This, then, is the leadership lesson of Moses: to know the limits of one’s abilities, to know the limits of one’s autonomy, and to know the limits of one’s authority.
Stephen Garfinkel, “The Man Moses, The Leader Moses”

This issue focuses on a topic of critical importance to the field: leadership—and how individual dispositions, strengths, preferences play such a determinative role in a leader’s ability to succeed.

My wife and I are the proud parents of three sons. When it came time for our eldest to start school, we knew we wanted to send him to a Jewish day school. I had grown up in Montreal and had a very positive and formative experience at JPPS-Bialik. I wanted my children to have that same sense of community and strong Jewish identity. My wife and I have an interfaith marriage and are committed to raising our children as Jews. Thus, it was especially important for us that their school environment help us transmit Jewish culture and traditions to them.

I have been a classroom teacher for the past few years, and this year things are feeling stale. Even though I update the curriculum every year, I feel like I am stuck in a rut. What can I do to mix things up? How can I continue my education and learn new techniques or methods of teaching while balancing everything else?

Mobilizing an organization to adapt its behaviors in order to thrive in new business environments is critical. ...  Adaptive change is distressing for the people going through it.  They need to take on  new roles, new  relationships, new values, new behaviors, and new approaches to work. ... Rather than fulfilling the expectation that they will provide answers, leaders have to ask tough questions. Rather than protecting people from outside threats, leaders should allow them to feel the pinch of reality in order to stimulate them to adapt.

Is passion for your school and an unwavering commitment to Jewish education enough to build one’s admissions pipeline? As we all know, these are necessary but not sufficient. An admissions office must be methodical, proactive and creative in its approach to recruitment, enrollment and retention. Luckily, for the admissions team at Vancouver Talmud Torah (VTT), the experts at Prizmah’s Atidenu program provided the guidance, wisdom and experience required to build a robust admissions strategy to serve our school in the years to come.

QUESTION: What are the conditions for a healthy and thriving head of school – board president partnership?

Lisa Jerles, Board Chair, Gordon School, Miami

Reshet Innovation is unique among the Reshets in that it is not based on a particular job or lay leadership role nor on membership in a Prizmah program. Any Jewish day school educator interested in innovating his or her school or classroom might find there a connection among like-minded educators. Innovation is a broad notion, open to many possible interpretations and paths; the Reshet is a place to discuss anything that falls under the vast umbrella of innovative practices or ideas.

The Seventh Most Important Thing

by Shelley Pearsall

It was a bitterly cold day when Arthur T. Owens grabbed a brick and hurled it at the trash picker. Arthur had his reasons, and the brick hit the Junk Man in the arm, not the head. But none of that matters to the judge…

In Search of a Compass

What distinguishes the most effective heads of day schools? How is it that at a moment when about half of Jewish day school heads and principals stay in position for three years or less, some individuals do so well that their schools don’t want to see them leave after 10 years or more? What do we know about these people? How much is their success about who they are? How much is it about what they know how to do?