Dear Friends,

After a fruitful and challenging year, summer is all but upon us. In another month, in early June, we will be celebrating, along with our fellows and guests, the Mandel Fellows’ commencement ceremony. Though the commencement ceremony is an annual event, each is different, for no one class of fellows is like another.  Similarly, no year at the Mandel Institute is like the previous one, and this year, as in the past, many innovations are being introduced.

The Institute’s programs are undergoing both structural and personnel changes. Because of a major strategic redesign, the next cycle of the Jerusalem Fellows program will not begin until September 2008, when the process is complete, instead of in 2007. We are also making changes to the programs for senior civil servants and for educational leadership in the IDF, with the addition of new participants from additional government ministries and various branches of the IDF.

As you know, in light of the new developments I will soon be assuming responsibility for the startup phase of the Mandel Foundation’s new initiatives in North America and working alongside Annette Hochstein with the Foundation in the United States. My colleague, Dr. Eli Gottlieb, will gradually be taking over from me as director of the Mandel Leadership Institute.

Even with all these changes, our future remains firmly rooted in our past and our ongoing commitments. 
In this newsletter you can read about the important enterprises in which our fellows and alumni are engaged, about special events at the Institute, and about the new faces joining us in our work.

Wishing all of you a productive summer.

Dr. Daniel Gordis, director, Mandel Leadership Institute
Vice-President, Mandel Foundation, Israel