Sydney Engelberg, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is apparently able to whisper in the ears of babies.
A photo of a professor from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem holding a baby in his arms during a class has gone viral around the world, and the origins of this photo are even more touching.
According to Engelberg’s daughter, her father (originally from South Africa and a teacher for 45 years) teaches at Masters level, and therefore has many older students.
“There are many young single mothers, often with their babies, and my father encourages them to bring them to class rather than being separated from it,” she explains.
The mother of the crying baby was about to leave the room, when Engelberg decided to take the child in his arms, to calm him down, and then “continue his course as if nothing had happened”.
“My father loves children and infants, he has five grandchildren, so he is used to hugging crying children”, he is on the move, he moves around the classroom.
So he just took the baby in his arms, and he continued his course.
She also specifies that “it is not necessarily surprising”, since many students bring their children to the lessons of her father, a 67-year-old psychologist, and that some even breastfeed on the spot.
According to his daughter, however, Engelberg doesn’t understand why the photo has been so successful on the web, because for him, “it’s all completely natural”.
“For my father, education is not only about learning theoretical facts in a classroom,” she adds, “but also about learning values.
And it is this very important message that my father would like to pass on to the rest of the world”.
