Mandel Graduation Ceremony 6-11-2012 ENG

Tonight,
we celebrate
not only the graduation of the 19th cohort
of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership,
the second cohort of the Mandel Scholars in Education Program,
and the sixth cohort of the IDF Educational Leadership Development Program,
but also the 20th anniversary
of the founding of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.
I don't think there's a single person in this room
who doesn't share our aspiration,
and who is unwilling to commit themselves,
or hasn't already committed themselves,
to being part of this continuous effort
and this tremendous challenge
- which is essential for the existence and prosperity
of the State of Israel -
of transforming Israel’s education system
into a system that is nothing less than excellent.
The activities of the Mandel Leadership Institute
and the Israel Defense Force
are based on shared values.
They share the same educational philosophy.
And, more importantly,
they share the deep understanding
that in order to preserve Israel’s impressive achievements
in its 64 years of existence,
in order to continue developing Zionist creativity,
and in order to continue building our longed-for model society,
we still need to defend the country
and the safety of our citizens.
But we also need to make a massive investment
in education and leadership of the future.
You urged us on and you assisted us
in reaching the mountain’s summit.
You set high standards for us.
You marked out wide and far-reaching goals.
You adhered to the highest and strictest criteria.
Yet, you didn’t do the work for us.
You left us to plough our own field by the sweat of our brow.
What makes the Mandel Leadership Institute great,
and what makes its graduates great,
is our ability to live multiple lives simultaneously
– a life of theory and of practice;
a life of openness and a life of commitment;
a life of empathy and a life of criticism;
a life with vision and a life of reality;
a life of courage and a life of modesty;
a life that is “set in earth, whose top reaches to heaven.”
My blessing to you,
dear graduates,
is that you may continue to live multiple lives,
even in the stormy world beyond the Mandel bubble,
True, living like this is more complicated, but it's also richer.