Prizmah and the Jewish Theological Seminary Announce New Partnership

Day School Leadership Training Institute (DSLTI): Preeminent program for new and aspiring heads of school will now have broader reach across North American Jewish day schools.

June 2, 2023

To strengthen the capacity of leaders to serve their schools and communities, Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools and The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) today announced that the Day School Leadership Training Institute (DSLTI) is now a partnership between the two organizations—enhancing learning and networking opportunities for program participants. The new partnership puts the landmark leadership development program on a path of continued growth and sustainability, positioned to effectively cultivate talent and invest in the next generation of day school leadership.

“DSLTI has long fostered many of the top leaders in the Jewish day school world,” says Paul Bernstein, Chief Executive Officer of Prizmah. “Bringing DSLTI into Prizmah’s portfolio of leadership development programs and working closely with JTS allows us to further strengthen and support Jewish day school leadership and ensure the future success of our schools.”

“JTS’s DSLTI program has been preparing new and aspiring heads of school for over 25 years,” said Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz. “The program has provided experiential learning, leadership development, mentoring, and cohort-building opportunities to school leaders in day schools around North America and Israel. We are thrilled to be partnering with Prizmah and are looking forward to continuing to make an impact in the field of Jewish day school education.”

DSLTI will operate as an integral part of Prizmah’s leadership development portfolio of programs, which includes YOU Lead, an annual cohort program for Jewish day school leaders, and expert coaching and consulting services. Participants will be able to leverage the established strength of the DSLTI program, along with the resources, expertise, and relationships of the Prizmah Network, and the guidance and experience of DSTLI and Prizmah leadership.

DSLTI was founded in 1998 as a project of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS, in partnership with The AVI CHAI Foundation, to address the need to help train and support aspiring and new heads of Jewish schools. DSLTI brings together cohorts of leaders with diverse approaches to Jewish practice and educational philosophy from across North America.

“For the past 25 years, DSLTI has proven its model, successfully training over 200 day school leaders. Through the new partnership of JTS and Prizmah, who both share a commitment and passion for nourishing new and aspiring day school heads, DSLTI will have an elevated ability to serve the field,” says Cheryl Maayan, incoming director of DSLTI at Prizmah and successor to Dr. Ray Levi, who led the program for many years.

Both organizations point to the overwhelming need to train and support new heads of school as the leaders of the future. The new partnership structure and consolidated fundraising efforts will ensure the growth and strength of the DSLTI program going forward and will allow day school leaders to draw on the expertise and resources of both organizations, aligned in their commitment to supporting educational leadership.

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ABOUT PRIZMAH: CENTER FOR JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS
Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools partners with day schools, yeshivas, philanthropists, and communities from all denominations across North America, helping them grow their reach and impact. Prizmah is building networks for schools and their supporters to connect, learn, and drive impact—deepening talent by investing in professional and lay leaders, catalyzing resources to generate funding for schools to flourish, and accelerating educational innovation to foster teaching and learning opportunities that allow our students to thrive.

ABOUT THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
JTS is a preeminent institution of Jewish higher education, training thoughtful, innovative leaders—rabbis, cantors, educators, lay leaders, and scholars—who strengthen our communities with a vision of Judaism that is deeply grounded in the Jewish past and thoroughly engaged with contemporary society. JTS also provides high-caliber lifelong learning and professional development to our alumni, adult learners, and Jewish communities throughout North America. Through its Library, JTS preserves and makes accessible to students and scholars throughout the world the greatest collection of Judaica in the Western Hemisphere.