We are living in dark days, difficult times. Images we never believed would see in our country occur on the streets of cities nightly. Violence, hate, undermining our personal safety; everything erupted in a heavy dark wave.
Sirens warning of missiles being sent from Gaza by a blood-thirsty enemy are mixed with visions of chaos in city centers. A sense of loss of control is spreading in our community. Educational leaders – particularly now – you have an important role.
Before I address the role of an educational leader in these extreme situations, first and foremost, I want to send you strength and an embrace on behalf of the entire Reshet.
We in the Reshet’s headquarters in Israel and AMIT Children in the USA are with you, concerned and prepared to assist in any way you need us – personally and professionally. As during the COVID pandemic, now too, the Reshet headquarters is mobilized totally to provide you, our principals, with anything you need, and I am approaching you with a request – accept our help, we are here for you.
Dear principals, you, better than anyone else, know your students, staffs, parents and the local fabric. You are well aware of the challenges, and they differ from place to place, from population to population. We have learning communities in mixed cities, where students experience brawls and difficult images every evening, the social networks of the youth (Tik Tok) disseminate videos that are hard to watch, which have the absolute power to undermine our personal security.
We have learning communities in the South, who live under fire – literally, and we have learning communities in which students are experiencing missile attacks for the first time. Every learning community has its story, its challenges. And you dear principals stand at the top as educational leaders, especially during these difficult days and in view of the challenges.
In mixed cities, the reality is very complex. A dear teacher in the Acco AMIT community, Rav Elad Barzilai was critically wounded in a mob attack carried out by Arab youth, and we are all praying for his recovery. Families of our teachers in Lod tell of the difficult feelings and real fear from the rioters. Many fine people felt the need to come to the assistance of the Lod residents, those who served in combat units who wished to help the residents and enable them to live without fear. Unfortunately, they were joined by marginal groups who instead of adding to the sense of safety, escalated the situation.
“Man, and his friend will help each other and to his brother will say be strong” (Yeshayahu Chapter 51 Verse 6)
We appreciate all those who want to help their brothers in crisis but must clarify that educational leaders and personnel cannot put themselves in situations that could lead to a breach of the law, or to acts that are on the fringe of the law. Even if they are absolutely justified and if they fully protect themselves, entering such a complex situation out of good will and ideals could lead to significant educational damage.
An educational leader, principal, educator and teacher is a public figure with broad and significant responsibility to the environs and constitutes a role model for our students. The desire to assist, contribute and help in this complex reality must be expressed in a value-based manner and legal ways must be found, as many principals and teachers found through important and significant actions, on behalf of the residents of the South and for residents of the mixed cities.
As a network, we are working to provide a response in several channels:
- The pedagogical channel – content – values: Immediately with the onset of the events, when we understood the situation, even if we had not estimated the scope, we mobilized the best people in the Reshet headquarters in order to establish the AMIT TV platform and provide a worthy and high-quality response from the aspect of remote learning content. It is important for us to emphasize that in this framework, we are striving not only to provide educational content, but to connect with current events in lectures related to the security situation, the social situation, etc. In the coming days, the activities on AMIT TV will deepen, and we invite you all to be assisted by it and participate.
- The emotional channel – These times, by their nature, present no small challenges to you the principals in dealing with the teaching staff and the students from the aspect of emotional resilience.
This is the primary challenge, which demands leadership especially now. To reach each and every student, to create a personal and group dialogue about the situation; express feelings, concerns, fears, thoughts. To serve as a model. Remember, you are not educators in a closed space. The quantity of media that our students are currently consuming on the social media is vast and some of the content is unfiltered, and contains serious violence, hate talk and extremism. The principal, the educator stands as a lighthouse in the darkness of TikTok, and your calming message, your embrace, your moderation, have a critical role in the youth’s ability to emerge from these times with resilience and strength.
The fire in the streets continues to burn and seeks to destroy all good things, but the fire in the heart of the principal, the educator, is a fire seeking to bring warmth, to bring people closer and to heal the hidden wounds. This is the essence of our role at this time, to strengthen, to envelop against the fear and concern, and to lay the straight and moderate path, especially against the danger of extremism rampant in the social media and the streets.
We want to give strength to each and every one standing on the front lines and dealing with this difficult situation.
Recently, as a result of the special contribution of AMIT Children in the USA, principals were able to send the families of students and teachers whose homes had been damaged to respite in hotels. We appreciate the hundreds and thousands of teachers and students who adopted their peers in the South and mixed cities, to offer support, reinforcement and a listening ear during these complex times.
The words of a song written by Ehud Manor, “I have no other country, even if the land is burning” (“אין לי ארץ אחרת גם אם אדמתי בוערת”) were never more relevant.
With great appreciation,
Amnon and the Reshet Headquarters
