Prizmah Podcasts: Podcasts by Prizmah Center for Jewish Day Schools

Two directors of institutional advancement, Mandi Miller of Beth Tfiloh Dahan in Baltimore and Stephanie Bash-Soudry of Golda Och Academy in West Orange, New Jersey, delve into the nature of their role. They talk about the kinds of teamwork they perform with the administrative team and the faculty, and they discuss their work in ensuring that their schools' missions are powerful and in alignment with everything that takes place within the school and is communicated about the school.

Debby Artz-Mor, director of Jewish learning at the Brandeis School in San Francisco, and Rabbi David Stein, Judaics studies principal at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles, join Sivan Zakai to discuss her new longitudinal study of Israel education , My Second Favorite Country. They consider understandings of "age-appropriate" learning that can impede educational engagement and exploration, discuss the relationship between school mission and student influences, and consider pedagogy that opens up student curiosity and discovery.

Debby Arzt-Mor is the director of Jewish learning at The Brandeis School of San Francisco. Raised in Jerusalem, Debby has been living in San Francisco with her family for many years. As a member of Brandeis’ senior leadership team, Debby partners with faculty and staff in guiding Jewish and Hebrew programming and curriculum throughout the school. Debby is a cohort 10 graduate of The Davidson School’s Day School Leadership Training Institute, and of the Melton Senior Educators program at The Hebrew University. Debby holds a BA in psychology and Jewish philosophy (University of Haifa), and a graduate degree in nonprofit administration (USF).

Rabbi David Stein is the Judaic studies principal at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles as well as the co-founder and managing director of the LaHaV Curriculum Project. David attended Yeshiva College and RIETS for his undergraduate and semikhah studies, and also holds master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Columbia University and in Jewish education from American Jewish University. He is currently studying towards his doctorate in education at Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education & Administration and was a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar.

Sivan Zakai is the Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and is an affiliated scholar at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. In addition to directing the Children’s Learning About Israel Project and co-directing Project ORLIE: Research and Leadership in Israel Education, Sivan serves as a senior editor of the Journal of Jewish Education and as a member of the faculty of the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute.

Dr. Miriam Heller Stern, National Director of the HUC-JIR School of Education in Los Angeles, and Susie Tanchel, head of school at JCDS Boston, talk about creativity as a vital component of a school’s mission and vision. They explore how the school's conception of creativity can be guided by Jewish values, and ways that it can inform school culture, curriculum and pedagogy.

At the center of the mission of Luria Academy is diversity as a core value. But what happens when you’ve achieved your goal and you have created a uniquely diverse community? What does it mean to be in relationship with people whose religious practice is different from yours? How do our students learn to approach one another from a place of curiosity and respect? How do we navigate political diversity in an increasingly polarized society? And how do we expand the lessons of the classroom into the parent community?

Learn about Luria’s journey of diversity from conception to reality. Head of School Amanda Pogany presents the success and challenges of leading a diverse community in general and in this moment. Gain strategies for this work with students, faculty and parents.

We are the story we tell ourselves. In 2019, parents and school leaders at Brandeis Marin, a K-8 Jewish day school located in San Rafael, CA, began exploring ways to create a storytelling and story-capturing culture to enable deep, authentic and consistent connection within the school community. When the pandemic hit, the Brandeis Marin school community had developed its own version of The Moth (radio storytelling), doubling down on storytelling to deepen the sense of connection and belonging among its parents and in its community. Hear from Dr. Peg Sandel, Head of School and Barbara Cohen, Director of Techonology and Innovation at Brandeis Marin how a Jewish day school created a schoolwide initiative involving parents, teachers, students, staff, administrators and board members.