The Summer Seminar brings a highly select group of principals together for ten days of professional training. This year, nineteen participants from big and small North American day elementary and high schools, orthodox to reform and independent, convened to learn from each other’s experience and together grow under the supervision of the Lookstein Center, a service and research center deeply committed to enhancing the quality of Jewish education in the Diaspora.

The principals will all join in seminars and workshops on topics such as school culture, leadership challenges and planning change—to be held on the Bar-Ilan campus and in Jerusalem. All participants will then work on year-long in-school projects under the guidance of mentors provided by The Lookstein Center. The group will convene again for a follow-up seminar in February in Florida at which time they will present the findings of their projects to date.

At the orientation, one mentor commented, “The Summer Seminar provides an excellent opportunity for professional growth and exploration of one's potential. Ultimately, the principal benefits, and with him or her, the school and the performance of the students."

At the orientation, one mentor commented, “The Summer Seminar provides an excellent opportunity for professional growth and exploration of one's potential. Ultimately, the principal benefits, and with him or her, the school and the performance of the students."

Summing up the mission of the Seminar at the opening dinner, Stuart Zweiter, director of The Lookstein Center said, “In the Seminar, we try to provide a framework for people to network, learn, and grow—and most importantly, bring the experience they gained back to the school, and the Jewish day school student. The seminar is also one example of how The Lookstein Center sees itself contributing to Jewish peoplehood, by bringing together educators from the broad range of the Jewish community.”

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