Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Issac Hodakov (1902-1993) was born in Beshenkevitch, Russia, at a time of great intellectual ferment in the Jewish world. His own vision of education, however, reflected the innumerable close contacts that he had, and was to have, with the sixth and seventh Lubavitcher Rebbes. "The Educator's Handbook" is a virtual "Kitzur Shulchan Aruch" of Chinuch, but beyond the 'standard' formulations of educational policy - many of which are common to systems of every stripe - there is the specifically Chassidic dimension of the book, which has to do with the inculcation of 'joy', of 'ahavat Yisrael', and of all those attributes that combine to make up the Chassidic personality. Herein lies the book's unique appeal.
by Rabbi Mordechai I. Hodakov
Translated by Yosef Cohen