The onset of the coronavirus pandemic in Israel found Cohort 4 of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in Beer Sheva in the midst of an individual and group learning process that included field trips and encounters with sites, organizations, and people throughout the Negev. It goes without saying that the regulations mandating social distancing, curfews, and distance learning forced the program’s directors to cancel various plans and to rethink the group’s journey. The new situation and conditions presented the program with a number of challenges, chief among them the difficulty involved in conducting the program without face-to-face encounters. At the same time, however, the situation also offered a fascinating opportunity to gain new insights into the program and the group.
As part of the transition, the program’s leadership reaffirmed and refined what had been defined as the “heart” of the program’s content, while at the same time embarking on a search for new resources, pedagogies, and abilities that could be adapted to the situation. Motivated by the desire for both flexibility and stability, the program decided to split the group’s full day of weekly study into three weekly sessions, each of which is dedicated to a key component of the overall process.
On Sunday evenings, the group now participates in a Zoom meeting dedicated to a close reading of Aristotle’s Ethics. This study has deepened the group’s understanding of the importance of engaging in ethical clarification and reinforces their belief in engaging in that process. On Tuesdays, a virtual meeting takes place that covers the content that was originally planned for the program. These sessions are faithful to the specific content elements and overall learning process that was developed and approved for the program at the outset. Wednesday evenings are dedicated to an optional session in which fellows have open conversations, exchange opinions, argue, and consult with each other about current issues and events, whether personal, national, or global.
After four weeks of working in this new format, we have found that much of the program’s core materials can be studied and taught in new and even experimental ways. But what has been most exciting has been the discovery of the strength of the group of fellows, and the ability of the group members to provide each other with assistance, security, comfort, and advice in these difficult times.
