I’m Benjamin de Jong, Head of Sixth form at JCoSS, alumnus of Naima JPS, Wolfson Hillel Primary School, JFS, Yeshivat Ohr Sameach and, most recently, an inaugural Lira Winston Fellow. I’ve lived and breathed Jewish Education, almost since birth, and have been involved in school leadership, either via governance or as a school leader, for over a decade. As Chanukah nears, I’d like to share a valuable lesson I learned at the most recent Lira Winston Fellowship conference about the importance of ethos and how it acts as a shining light, illuminating the world around us, as well as the need to regularly rededicate ourselves, and our schools, to our ethos.
On 19th November, JCoSS hosted the Lira Winston fellows, in partnership with PaJeS, for our fourth gathering, bringing together Jewish school leaders from almost twenty Jewish schools. We spent time with a range of experts in school leadership, one of whom, PaJeS’ own Rabbi David Meyer OBE, shared a valuable lesson: as school leaders, we must give thought to going beyond the day-to-day, nitty-gritty and act to change the world around us by ‘being the change we want to see’ (I’m paraphrasing; the original lesson was communicated far more eloquently!). This idea has lodged itself at the forefront of my mind since we fellows gathered, and it has reframed my thinking quite significantly.
Now, it might be quite a daunting prospect to consider that, in addition to everything that educators and leaders are already deputised by society to carry out, we must also bear the weight of the future world on our shoulders. However, to alleviate that burden a little, I would suggest two thoughts:
First, we’re already doing it: our schools are each rooted in a Jewish ethos which, through our graduates, permeates the community and, over time, the world. Second, whilst the world around us may feel increasingly divided, we are working in partnership and fellowship, whether through PaJeS or the Lira Winston Fellowship, leading our schools separately, but together; side-by-side, working for and with our own community members.
As we near Chanukah, the festival of rededication and the festival of lights, perhaps the lessons that can be taken away from this discussion are that ethos, our illuminating light, is a fundamental part of how the Jewish community educates our children. Additionally, perhaps we need to build-in time to regularly re-dedicate ourselves to how the unique character of each of our schools, our Jewish ethos, informs all that we are and do.
The good news is that as institutions and individuals, whether by accident or design, it seems that we are being the change we want to see.
חג חנוכה שמח
