Dr. Nathan Gonik

President of the Board

During Elul through Simchat Torah, we recite Le-David Hashem Ori twice daily. In this chapter of Tehilim, we recite an interesting line, one that has long been a favorite camp and school song: אַחַ֚ת שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־יְהֹוָה֘ אוֹתָ֪הּ אֲבַ֫קֵּ֥שׁ. The line seems odd and repetitive. David asks for “one thing” and then says, “that is what I seek”. If he is asking for one thing, isn’t it obvious that that is what he seeks? Rabbi David Hollander z"l points out that we occasionally ask things of Hashem that we are not truly ready for. For example - are we truly committed to teshuva when we ask for forgiveness?

Rosh Hashanah is a great time to reflect and think about not only what we want to ask for but what we truly desire - what we really want for ourselves, our children and our community. To do that, we need to first take account of all of the great things that we already have.

I have been the President of the Farber Hebrew Day School Board for the past 8 months, and during that time, I have learned a great deal about our school and our community. First - I have developed a deeper sense of appreciation for our dedicated administration and faculty who work tirelessly at our children's education, often without enough of our gratitude and appreciation. This year, I personally have heard from most, if not all, of my children's teachers already and I have experienced the unique individual connections blossoming in the classroom.

Second - I have participated in the high level Torah study that takes place not only in the classroom, but at the packed, voluntary mishmar every Thursday night - even when it competes with Thursday night football! I have seen the Jewish commitment instilled in our children with every interaction with our Rebbeim and Judaics staff. I was blown away by the complexity of Talmudic learning and understanding demonstrated by the students of our girls and our boys Beit Midrash Program at the annual Night of Learning. I have seen, appreciated and been warmed by the living of our core value of Avodat Hashem.

Third - I have enjoyed working with so many dedicated parents and friends of Farber that serve on our board, PTO, committees and other volunteer efforts. Together we work to continuously improve our school as a critical communal resource and institution. For sure, there is always work to be done in growing our enrollment, bolstering our educational offerings, and enhancing the religious mission of our school. Yet I have to acknowledge that I already have what I truly DESIRE: an excellent education with excellent peers for my children, and teachers who demonstrate, embody and inspire the Farber core values in every interaction we have together. What I ASK is that we all take stock of the good in our lives and in our school, see the growth in our children, and work together to support and strengthen Farber as we enter into a beautiful and meaningful new year.

As a Board, we encourage the Farber community to participate, ask questions, and take active roles in guiding our school forward. We will be announcing several upcoming events including fireside chats where representatives from the board and administration will discuss policies and plans. We hope many will participate and I am excited to get to know more of the parent body one on one.

I wish everyone a שנה טובה ומתוקה- A very happy and sweet new year.

Dr. Josh Levisohn

Head of School

Our relationship with G-d takes on many different forms on Rosh Ha-Shanah. He is our master, our king, our father, and our judge. Each relationship means something different in the way that we conceive of G-d.

One of my favorite parts of the tefilot is the little prayer following the blowing of the shofar in Mussaf. We acknowledge that the world stands in judgment, whether as G-d’s children or as His servants. We then beseech G-d to treat us mercifully if we are to be viewed as children…and if we are to be treated as servants, we look to Him to be gracious with us and release us from our verdict.

This prayer suggests that there are also different ways that G-d can relate to us, depending upon which relationship takes precedence. As our father, he can choose mercy instead of harshness; as our master, he can choose to tilt the balance of our judgment to the favorable.

As teachers, principals and counselors, we balance many different relationships with the students in our care: as guides, in loco parentis, graders, advisers, and even friends. At times, these relationships are clearly delineated. More frequently, they are not and in each instance we need to think about how we would treat the students in one way and in a different way at the same time. The prayer models for us that we can look at the same situation and the same relationship in multiple ways and choose among them to do the best for our students, “whether as children or as students.”

It is an honor and a privilege to maintain these multiple relationships with your children and to work with you to figure out what works best for each and every student at any given moment.

With best wishes for a happy, healthy, caring year of support and growth for all of our children.

Shanah Tovah