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.