Rabbi Eliezer Glatt ZT”L, Renowned Educator and Life Coach

Rabbi Eliezer Glatt, a renowned educator and life coach who lived in Israel, passed away last week.

Rabbi Glatt graduated from Stuyvesant High School with a National Regents’ Scholarship, received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from New York University, and an M.A. in Educational Psychology from Antioch College.

He taught for 41 years in the field of education, both in the USA and in Israel, at all levels, having taught in elementary schools, junior high, and high schools, and in teachers’ colleges. He was the principal of a Talmud Torah in Jerusalem for 18 years, and the chairman of the Special Education Department of “Beis Rivka” Teacher Training College in Kfar Chabad, Israel, for eight years.

Trained in all levels at Refuah Institute, Rabbi Glatt maintained a private practice for life coaching and counseling. He both lectured and supervised practicums in coaching and counseling for the Refuah Institute as well.

“Rabbi Glatt was an extraordinarily great teacher, coach and friend to all of those who were privileged to be associated with him,” said Joshua Ritchie, MD, Dean of Refuah Institute.

“He was a real individual,” recalls Jerusalem-based counselor Yochonon Mayers, “intelligent and unassuming. His grasp of Torah, Mesorah in general, and the Mitzvas HoEitzoh in particular, was so useful. If we ever wanted advice, we knew who to ask.”

“Rabbi Glatt was a mechanech,” says Shmuel Strickman, principal of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway, NY. “His role as a Rebbi was to instill a love for Yiddishkeit and Torah. As a Menahel he strove to instill in his Rabbeim and Morot an understanding of and a love for their Talmidim.”

As a coach, his goal was to create self-awareness, the key to being a true ‘Oived Hashem.’

He was very enthusiastic about teaching coaching and hoped that his methods would be adopted by all mechanchim. His methods were based on the premise that with Torah guidance we not only believe that we can change our middos, we believe that we have an obligation to continually improve ourselves.

Is it possible to change our nature and character? This is a question asked by many, and Rabbi Glatt answered, “Definitely! As Jews who follow Torah guidance we not only believe that we can change our middos, we believe that we have an obligation to continually improve our middos. Using the “new” techniques taught by the best schools of coaching which provide a scientific and structured methodology we can change behavior and middos. With coaching, a person who wants to improve his or her middos is assisted and can make significant changes to his or her behavior and character. Lecturing others to get them to change often doesn’t work, whereas coaching will be effective much more often. Since Jews have an obligation to continually grow in middos, wise individuals have sought – and seek — assistance in this process. Today, this assistance can take the form of coaching. The coaching process helps individuals to evaluate where they are, to clarify their goals, and to find ways to advance and improve their middos. Coaching is used to increase success in all aspects of family life, learning and business. Frum Jews have a distinct advantage in learning to be a skillful Life coach. After all, we have mitzvot such as, v’ahavtah l’rayechah kamochah. We can learn from living and past role models who exemplify these mitzvot, such as Gedolei Yisroel and exceptional educators. However today we often don’t have the benefit of enough close shimush of our role models. Fortunately, when a Jew is exposed to the science of coaching, the principles are not new or strange. In fact, many of the students of the Refuah Institute are effectively coaching others only a few months into the course. What students learn fits with what, as Jews, they already know.”

The Refuah Institute is working on publishing a book about Rabbi Glatt and his special way of chinuch. Please contact them if you have any stories about Rabbi Glatt or something special that you learned from him.
Phone: 972-2-571-5112, International 1-646-395-9613, Email: [email protected] www.Refuah.net