A View from the Balcony

March 15, 2015

A VIEW FROM THE BALCONY

Unknown-1Jewish life allows us to carve out time, to take a break from our frenetic lives, and to take a view from the balcony. We gather with our families, bring in the light of Shabbat, and consume our minds with thoughts of peace, freedom and holiness. The balcony view re-energizes us and prepares us for the week ahead. 

That time on the balcony is valuable in professional life as well. I was able to view our school from the balcony this week at the North American Jewish Day School Conference in Philadelphia. Joined by Reb Scott, Patty Bloom, Sue Lapp and 1200 other day school professionals and lay leaders from around the world, we attended sessions ranging from Hebrew language acquisition to pluralism to innovative tuition strategies. Unknown-2

As exciting as the learning was, we were equally energized by the buzz about Mirowitz and the balcony view others have of our school. The name “Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School” is but three years old, yet so many had heard of it and knew our logo. Some said they used our website as a model when designing their own. They had heard about our successful merger and our culture of excellence in education. They had watched our Tekiah Gedolah challenge videos (and some had even participated). They spoke with their boards about our culture of academic excellence, social responsibility and meaningful Jewish learning.

Unknown-4So it’s nice to be recognized nationally, and yet we are never complacent. The conference helped us identify areas of improvement and connect us with vision, strategy and colleagues to help propel us forward. It was like a professional Shabbat. I  stepped out on the balcony, and now am re-energized and prepared for the work ahead.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah CherylUnknown-3