Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Thank You, Mr. Mandel

Yesterday evening, I had the honor of speaking on behalf of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows at the graduation ceremony for the Mandel Leadership Institute:

"Mandel Jerusalem Fellows is a professional development program. Nevertheless, it has much in common with a Sabbatical, and I’d like to speak to that comparison. One doesn’t need to be a great Hebrew scholar – and I’m not – to notice that the word 'Sabbatical' is related to the word 'Sabbath' ('Shabbaton' and 'Shabbat'). Shabbat is, of course, a day of rest, and certainly one of the main characteristics of a Shabbaton is the opportunity to be rejuvenated.

"I’d like to suggest three ways in which this experience as Mandel Jerusalem Fellows has been comparable to Shabbat: As a remembrance of the work of creation (zecher l’ma’asei b’reishit), as a remembrance of the liberation from Egypt (zecher letziat mitzrayim), and as a taste of the world yet to come (m’ain olam haba)..."

With the permission of the Mandel Leadership Institute, here is the Hebrew text of the speech I gave (and here is the English translation). Three minutes long.

Mandel Jerusalem Fellows will be taking a one-year hiatus from 2007-08 to retool the program. If you are interested in learning more about the program and considering applying for the 2008 cohort, contact Daniel Barnett at the Mandel Leadership Institute.

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