and Others
Underlying all of his work is a deep understanding of human nature and personality. He helps people better understand themselves and others, make practical improvements, and live more fulfilling lives, particularly in their relationships.
Consultations are available in person, by phone, or via Zoom. Rabbi Gruen is also the author of The Fragile Factor and Get Along With Everyone, and writes a weekly essay on the parsha.
Endorsements & Testimonials for Rabbi Shimon Gruen
Featured endorsements — About Rabbi Shimon Gruen
Rabbi Shimon Gruen has established a wonderful reputation as a sensitive, compassionate expert in many types of relationship issues.
A deep and penetrating grasp of people and of the kochot hanefesh with which HaKadosh Baruch Hu endowed each individual.
Rabbi Gruen has dedicated immense effort to understanding these differences and helping people understand one another.
R. Shimon's insights are wise and inspirational, but even more importantly, they are down-to-earth, practical, and realistic.
His familiarity with the kochot hanefesh enables him to perceive not only what a person expresses, but often what lies beneath the words, guiding individuals toward clarity, empathy, and shalom.
Endorsements — Practical relationship guidance
Rabbi Gruen's book is deep, insightful and practical at the same time.
He is able to take a concept and give it wings.
It shows great respect for people who are characteristically challenging, and it provides insightful perspectives and practical tools for managing relationships with them in a variety of settings.
Rabbi Gruen has done a masterful job of explaining a complicated topic in a way that makes it easy to understand.
A unique guide that might prod you into rethinking and redirecting your most important relationships.
Rabbi Gruen tackles the ancient challenge of our inability to get along with one another and emerges with an unusual approach — one that not only respects individual differences, but offers new hope for our species.
Rabbi Gruen has written an enticing and practical guidebook for enhancing relationships and most especially, for resolving interpersonal conflict constructively.
Endorsements — Marriage and Shalom Bayis
Reading it is like looking over the shoulder of a wise therapist as he guides couples through a wide range of marital challenges.
Rabbi Shimon Gruen has done a great service with this insightful work.
Drawing primarily from authentic Torah hashkafa but combined with the insights of modern psychology, he demonstrates in many different ways the paramount importance of spouses understanding each other, being willing to compromise, having realistic expectations, and seeing marriage as a great opportunity for character development and self-awareness.
If only more people would take Rabbi Gruen's message of understanding other people to heart, there would be less marital conflict and so many more happy children!
This is the gift that Rabbi Gruen offers us in his new book: a road map to guide us past taking things personally so we can really see who our partner is and learn, if we chose, how to meet them in a better way.
This is a must-read for anyone who wants to forge a better relationship with another person.
Endorsements — Parenting and Chinuch
A smart and realistic guide for parents, filled with valuable insights and practical advice for optimizing our most important relationships.
This book is a treasure-trove of common sense chinuch guidelines for parents of children of all ages.
Drawing on his extensive experience and deep understanding of chinuch, Rabbi Gruen addresses the diverse challenges that parents face today with wisdom and empathy.
The advice in this book is relevant, effective, and actionable, making it a valuable resource for every parent.
This book holds the reader's hand, modeling the supportive and patient approach it advocates.
Parenting Q&A is highly readable, practical, and insightful. I applaud the author and recommend it for all parents!
Additional strong endorsements
This book contains a surprisingly simple and practical approach to helping different personalities get along at home, at work and in every relationship.
His book will shape the burgeoning field of conflict resolution and help professionals and laymen alike in powerful, yet fully accessible ways.
His new book, Help That Helps, is a further expression of this commitment. Drawing upon years of experience guiding individuals and families, Rabbi Gruen shares valuable insights and practical wisdom to help readers better understand the challenges they face, recognize what kind of guidance they need, and pursue help that can truly bring about meaningful improvement.
This is a work that will help many couples, and I highly endorse it.
מתוך הסכמת הרבנים הגאונים הצדיקים שליט"א
"... כבר איתמחי גברי וקמיעא ויצא טבעו בעולם לעשות גדולות ונצורות בענינים אלו… ובפרט סלל והתווה מהלך מיוחד שהוא קנקן חדש מלא ישן, בנוי על יסודות ישנים של הבנת הטבעיות כמבואר בספרי קדמונינו ז"ל, בלי לינוק ממקומות זרים…""... ומנסיונו הרב סלל עצמו מהלך מיוחד בהבנת נפשות בני אדם ותכונותיהם… ועכשיו הוא העלה את כל זה על הכתב בכדי להיות לעזר לכל בן ישראל שיהיה בידו להבין את נפשו ועצמיותו, והעצות שעמם ישתמש לעזור את עצמו כשנתקל בקושיים שהם מנת חלקו של כ"א במשך שנות חייו…""... המחבר החשוב שליט"א שהשכיל לרדת לעמקי הנפש... המבוסס כלו על מקורות נאמנים… ורבים נעזרו על ידו, ובודאי יהיה תועלת גדולה לדעת הדרך ישכון אור…""... בודאי שהקונטרס הזה יפקח עינים להרבה בני אדם הנבוכים בענינים שבין אדם לחבירו ובין איש לאשתו בין הורים ליוצאי חלציהם ובין מורים עם תלמידיהם וכיוצא בזה… יועיל הרבה הידיעה וההבנה לדעת שברוב מקרים אין צריכין לרוץ ל[מומחים]... ולאבד זמן וממון הרבה… והכל בנוי על אדני התורה…"