Leadership Lenses is a new podcast designed for Heads of School, Principals, Menahalim, Roshei Yeshiva and anyone who wants to improve Jewish day school and yeshiva education. These podcast episodes will come out in weekly installments designed for busy leaders. Each one will address a dilemma submitted to us by our listeners and provide our thoughts and hopefully some helpful insights.
Building Deliberate Community at Hillel Day School with Dr. Darin Katz
What does it take to hit your highest enrollment in 23 years while serving families across the entire spectrum of Jewish observance, and a student body where nearly 40 percent have a learning plan?
In this episode of Leadership Lenses, I speak with Dr. Darin Katz, head of school at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit, about what it means to build what he calls deliberate community, intentional touch points throughout the year that help families from every background find their place in Jewish life. We explore how a welcome back Shabbat dinner or a grade-level Judaic studies celebration can spark something in a family that ripples far beyond the school building.
Darin also shares an honest look at how Hillel is approaching the widening range of learners in its classrooms, why the school recently shifted its language from student-centered to learner-centered, and why investing in training classroom teachers may be an even higher priority than adding another specialist.
It is a conversation full of concrete, replicable ideas for any community day school thinking about belonging, relationships, and how to serve every learner in the room. I can't wait to hear what you take away from this conversation.
Reach out to our guest:
🌐 Website: https://www.hillelday.org/ (https://www.hillelday.org/)
📧Email: dkatz@hillelday.org
Get in touch with us:
Website: https://kislowiczconsulting.com (https://kislowiczconsulting.com)
Subscribe to my Substack: https://kislowiczconsulting.substack.com (https://kislowiczconsulting.substack.com)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplenses/ (https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplenses/)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkislowicz/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkislowicz/)
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-lenses-with-barry-kislowicz/id1813728680 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-lenses-with-barry-kislowicz/id1813728680)
16 Sept 2026
Rethinking How We Teach Israel with Noam Weissmann
Three years after October 7th, most Jewish day schools agree that Israel education matters. Far fewer have figured out where it actually belongs in the curriculum, or how to teach it with real depth.In this episode of Leadership Lenses, I speak with Noam Weissmann, Executive Vice President of Open Door Media and host of Unpacking Israeli History, the most downloaded Jewish podcast in the world. We explore why Israel education so often gets relegated to a hallway display or a single day on the calendar, what it actually looks like to integrate it seriously into Tanakh, Talmud, and Hebrew language classes, and why striking while the iron is cold matters more than reacting in a moment of crisis.Noam also shares his vision for a 20 by 20 canon of Israel knowledge, what the best schools are doing to build a real scope and sequence, and why teaching complexity and multiple perspectives, rather than simple advocacy, is what actually makes students fall in love with the story of Israel.It is a rich, idea-dense conversation for any school leader serious about strengthening how their students understand their own story. I can't wait to hear what you take away from this conversation.
Reach out to our guest:
🌐 Websites:
https://unpacked.education/ (https://unpacked.education/)https://connecteducation.org/ (https://connecteducation.org/)📧Email: noam@unpacked.media
Get in touch with us:
Website: https://kislowiczconsulting.com (https://kislowiczconsulting.com)
Subscribe to my Substack: https://kislowiczconsulting.substack.com (https://kislowiczconsulting.substack.com)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplenses/ (https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplenses/)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkislowicz/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkislowicz/)
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-lenses-with-barry-kislowicz/id1813728680 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-lenses-with-barry-kislowicz/id1813728680)
2 Sept 2026
Building a School Rooted in Joy with Dr. Rachel Harari
What if academic rigor and warmth were not opposites, but requirements for each other?
In this episode of Leadership Lenses, I speak with Dr. Rachel Harari, head of school at the Sam School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, about building a school where students run through the doors excited to learn. We explore what it looks like to weave Sephardic tradition into a warm, non-judgmental approach to Jewish life, why she waits for the right teacher rather than rushing to fill a position, and how genuine partnership with parents transforms even the hardest conversations.
Rachel also shares what it means to lead with intentionality at every level, from the immersive early childhood program to the way she trains her faculty to trust parents as genuine partners rather than critics waiting in the back of the room.
It is a joyful, honest, and genuinely inspiring conversation about what becomes possible when culture is built on purpose rather than left to chance. I can't wait to hear what you take away from this conversation.
Reach out to our guest:
🌐 Website: https://www.thesamschool.org/ (https://www.thesamschool.org/)
📧Email: rharari@thesamschool.org
Get in touch with us:
Website: https://kislowiczconsulting.com (https://kislowiczconsulting.com)
Subscribe to my Substack: https://kislowiczconsulting.substack.com (https://kislowiczconsulting.substack.com)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplenses/ (https://www.instagram.com/leadershiplenses/)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkislowicz/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkislowicz/)
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-lenses-with-barry-kislowicz/id1813728680 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-lenses-with-barry-kislowicz/id1813728680)
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Podcast Authority Score: 38 / 100
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YouTube
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