Ohr Yisrael and Other Writings

In Ohr Yisrael , translated and annotated by Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg and Rabbi Justin Pines Rabbi Israel Salanter (1810–1883), argues that human motivations are not transparent; a purely intellectual approach to self-improvement can blind people to the hidden impulses that drive us toward both proper and improper behavior. Ohr Yisrael includes his teachings that only a richer psychology that accounts for subconscious and irrational motives can help modern Jews improve their characters and better their service of God. These collected texts, gathered in a bilingual edition for the first time, with a new translation and commentary by Rabbi Irving Yitz Greenberg and Rabbi Justin Pines, offer readers not only an understanding of a creative historical figure, but insight into the workings of the human personality and religious soul.