Dear Parents and Friends,

I walked into my office after a morning meeting and saw that my phone was alerting me to a voicemail. I receive very few voicemails in this day of emails and texting, so I checked it out right away. It turns out that it wasn’t one but rather THREE voicemails! That cannot be a good sign!

And then I listened to them. Each one came from someone whom I didn’t know personally but who was on the Federation plane with us yesterday. One after the other showered our students with praise - “unbelievable kiddush Hashem!” “Everyone on the plane noticed how incredible they were.” “I was amazed by what I witnessed - how they handled themselves, even after finding out that they weren’t going to get to the rally, they gathered to daven Mincha on the tarmac!” “I wanted to make sure that the school knew how well they conducted themselves!” Wow!! 

I don’t think that I have ever received such high praise for students in 17 years as a Head of School.

And each of the callers was absolutely right. From the very early morning Rosh Chodesh davening at 5:45 am to the gratitude that they showed to everyone who worked on the trip to the resilience they showed as we received one piece of frustrating news after another to the singing of Hatikva, Tefilah li-shlom ha-medinah and other songs on the plane, to the Mincha on the tarmac to the equanimity in which they dealt with the news that our ground transportation was derailed because of a sick-out by the bus drivers, they showed the very best of Farber - a clean sweep of all of our Core Values: Avodat Hashem, Torah ve-Chochmah, Kevod Ha-Beriyot, Yisrael and Acharayut. 

Yesterday was an important day in American Jewish history. It was a time to show up and make sure we were counted, that Israel felt our support, that the US government understand that there are hundreds of thousands for whom the release of the hostage and the elimination of anti-Semitism are critical issues. Though we did not appear on the National Mall, we did show up. And we were noticed. And the people of Israel felt our support, perhaps even more than those who made it to the rally. 

One former teacher who made aliyah wrote the following to our students: “The effort you made to get to the rally was not in vain. I want you to understand that those of us following the posts online saw you patiently singing and praying on the plane. And saw you continue to dance and sing, and pray, while waiting for the circumstances to change. Your actions - the strength and courage to go to Washington DC and even more so your grace, and acceptance of the situation, as it unfolded showed so many of us why our people are so special!”

The malicious actions of a few bus drivers just brought out the best in us and made sure that our voices counted even more. 

I want to make sure to thank the Federation, professionals and lay people, for the countless hours that they put in to make the trip a reality and for whom this must have been a particularly frustrating day. 

Am Yisrael Chai!

With best wishes,

Dr. Josh Levisohn