By Yossi Prager

The Book of Ruth, which we read on Shavuot, is my favorite book of the Bible.  It is a great story, wonderfully told – concise, fast-paced, emotionally stirring.  Without masking the flaws in human nature, the plot progresses though heroic acts of chessed, loving kindness.  Ruth sacrifices to care for her mother-in-law, Naomi, who in turn selflessly seeks a re-marriage opportunity for Ruth.  Ruth and Boaz show loving kindness to each other, leading to a marriage that, in a few generations, produces David, king of Israel.

In many ways, Ruth is a universal story of love and its rewards; at the same time it is a distinctively Jewish tale because the chessed described is rooted in Jewish law and reflects the Torah’s profound wisdom. In a previous blog post, I noted that Thomas Jefferson made a fundamental mistake when he criticized the Talmud for devoting only one book to morality (Pirkei Avot). In fact, the Talmud is suffused with morality, but not as books of ethics independent of law.  To the contrary, Jewish ethics is embedded within law. While the Book of Ruth contains multiple examples, I want to illustrate this point through a set of laws that resonate for me as a philanthropic professional.

Boaz and Ruth meet and begin to develop their relationship in Boaz’s field, when Ruth comes to gather the agricultural gifts set aside for the poor.  Today, we think of tzedakah as cash gifts.  In the Torah text, tzedakah in cash is used for interest-free loans (Shmot 22:24, Devarim 15:8).  Direct gifts to the poor are made through laws that regulate the reaping of produce from the fields.  The laws at work in the Book of Ruth are Leket, Shikhecha and Pe’ah.  Here’s a description of the three laws excerpted from the Encyclopedia of Judaism on answers.com:

a) Leket (“gleaning”). If the reapers drop one or two wheat stalks, they may not retrieve them, but must leave them for the poor. Three or more stalks may be retrieved by the reapers.

b) Shikheḥah (“forgotten”). If, when bringing the harvest to the storage area, the workers leave a quantity in the field, they may not go back to gather it (Deut. 24:19).

c) Pe’ah (“corner”). When harvesting his field, the farmer is required to leave one corner unharvested for the poor. The rabbis imposed a minimum of 1/60 of the crop to be left as Pe’ah.

As Boaz’s workers reap his field, the poor in the city travel behind the workers, snatching up fallen stalks and seeking forgotten sheaves.  Presumably, other workers were reaping the corner of the field that Boaz set aside for the poor. We get the impression from the book that the needy received occasional rebuke from the workers, perhaps because the two groups became entangled.  Boaz orders his workers to leave Ruth alone and even to intentionally drop stalks for her to pick up.  He also praises and encourages Ruth, and feeds her lunch. And the romance begins.

Let’s put aside the story for a moment and reflect on the social and psychological differences between this system of agricultural gifts and the cash gifts we associate with tzedakah today. Recipients of cash gifts are passive, and if the situation continues long enough, could grow psychologically dependent on being supported by others.  This could not only extend the cycle of poverty but undermine recipients’ long-term confidence in their ability to take care of themselves, a devastating ego blow.

By contrast, the Torah puts the needy to work: while they are not harvesting their own fields, they do gain the satisfaction of working for their bread and remaining part of the work force.

The requirement to leave a corner of the field for the poor to reap entirely by themselves is a truly exquisite law.  Essentially, the poor get their own small plot of land, “owned” by them.  They reap on their own and take home the fruits of their own labor, just like the wealthy owner of the whole field. Psychologically, working their “own field” must be a terrific encouragement to those in need.

So here are two takeaways:

1. Jewish morality is embedded in Jewish law.  Ruth is an extraordinary story, not only because of the interpersonal loving kindness among the main characters but also because of the Jewish legal structure that provides a healthy system for taking care of the needy in the community. Because the story of Ruth emerged from within the context of a value system structured by Jewish law, it is not only universal but distinctively Jewish.
2. Because agriculture is no longer a common profession, the specific laws of agricultural gifts have little practical relevance today. However, they provide guidance and raise questions for us about how to structure poverty programs and what to look for in writing checks to charities.  Maimonides’ famous Eight Levels of Charity famously puts at the top helping a person to find a job or build a business.  From the Torah’s laws of agricultural gifts, we learn that even when we cannot offer up a job, we should find ways to promote industriousness, self-reliance and self-respect.  Does your organization encourage these values in its programs?  How about the organizations to which you write tzedakah checks?  Something to think about over Shavuot, courtesy of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz.

I hope that you will have an opportunity to read the Book of Ruth sometime on Shavuot and allow it to touch your heart and engage your mind.  If you want to add your thoughts about the book, please contribute in the comments section.

Chag Same’ach!

Yossi Prager is Executive Director – North America of The AVI CHAI Foundation.

This article is part of a series focusing on new ideas emerging from the day school field with relevance for Jewish professionals in Jewish education and beyond. The post contributes to the conversation on the topic of Leadership.

Interview: Jonathan Cannon and Mitch Malkus

The topic of leadership transitions – when they should happen, how they should be carried out, and their implications – is a critical one throughout the Jewish communal world, both from the perspective of individuals determining their career paths and organizations and institutions setting the course of their futures. This interview features thoughts from two currently transitioning day school heads: Jonathan Cannon, the outgoing Head of School of Charles E. Smith, a RAVSAK (community) school in Rockville, MD, a position he has held for 12 years; and Rabbi Mitch Malkus, who is transitioning to the headship of Charles E. Smith from being Head of School of Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am, a Solomon Schechter (Conservative) day school in Los Angeles. The following reflections from Jonathan and Mitch provide insights on the nature of leadership, its personal and professional impact, and its effects on institutions –issues which are intensified during this time of transition, but always present as day school heads exercise their critical roles in the school and community.

What needs to be done, as an individual and within an institution, to prepare for transitions?

JC: One of the trickiest but most important balances for an institution during a transition is to maintain some sense of a continuing direction while still ensuring that a talented person coming in can contribute original ideas and energy. For instance, Charles E. Smith’s orientation as a pluralistic, ideologically non-denominational day school was articulated throughout the interview process so that Mitch could come in with knowledge, at least in broad terms, of the school’s core vision. Simultaneously, the school should consider where the opportunities are for a new leader to really take ownership – without making any topics “off-limit.” Charles E. Smith has been in an ongoing process of curriculum review and modification – particularly in defining a more skills-based curriculum around 21^st century learning – and a new set of eyes looking at the flow of the curriculum in its entirety might produce suggestions and ideas. While you could create models for how to maintain the balance between existing directions and new creativity, at the end of the day the key to success is all about relationships between the board, administration and the new head coming in. At Charles E. Smith, everyone is excited about the new possibilities and getting the combination right.

MM: This resonates for me on the other side of the process. All of the conversations I was having were made easier by the fact that the search committee had a model and overall strategic vision they were hiring toward, yet they also wanted to hear my ideas within that vision about how to move the school forward. Another set of balances I think are important to pay attention to have to do with the flux in roles. For instance, the board, and to some extent the search committee, often get deeper into an organization when there is a transition than they have been when a leader has been there for a number of years, but then they need to give over the reins when the new leader begins work. Also, Jonathan has been working to include me as he is going about his day-to-day activities, and I appreciate that. But I need to balance that with simultaneously doing the same thing at my current school. The only way to achieve these balances is through open communication. Transition has a lot of aspects: technical, emotional, and personal. In my situation, at the same time as this is a professional transition, I am moving my family cross-country. It’s important to be aware and try to attend to all these different layers.

What have you learned over your years at the school you are leaving regarding whether leadership is or should be collaborative or built upon the persona of the school head?

MM: The experience of going through a transition has reinforced my opinion that leadership needs to be collaborative. A long-standing head who is well-regarded and considered a leader in the community can produce a stasis. It’s the disequilibrium of a transition that breaks everything up and allows an institution and a community to think differently. Going through a transition brings about conversation on many levels about how the school sees itself, what about its vision and mission continue to resonate, and what altering is needed as it moves forward. It opens up a lot of new possibilities that can result in collaboration on a number of different levels. In well-supported transitions, professionals who care deeply about the institutions and want to move them forward share ideas, and volunteer leaders often step into these conversations and into positions of leadership they may not have in the past. It’s not always easy and a lot depends on personal relationships and trust.

JC: In a school where the leader has been there a long time, roles get shaken up when a transition is announced. Now that I’ve become the outgoing head of school and Mitch the incoming (both of which are different from being the head of school), the lines between the board members and the head of school are becoming somewhat blurred. This can be destabilizing for faculty, parents, and senior leadership. There’s no magic formula, but we’ve both tried hard to be conscious of it and recognize that it is really only resolvable once Mitch comes in. At the same time, I can’t believe how much time Mitch has given to his new school while still dedicating himself to his current school.

What have your experiences taught you about career trajectories in the day school field, how to prepare for them and when to judge it’s time to make a transition? What advice would you give about this?

MM: I was not specifically looking to make a transition. I’m at a fabulous school that I really love. While I don’t feel my work was done at Pressman Academy, this next step in my career offered an opportunity for growth that may not have been possible at my school at a certain point. I used to think about how many schools I have “in me” – in the sense that these jobs are all-encompassing and taxing physically, intellectually, and emotionally, particularly for leaders passionately committed to day school education. I also thought about, if I did move to a different school, what type would it be? Beyond Jewish day schools, how might the experiences and learning translate into other areas of Jewish education in the future? I don’t have a clear vision of my career trajectory. But just as we have strategic plans for our institutions, it is good for individuals to think broadly (though not necessarily concretely) about different places where they can grow throughout their careers.

JC: We’re both happy in the day school head environment, with good feeling and good will from the vast majority of our communities. It is actually somewhat atypical that we’re both transitioning with solid careers and longevity in the Jewish day school field. These are jobs where, in order to do them right, you need to put your heart and soul – and your family’s heart and soul – into it. So many things about the job will touch you or even distress you. There comes a point when you’re asking the question of when is the right time to move on. I’m not one of those people who wait to the point where I need to get out today or tomorrow. I wanted to give as much advance notice as I could so that the school has time to think of its next steps. Most people have the sense that the next 2-3 years is a window for their next opportunity, not because they are burnt out, but because a new opportunity is needed to refocus and reenergize, and allows the school to benefit from a new person with a new perspective.

Watch Mitch’s video below and share your thoughts about leadership transitions in the Jewish world and how we can prepare for them, both individually and communally.

Jonathan Cannon is an accomplished educator and Jewish Day School Leader  Since 2001, he has been the Head of School of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD, and was formerly the Head of School of the Carmel Jewish Day School in Hong Kong. Jonathan has been a regular presenter at conferences. His topics have included “Managing change in School Culture” and “21st Century skills and instruction.” He was a mentor at the Day School Leadership Institute and is currently working with The AVI CHAI Foundation to coach a cohort of school leaders who will participate in the Summer Institutes of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. As an educator, he received the” Most Outstanding Teacher in UK” Award from the Chief Rabbi.

Rabbi Mitchel Malkus has served as Head of School of the Rabbi Jacob Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am since 2001 and is the incoming Head of School at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), from where he was awarded the first Ed. D. from the Wm. Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, earned an M.A. in Judaic Studies at JTS and a B.A. at Columbia University. Rabbi Malkus has written extensively on curriculum, educational leadership, and instruction. He was a mentor in the Day School Leadership Training Institute (DSLTI). He is a board member of the Schechter Day School Network, the American Friends of The Ariela Foundation, and is a Co-Chair of the Israel education panel of the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE).

The way we understand history – and the stories we tell because of it – are powerful determinants of how we see ourselves in the world. In the video below, Professor Stein asks us to consider: who tells Israel’s story? What is the basis for their narrative, and how does that telling affect us? Drawing on national history, professional experience in law and government, and personal connection to the land and its people, Professor Stein challenges us to re-examine the sources of our own relationship to the modern state of Israel.

This article is part of a seriesfocusing on new ideas emerging from the day school field with relevance for Jewish professionals in Jewish education and beyond. The post contributes to the conversation on the topic of Leadership.

At Gann Academy, we decided that, if we wanted this language, culture, and practice to impact our entire school, we needed to start with the adults in the building, especially the school’s senior leadership team.

by David Jaffe

New research featured in “The Harvard Education Letter” (Jan/Feb 2013) demonstrates the importance of perseverance and character to intellectual learning and success.

For instance, Researcher Angela Lee Duckworth of Penn University argues that students can be taught to change their belief systems about success and failure. Through learning that “feelings of confusion are a hallmark of learning,” or that “… messing up is a normal part of learning,” students may be less likely to give up after a failure. In another example, Jason Biehr of Loyola Marymount writes that repeated actions and practices can develop qualities of grit and self-control. He cites illustrations including third-graders chanting a promise to practice certain intellectual virtues and students developing tolerance for other opinions by taking on a practice to argue the other side in a debate for a week.

In fact, these cutting-edge approaches to student achievement correlate quite closely with the Jewish practices of Mussar, the area of Jewish thought and practice dedicated to spiritual and moral development. As old as the Bible itself – stemming from the tenet, “Be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 19:3) – Mussar is enjoying a contemporary renaissance in Israel and North America. At Gann Academy in Waltham, MA, I lead a Mussar-based character development program called Chanoch LaNa’ar (CLN), named after a verse in the Book of Proverbs which advocates for sophisticated child-centered education.

CLN follows the Mussar method of growth, which involves purposeful, small, repetitive practices that develop our middot (soul traits) over time to make us as God-like as possible. Grounded in millennia of wisdom about human behavior, this method is based on the premise that everyone has a personal soul curriculum with individualized challenges and goals. Such goals could include developing self-awareness about our character traits (hergesh), delaying gratification (kibush), and sublimating our impulses to positive ends (tikkun). The soul curriculum unfolds in a laboratory of the mundane events of everyday life, such as not looking at a classmate’s paper during a test, overcoming embarrassment to visit the learning center, or inviting a new student to sit at your table during lunch. Through a combination of learning from traditional texts, action and reflection, we work to develop middot such as keinut (honesty), kavod (respect) and yashrut (integrity).

Students who practice Mussar are constantly becoming more aware of how they manifest these traits in different ways in the classroom, at home and on the ball field. In CLN, we take on practices related to a particular middah for a week or two. These practices include repeating phrases, usually from the Torah; adopting small behavioral changes; and journaling at the end of the day. Students may choose to apply humility by taking up or giving space to others in the classroom, honor by being more conscious of the attention they give their teachers and parents and trustworthiness by challenging themselves to use their school planners each day for a week.

For instance, someone working on the middah patience would choose a 15-minute period each day when they know they usually get annoyed – such as lunch time in the cafeteria or a class with a difficult teacher – to decide to do anything they can so as not to lose patience. The point is not so much whether they succeed but what they notice about themselves in trying to be patient. This self-awareness builds the choice-muscle the next time a patience-trying situation arises.

More than a just a skill, making positive choices (behira) is a key to life. Looking for behira points trains students to see difficult moments, whether academic or social, as opportunities for growth. At Gann, our students learn to identify the conflicting values in these situations and how the choices they face will impact their growth. For example, several students recently had money stolen from their backpacks. CLN groups were working on the middah of kavod (honor) at this time and discussed how the theft hurt the sense of how students honored one another at the school. In response to having her money stolen, one of our students looked at her own behira points around honor. She revealed that she often asked other students for the answers to homework and now realizes that her actions diminish her own and her teacher’s honor. She resolved to make a conscious choice to increase honor and stop copying other people’s work.

There is one area in which I believe a Mussar approach can significantly add to the current academic discourse about developing perseverance. In Mussar, it is important for the language about character traits not only inform work with students, but also be the common language and practice of the school. At Gann Academy, we decided that, if we wanted this language, culture, and practice to impact our entire school, we needed to start with the adults in the building, especially the school’s senior leadership team. For the past two years our management team has been learning Mussar together, combining this ancient wisdom with contemporary leadership challenges like time management, trust and work overload. When our leaders model purposeful decision-making using the language and practices of Mussar, they encourage others to use the same tools and language. Before enrolling any students in CLN, a cohort of 9th grade faculty and advisors went through the program themselves, so they too could bring the language and practices of Mussar to their lessons and one-on-one interactions with students. Mussar’s deep roots in Jewish culture and practical application to everyday challenges in school life make it an ideal vehicle for culture change at all levels of our school.

I look forward to more interplay between what we know from centuries of Mussar practice about character development and what we are learning from the most contemporary educational research. The old and the new should join together for the sake of our students’ growth.

Watch the video below to learn more from Rabbi Marc Baker and Rabbi David Jaffe how CLN is impacting Gann Academy from senior leadership to students.

Rabbi Marc Baker is the Head of School at Gann Academy in Waltham, MA. He received his BA in Religious Studies from Yale University, MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Rabbinic Ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes of the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. Marc lives in Brookline, MA with his wife and four children.

Rabbi David Jaffe is the Mashgiach Ruchani/Spiritual Advisor at Gann Academy where he created and runs the Chanoch LaNa’ar initiative. He is also the Founder and Dean of the Kirva Institute. His teaching, organizing, writing and consulting explore the intersection of moral-spiritual development and ethical action in the world. He is currently working on a book about the inner-life and social activism to be published in 2013.

This article is part of a series on day schools focusing on new ideas emerging from the day school field with relevance for Jewish professionals in Jewish education and beyond. The post contributes to the conversation on the topic of Leadership.

What are the challenges for Jewish leaders in assuming this responsibility, and how can training better prepare them for it?

Cheryl Finkel has a unique perspective on the day school field. Having served for 20 years as Head of School of the Epstein School in Atlanta, she understands Jewish day schools from the “inside.” Now, as an independent consultant working to advise school heads, board leaders, federations and foundations in Jewish educational leadership, she is examining the field in the bigger-picture. Cheryl was also involved in the formation of the Day School Leadership Training Institute (DSLTI), a professional development program at the Davidson School of Jewish Education at JTS. DSLTI trains and supports a cadre of heads of school who exemplify Jewish values and are committed to developing them in the next generation.

In this video, Cheryl reflects on topics in the area of day school leadership. As you watch, consider:

What issues is the leadership of a school or institution capable of solving with sufficient training and other resources – and what are they not? This question, which came up in the development of DSLTI, raises the importance of expanding ones perspective from individual institutions to looking at systems. A perceived lack of local leadership may in fact be best addressed on a global level. For example, the question of where to find quality teachers and leaders may be most effectively addressed system-wide rather than by an individual school or institution.

What skills do leaders need – and is it really possible for them to have all those skills? Day school heads are always at the edge of their comfort zone because the job requires more expertise than any one person could possibly have: in child development, performance management, budgeting and finance, marketing, and above all communications and relationships. Other fields surely require their leaders to have a similar breadth of expertise in a plethora of areas. What is the best way to prepare and train leaders for environments in which so many skills are required?

What is the responsibility of a Jewish leader to model Jewish behavior and values? A day school head should be an exemplary Jew, someone passionately engaged in the Jewish project. What are the challenges for Jewish leaders in assuming this responsibility, and how can training better prepare them for it?

What is the best educational approach to develop Jewish leadership? Cheryl discusses DSLTI’s constructivist approach, which encourages learners to discover their own answers through asking questions to which there are many fruitful responses rather than one that is correct. This approach is used in approaching secular as well as Jewish topics. For instance, one question to explore might be: How is what you do going to enable the students and their families to live a meaningful, committed, knowledgeable Jewish life? To what extent do you subscribe to this educational philosophy? What other educational approaches might be helpful to emerging leaders?

We encourage you to reflect on these questions and others raised by Cheryl in this video [above] on leadership, Jewish leadership, and leadership training for our communal institutions.

Cheryl R. Finkel is an independent leadership consultant working in Jewish day schools advising school heads, board leaders, federations and foundations.

For eight years Cheryl was senior consultant at PEJE, and before that served for twenty years as head of the Epstein School, Solomon Schechter School of Atlanta. She is presently Senior Mentor in the JTS Day School Leadership Training Institute (DSLTI).

Cheryl holds an AB in English from UNC, an MA in Teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and an honorary doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is also a recipient of The Covenant Foundation’s award for Exceptional Jewish Educators.

• 119 Jewish day schools have received $9.7 million of gifts, including approximately $2.8 million of matching funds from the AVI CHAI and Kohelet foundations.
• The 235 schools that submitted a MATCH application came from a wide range of denominations and geographies. Cumulatively, these schools have a $1.4 billion annual operating budget and serve over 72,000 students. This suggests an average per student cost of approximately $19,000.
• Nearly 200 individual donors or family foundations have made new or dramatically increased gifts to a Jewish day school.
• With parents of a currently enrolled Jewish day school student ineligible to participate in MATCH 4, the majority of gifts have come from alumni, grandparents, board members and community members.
• Slightly less than half of the gifts came from a first time donor to a Jewish day school.
• Nearly half of all gifts to MATCH 4 were at the minimum $10,000[2] level. On the higher end, 10% of gifts were for $100,000 or more.
• Since 2005, MATCH programs have generated in excess of $58 million in donations to Jewish day schools.

To see more data on MATCH 4 click here.

With four rounds of MATCH now under our belt, it seems evident that MATCH has helped improve the financial strength of Jewish day schools by expanding the community of donors. Furthermore, day school leaders report that MATCH has empowered them to seek out new, large donors and helped them to steward those relationships to repeat gifts. MATCH has also served as a catalyst for more significant funding from existing donors. Data on previous rounds of MATCH indicate that within 18 months of their original gift, more than 75% of donors made a repeat gift which averaged about 77% of the matched gift.

AVI CHAI and Kohelet are now considering a fifth round of MATCH and would welcome your input regarding prospective donors. Do you see the greatest opportunity coming from alumni, grandparents or board members? How about other community members? Is there a particular cohort of parents that you seek to catalyze? Your feedback will help to ensure that the match continues to burn brightly!

Dan Perla is AVI CHAI’s program officer for day school finance.

This article is part of a series on day schools focusing on new ideas emerging from the day school field with relevance for Jewish professionals in Jewish education and beyond. The post contributes to the conversation on the topic of Leadership.

We must commit ourselves to taking very seriously the challenges of day school leadership now and into the future. The challenges encompass not only professional leadership, but board leadership as well.

by Joshua Elkin

Over the course of the last few years, there seems to be a proliferation of discourse about the future of Jewish day schools. Most of this conversation has centered on how to ensure the financial strength of our schools, as well as how to make day schools more accessible and affordable to the full range of potential families. While these priorities are vitally important, I want to focus on three interrelated themes which deserve more prominence within the communal dialogue on day schools.

First, we need to pay more ongoing attention to securing strong alignment of mission within each of our schools. Barry Dym of Boston University has offered us the most common sense definition of alignment: “a series of leadership moves, over time, marked by consistency in style, content, and direction.” Achieving a robust alignment is not a one-shot project, but rather a sustained effort to define a powerful identity and raison d’etre for each and every school. Every day presents opportunities for our schools to sharpen Judaic mission, to re-enforce educational philosophy, and to define and re-define curricular content in both general and Judaic studies.

Second, we must commit ourselves to taking very seriously the challenges of day school leadership now and into the future. The challenges encompass not only professional leadership, but board leadership as well. Despite articles and conference workshops devoted to board leadership, the ongoing conversation about leadership concentrates more attention on the professional side. Overlooking the strategic and essential value of board leadership is a perilous course for any school to follow. Board leaders are critical to the process of preserving a clear Judaic mission and a coherent school identity.

The head of school and the board leadership are the critical human assets that each day school must protect and nurture. How can this protection and nurturing be done on both the volunteer and professional side? The most effective way that I know of is for each school to have two standing committees to focus on their human leadership assets. One committee is usually called the Head Support and Evaluation Committee (HSEC) which concentrates on supporting and giving feedback to the professional leader, and the other is the Committee on Trustees (COT), or the Governance Committee, whose mandate is to attend to all matters related to the present and future performance and composition of the Board. These committees must do their work while observing a strict commitment to confidentiality. Not only do these committees help to protect and nurture the human leadership assets of each school, but they also help to foster an institutional culture within each day school which is committed to ongoing support, evaluation, and feedback. This capacity for enhanced reflectivity includes ongoing attention to mission and organizational identity. Given the substantial influence of these two committees on the performance and leadership strength of each school, I believe that there is strategic value in ensuring that the agendas of the COT and the HSEC are aligned with each other, as well as with the overall mission and direction of the school. A school loses much horsepower if there is a failure to create a strong sense of collaborative leadership and agreed-upon broad direction.

Third, true collaboration develops best within the framework of a genuine partnership – in this case, between the volunteer and professional leadership of the school. The literature on nonprofit management and leadership is replete with references to the leadership partnership between the top professional (head of school) and the top board leader (usually the board chair or president). The partnership between these two leaders is the most powerful inflection point to move a day school forward. Regular communication, often on a daily basis, characterizes this relationship. In fact, these two leaders have the capacity to monitor the school’s progress on most key initiatives, issues, and committees, including even the COT and HSEC.

I strongly recommend that day school leaders reach out to the available knowledge bases and best practices which are readily available – in particular, The Trustee Handbook from NAIS (the National Association of Independent Schools, and the various publications of Boardsource). In these and other publications, you will find guidance on how to build the most robust volunteer-professional partnership in the service of your school’s mission and identity. You can read about the characteristics of a high performing COT and HSEC. You will also find valuable general support and guidance for the important leadership work that you have each undertaken.

Many leaders – volunteer and professional – set out for themselves the tacit goal of getting everything perfectly right every time. This is neither realistic nor desirable. By building effective leadership partnerships and by ensuring the high functioning of key committees such as the COT and the HSEC, day school leaders create the internal capacity to reflect on performance and to engage in ongoing improvement processes, which are essential to a healthy and vibrant Jewish day school culture.

Joshua Elkin is an Executive and Leadership Coach focused on strengthening both volunteer and professional leaders within Jewish and other nonprofits. Josh’s executive leadership experience includes 20 years as Head of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, and more recently, 14 years as founding Executive Director of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE).

In February 2013, more than 900 day school professional and lay leaders gathered at the annual North American Jewish Day School Conference to network and explore new ideas around 21st century education and leadership. It was, as always, a chance to look at the day school field’s challenges and opportunities through a lens of shared optimism, excitement and innovation.

Three months later, as we continue to reflect on the messages and ideas shaped and shared at the conference, we realize that day school leaders have much to share with the broader Jewish community with respect to their thinking, experimentation and lessons learned – most notably in leadership, educational technologies and sustainability.

In the interest of cross-pollination and with the goal of generating conversations around trends and ideas, we will be curating here on eJewishPhilanthropy a series of posts by day school leaders over the coming months. Our hope is that the topics and ideas will resonate with your own experiences and will spark dialogue and inspiration.

So, what ideas do we hope to present?

Leadership: As with any organization, a day school’s leadership is crucial to setting and upholding mission and vision. Leaders can be a powerful lever for school change. But what levers of change do they have at their disposal, and what skills and habits of mind and heart do they need to cultivate so as to be successful? This series of day school leadership posts will examine: To what extent is work with the board valuable in charting the school’s direction? What are effective ways in which programs in the field can train and support leaders to guide a school’s Jewish mission? One important factor that can inform the answers to these questions is the concept of team leadership. In that vein, the series will also discuss leadership transitions and career paths in the Jewish day school field.

Sustainability: The affordability of a Jewish education continues to challenge the Jewish educational world. Many of us in the Jewish community share a vision of enabling every child to receive an intensive and immersive Jewish education. How are we as a community going to make this dream a reality? School leaders, organizations and communities are experimenting with ideas that could provide information about possible paths toward day school affordability and sustainability. While schools in different locations or representing different populations may well have varying challenges and circumstances, there is an important opportunity to learn about the methods being tried and to discuss best practices in advocacy, increasing enrollment and affordability in the day school community.

21st Century Education: Many day school leaders are demonstrating their creativity and determination as they explore 21st century teaching and learning. Discussions range from teaching new core competencies, literacies and technologies to incorporating elements of online and blended learning. While those on the vanguard of experimentation are collecting data and refining ideas, others are carefully considering the implications of the new tools and skills. Critical questions include: Where along the spectrum of 21st century teaching and learning, online, and blended learning should my school begin to experiment? Will online/blended learning help solve day school affordability issues? What lessons can be learned from new blended Jewish day schools exploring new classroom and financial models, and what could established schools do to apply them and begin experimenting in this realm? As schools and entrepreneurs design new school models, courses, and resources, and as schools continue to find new ways to experiment, the lessons learned can help us all forge new paths for Jewish education.

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We look forward to curating these topics in the months to come and hope that each will provide opportunities for conversation here on eJewishPhilanthropy and in your communities about new strategies and ideas to advance Jewish day school education – and the Jewish community. We welcome your feedback.

Deborah Fishman is Director of Communications of The AVI CHAI Foundation.

This article is cross-posted on eJewishPhilanthropy.

Drawing of brick-making from Tomb of Rekhmire. Click for a presentation with more images relevant to the Exodus.

At its heart, the seder is a vehicle for telling our children and grandchildren the story of the Jews’ enslavement in and miraculous Exodus from Egypt.  For all the importance of Jewish schooling, the Torah views parents as the most important educators in their children’s lives – every day and especially on seder night.  I am writing not as a foundation leader but as a parent-educator to share some highlights of my family’s seder.  I will be grateful if you use the comments section to share innovations that have enhanced your own seder celebrations.

The educational goal of seder night is articulated within the Haggadah: “In every generation, each person is obligated to feel as if s/he has personally has experienced the Exodus.”  What tools does the seder give us as parents and seder hosts to transport participants to the original Pesach night? A text that elaborates on the misery of our enslavement and the wonder of the miracles that set us free; dramatic “props” such as matzah, maror, wine and charoset that help us experience gastronomically both slavery and freedom; songs to ignite the soul; and an educational approach that invites engagement by celebrating participants’ questions.

Here are some additional ways in which my family attempts to shape the seder environment and experience to transport participants back to the first seder some 3,500 years ago.

• Transforming the dining room.  The arch into the room has blood of the Paschal Lamb sprinkled on it (OK, really tomato paste on a long roll of paper taped to the arch).  The walls contain photos of artifacts from Egypt, some that show the splendor of the Egyptian empire – one of my kids’ favorites is the statue of King Hatshepsut, a female Pharaoh – and some that more directly relate to the night’s story.  For example, drawings from Egyptian tombs show bricks being made, masters beating slaves and the chariots of Pharaoh.  My favorite is the Merneptah Stele, the only ancient Egyptian source that specifically mentions the people of Israel.  Ironically, the engraved stone reports that Israel has been wiped out; “it has no more seed.”  My children – my seed – get a kick out of that one.  For the younger children, I also put up some clip art related to Pesach that I printed from Chinuch.org.  Our tablecloth fabric is filled with hieroglyphics, and usually the children create place cards in hieroglyphics.
• Challenging participants to put themselves in the place of those leaving Egypt through interactive activities. In recent years, I have ordered some blank papyrus pages from Egypt (via eBay) and distributed them in advance, asking all seder participants to draw a scene that they “remember” from either their slavery in or their exodus from Egypt.  These papyri also grace our dining room walls.  The assignment gives children of all ages the opportunity to use their imagination, draw about and then teach others at the seder an aspect of the story, perhaps based on a midrash that they find meaningful. Toward a similar end, each participant in the seder is asked to bring two items that they took with them out of Egypt.  Before the seder, all the items are loaded into a pillow case.  At various points throughout the seder, we take turns pulling items from the pillowcase.  Each person removes an item and guesses who put it in and why.  The person who put the item in then explains her own thinking.
• Using Knowledge of Ancient Egypt to Deepen Understanding.  Children think of frogs as cute, and we have a plethora of stuffed and plastic frogs on our table, but why in the world did God choose to visit the Egyptians with frogs?  It turns out that the Egyptians had a female frog god named Heqet, associated with fertility and midwives. The irony is evident, as Tikvah Weiner, a Jewish educator and educational leader at The Frisch School, notes in her powerpoint presentation (below) on the Ten Plagues.  The Egyptians tried to end Jewish fertility and were defeated by the courage of the Jewish midwives.  In return, the Egyptians received a destructive outpouring of the frogs that symbolize the fertility they believed that Heqet controlled.Since much of the seder story is intended to showcase the Almighty’s ability to crush the Egyptian deities (including Pharaoh, who saw himself as a god), we have a five-foot poster of King Tut on the dining room wall.  As we recite the Ten Plagues and understand the meaning of each one, we slowly cover over King Tut with velcroed pages that describe the plagues.  By the end of the ten plagues, we have visually erased the magnificence of King Tut with the power of God’s plagues.

I could say more about our seder and am happy to link to a presentation by a friend (who prefers anonymity) from which I drew some of my dining room decorations. But I want to return to the larger point: Judaism always viewed parents as the primary educators of their children.  Yeshivot and day schools were introduced “only” 2,000 years ago, when it became clear that not every child could get the necessary education from the home.  Seder is a night when we take back our role as parent-educators.

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks describes the Passover seder as the “oldest, continuously observed religious ritual in the world.”  It is spine-tingling to realize that the Jewish people – we – are the source of the world’s longest-running religious practice, which celebrates another of our contributions to world history: the concept of political freedom.  However, Rabbi Sacks’ word “ritual” can set us off-track.  As parent-educators, we have the ability to help our children and guests experience the Exodus not as a long-ago, dead event but as a fun and living framework for our own lives and place within the Jewish people.

Chag Same’ach!

Yossi Prager is Executive Director – North America of The AVI CHAI Foundation.