Title: <i>Imrei Baruch (The Sayings Of Baruch)</i> (Hebrew 3 volumes),Gil Student

The educational obligations of a Jewish parent or teacher to a child go far beyond merely teaching reading, writing and arithmetic - and even past instruction in the study of Torah.

In addition to the above, or perhaps prior to it, a young Jew must be taught two things - how to be a mensch (decent person) and how to be a Yid (Jew). The latter includes training a student to be an observant Jew, dedicated to the fulfillment of his religious obligations in letter and in spirit. This is no small task, and is something with which parents and teachers often struggle. The former, however, is so fundamental that it is all too often overlooked. It involves enabling a student to grow into an emotionally mature and ethical person, something that is frequently taken as guaranteed in the Orthodox Jewish community but - as studies and anecdotal evidence demonstrate - incorrectly so.

What can parents and teachers do to instill menschlichkeit, basic interpersonal ethics, in their charges?

The answer can be found in a unique collection of essays on the Torah by a young rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University, Rabbi Baruch Simon. Rabbi Simon is a walking encyclopedia of obscure rabbinic texts. When I entered Yeshiva, Rabbi Simon was in the study hall (the beis midrash), the local address for difficult talmudic questions. Inevitably, he had already seen every question in one book or another and had the answer offered by that book's author ready at his fingertips.

He was not only the answerer of tough questions, he was also the gentle-mannered encourager of budding scholars, always ready with a smile and a kind, heartening word at every hour of the day and night. To his friends and later students, Rabbi Simon was the perfect model of a humble confidence, the mark of a healthy spirit, and a profound concern for the physical and spiritual well-being of others.

After a number of years delivering shiurim in Yeshiva University's affiliated yeshiva study program, Rabbi Simon has finally published some of his Torah insights in a book. To my great surprise, these volumes are not representative of the scholar I knew. Imrei Baruch is not a collection of sharp talmudic insights into textual problems, the kind of book that would have been expected in this day from a rising rabbinic figure. It is a bold venture into uncharted territory, a quest for psychological insight from a vast eclectic base of chassidic, mussar, Zionist and every other type of rabbinic writing.

Early chassidic masters were known for their keen psychological insights, often drawn from stories and parables but frequently extracted from Scripture with neo-midrashic methodologies that yielded clever adages. Rabbi Simon is, surprisingly, a master of this literature and heavily utilizes such insights into the human condition that remain relevant today. With the absence of an index of sources, I can only estimate that the most frequently quoted text in the first volume is Kedushat Levi of the chassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. This is most unexpected in the writings of an instructor in a Lithuanian-style yeshiva.

One of the innovations of traditional Mussar proponents, such as the brilliant prodigies Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and Rabbi Yitzchak Blaser, was the appropriation of talmudic methodologies and applying them to theological concepts. The lecture style of seemingly unsolvable talmudic questions and brilliant flashes of insight were applied to afterlife, reward and punishment, repentance and other related topics.

In this way, they allowed the sharp minds of yeshiva students to excitedly meditate on their obligations in this world and, presumably, act accordingly. This was modified by later mussarists and eventually evolved into a style of streaming midrashic interpretations, one leading into another and all emphasizing an abstract character trait such as modesty or humility.

Rabbi Simon weaves together these two methodologies into an entirely new tapestry. He imports the very sensitive and penetrating chassidic insights - and many culled from non-chassidic material - into a traditional yeshiva lecture so that he ends up reflecting on the pitfalls that lie ahead of students in a question and answer format full of exciting challenges and ingenious solutions.

What was Noach's great flaw that led him astray? Seamlessly navigating from one text to another, Rabbi Simon explains that Noach lacked self-confidence in his own achievements. Why was Avraham so successful in spreading his message of monotheism? As demonstrated from multiple rabbinic texts, Avraham maintained a high level of personal consistency with his religio-ethical teachings that exuded sincerity. The relevance of such insights to young students is obvious, but established adults also need to be reminded of such fundamental messages.

That traditional talmudic methodologies are being used to transmit such important psychological and behavioral messages not only adds to their religious impact but also transforms the study of Torah into a process of personal and ethical maturation. In this way, Rabbi Simon addresses the need of ethical instruction by taking tried and true Talmudic styles of teaching and using them to offer psychological and ethical insights into the daily dilemmas of his avid listeners.

Had these essays come from someone with clear emotional or ethical flaws, they would seem contrived - a false piety. Combined with the honest model of their author, however, the lectures pierce straight through to the listening heart.

As the introduction states, the generally short essays were taken from Rabbi Simon's lectures to his students at Yeshiva. A quick perusal of the very detailed table of contents reveals that these essays are not random rabbinic ramblings but very relevant insights for students and adults of today's generation.

One is not surprised by the repeated emphasis on the importance of studying Torah, something with which students struggling with the double curriculum of Yeshiva must grapple, as must adults working full-time jobs but still desiring to grow in Torah scholarship. Nor is one surprised at the importance given to the land of Israel in Rabbi Simon's thought.

Other topics that receive treatment are less expected, however, such as the obligation to recognize and appreciate what others have done for you; the importance of consistency in behavior; the need to act pleasantly to others; managing spiritually with wealth and plenitude; and, particularly emphasized, the value in accomplishments that are achieved through great difficulty and patience.

The brilliant rosh yeshiva, whose lectures are filled with complex conceptual analyses, has devoted his first book not to the important area of Talmudic research but to the more critical area of personal development. That in itself is a statement of the author's priorities in life and in his unstated goal of educating his students in derech eretz, something even more primary than Torah.

Readers of this book who have never met the author will be moved by it. Those who know him will be transformed.

Gil Student is president of Yashar Books and maintains a popular blog at www.hirhurim.blogspot.com.

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