news." Day schools have been teaching Hebrew methodically, purposefully, devotedly for decades. The effort has not by any means always been easy, nor have results been consistent; but there is no comparable institution in Diaspora Jewish life so dedicated to raising so many Jewish youth with a strong knowledge of Hebrew.

To help schools gain a catbird-seat appreciation of the Hebrew landscape, Prizmah decided to create a paper that maps out the main ways that schools seek to improve in this area. Are you familiar with panoramic photography, super-wide images than can capture even a 360-degree view of a place? Prizmah offers the equivalent for Jewish day schools. This is the first in a series of thought leadership papers, each offering a panoramic photo of a particular aspect of day school education and leadership.

Here, we look at the reasons why Hebrew education is so central to day schools--and often so challenging. The paper considers six critical levers: staff, time, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and mission. Each lever starts with a guiding question and includes resources for further reading.

Join the conversation! Check out responses to this paper on the Times of Israel blog and contribute your own thoughts there.

After you have a chance to read this study, we want to hear from you! How would you like to use it? Is this format useful for you, and if so, what in particular? What would make it more useful? What conversations would you like to have with others in the field about Hebrew education? And, do you have subjects that you'd like to see written up into future papers? Please send feedback to Elliott Rabin at [email protected].

Valley Beth Shalom Harold M. Schulweis Day School in Encino, CA is committed to nurturing the social and emotional well-being of each child. “The unique way Jewish day schools have led pupils for generations finally has a fitting name: social and emotional learning,” Head of School Rabbi Deborah Schuldenfrei proudly says. In partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, the school launched the RULER program, an evidence-based approach to social emotional learning. RULER is an acronym that teaches the 5 key skills of Emotional Intelligence: Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing and Regulating. The program builds on the school's Community Brit Rainbow of Respect, the Rainbow of Shalom. Each morning for 15 minutes, students "check in" on the mood meter, a self-awareness tool divided into four color quadrants, each color representing a different set of feelings. Students utilize additional tools that help create a safe and caring classroom and school environment, including a Class Charter and Meta-Moment.

Equipped with emotional intelligence, students learn to problem solve, build and maintain positive relationships, and develop confidence and competence socially, emotionally, and academically. Rabbi Schuldenfrei says, “Through social and emotional learning, our students are able to be their best selves while being mindful of their souls. This partnership with Yale strengthened our students' ability to empathize, the most essential experience for learners in the digital age. It is an extraordinary education breakthrough with deep Jewish roots.”

To learn more about Valley Beth Shalom Day School, visit vbsds.org.

Prizmah offers an array of programs and services to meet the needs of your school and community. Find out more here.

Small Schools Retreat

November 10-12, 2019
Austin, Texas

Join heads of small schools for three days of learning and collaboration.

• Explore leading practices and replicable models that have worked in other small schools.
• Learn from the expertise of school leaders with challenges similar to your own.
• Develop a strong support network of peers.

Featured Speaker for Small Schools Retreat is Starr Snead! Starr is the founder and principal of Advancement Connections, a firm that provides fundraising, constituency relations, marketing/enrollment, strategic planning and communications services exclusively to PS-12 schools. more...

Learn More and Register Here

Leaders to Leaders

November 3 - 4, 2019
Hilton Newark Airport
Elizabeth, New Jersey

Join educational leaders from Orthodox yeshiva day schools to work through your dilemmas of practice in a safe and confidential space with a small group of peers.

Learn More and Register Here

Prizmah is committed to gathering the Jewish day school field to learn together. We hope you will join us through our webinars and other virtual gatherings as we explore new ways to engage the children in Jewish day schools and yeshivas. We are thrilled to kick-off this school year with a brand new series of virtual gatherings that will dive into topics relating to how to engage learners around different Jewish holidays. Upcoming webinars in the Prizmah Chagim Series:

Don’t Tell Me -- SHOW ME: Student-centered lessons on the Chagim

Each session will have TWO time slot options so people can choose the time that best fits their schedule: On Tuesdays at 12pm ET / 9am PT or in the evening at 8pm ET / 5pm PT.

Chanukah ~ Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Esther and Purim ~ Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Shir Hashirim and Haggadah ~ Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Prizmah offers in-person and virtual gatherings to help you, your school, and your community thrive.

If you have questions about or suggestions for gatherings, contact Daniel Infeld.

the premier provider of academic study abroad programs in Israel. Competitive pricing on all trips. We also offer schools who already have an Israel trip, a free day of touring and VIP access to any Jewish National Fund heritage site. For more information please contact Rabbi Greg Litcofsky at [email protected].

The Jewish National Fund, Your Voice in Israel, can offer a variety of Zionist educational programs for grade 8 through 12. For more information on programming please contact Daniel Friedman at [email protected].

Prizmah is creating virtual learning communities where you can engage in conversations with peers about topics of interest to you! Our Collaboratives will provide regular and on-going opportunities for you to delve into aspects of Jewish day school education that matter most to you and your school.

We have already planned some Collaboratives on the following topics:

• Jewish History

• MAP Testing

• Responsive Classroom

• STEAM and Judaics

To suggest topics or share your interest in joining our Collaboratives, please contact Daniel Weinberg.

Mazal tov to Irvine Hebrew Day School for being designated as a Positive Discipline Lab School, 1 of 12 in the world! Positive Discipline Lab Schools are recognized for the intention to broadly implement Positive Discipline.

Beginning next month, Prizmah will be highlighting exciting and meaningful news from the field of Jewish day schools and yeshivas. Share your one sentence “mazel tov moments” with us at [email protected].

Akiva School in Nashville, TN invites schools, both nationally and internationally, with students in grades K-8 to take part in our 3rd Annual Dreidel Design Challenge. (#doyoudreidel?) Our STEAM challenge is a unique combination of both creativity and ingenuity revolving around a central Jewish theme. Our theme this year is Kavod: Honoring Ourselves and Others. Students are challenged to build a dreidel that spins and creatively incorporates our theme as shown in the life of a Jewish American hero. To receive more information about the guidelines please contact Annette Calloway at [email protected].

In 2018, Akiva became the first Jewish Day School to receive the STEM certification from AdvancedED.