Rabbi Eli Broner, the confident, imaginative, broadly educated and experienced ninth grade dean at Shalhevet High School, puts himself into his work. He is the opposite of someone who just goes to work. He is the work. Teaching is as necessary and vital as breathing.

A believer in teaching the whole child, he appreciates having "a wealth of knowledge of every grade level," he said. "I know where a student should be and the trajectory. If I'm dealing with a seventh grader doing things at a fifth-grade level, I know what he needs to do to get to grade level." That, he said, "leads me to being dean of the ninth grade."

There are two elements to his job, he explained. "I tell parents and the kids, I am their concierge. A concierge may not do everything for you, but he is your point person. It's stressful going from middle school to high school. So much transition." He cited the most difficult challenges: "There's social, being part of a whole new class. Academically, it is much more rigorous than middle school. And as a student, you have ownership over your learning as opposed to parents' ownership." There's management -- of time, of materials, of study schedules. "So much is going on," he said. And when his students come to him, saying, "Rabbi, I am worried about this," or "Rabbi, I forgot this" or "What can I do about this?", he says, "Come to me and I will do it for you" or "You and I together will reach out to so-and-so."

The parents also have issues, he said. "They are in a new school, too. They are used to being coddled in middle school. Now they are sending their kid off. They want to be on top, want to be responsible, but they also want to give their child space." As the concierge, "I am your address. I will take care of you."

Sounds as if Eli Broner was made for this position at this moment. "But I could not have done it without the experience I have had," he said. "Right place, right time. This is everything I want to be doing in education - I want to make sure every child is meeting his fullest potential to have a great school experience and grow into the best person he can be as a Jew and as a contributor to the world."

Rabbi Broner was also eager to talk about his earlier career. "I have taught every grade," he said. "When I was studying for smicha (ordination) in Sydney, Australia, I taught second grade and high school. When we started the Conejo Day School, I was teaching first grade. I went all the way through to bar mitzvah, the seventh grade, with them. It was the most magical experience."

The Brooklyn native grew up in a Chabad home and spent a dozen years with Chabad in the Conejo Valley. Rabbi Broner also taught at L.A. Hebrew High, Emek Hebrew Academy and Hillel Hebrew Academy before Shalhevet. Additionally, the father of five is youth director and assistant rabbi at Beth Jacob Congregation.

Rabbi Broner's father was his teacher and model. A professor of dentistry at NYU, he also had a private practice. "I owe my abilities to him," the rabbi said. "I learned from him a respect for integrity, always doing your very best at everything - and to be very detail-oriented, hands-on education, being able to explain things in a way that makes sense for every student, and caring for every student's need."

But teaching wasn't his original career path. "When you grow up Chabad, you want to be a sh'liach (emissary of The Rebbe) and open a Chabad House," he said. Teaching was seen as second-tier. "You are teaching," Rabbi Broner said, "but you don't want to be a 'schoolteacher.' "If you had the stuff, you had a Chabad House. My vision always was to open a Chabad House."

As a 15-year-old yeshiva student, he taught a class of six students, "and, thank God, I succeeded at it." As he grew older his perspective on teaching sharply changed. "Teaching is a mission, a vision, a gift, the awesome responsibility God gives you to hopefully make an impact," he says.

The world has changed substantively since he began teaching in the '90s. What Rabbi Broner has seen is that "my students have much more stimuli now in every moment of their lives. I always have been an entertainer in the classroom. I like changing my voices, dressing up, getting down on the ground. I'm always entertaining, but you have to entertain a lot more than before. Kids are innocent. They are diamonds. They are precious. They want to accomplish, to succeed. They want to feel loved, appreciated, noticed." Rabbi Broner sees "each child like wet cement. Every impression lasts a lifetime."

"Kids are innocent. They are diamonds. They are precious. They want to accomplish, to succeed. They want to feel loved, appreciated, noticed. Each child is like wet cement. Every impression lasts a lifetime."

He loves teaching first graders because they need everything the high schooler needs. "You just have to take it and package it at a first-grade level," says the rabbi. "That takes talent and experience." What he enjoys about teaching is more the approach than the subject. "In anything I am teaching," says Rabbi Broner, "regardless of level, there is something you already know. Identify what you know, and let me give you the tools you need so you are able to own this on your own."

Finally, as Beth Jacob's youth director, the rabbi speaks of "amazing programs on Shabbat and during the week. Our Spark minyan is focused on parent-child davening. It's teaching kids davening skills and the ability to lead. We draw between 20 and 50 [families]."

Rabbi Broner: I never am happy with what I am doing. I always could be doing better.

JJ: Your favorite Shabbat moment?

RB: When I have my family around me and we discuss our favorite parts of the week.

JJ: Best book you have read?

RB: Stephen Covey's "First Things First" about organizing your life.