Where are all the Morot?

Allow me to share two seemingly related memories:

Recently I attended a Jewish communal leadership seminar where participants spent 15 minutes creating mission statements. The statement that impressed me the most was written by a young educator who not only crafted a clear, compelling mission but also articulated HOW he aimed to achieve it – within the 25-word limit!

Last week my favorite five-year-old, Bella, spent shabbat with her family at her parents’ college alma mater! She enjoyed celebrating the rabbi and rebbetzin‘s son’s bar mitzvah and was awed by college life.

Among Bella’s questions:
How do the students know when to leave the gym?
Do they forget to go to class because they are on the treadmill?
Who tells them when to go to sleep?
What happens if they wake up late?
If teenagers aren’t grown-ups, why don’t they need to have their grown-ups with them?
In the dining room, in absolute astonishment: where are all the morot?

Bella: “Mom, where are all the morot?”

Mission Statement
Ultimately the answers to these questions are just as important to your parents as those about smart boards, collaborative learning, Hebrew language immersion, and SAT scores.

Back to the mission statement: WHERE are you going? HOW are you getting there? How does a five-year-old who needs to have a “grown-up” in close proximity at all times become a self-actualized young adult who gets to minyan daily, submits work on time, makes healthy diet and exercise choices, enjoys a robust schedule of extra curricular activities AND balances all of those elegantly? Ultimately, how does that kindergartener choose friends, a career path, and a life-mate wisely?

If you can tell your parents HOW you will prepare their children to thrive as dedicated Jewish adults on college campuses – and AFTER – you will have created one of the many compelling narratives you need!

To learn more about crafting compelling mission statements, creating memorable narratives, or any of my other cost-effective day school marketing and developing services, please feel free to send me an email or call me at 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman