He who learns in order to teach will be enabled both to learn and to teach.
But he who learns in order to practice will be enabled to learn, to teach,
to observe, and to practice. Rabbi Yishmael, Pirke Avot, Ch. 4

Mindfulness is getting a lot of attention these days. We read about it in our newspapers and in our magazines. We hear how celebrities, professional athletes, corporate executives and even politicians are embracing the age-old art and science of mindfulness. Universities are teaching it and scientists are researching it.

But while there certainly is a lot of buzz about it, mindfulness in education is relatively new. In fact, when discussing this with Rabbi Tully Harcsztark, founding principal of SAR High School in New York, I said being mindful is so beneficial because it gives us the opportunity to get out of our heads and into our bodies. He said, “I understand that cognitively.” The irony was not lost on me. As an educational consultant specializing in mindfulness training for over 20 years, when I put the words mindfulness and education in the same sentence I know that most likely I’m going to have to make a hard case for soft skills. 

So here we go! 

When we talk about soft skills we are referring to traits like kindness, compassion and empathy, to name a few. Social scientist Brene Brown’s research on vulnerability and shame has shown how valuable it is to strengthen soft skills. Contrary to our culture’s perception that soft skills represent weakness, her research has shown that it takes great strength and courage to cultivate soft skills. 

Historically in education, soft skills have taken a back seat to the hard skills of academic intelligence and performance. Academic rigor has traditionally driven our schools. But thanks to the relatively recent movement to foster social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools, very slowly we are starting to see that it is equally if not more important to support the well-being of our students, as well as our own. Soft skills, which are at the heart of SEL, are all fostered through mindfulness awareness. 

Adapting the definition of Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is internationally best known for bringing mindfulness into mainstream medicine and society, I define mindfulness as “paying attention on purpose." Current research in cognitive neuroscience shows that cultivating a mindfulness practice in the classroom offers many benefits for both teachers as well as students, including an inner sense of calm and clarity; improved concentration, focus, attention, conflict resolution, and empathy. By paying attention on purpose it becomes easier to develop and maintain a moment-by-moment awareness of what’s going on, beginning with thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment and that creates a great springboard for fostering a safe and supportive classroom that nurtures growth. 

Harnessing the capacity for our attention, as well as pro-social behavior, empathy and self-regulation, are all things that help reduce stress, improve self-awareness and reflective capacities, which are all necessary for effective teaching.

Mindfulness promotes the regulation of the executive functions of emotion, attention, thought and behavior. When these executive functions are strengthened through mindfulness training, it leads to greater social-emotional competence. Since teachers set the emotional tone for the classroom, supporting their social-emotional competence is a great place to start. 

Parker Palmer says we come to teaching for reasons of the heart. Yet teaching is demanding, and it is hard to maintain that heart-centered approach. Not only do teachers need to know their content, they also, according to mindfulness researcher Patricia Jennings, need to be wizards of attention, being aware of the entire classroom and everything that’s going on in it. They need to be attuned to the level of student engagement as well as to the social-emotional dynamics of the classroom.

Jennings stresses the importance of emotional awareness in fostering a harmonious and healthy learning environment. When a teacher can learn to pay attention to her own thoughts and feelings without judging them, she can be more attuned to the social and emotional dynamics in the room. When teachers take a moment to pause and center themselves, they lead by example and model the type of attention, self-control, and regulation they hope to foster in their students. This makes teaching gratifying and reduces teacher burnout, thus fostering teacher retention and longevity in the field.

What would schools look like if, when a student is frustrated, angry, disappointed, sad or even feeling joyful and proud, she would hear these words from her teacher:

Take a few moments to sit quietly… bring your awareness to your breath. Just observe its natural rhythm, watching as it rises and falls. As you watch and observe your breath, also have an awareness of the feelings you are having, without needing to change a thing. Watch them like waves of the ocean, coming and going. Now with conscious attention deepen your breath, and bring awareness to the stomach as the inhale makes it rise and the exhale makes it fall. Then to make the breath even deeper, on an inhale watch the stomach rise, then the ribs expand, and on the exhale watch the ribs release and the stomach contract. Now go even deeper, building the upward movement of the breath even higher while breathing deep into the belly, then the ribs, now the collarbones, and on the exhale allow the exhale to descend from the collarbones, to the ribs and finally the belly while engaging the abdominal muscles.”

There are many benefits to doing this type of wave breathing, including calming down difficult or any big emotions and circumstances. Using mindfulness as an intervention helps students be more in touch with their internal state, physically, mentally, and emotionally, helping them be able to identify their feelings and self-modulate, which ultimately leads to better student learning. 

Our culture tends to think that slowing down to pay attention in the moment is “doing nothing,” a waste of time in today's high-tech, fast-paced world. However, so much “happens” when we pause with intention. The teacher is able to take in the entire classroom and reach every student. It gives her time to ask, “What’s happening now? How am I feeling? What do my students need?” Students gain time to process both the content as well as their experiences, which leads to better retention. This is mindFUL(L)ness vs. mindlessness.

As we see, these skills are extremely beneficial. As author Seth Godin says, these things may be skills, but they certainly are not “soft.” We should refer to them more accurately as real skills. 

As educators, we know that there is so much uncertainty about our students’ futures. We don’t know what jobs will be available for them. As Harvard’s Tony Wagner says, we don’t even know what we are preparing them for. But one thing we do know is that it will be of great value for them to have an inner reserve of real skills and tools like resilience, calming strategies, and relaxation techniques along with tools for self-awareness, modulation and regulation. When we help children in this way, we equip them with necessary life skills to better navigate through our changing times—exactly what they will need for their future success, however that will be defined. 

From my upcoming book on bringing yoga and mindfulness into the lives of children. 

This article is part of a series representing a partnership between JEIC and Prizmah. It grew out of a collaboration at the 2019 Prizmah Conference, where JEIC ran Listening Booths in which 52 participants shared their dream for Jewish day schools. 

By Dr. Eliana Lipsky
Middle School Principal at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School

Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, originally encouraged their employees to spend 20% of their time on passion projects that were interesting to them and not on the company’s agenda. While this “rule” is no longer in place, over the last decade several ideas emerged from these projects, including Gmail, Twitter, and Google Maps, that altered the way humans interact all over the world. Inspired by Google’s approach, many Jewish middle schools and high schools, along with other schools, have incorporated an exploration lab or innovation zone into their programs, giving students the opportunity to be creative and take risks. 

A few of these side projects have, like Google’s, made a real difference in the world. For example, a bioengineering teacher at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School teamed up with the 3D printing teacher to have their students design a real world solution for her niece who was born with limb deformities in her hand. These eleventh graders developed a prosthetic hand uniquely designed to fit her niece’s specifications, which allows her to perform mundane activities, such as picking up and throwing a ball. At a macro level, the Cadena Initiative tasks middle school students from around the world to innovate viable solutions that will save lives during natural catastrophes. The Cadena Foundation implements the winning idea as part of its humanitarian aid effort. 

At the recent Prizmah conference, I was encouraged to engage in a thought exercise and reimagine what a Jewish day school education could look and feel like. Influencing my thinking are Ted Dintersmith’s book What School Could Be and the Netflix documentary The Creative Brain. I focus on middle school because that is where most of my experience and passion are. In the paragraphs below, I invite you to join me and play around with one vision of what Jewish education could be.

Let’s begin by asking, “What if?”

• What if a Jewish day school centers its educational model on being the innovation zone? 
• What if students were part of a small cohort with whom they would test their hypotheses and design ideas, products, and communications throughout the year?
• What if the school collaborates with professionals, businesses, and universities from around the world so that each student has a mentor and each cohort has an advisor?
• What if middle school and high school education focuses on depth and not breadth?
• What if the next generation learns what it means to be resilient, persistent, and how to fail forward, because we create a truly safe space for our students to take risks? 

With these questions in mind, this vision of the future begins with a Jewish day school grounded in Jewish tradition and an understanding that future occupations will forever remain unknown due to the speed at which technology continues advancing. For this school to exist, we assume that the teacher’s primary function in school is to act as an advisor, coach, and facilitator who provides students with guidance similar to how a dissertation chair might guide a doctoral student through their dissertation process. Each student has a professional mentor who works in a field related to the student’s interest area.

If a school were an innovation zone, students would focus on improving their personal lives or the life of someone they identified as part of their universe of obligation. Instead of taking subject-specific courses, students would be responsible for identifying a question or innovative challenge that they want to solve. Students’ courses would be multidisciplinary and integrated throughout their time in school. Learning blocks would include 1) Jewish and global citizenship, 2) reading for social justice and equity, 3) STEM, and 4) communications and the arts. The courses would aim for depth over breadth, and the educational model would prioritize tending to human relationships, practicing empathy, taking thoughtful and calculated risks, and fostering critical thinking, analytical, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. 

The curriculum would be learner-centered. Sixth graders would focus on a problem that affects them as an individual, seventh graders would consider a problem that impacts the Jewish community, and eighth graders would investigate a problem that requires leadership. Their innovation challenge might require the creation of a movement or a level of entrepreneurship, because the solution does not exist yet. The challenge would give students purpose and focus, making their learning feel more relevant and authentic. For example, a Jewish and global citizenship block would challenge students to trace the value(s) underlying the innovative challenge. They would grapple with why the challenge they chose is important and ground their thinking in the historical evolution of Jewish communal and global citizenship. They would embark on thematic investigations of these values and perhaps similar challenges that were previously addressed using texts from Jewish sources and the humanities to relate why the problem they desire to solve matters within their glocal (global and local) communities.

The innovation zone’s calendar year would follow the five phases of design thinking or an inquiry model rather than the traditional semester or trimester. Using sixth grade as an example, the phases would unfold as follows. 

Phase One: Problem Identification
Students would explore their identity and ask, How do I determine what is important to me? What does it mean to have an identity? To which communities do I belong or not belong, and how do those influence me? Then students would consider several problems they currently encounter that present a challenge to their daily lives. For those who do not think they have any challenges, they would broaden their thinking to include their peers or family members. A student’s phase one concludes only once they are able to articulate a selection of innovative challenges from which they will choose going forward. 

This phase would also include a calendar-setting component. Students would work with their advisors and mentors to determine the appropriate amount of time that they think it would take to move through the research and development cycle. As timelines in the real world often change based on uncontrollable factors related to environment, technology, and access to information, the student will consistently review and refine their calendar in consultation with their advisor and mentor throughout the five phases. 

Phase Two: Literature Review
Just like a dissertation process, students would conduct a literature review. Given the advancement in information dissemination, this literature review would also include videos, podcasts, and material from other media. Once a student knows which innovation challenge they want to examine, they will ask, Why is this a problem? Who else is dealing with this problem? What solutions are people already trying? They might reach out to partner schools that are nearby or halfway across the world to ask, Is this a problem for you as well? Does it look the same for you? How are you approaching it? Once they have a sense of what people or companies are trying, the student brainstorms as many solutions as possible. Most important here is the idea that no solution—no matter how silly or out there it seems—is dismissed without careful consideration. The student’s advisor and mentor help the student identify criteria necessary to determining which of their solutions are worth trying and why. 

Phase Three: Solution Designs
Next, students create a blueprint for the solution to their innovation challenge. Students might need to take mini-sessions within one of the four learning blocks depending on their design’s requirements. Because the school day would be more flexible, students would be able to sign up for different workshops with more directed instruction when that information is relevant to their innovation challenge. 

Phase Four: Peer Review, Advisor and Mentor Review, and Revision
A cohort of students comes together for an in-depth review of each other’s work. Students develop their communication skills through discussion of their innovation challenge and proposed solutions. Peer reviews take place to encourage cross-pollination of ideas. A conversation might unfold as follows: 

“Okay, I think I understand your idea. Here’s what works for me and here's what I need explained again. Have you thought of x, y, and z? Because when I was researching my innovation challenge this is what I learned and what I’m dealing with. It sounds like maybe some of our ideas could be connected.” 

Advisors and mentors would also examine their students’ designs and offer comments and areas for improvement. Students would need to refine their design based on peer, advisor, and mentor feedback. After revising their work, students would present their design again for another iteration of feedback. This process may occur several times. 

Phase Five: Communication, Presentation, and Ideas for the Future
In the final phase, students move from design to communication. They focus on writing, visually creating, or orally presenting their idea. They explore ways to present the same information and market their idea to an array of audiences. As some of this may include public speaking, screening a film, or graphically illustrating the idea, communications and the arts are thoroughly integrated and would be the most prominent learning block at this point. 

Students would consider questions such as:

• What are the best ways to share my vision? (article, short film, poster)
• On which platform do I present the problem and my idea? (a social platform)
• With whom is it best to share my idea and vision? (peers, adults with influence)
• How do I write about this for the different audiences I identified? (voice, style)
• Does promoting my idea look different when my audience is part of the Jewish community, lives in another country, or is interested in improving lives other than their own? (purpose)
• What visual means could I use to communicate my design to publishers, companies, and individuals so that they will fund my idea? (film, poster, commercial)

Once students determine their different audiences and select their communication platforms, students spend time crafting their presentation pieces. The entire design phase closes with a formal presentation of their idea to an authentic audience selected from the lists they created previously. Throughout this process, the student’s advisor is responsible for helping the student manage their time so that they move through the different design phases at a pace that is appropriate for the innovation challenge. Since each innovation challenge is unique, and students are encouraged to work at a pace that is healthy and positive for them, students may move to different phases at different times throughout the year.

A Jewish day school that prioritizes grounding an innovation zone in Jewish tradition and values would promote the connection to the Jewish community and Jewish peoplehood that we long to continue while setting up its students for future success, both professionally and as global citizens. At this school, students develop a strong work ethic because what they are doing matters. Their advisors, mentors, and peers encourage them to push through challenges they encounter during the process, fostering the resilience skills our students need for their future occupations and lives. Moreover, students build meaningful relationships with mentors who can offer real-life experiences and who push the students to think creatively and innovatively.

Dr. Eliana Lipsky completed her doctorate in curriculum and instruction at Loyola University of Chicago and both a Master's and Bachelor's degrees from Boston University in History. Dr. Lipsky taught middle school History and Tanakh at JCDS, Boston's Jewish Community Day School for many years, where she also mentored new teachers. Dr. Lipsky worked for five years as an administrator, project coordinator, school consultant, and teacher coach with REACH, a Federation-sponsored organization that serves over fifteen Jewish day schools in the Chicago area. Dr. Lipsky is currently a fellow in the Day School Leadership Training Institute. 

Dr. Lipsky has extensive training in teacher education, curriculum and instruction, problem-based learning, and inclusive classrooms. She has published articles on teaching, 21st century literacy, and pluralism in both educational and Jewish educational journals. Dr. Lipsky has taught professional development workshops and seminars for teachers on differentiated instruction, classroom management, authentic assessment, and standards and benchmarks, and created tools for schools to best assess students' academic, social-emotional, and physical needs.

The Small Jewish Day School. 

Is it defined by community size (10,000 or fewer Jews) or by student body (less than 150 children) or by budget (under $1.5 million)? I’m sort of pulling those numbers out of thin air. But not entirely. While schools that fit one or more of those criteria can look substantially different, they share a set of constraints—and advantages—that are different from schools in larger communities with more students and bigger budgets. 

Last month, a couple of dozen Heads of School and Development Directors from small day schools across North America met in Austin for a three-day retreat. Some of us were from relatively small communities, like Omaha and Gainesville. Some work at small schools in larger communities, like Seattle and Los Angeles. All of us work with relatively small budgets and tight fundraising opportunities. 

The great thing about this retreat was that it was almost entirely peer-led and tachlis-focused. Colleagues shared their successful strategies for addressing issues ranging from student recruitment to individualized learning plans, annual campaigns to staff supervision. The combination of curiosity and openness led to some valuable take-aways: 

• It’s really hard to hire qualified Judaic and Hebrew teachers for small schools. New graduates from the top Jewish education programs are gobbled up by larger institutions in cities with big Jewish—and, especially, young Jewish—populations. Nothing we can do about that beyond leaping at targets of opportunity when they surface.
   
• Creative management makes a big difference. To balance the budget and maintain educational excellence, leaders of small day schools have figured out how to apply strategies like merging grades, encouraging non-Jewish enrollment, and employing teachers less than full time. These specific policies aren’t appropriate everywhere, but the approach can be generalized.
   
• There’s no substitute for effective PR. We saw brochures and annual reports and websites that not only looked impressive, but communicated inspiring stories about the value and impact of the day school experience. Lots of us are in competition with other Jewish day schools, independent private schools, excellent public schools, synagogue Hebrew schools. We cannot afford to rest on our reputations.
   
• Let’s not constantly reinvent the proverbial wheel—which is why it’s so useful for Prizmah to provide a venue for face-to-face interactions among small school leaders. As fascinating and inspirational Prizmah’s big biennial conference is, the three days in Austin was a lot more useful. 

In Edmonton, where I work, our school has a long history, a well-deserved reputation for academic excellence, and general support within the Jewish Federation and community at large. We also have a unique relationship with the public school system, which takes some of the ongoing budgetary pressure off. But I don’t take any of that for granted. Like my colleagues from Durham, Ann Arbor, Memphis, Akron, and lots of other places, maintaining the success of my school and building it for the future requires me to keep an open mind about new solutions to old problems. Our children, and the future of our Jewish communities, literally depend on that.

By Gerald L. Sorokin
Executive Director Edmonton Talmud Torah Society 

Photo by David Finkel Photography

By Jessica Kohn
Early Childhood Director and Founding Educator of Ben Porat Yosef in Paramus, NJ

Our world is changing at an unprecedented pace. How do we prepare our youngest learners for a world that we know nothing about, for technologies that haven’t been invented, and for jobs that don’t yet exist? The education of the past will only get these children so far. We have to learn how to look at the world differently in order to be ready to learn in a world that looks different.

I’d like to propose that the secret to setting these children up for success is encouraging them to approach their day to day lives with a sense of wonder. Have them ask questions about anything and everything, have them observe the world around them, have them notice what is going on in their environment, and have them WONDER. Use rich language. Teachers must model, lead by example, and practice with the children. “What do you wonder about?” “What are you noticing?” “What questions do you have?” “What problems have you identified?” “What solutions can we work on together?” Apply this process to everything, and anything, and then sit back, facilitate the conversations and see what happens. What you will experience will be nothing short of amazing. Children see things that we don’t see and wonder about things that we would never even notice.

Instilling and inspiring a sense of wonder is not unique to our Jewish world either. Just a few weeks ago, as we studied Parashat Berashit, I retold the story of creation on an interactive, completely low-tech, flannel board to a group of mesmerized kindergarteners. When we were finished, I asked the children what they wondered about. Their answers were fascinating, breathtaking, beautiful, and most importantly, so wise beyond their chronological years.

So, I gave them “homework”. In our play-based, experiential kindergarten, homework is all but unheard of. As we often do in our program, we re-envisioned the concept as I assigned the children to wonder. Yup. I asked the children to look around outside and say to someone, anyone, “Wow! Look at the gorgeous sky that Hashem created just for us!” “Wow! Look at the leaves changing colors that Hashem created just for us!” “Wow! Hashem created every animal with exactly what it needs to live in its habitat!” Believe it or not, we actually practiced saying the word, “Wow!” in the most enthusiastic, excited way possible so that any bystanders could actually feel the energy, amazement, and wonder in that one short word. “Wow!” Try it. You will also begin to see the world through a different lens. Mah rabu ma’asecha Hashem - How wondrous are Hashem’s creations!

By encouraging children to wonder, think, and speak in this type of way, we are fostering an intrinsic desire to learn, an unparalleled inquisitiveness, and a deep sense of motivation to explore and discover the world around them. When teachers are ready and willing to engage in the knowledge seeking process collaboratively with the children, and actively model this philosophy of learning, the sky's the limit. It is truly magical to experience the outcome, their authentic learning, and their genuine curiosity. What better way to prepare our children for the WONDERS of the future?!

For discussion based on this:
Article about preparing kids for jobs that don’t yet exist.

Photo by Ben Porat Yosef

By Rabbi Dov Emerson
Director of Teaching and Learning at Yeshiva University High School for Boys

We know that effective leaders possess many important qualities and characteristics. Perhaps more important among them is the ability to communicate clearly. In order for an organization to function at peak effectiveness, in order for a mission to be carried out properly, there has to be a clear communication that can be transmitted from speaker to listener. The dispatch has to be direct, with no ‘beating around the bush.’  If that does not exist, the message is muddled, and the entire enterprise does not reach its potential for impact.

In Parshat Chayai Sarah, the Torah begins the chapter of Avraham’s search for a wife for his son Yitzchak with a strange phrase: “Now Avraham was old, well on in years, and Hashem had blessed Avraham with everything” (Bereshit 24:1). Rashi notices that this phrase is seemingly incongruous with the following psukim that describe Avraham’s appointment of Eliezer to search for a mate for Yitzchak, and he therefore explains that the gematria, the numerical value of the word Bakol, with everything, is 52, which is the same as the word Ben, son. The message therefore is that once Avraham had been blessed with Bakol, i.e., a son, it was time to go find him a wife.

Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt’l, notes that this explanation of Rashi really does not address the more fundamental question regarding the way in which the Torah writes this phrase. It is a nice idea that Bakol is code for ‘son,’ but why does the Torah have to speak in code here? Why could it not simply and directly state that now that Avraham had a son, it was time to find him a spouse?

Rav Moshe gives an answer that is both simple and incredibly profound, especially for those of us privileged to work in raising the next generation: Hashem was conveying to Avraham that unless he would be able to pass along the values of the Torah to future generations, the blessing of “everything” would be worthless. To truly have “everything,” Avraham had to find Yitzchak a wife so that he could begin his own family and transmit the values of the Torah to future generations.

We live in a time of incredible, historic abundance. While this is certainly true in material matters, it is equally accurate in the spiritual realm as well. There has never been a time period where we have had access to so much “everything” in Torah. From transformative online platforms and shiurim, to unprecedented access to sefarim, there is so much we can tap into. But, in the wise words of Stephen Covey, “the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” Truly having ‘bakol,’ ‘everything’ means that we are successful in transmitting our values to the next generation.

The upcoming holiday of Chanukah provides us with perhaps one way in which we can ensure that we are successfully accomplishing the vision of bakol. The Talmud in Masechet Shabbat states that the lighting of the Menorah, in order to publicize the miracle of Chanukah, should be done during “Prime Time” – meaning, when there are people walking around to see it. This is expressed as the halachic concept of  "ad shetichle regel min hashuk,” – we can light “until people no longer walk along the marketplace (streets)."

Rav Shimson Dovid Pincus makes a play on the words here, explaining that the word “regel,” which literally means a “leg” and refers to people walking, can be understood as the word “ragil,” regular, normal, or happenstance. The term “shuk,” which means marketplace, can be explained as how a person does their work. Using this understanding, the Gemara is then teaching us that we are to have the menorah lit “ad shetichle RAGIL min hashuk.” Meaning, we are to light the menorah, “until all the REGULAR way of doing things is removed from our work.”

The message is clear – Chanukah is not supposed to be about us going through the motions, with business as usual. Chanukah is about removing the regular – the everyday things we do by habit, without thinking, and replacing those activities with a quest for greatness.

Perhaps this is why we follow the opinion of Beit Hillel when he teaches that we start with one candle and add another to the Menorah each night: because the essence of Chanukah is to grow, to keep on adding additional components of greatness, to keep on removing the REGULAR from our lives, even if it's really hard to do.

In thinking about how to transmit our Jewish values to the next generation, we might benefit from using the lens of ragil in looking at our classrooms, institutions, and communities. Reflecting on where our communities operate on autopilot, and where there are opportunities to think creatively and add new excitement are wonderful places to start in ensuring that we live up to the example of Avraham.

Thankfully, within the Prizmah Network, we have one another - together, we are an incredible resource to spur us to continue thinking differently. I am so thankful for the relationships that I have with so many colleagues and friends within the Prizmah Network. Knowing that we each have an army of passionate michanchim behind us, encouraging us to collaborate, to take chances, and to let our passion emerge in our holy work, is extremely empowering. May we all succeed in truly giving over ‘everything’ to our children and students.

Photo by Robert Zunikoff; Unsplash

M’at Or Docheh Harbeh Choshech –– מעט אור דוחה הרבה חושך
A bit of light can displace a lot of darkness 
Tanya, Chapter 12.published 1797, by R’ Shnuer Zalman of Liadi

Over the course of the past few months, since I started working at Prizmah, I have had the blessing to visit over 30 schools. In each school, I am inspired by the passion and dedication of our leaders, and I find myself amazed at the creativity and drive to learn, grow, explore and connect that I have witnessed in each school. There are certain questions I try to ask at each school visit and one that I am always excited to hear about: “What are the areas where your school shines? Tell me about the light, inspiration, and sources of pride?”  What amazes me is how varied the answers are even within each school. 

I often hear from the administration about their pride in their teachers. And the teachers will often share that they are most proud of their students. Sometimes I hear about a specific project or approach, but it always boils down to the same root. We delight in the growth of others– from the growth of our students and their families, to the growth of our teaching communities and teams– we are so inspired by that lightbulb going on, the AHA! The wow, the wonder. It only takes a little bit of light to dispel the darkness and keep us going. In this season when open houses are wrapping up, we get a chance to reflect on what keeps us inspired, and we are gifted with the holiday of Chanukah as a visual and tactile reminder of what we are meant to look for in our lives– look for the light, look for the good, highlight it, raise it and build upon it. I have seen lessons where each student was so engaged, they did not move when the bell rang. I have witnessed teachers meeting after hours to help design an innovative program which went way beyond their basic curriculum. I saw teachers attend after school games to support their students and principals arrange for extra training for promising assistant teachers who sought to expand their skills and take on more… I have seen what the “shemen”, the “extra”, looks like and it is so pure!

Some great ideas I saw:

Gann Academy, MA


The Rashi School, MA 

Ben Porat Yosef, NJ

Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy, CT

Striar Hebrew Academy, MA

Yavneh Academy, NJ

Hebrew Academy of the 5 Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR), NY

The Frisch School, NJ

I am honored to have witnessed so much light in my first few months working at Prizmah and I invite you to please share your moments of light and pride with us so we can spread great ideas and build upon the creative powerful energy of inspiration. Please send us your pictures and write short descriptions of your projects. Tell us about your goals, the process used to achieve them, and what you learned along the way.  Let’s share the light, celebrate when we witness the “shemen”- the “going beyond”- and look for it from each other.

Our data suggests that well over one-third of Jewish day schools across North America offer some type of alternative or creative tuition program. An alternative or creative tuition program is defined as any tuition program other than traditional scholarship or financial aid. The most common of these programs include: “capped” or discounted tuition for middle-income families, indexed or flexible tuition, and tuition discounts for Jewish communal professionals.

Though the earliest creative tuition programs date back to the early 2000s, these programs began to proliferate after the recession of 2008. Early programs were generally budgeted to be revenue-neutral to a school. There were several reasons for this. First, the tuition reductions offered under these programs were generally comparable to those a family would have received under traditional financial aid, had they simply chosen to apply for it (many middle income families weren’t applying because they believed they wouldn’t qualify or didn’t want to consider themselves recipients of charity). Second, it was generally assumed that these programs would boost student enrollment and improve student retention. Schools therefore believed that the increased enrollment and retention would more than offset any loss of tuition revenue.

What has emerged more recently are even more transformational tuition programs. Many seek to address day school affordability head-on by lowering tuition for ALL families. In the last year alone, at least three Jewish day schools have announced significantly lower tuition levels. Supported by significant philanthropic dollars, these programs seek to relieve the tuition burden for ALL families.

We want to share with you a brief description of each of the three as well as some other programs that were recently announced. Ensuring that Jewish day schools are both excellent and affordable is the key to a sustainable Jewish day school field. As we work together to catalyze resources for day schools and yeshivas, we welcome your input and engagement around these critical issues.

To read about some of these alternative tuition programs around the Network, click here.

Photo by Friedel Jewish Academy

Here’s the scenario: Talented teacher. Loved by the parents. Best bulletin boards ever. Can’t get along with the other staff. This talented person is divisive, causes issues with other staff weekly especially when you aren’t on campus and is a constant problem for the morale of your staff.

What do you do? You hate to lose someone so loved by your families, and yet it’s destroying your team. Here’s my hard-earned lesson: let them go.

Two years ago, I had this same situation with not one but two staff. We are first and foremost a team-based environment. Our faculty makes most decisions together about programming, curriculum and general direction of the school—even whether or not to expand. We promote collaboration between classes as well as staff. It is at the core of the “community” in our school. 

Both teachers were great at their work—wonderful behavior management, fantastic lessons engaging all kids, and so on—but every time they interacted with other staff, they were rude and exclusionary. When I came back from a conference, day offsite, or any other situation that caused me to be away, I had staff lining up at my door begging me not to leave again. If one of these teachers walked down a hall, they would not acknowledge the other staff, just look past them. They didn’t want to work collaboratively with other classes, which is required at least once a month.

The other teachers constantly questioned their own decisions, as these two teachers told others unsolicited that they were wrong, inadequate or not up to par. They acted as if they were authorities on any topic, and spent more time breaking down relationships instead of creating them. Our school spends a great deal of time and money on professional development and team building. We encourage our staff to explore areas of interest to them, they have easy access to me if they have concerns, and we all work hard to create a fun, exciting environment to learn.

Working as a team is not for everyone, and in this scenario, I think that was partly the case. As our school has grown, our philosophy for collaboration and teamwork has increased. These teachers just didn’t care if they got along with others—in fact they were very upfront about that. For some schools, that might be fine, but not ours. Only after I finally helped these educators on their way to new jobs did I realize how detrimental they had become to our school’s culture.

This is the procedure I followed to help move them along. I brought them in individually and, as professionally as I could, discussed that I was concerned other staff had issues with some of the interactions they had had with these educators. I gave specific examples, and we discussed how much I was invested in a team philosophy at my school. One of the two told me that was the complaining teacher’s issue, not theirs, and the complaining teacher needed to learn to deal with it. Don’t be surprised if you get a cold shoulder instead of an apology.

When the situation did not improve, I called each one in again and told them there were still staff who were having issues with their unsolicited comments about how they ran their classes or their projects. I told these two teachers this needed immediate improvement, and I went over strategies to get along with others. I also made sure our professional evaluation form included “Ability to get along with others” and “General comradery with other staff.” That’s important, as you may need to show that that character trait is part of your school culture.

Then, I went about the business of documenting each time someone went to complain about them. I made sure the stories happened the way the complaining staff said it did, and then I documented it. Finally, when it came time to conduct end of the year evaluations, I gave them both low marks on ability to get along with others and comradery. At the conclusion of the school year, both teachers opted not to come back of their own choice, although I was prepared to let them go.

Since this transition, everyone at our school is much happier. Our staff is very competitive, but in friendly way. We challenge each other to do better. We see each other’s success as our success. When I am offsite, I am more relaxed and focused, and we are making great things happen. These women were strong teachers, but we truly live a team-focused philosophy at our school, and for us helping these teachers move on their way to another school was one of the best things we ever did.

Had I known how much happier my staff and school would be once these teachers were gone, I would have done it much sooner. If you are faced with a similar circumstance, best of luck and stay strong: it’s not a fun situation to maneuver, but you’ll be happy you did.

“I barely see my family – my days are spent in school and my nights in meetings.”

“I was recently admonished for being late to shul on Shabbos.”

“I don’t know how to stop the gossip that is spreading throughout the community about my family – especially my children.”

“They told me I’m not charismatic enough.”

“They told me I need to smile more.”

“I shouldn’t be making any changes.”

“I haven’t made changes quickly enough.”

At this time of year, we find ourselves in synagogues across the world reflecting on the past year and beseeching for favorable judgments in the new one. As we do this, there is one question each one of us must be sure to include in our self-reflection, “ Are we helping or hurting our Jewish day school leaders?”

It’s not an understatement to say that our leaders hold the keys to success for future Jewish generations. They are at the helm of institutions that strive to nurture, protect, educate, and empower our children toward greatness. Are we doing all that we can to nurture, protect, educate, and empower our leaders? 

I wish I could say I made up the above statements. Unfortunately, I hear them over and over again – shared with cracked voices, in despondent and defeated tones from the hundreds of school leaders that I have coached. I wrote about this challenge years ago, but the urgency has only gotten greater as more and more leaders tell it might be time to leave the field.

I, too, was once a head of school– eight years ago– and the day school education landscape has changed dramatically since then. The demands were less than they are today, and I was blessed with the support and community of the board.  My Head of School Support and Evaluation Committee had my back and gave me the feedback that I needed for growth in a way that felt like they were on my team. Like all the leaders that I coach, I wanted to grow - I wanted feedback.  And I was working day and night and needed the team to understand that this business of day school leadership is hard, really really hard.

It was true then and it is true now – lay leaders have always amazed me. Their drive for passion and altruism, selflessly taking on what is oftentimes an additional (but unpaid) full-time job to serve the greater good of their community is astounding. And when the partnership between lay and professional leadership is rooted in the best interest of the children and the school – this only reflects positively in the reputation of the school. 

When the partnership between lay and professional leadership is rooted in trust and ongoing support through the inevitable challenges that arise, the longevity and efficacy of the school’s leadership is bolstered. 

When the partnership between lay and professional leadership is rooted in open and honest communication, feedback that is constructive and clear, habitual dan l’chaf zechut, and a safe space for each person to be who they are to the fullest – no job description would be able to capture all the things the leader could achieve. 

However, in the absence of all of this – our leaders will fail and they will blame themselves for failing despite giving 150%. This is not hyperbole. It’s happening. 

We need to come together to reverse the lack of patience for leadership that has become laden with urgency and fear. Yes, there is competition. Yes, enrollment might be dwindling. Yes, the community may have polarizing needs. Yes, costs are rising. And definitely yes, we need to watch out for our children’s physical, emotional, and social safety. Yes, people are complaining at Shabbos tables. But what I am trying to convey is that yes, we can deal with these very real and pressing issues without paralyzing or polarizing our school leaders. 

How? 

First, let’s all agree that no one person, Head of School or otherwise, can solve all the school’s problems alone. This detrimental thinking takes a toll on our leaders and their families in ways we can’t imagine.

Next, let’s commit to giving our leaders unprecedented levels of appreciation, support, and partnership. Always give more, even if you think they can be doing better – especially if you think they can be doing better. 

Finally, and this is a big one, let’s once and for all let go of the false narrative that there exists somewhere a perfect professional or lay leader in a day school. There is no one type of person who succeeds while others fail. There is no formula that a school can follow that is research based. However, our emotional intelligence prevails here.  We need to think deeply about the human beings in our leadership positions and what they need to succeed. We need to give direct and honest feedback that is fully intended for growth and comes from a place of caring deeply. We need to affirm the good, push each other to take care of themselves and their families, and check to see if our expectations are realistic.  

If we want day schools to find leaders, if we actually even want young people to choose day school leadership, we have work to do. The existential threats that day schools are facing are real. The stress on the leadership, lay and professional, is profound. With all my work in the field, the only way to shift the trends is through partnership, support, and appreciation. We are living in a day school world that is extraordinarily hard to work in and we have to stop the cycle.

I’d like to close by making this appeal even more concrete. If you sit on the board of a Jewish day school, I implore you to reflect on the following:

Do we have a committee that is truly designed to support our leader?

Do we communicate directly, candidly, and kindly with our leader?

Is feedback designed for growth?

Do we encourage the leader to take time for him/herself and family?

Do we support the leader when there are volatile board members who are attacking?

Do we make sure that we have regular meetings on the calendar?

Do we empower the leader by ensuring that we redirect people to him/her instead of trying to solve problems that are not the role of the lay people?

Do we affirm our leader publicly? In private?

Do we speak up and stop when the expectations are too high, the judgment too harsh, or the feedback not fair?

All the time, effort, and dialogue spent eliminating the unnecessary and counterproductive pressure, judgment, and demands that plague our leaders will ultimately serve as an investment in the well-being of our communities and children. Let’s see what happens when we radically shift the tide to move in a more positive direction.