Michael Milgraum takes his father’s advice seriously.

“Happiness is found in a productive life, filled with service and gratitude for our blessings” is among the tenets Leonard Milgraum, 84, a retired lawyer and lifelong poet, passed on to him.

And the 49-year-old Silver Spring psychologist, attorney and writer aspires to perpetuate that positive message. “Poetry of Three Generations,” a self-published anthology of verse by Leonard, Michael and Michael’s daughter Rena that was released in May, is the most recent expression of such efforts.

The poems, Milgraum said, articulate “each author’s views on spirituality, nature, relationships and love.” To start the book, he wrote a parable based on the Biblical story of Noah’s sons that conveys “the Jewish understanding of how poetry and words can unite a fractured world and disconnected self.” A mix of poems by all three writers comprises each of four sections that follow.

Milgraum acknowledged the heritage that informs the work.

“The Jewish soul that breathes through these pages indicates that not only the art of poetry was passed down in this family, as a precious family heirloom [but also that the] love of the Jewish heritage has been faithfully transmitted as well,” he explained.

Rena, 12, a rising seventh-grader at the Yeshiva of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, said that combining the poetry “shows how the influence of earlier generations has penetrated later generations.”

“Readers,” she observed, “don’t get a book filled with only one level of experience, only one set of ideas. Instead, they get a multitude of different views, from three different people, with three different outlooks.” She found it “especially interesting to see how my grandfather and I have expanded on the same thought, expressed the same idea and even used similar phrasing.”

Her grandfather’s productive life credo is evident in her father’s multifaceted career. After earning bachelor’s and law degrees at the University of Virginia, Michael Milgraum practiced general law for two years until he contracted Lyme disease. While recovering, he did “some serious thinking about my life” and realized that “I wanted to do more professionally than just arguing on behalf of whoever paid me and earning a living.” Instead, he said, “I wanted to make a meaningful impact on people’s lives.”

In retrospect, Milgraum understands why he switched gears.

“I am now aware that this drive in me really came from me being the child of a Holocaust survivor,” he said. “Growing up with an awareness of how much suffering there is in the world and the countless inhuman acts that occurred, I developed a strong desire to alleviate some of that suffering.”

The early lives of his “devoted, loving” parents, Milgraum noted, took place in challenging times. His mother spent much of her childhood hiding from the Russians and the Nazis in her native Romania, and his father grew up in New York City during the Great Depression. Milgraum credits his parents with trying “to instill in me the virtues of responsibility, spirituality, commitment to my family, and the pleasure of teaching and loving our children.”

Having recognized during his reconsideration process that his personal strengths included being an “empathetic listener and helper in relationships,” Milgraum went back to school. In an effort to respond to what he then knew was his “calling in life,” he earned a master’s degree in psychology and a doctorate in clinical psychology/behavior medicine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. For the three years prior to starting a private practice in psychology, Milgraum worked with emotionally disturbed inner city youth from Southwest Washington, D.C., at Accotink Academy.

Milgraum is not new to writing. Prior to the poetry book, he wrote a novel, “Never Forget My Soul” (Guidelight, 2011), about six people in a therapy group. The book, he said, addresses “the multigenerational effects of trauma and a path towards psychological and spiritual healing.” In addition, he has published articles in periodicals, and writes a blog.

Milgraum has been productive, too, as the father of four “wonderful children,” a son and three daughters. He and his wife, a medical doctor who works as a pathology assistant, want their children to know “that they are, each one, a beautiful creation by God, and that God has a plan for them,” Milgraum said. “Further, I want them to know that they have two challenges in life: one, to seek deeply for what their mission is, and two, to keep their focus on that mission, so they live a life of meaning and fruition.”

As Milgraum passes on the family torch of poetry and faith to Rena, her awe of her grandfather is clear.

“Many of his poems,” Rena pointed out, “speak of the joy of living life and regarding every day as a treasure. … He gets up every morning thanking God for the miracle of another day and never loses track of the fact that everything he has is a gift from God. I hope that throughout my life, I, too, will be able to recognize that. …”

“Poetry of Three Generations,” An Anthology of Poems (Guidelight Books, March 2013) by Leonard Milgraum, Michael Milgraum, Rena Milgraum is available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.