Mental Health Summit 2024

Engage in high-level learning and collaboration around mental health challenges and opportunities in Jewish day schools and yeshivas. This year’s theme is “In The Moment: Navigating Difficult Times With Dignity, Empathy, and Growth.” Over the course of two days of interactive learning and discussion, you will gain skills, perspectives, and approaches to navigating difficult times in your school.

Mental Health Summit 2023

An interactive series of four workshops will enhance your understanding of the confluence of students’ social emotional and neurodiverse learning needs and will allow teams of learning specialists, school counselors, and administrators to learn to access and direct behaviors, and collaborate and communicate more effectively, ensuring that all members of the school community can thrive.

Paul is Prizmah’s founding Chief Executive Officer. Learn more about Paul here.

A Tu Bishvat Message From Our CEO

Tu Bishvat, amidst the kabbalistic traditions, delightful children’s songs, and dried fruit, has an important halachic role. To properly observe the biblically ordained laws of orlah (avoiding eating the fruit of a tree younger than three years old), we need to keep track of the age of trees. Enter the rabbinically decreed New Year for the trees, a date dedicated to tracking and marking time.

As we celebrate this day, we marvel at and rejoice in the growth and transformation of trees, which move from seeds and saplings to bearing fruit ever so quickly. Trees themselves mark the passage the time, each ring a sign of another year past. On Tu Bishvat itself, we track and celebrate growth.

A few weeks ago, my family in England had an unexpected brush with celebrity. My mother, a German refugee who survived the Holocaust as a hidden child in Nazi-occupied France, was photographed with my niece by the Duchess of Cambridge. Their photograph will be part of an upcoming exhibit of portraits commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The Duchess published the moving portrait of my mother, together with photos of the two of them meeting at Kensington Palace, on her Instagram feed. After their initial meeting, my mother and Kate were again pictured together when the Duke and Duchess were guests of honor at the Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration event in London. Their voices and presence create headlines every day, and successfully shone a brighter light on the importance of this anniversary. Kate described my mother, together with a second survivor she photographed, as “two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet.” She described the purpose of the portraits as ensuring that “[their] memories will be kept alive as they pass the baton to the next generation.”

I keep thinking about the portrait she took and what it represents. The staging and lighting of the photograph were designed very specifically by the Duchess to capture this unique moment. A survivor of World War II with her 11-year old granddaughter, light streaming in from the hopeful east, wartime artifacts (my mother’s German identity card, marked with a “J” for Jude-Jew) shared across the generations. The photograph is very much a moment in time, a moment that marks time, bridging the past with the future. The image captures the gaze of a young girl learning through the shared experience of her grandmother, committed to re-telling that story in order to learn its lessons.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks articulated a crucial lesson he learned from Holocaust survivors, when he said: “To mend the past, first you have to secure the future.”  The photograph of my mother does this, aesthetically and generationally. Our shared work in Jewish day schools also does this every day, child by child, family by family, community by community. By securing our Jewish future through vibrant and sustainable schools, in some ways we heal the tragedies of our collective past.

So this Tu Bishvat, while I still chuckle at the thought of my mother rubbing shoulders with royalty, I appreciate how the day’s focus on trees and marking time can catalyze a deeper appreciation for the relationship between past and future. And I give thanks, both for the trees which beautify our world, and the hundreds of Jewish day schools in which tens of thousands of Jewish futures are growing to fruition.

 

 

 

Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

Paul is Prizmah’s founding Chief Executive Officer. Learn more about Paul here.

The Power of Network

As early as my second week at Prizmah, I saw first-hand the power of our Network of Jewish day schools. While getting to know a school leader, I was asked a question that reached to the core of the character of their school, and honestly was beyond my scope of knowledge. “I’ll get back to you on that,” I replied, thinking that our Prizmah team of experienced day school professionals would pull out just the right answer. But, when I shared the question with my Prizmah colleagues, instead of a “textbook” solution, their response was a list of five other schools who had recently grappled with the identical question. These peers provided that leader with better answers (gained through experience) than a single “expert” might offer. That is an example of the Network at work, and the knowledge of the field in action. There is no textbook, but there are plenty of solutions.

Being part of a Network means contributing and accessing the everyday “real-world” expertise that builds stronger schools, and a supportive, vibrant field.

In the past year, day school professionals and lay leaders have connected, shared, learned, created, and driven impact through the Prizmah Network at an astounding rate.  1100 field leaders, from over 230 schools, joined us at the March, 2019 Prizmah Conference and collectively Dared to Dream; 163 schools participated in a Prizmah Reshet group (which had 200 new members this year); 1305 resources were launched in our new digital Knowledge Center and have been accessed by thousands of page views.

Online, at in-person gatherings, through emerging partnerships with federations and national leaders in education, Prizmah’s focus on Network points us in a strong direction to support individual schools and the day school field.

We just celebrated Shavuot, acknowledging the enormous gift—matan—of Torah. When we call the holiday “z’man matan Torateinu” or “time of the giving of our Torah,” we are actually celebrating a collective experience, as Torah is referred to in the plural possessive. Rashi teaches that both the Written Law and the Oral Law were transmitted to Moshe at Sinai. While the Written Law—Torah she’bichtav--speaks in one Divine voice, the Oral Law--Torah she’be-al peh, including the Mishnah, the Talmud, Midrashim--contains multiple voices across generations. There is an inherent intricate network of diverse voices and opinions offering insight, advice, and instruction.

The Oral Law provides a model for understanding our world and addressing the challenges we inevitably encounter. When we gain access to the experience of others, when we draw on past examples to inform present action, when we debate—even loudly—about our differences, we strengthen our ability to deliver on our mission. The Prizmah Network is predicated on just such a philosophy.

For our Network to fulfill its potential demands that we create space for the myriad voices to be raised, that we construct pathways for connection among practitioners, and that we encourage portals and access to other providers of expertise.

“Do what we do best and connect to the rest” was a kind of informal mantra we used in talking about Prizmah right from launch. Convening the Network means sometimes being in the center and sometimes stepping aside so that people can connect directly.  Oftentimes it means connecting to experts, providers or resources throughout the Network. Primarily, being the Network convener means making it easy to both access and provide knowledge for each other.

In the coming months, we will be concentrating our efforts on strengthening the Prizmah Network with the voices of even more day school leaders and practitioners. School leaders will be receiving information shortly about renewing or establishing their Network affiliation, while others in the field can engage by sharing resources, asking questions, and supporting the day school field. Together, we can ensure that the day school field has a living network that supports and creates tangible impact for individuals, schools, and communities, all working toward a vibrant Jewish future.

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Rachel Zivic headshot

Rachel is the head of school at Kellman Brown Academy in Cherry Hill New Jersey. Rachel is a Jewish day school alumna herself. She graduated from Columbia University and attended the Bank Street College of Education earning her Master in General and Special Education. 

A Reflection on Prizmah’s Head of School Retreat

At Prizmah’s recent Head of School Retreat, Lisa Coll, chair of Prizmah’s Board of Trustees shared with us, “It’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.” Heads nodded in agreement as Lisa said this, feeling that she had reached the heart of our experience. We found strength in the empathy and support of our colleagues during the course of this retreat and came back to our school communities with a renewed sense of purpose and vision.

Nearly one hundred heads of school from all over North America gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina for Prizmah’s second ever Head of School Retreat. Heads of school, like myself, who were fortunate enough to attend the first Prizmah Head of School Retreat in Fort Lauderdale two years ago, have been eagerly awaiting this opportunity as one that is uniquely relevant and meaningful to our roles and experiences. Distinct and separate from the Prizmah Conference, which brings together teams from Jewish day schools across North America to grow professionally, this was an opportunity to focus on the very unique role of the head of school, an opportunity to grow personally as well. 

A few key takeaways from this gathering of truly dedicated and thoughtful school leaders highlight the depth and breadth of the issues facing heads of school and their communities today:

  1. Since October 7th, Jewish day schools have played a unique and meaningful role in their communities. Schools continue to grapple with how to support the diverse needs of the constituencies of our communities – students of all ages; parents and teachers, Israeli teachers and families; and teachers and families of different faiths. While this challenge has been particularly demanding, emotional, and personal, schools are proud of the role they are playing in navigating these challenges, and their communities are grateful for their leadership.
     
  2. The Jewish calendar brings complexity and opportunity.  As we celebrated the new Hebrew month of Adar II together at the retreat, we were compelled to discuss how upcoming Jewish holidays might look in our schools this year as we are still reeling from events in Israel. We discussed Purim, Yom HaZikaron (Israeli Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) in particular as days that bring with them questions about what may look different in our schools this year.  

    How do we balance the joy, fun, and silliness of Purim with the heaviness we feel as a Jewish people this year? How do we incorporate the tragedy of October 7th into our Yom HaZikaron programs? How do we transition from Yom HaZikaron to Yom Ha’Atzmaut this year in a way that reflects both our sadness of loss and our commitment to celebrating the Jewish state? How do the choices we make when it comes to these holidays reflect our mission and values as Jewish day schools? Discussing these questions in a group setting helped us begin to think creatively and provide inspiration as we continue to work through them in our school communities in the coming weeks.
     

  3. Heads of school rely on strong teams to execute the mission and day-to-day activities of the school. Dr. Scott Tannenbaum, Ph.D. who facilitated a workshop on “The Science of Teamwork: What Really Drives Team Effectiveness?” shared the importance of reflecting on the effectiveness of the teams in our schools and investing in making them work to their greatest potential. He said, “The best teams are rarely great on day one. They become great by making small, ongoing adjustments.” Periodic debriefs are essential to assessing what is going well and what can be improved. Additionally, Dr. Tannenebaum underscored that teams are built on trust – teams perform better when members share a sense of psychological safety and can be themselves and speak up for themselves.
     

  4. Being the “bottom line” day in and day out for our schools can be both lonely and heavy. Whether the scenarios we encounter are profoundly unexpected like Covid and October 7th, or anticipated like interpersonal conflicts and creating a healthy work-life balance, the weight of the headship can take a toll. In a session on “The Weight of the Headship,” heads of schools were able to share stories vulnerably and personally from their experiences. While each school and each head of school is unique, our experience is also shared in so many ways. Even as heads of school deeply appreciate being part of supportive teams at our schools, hearing from colleagues about their personal experiences in the role of Head had a powerful impact on all of us. It also reminded us in a deep way that we are not alone.


I want to take the opportunity to thank the amazing heads of school who attended the conference and shared generously from their wisdom and their hearts. It was an honor to learn from each of you. A huge thank you to Prizmah for the tremendous effort and thoughtfulness that went into each detail of this retreat. We are fortunate to have Prizmah’s strength and expertise supporting our schools in every way. We are stronger for it.  

Wishing all of our Jewish day schools and communities strength and resilience in the months ahead with the knowledge that we are here for each other in times of need.