Rav Chaim Lifshitz

Founder and Director of Sadnat Enosh
 

Rav Ze’ev Chaim Lifshitz

is the founder of Sadnat Enosh Institute and the Sadnat Enosh methodology.

Born in Israel and trained in the great analytical traditions of the Lithuanian Yeshivas, Rav Lifshitz is a scion of the scholarly dynasties of the Lithuanian Torah world. Rav Lifshitz represents Torah Judaism – the authentic spirit of Torah as taught by the great sages of the Lithuanian and Chassidic schools.

His gifted father, a close student of the Chofetz Chaim and one of the great scholars of the Lomzhe and Chevron yeshivas, taught him his first Torah. As a growing child, he "sheltered in the shade" of the Chazon Ish, and drank of his wisdom. He served as “right hand” to Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg zatsal, author of the shutim series, Sridei Eish. Rav Lifshitz participated closely in the writing and editing of these responsa.

For years Rav Lifshitz was a talmid muvhak of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zatsal, and for decades he maintained close personal contact with his illustrious cousins Rav Moshe Feinstein zatsal and Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zatsal.

Sadnat Enosh is an independent institution, unaffiliated with any organizational frameworks or educational institutions.
Bishaim omrom, Rav Lifshitz acknowledges the theoretical influences of pioneering developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, his teacher at the University of Geneva for six years. Piaget taught the idea of Structuralism: Aspiring to achieve balance between opposing vectors.
Th principle of Structuralism is dominant in Judaism, and reflects the Jewish view of man and universe.
However, there is one significant difference between the Piagetian view and the Jewish view: While Piaget follows Western perception, and seeks the balance somewhere between the two sides, Judaism proposes a three-dimensional structure.
Height, meaning spirituality, is the third dimension and the dominant factor: The spiritual dimension of height determines the direction, organizational pattern and goals for the other factors. Organization - prioritization - is counted as being of greater importance than balance in the Jewish perception; organization is a guideline of Jewish psychology as formulated by Rav Lifshitz.
Not sufficing with these theoretical formulations, Rav Lifshitz has developed a comprehensive methodology out of these theories that has produced a unique system of diagnostic and counseling techniques.