Mid-March was filled with a great deal of excitement and energy for Jewish day school educators, and I’m not simply talking about the festivities associated with Purim. Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools held its biannual conference in Atlanta, and I attended with my Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) team and more than 1000 other colleagues in the field. The conference was heartening and inspiring for this diverse population of Jewish educators, funders, and influencers, evidenced by a wide range of blog articles written in the last few days and posts filling our social media feeds.

In the spirit of being a positive disruptor, JEIC conducted an audacious initiative at the conference. Taking the first page out of a design thinking playbook, we created a unique mechanism for connecting directly with Jewish educators and influencers to find out their hopes and needs.

How did we do it?

We invited conference attendees to come in for a 20-minute confidential interview in which they could share their dreams, visions, aspirations, and wishes for Jewish day schools in North America. We set up “Listening Booths,” which were draped spaces featuring a comfortable, cozy setting for two people to engage—one to talk and one to listen. We recorded the interviews and are collaborating with a professional evaluator to analyze the data in order to anticipate the trends for improving Jewish day school education with an eye toward catalyzing radical improvement, which is the core of JEIC’s mission.

And let me tell you…we heard an earful from the 51 participants representing a wide range of Jewish perspectives, practices, and schools. They shared ideas ranging from how to make schools more student-centered, community-focused, and inclusive—both academically and financially—to new ways for creating a consistent set of standards for Judaic Studies. The call was put out to address the stigma that Jewish day schools provide an inferior education to secular, independent private day schools and to elevate the profession of teaching so that the best and the brightest pursue this career path.

What struck home even more than the specific ideas were the reactions of the listening booth participants. Most of them expressed both surprise and gratitude, saying that no one had ever actually asked for their ideas or hopes before. It begs the question about how well any of us do this in our own community’s day schools and yeshivot. Do we ask parents or students about their hopes, dreams, and visions for their investment in Jewish education and the Jewish future? And even if we ask…are we truly listening with openness and curiosity or merely posing the question?

Most Jewish educators are familiar with good educational principles, such as empathetically surveying learners before beginning a project. And yet, all too often, we do not model in our own discipline that which we preach and teach.

It is time to match our actions and our processes to our espoused values. We appreciate Prizmah’s partnership with us on accelerating innovation and networking to learn within the Jewish day school community.

I, for one, am eagerly awaiting the results of the listening booth initiative. And, in keeping with my sentiments above, I ask you to share your view of what might be the best and most productive ways to communicate those results with all Jewish day school stakeholders.

Day schools are ecosystems, and in order to create great Jewish day schools, we need every perspective to shape the ways we can help schools optimize student internalization of Jewish wisdom, identity, and decision making, assuring a strong future for the Jewish people.

Sharon Freundel is the managing director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC), a bold initiative that catalyzes radical improvement in Jewish day schools across North America. JEIC challenges day schools to achieve their mandate of optimizing student internalization of Jewish wisdom, identity, and decision making through directed funding, impactful convenings, philanthropic partnerships, and originating bold initiatives and experimentation. You can reach her at [email protected].

Earlier this month I travelled to Atlanta, Georgia for the Prizmah Jewish Day School Conference. I found the conference enlightening and inspirational. I enjoyed presenting to my colleagues, learning from others and casually conversing with educators from around North America who, like me, are dreaming big for the Day School future.

What I didn’t expect was my participation in a tribute to the AVI CHAI Foundation. The AVI CHAI foundation, now in its 25th year, has done transformational work in the Jewish world, investing over 480 million dollars into North American Jewish institutions. Zalman Bernstein z”l, the founder of the fund, provided the donation with the stipulation that it be used within the lifetime of the trustees that he knew.

2019 is the ‘sunset year’ for the AVI CHAI Foundation. I have shared my personal reflection, written on Monday in Atlanta, as the AVI CHAI Foundation was honoured. Tonight at #Prizmah2019 we toasted The AVI CHAI Foundation. The pivotal moment of the presentation was when, in a room with over 1000 Jewish educators, we were asked to rise if we had personally been impacted by an AVI CHAI professional learning experience. Almost the entire room stood up. It was clear that, as AVI CHAI spends down and goes into the sunset, their legacy will live on through each of us who has been deeply and profoundly impacted, bettered and transformed by the learning experiences provided by The AVI CHAI Foundation.

An AVI CHAI program personally shaped my professional trajectory. It was at Harvard as a participant of the LEV program -- a gift from the AVI CHAI Foundation -- that I realized that I, too, could be a head of school. I left Cambridge armed with new tools and new ambitions. As I listened tonight to the impact that AVI CHAI had on our professional landscape, I felt one important nuance was missing. What AVI CHAI created was more than professional learning experiences; they provided opportunities for long-lasting learning and sustainable relationships. Perhaps we could count the number of school leaders who have participated in programs over the past two decades, but the number of connections that have been made and the impact that chance encounters and relationships formed have had is infinite.

I count the LEV experience as one of my most prized professional learning experiences. Yet it wasn't the experiential outdoor learning or the lecture by Dr. Howard Gardner or the introduction to the idea of school culture by Dr. Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell that sparked my deep desire to seek out headship. It was the conversations I had with the people in my cohort. It was looking at them with awe and realizing that I too could do this work. It was the intangible moments over coffee, in our group text chat or delivering a d'var Torah on Shabbat that gave me the courage to dig deep into my soul and identify my own ambition to lead large and dream big.

So AVI CHAI, as you go into the sunset, know that the relationships your generosity facilitated have catalyzed our profession into the best of times. As my friend and colleague, Dr. Jonathan Cannon, said tonight, “Let’s help the moon and watch other suns rise.”

Thank you AVI CHAI Foundation for influencing my professional path and #Prizmah2019 for the opportunity to honour the impact. As I reflect on the generosity and impact of the AVI CHAI Foundation and look at our week ahead, it seems fitting that we will make our mark on Jewish Day Schools with the city-wide Day of Giving. In the spirit of accessibility, we will amplify our giving, commit ourselves to tuition subsidy support and plan strategically for a bright future for Jewish education, where many suns can rise, sparked by this sun’s set.

Cherished Colleagues Sharing a Dream
By Rob Goldberg and Noa Grant

Father and daughter. Different generations. Distinctive life experiences. Unique worldviews. Yet they share a love of Jewish education and both are immersed in the professional Jewish world. They came to Atlanta with their teams, one from Buffalo and the other from Los Angeles.

Noa Grant is Assistant Principal of Brawerman Elementary School East and her dad, Rob Goldberg, is the CEO of Buffalo’s Jewish Federation, home to two Jewish day schools. Both entered the Prizmah Conference with expectations.

For Noa, it was embracing opportunities for growth in her school, to meet with her You LEAD cohort (Prizmah’s leadership development program that promotes professional growth) and to come home inspired to implement change at Brawerman.

For Rob, it was the opportunity to bring a delegation of leaders from Jewish Buffalo seeking to design a new model of immersive Jewish education (a collaboration between Buffalo’s 60 year-old community day school, Kadimah Academy, and the Park School, one the oldest progressive independent schools in the country). “This was a new experience for me. I’ve been in the Jewish professional world for nearly 40 years, have been an advocate and supporter of Jewish day schools, but never participated in a gathering of this sort.”

Noa left Atlanta brimming with possibility. She discovered new practical ways to design protocols around hiring and retaining exceptional teachers. She loved connecting with her You LEAD colleagues and getting to know new fellow educators. And of course, as with any conference, there are those unexpected moments of reconnection. When Noa was 11 and living in St. Louis (the Goldberg family moved for Rob’s job as Hillel director at Washington University), she met a dynamic campus leader named Emily Cook. Fast forward 24 years to the Prizmah Conference and Noa and Emily (now Dr. Cook, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at the Perelman Jewish Day School in Philadelphia) reconnected in Atlanta and had an amazing conversation. “Emily and I bonded over similar experiences including the challenge of leading two unique campuses under one system,” remarked Noa. “I love my new colleague!”

Rob left Atlanta hopeful, both about the state of the day school movement, but also about the new model that he and his school’s leadership are exploring with Park. “Our team felt validated that we are moving in the right direction. We are dreaming. Thinking boldly and embracing this moment as a lively experiment that will enable our Kadimah students to benefit from all that Park offers along with ensuring they continue to enjoy a serious Jewish education.”

More than anything, Noa and Rob spent quality time with each other “talking shop” and they both beam with pride about the other. “My smile muscles hurt because I was kvelling throughout our time at Prizmah. I know Noa to be an amazing Mom, wife and of course, daughter. But to see how respected she is in her school and throughout the Jewish educational community in LA was so moving for me. One colleague at BJELA (Building Jewish Education) lit up when I told her that I was Noa’s dad!” “And I loved meeting with and talking to the Buffalo team and seeing my Dad in action,” Noa added. “I’ve always admired his big thinking, his ability to embrace change and I’m so proud of how he is helping Kadimah and Park to design this innovative new model.”

Atlanta was a shared experience for both father and daughter. “We loved being travel buddies this week in Atlanta,” Rob said. “From riding the school bus to visit LabAtlanta, going to a session on professional development together, and taking a breather at the hotel bar.” Rob and Noa left the Prizmah Conference still just a dad and his kid. But they also left as cherished colleagues daring to dream and bringing those dreams back to their communities.

After the first day of Prizmah 2019, the easiest way to sum up my experience so far is that I feel like I’m at a big family reunion. There are the people I talk to all of the time and are always there to lend support and encouragement. There are the people I don’t talk to as often as I’d like, but I cherish the times we do get to connect. And there are the people I don’t really know (yet), but I know that if I needed something, they’d do whatever they could to help because we’re family, and that’s what family does. I’ve known some of these people for what seems like my entire life, and some of them I’ve met only today, but I feel an automatic connection to all of them. As a school administrator, I know it’s often easy to feel isolated and alone in my work. My husband and friends don’t really get what I do. There are confidentiality issues involved sometimes that limit what I can even share with people. And, really, I just don’t know how many people really understand it. But looking around the room during the times we were all together today, I felt inspired. I felt the power of the collective energy of 1000 lay leaders and professionals who care deeply about making tomorrow’s world better through the power of Jewish day school education. Being together with everyone reminds me that I am not alone and that I am part of something bigger. It reminds me that we are all in this together, and we are better when we can support each other to be the best versions of ourselves, workings for the best interests of our students. It reminds me why I entered this field and why I stay so committed, even through the challenges. It feels safe. It feels supportive. It feels like family. Dr. Sarah Levy Director of Jewish Life and Learning (K-12) Denver Jewish Day School 2450 S. Wabash St. - Denver, CO 80231 Phone: 303-369-0663 x103 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.denverjds.org