Introduction
Behavior did not begin with science.
It began with creation.
The laws that shape human action were placed into the world long before we learned to describe them with charts, terms, and formulas. Behavioral analysis did not invent these laws; it merely observed them — often in a language that became precise, effective, and yet distant from the human soul.
In Jewish tradition, tikkun olam does not mean fixing people.
It means restoring intention, dignity, and purpose to the parts of the world entrusted to us.
This psalm is a beginning.
A moment before the song.
A pause before knowledge speaks.
An attempt to return behavioral analysis to a human and moral voice — so that it, too, may take its place in the song of creation.
Psalm
I give thanks to You,
Eternal One,
God of Israel,
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
Source of life
and Author of all order.
You placed laws within the world,
and they are steady.
You set patterns into creation,
and they do not falter.
But You gave the human being a heart,
so that law would not become cruelty,
and order would not turn cold.
You taught us
that action shapes the soul,
that habit forms the path,
and that a person is guided
not only by thought,
but by what is repeated
day after day.
You know how easily wisdom
can lose its voice,
how language can grow heavy,
and how the human face
can disappear
behind structure and method.
Therefore, teach us to begin gently.
Teach us to see behavior
not as something to dominate,
but as something to guide.
Teach us to speak plainly,
to act patiently,
and to remember
that every correction
carries a human life within it.
Grant us the strength
to build without breaking,
to shape without humiliation,
and to wait
for the fruit of our labor
in its proper time.
Let our minds remain clear,
but let our hearts stay awake.
Let understanding serve compassion,
and let effectiveness never stand
above dignity.
And if we are called
to bring repair into the world,
let this work also be part of that calling —
so that even the laws of behavior
may find their voice
and join the song
that all creation sings to You.
Rabbi Moshe (Mikhail) Salita is a Brooklyn-based rabbi, legal scholar, and emerging animal chaplain whose work unites Jewish spirituality, international law, and compassion for all living beings.
He holds a Master’s in International Law (with honors) from the National University “Odesa Law Academy,” where he is currently a PhD student researching the restitution of unlawfully confiscated Jewish communal property in Soviet Ukraine. He also earned a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute (New York) and a Master’s in Education and Special Education from Touro University, with graduate certificates in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Bilingual Education.
Rabbi Salita is an ordained rabbi of the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI), a Doctor of Ministry student in Jewish Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Foundation, and an Animal Chaplain-in-Training with the Compassion Consortium in New York. His mission is to weave together justice, mercy, and creation care into one sacred path of Tikkun Olam — healing the moral and spiritual wounds of the world.
He serves as Executive Director of the Salita Foundation, originally founded by his brother, Dmitriy Salita — former WBF World Champion boxer, and inductee of both the New York Boxing Hall of Fame and the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Today, Rabbi Salita leads the Foundation toward a broader vision — uniting humanitarian ethics, environmental awareness, and cultural restitution.
Through the Foundation, he has launched the “Eco-Kosher Initiative,” a global program encouraging support for businesses and individuals who respect the environment, animals, and their communities. For him, “eco-kosher” is not limited to food — it is a moral philosophy of living in balance with creation, where sustainability and holiness walk hand in hand.
He is also devoted to preserving and gaining international recognition for the rare Israeli cat breed Kanaani — a living symbol of harmony between Jewish heritage and the natural world.
A descendant of Sruel ben Aharon Lekhtman, a Ruzhiner Hasid and brick-factory owner in Kitai-Gorod, Kamianets-Podilskyi — once a spiritual heart of the Ruzhin Hasidic movement in Tsarist-era Ukraine — Rabbi Salita continues his ancestor’s legacy of faith, integrity, and bridge-building. Sruel Lekhtman served as a close friend and estate manager for Pan Dembitsky, a Polish landowner remembered with respect in both Jewish and Ukrainian memory. Their friendship, crossing lines of faith and culture, remains a profound symbol of coexistence — especially meaningful for Ukraine today.
Although Rabbi Salita received Reform rabbinic education in the spirit of Jewish Universalism, he maintains a deep spiritual connection with Chabad, whose living Hasidic tradition unites intellect, compassion, and joy.
Following the example of the prophets — from Adam, the first caretaker of creation, to King Solomon, who understood the language of animals, and to Rav Papa, the sage who spoke kindly of cats — Rabbi Salita teaches that true holiness is revealed through compassion for all living beings. His life’s work is to show that caring for animals and serving God are one and the same sacred breath.
