"Karen Tal is an innovator, an educator and a doer. We are so thrilled to honor somebody who we know will raise to the next level" says Charles Bronfman. According to Tal, the award reaffirms to Israeli society and the world that "change is possible; we can all change things for the better".

Bialik-Rogozin is home to pupils from families with low socioeconomic status, among them the children of new immigrants, foreign workers and former Palestinian collaborators with Israel. Six years ago Tal became principal with the school on the verge of being shut down, and succeeded creating a thriving institution, which, she says, stands for "values of excellence, achievement, solidarity and respect for human beings." In June 2010 Bialik-Rogozin was awarded the National Education Prize, and HBO's film "Strangers No More," about the school, won the Best Short Documentary Oscar at the 2011 Academy Awards.

In a recent personal interview conducted with Haaretz, Tal talks about her challenges as principal: "I received a great deal of love, which is fine, but as a leader there is also a great deal of unglamorous loneliness. You are always in the position of having to be strong and to give to others. On the other hand, there are multiple sources of energy which give you strength, like the children themselves, who express their emotion unreservedly."

About her experience at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Tal says: "Those were two happy years and a tremendous gift of learning. I received a fellowship of NIS 8,000 a month and at the same time I continued to strengthen the forum of the directorate at Shevah Mofet (her previous school). I wanted to take the next step in my life, and Mandel helped me to focus both my identity and my social outlook."

These days she is taking on a new challenge: working with multiple schools in disadvantaged areas to develop new models of success. "My vision is that within five years we will see a critical mass of schools in Israel that are sought-after institutions of 'pilgrimage' because of their high level of educational and social achievements," she explains. The idea underlying her new initiative, which she formulated in the schools she has worked in, is to create cooperation between the public education system and teams of volunteers, donors and academic institutions. "Instead of people just tutting and badmouthing the education system, let them contribute to it and help it. Working from within the system immediately shifts your perspective."  

Karen Tal at the Bimat Mandel session 05-16-2011