"Review our actions, demand correction, give thanks for good things and plan for the future"
A Letter from Dr. Eli Gottlieb, Director of the Mandel Leadership Institute
Dear fellows, graduates, and friends,
The High Holiday season is a special time of year, as on the one hand we review our actions and address what needs correcting, and on the other hand, we give thanks for good things and plan for the future.
On the national level, it was a difficult year for the education system and for Israeli society, one in which we witnessed a protracted teachers’ strike, and a profound crisis of national leadership. I hope that the Mandel Leadership Institute continues to be—more than ever—the arena for an in-depth, incisive public dialogue on all aspects of education and leadership in Israel.
For us to succeed in facilitating such a dialogue requires that we continue to foster collaborations of Mandel fellows and graduates, and strengthen ties with the hundreds of Mandel graduates in Israel and abroad. In the past year, the Mandel Graduate Unit has worked tirelessly to create a “community of graduates”—a community that holds real significance for its members both professionally and personally. The unique course at the Sorbonne, organized this summer by the Graduate Unit for our alumni, is just one example of this.
The many cooperative projects that we have conducted with educational and social organizations and with government ministries are another important way of creating significant change. I thank our partners for this and look forward to continued productive work. We also contributed to Israel’s educational discourse through the publication of Dialogue from the Heart of Confusion by Dr. Daniel Marom and Micky Miller—a book that has received extensive media coverage and has been adopted by educators and academics.
On the organizational level, our many successes during the year were tinged with some sadness. We welcomed new faces to the Mandel staff, including Adi Nir Sagi, the new director of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, and Dr. Motti Shalem, director of the IDF Educational Leadership Development program, but we also said goodbye to dear friends with whom we had worked for many years. In particular, I would like to mention Dr. Neri Horowitz and his contribution to the Mandel Leadership Institute and to the Israeli civil service in recent years, both as a faculty member and as director of the Senior Civil Service Program. I would also like to thank the gifted staff of the program, who, together with Neri, developed a unique approach to the professional development of civil servants. I wish them all much success in their careers.
Our new academic year began this month, and both new and returning fellows—from Israel and abroad—were exposed to the complex, challenging reality of Israeli life in an intensive three-day site visit to Nazareth and Upper Nazareth. The visit laid bare some of the painful rifts in Israeli society, and emphasized to us all the importance of frank dialogue, clear vision, and educational leadership.
To conclude, we are about to start recruitment for Cohort 18 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership and Cohort 27 of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows. As the Mandel brothers have said many times, the Mandel Foundation’s programs are marked by a commitment to invest in people with the values, ability and passion to change the world. I hope you will continue to assist us in realizing this ambition.
Best wishes for a good year, a year of peace and growth,
Dr. Eli Gottlieb
Director, Mandel Leadership Institute
