Hebrew University Professor Sydney Engelberg has been hailed for his progressive approach to education after his daughter Sarit Fishbaine shared a photo of him holding a student’s baby on Facebook.

The caption (translated from Hebrew) explains that during an organisational behaviour class, the baby began to cry and as the embarrassed mother got up to leave and calm her son down, Professor Engelberg, 67 picked up the child and soothed him before continuing the lecture like nothing had happened.

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The professor just continued like nothing had happened.

“The way he sees the concept of getting education is not only learning the dry facts that you need to learn in class, but also learning values,” the post said.

Ms Fishbaine said her father encourages his students who have children to bring them to class and to breastfeed them if they need to.

The father-of-four and grandfather-of-five has been praised for recognising the importance of an education for everyone, including new mothers.

“There might be hope for humanity,” one person Tweeted after seeing the photo.

“I love this. I remember being a very young mother and having to decide between classes and my children,” another one said.

While the photo has been shared all around the world, even after 45 years of teaching, Professor Engelberg doesn’t seem to think that his actions were particularly noteworthy.

“He’s pretty blasé about it, and we just find it all very funny. I think it must have happened on a no-news day,” Professor Engelberg’s wife Siskind Engelberg told Yahoo Parenting.

“He’s gotten love letters,” she added.