Rosh Hashanah 5785

Dear Farber Family, 

On Rosh Hashanah we wish one another a Shana Tova U’Metuka, which means you should have a good and sweet year.  

I understand what it means to have a good year. A good year would be a year when there is peace, everyone is healthy, there is plenty of food, the weather is nice, we can do lots of mitzvot, we can learn and study Torah, we can play with our friends and spend lots of time with our family.

That would certainly be a good year!

But what does it mean that we should have a sweet year?

Does that mean we should have a year when we can eat honey and candy whenever we want?

Does that mean that our hands should always be sticky?  

Is that what we mean by a sweet year?

There is a pasuk in Kohelet, which we will read on Sukkot, which should help us understand what this sweetness is all about.

Metuka Shenat HaOved…(5, 11) “Sweet is the sleep of the worker, whether he eats little or much…” V’Hasava L’Osheer… “but what makes the rich full does not let him sleep.”

It sounds from this Pasuk that getting a good night’s sleep is what would make the year sweet!

What does that mean? Is going to bed sweet?  

What the Pasuk is teaching us is that someone who works hard and earns enough money to buy what he or she needs but doesn’t have to worry about people taking and stealing what he or she owns, is someone who can go to sleep at night without anything to fear.  

Sweetness, according to the Pasuk, is when you have nothing to be afraid about. When you are safe and protected. It is when you can go to bed and feel safe and secure. 

When we wish each other a sweet new year we are telling one another that the new year should be one full of joy, happiness and without any worries. 

We should feel all the time the same way we feel when we eat honey.  

Happy, yummy, tasty, content and secure. 

Everything should just feel and be great.

I want to wish each and every one of you, members of our Farber Hebrew Day School family, a Shana Tova U’metuka.

The year should be good. There should be peace. It should be healthy, fun, full of learning, growth, and lots of time spent with family and friends.

And it should also be sweet.

You, our families, and the entire Jewish people, shouldn’t have to worry about anything!  

We should only feel and be safe, secure, and loved. 

All the time!

Shana Tova U’metuka!

Rabbi Yechiel Morris

Rav Bet Sefer

To the Farber Family,

"We enter the New Year, this year as last, poised between hope and fear. The situation in Israel remains uncertain. Elsewhere, antisemitism is on the rise. The international arena is still tense... Individually, we live in an age of rapid and unpredictable change. In retrospect, ours will be called the Age of Uncertainty." This wholly relevant quote is from a Rosh Hashanah address written by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt"l in 2003. It is eerily relevant and prescient. Rabbi Sacks proceeded to describe how through tefilah (prayer), we partner with Hashem in completing the tasks of creation and sanctifying the world, eliminating uncertainty.

Despite all that is going on in the world around us, I find myself uplifted by a similar sense of partnership, approaching this new year. After the horrors of October 7th, I sat side-by-side with our Farber administration at Shaarey Zedek as we prayed in unison and heard Governor Whitmer express unwavering support. Immediately after, I joined many Farber teachers, students, parents and alumni at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah as we recited passionate tehillim together. I sat on a plane for hours with our students desperate to contribute in number and voice to the rally in Washington, DC. I saw our students walk proudly at the Zoo with thousands of their fellow Detroiters. We took our annual event and changed the focus entirely, celebrating our graduates who serve in the IDF, and bringing in world experts, Dan Senor and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, to explore the conflict on a deeply profound and pragmatic level. While the events unfolding in Israel are such a tragedy, watching our school, our families and - most importantly - our students partner with the rest of our Detroit Jewish community has been truly inspiring.

I see our recent dedication of the Amiel z"l and Rachel Galazan Sefer Torah in a similar light. We had faculty, rebbeim, and families from Farber, Chabad, YBY, Frankel, Hillel, Darchei Torah and just about every Jewish organization in Metro Detroit rally behind a mitzvah and the joy of fulfilling it. It was such a joyous occasion. 

In each of these events, I saw Farber function as a cornerstone, supporting the Jewish community around us. I was so proud to be a small part of that presence and even prouder to watch our students shine in these moments whether it was dancing at the dedication or learning Mishna while stranded on a plane. As we look back at the year, as Rabbi Sacks puts it, we find ourselves in a time of change and uncertainty. I am reassured that we are accomplishing our mission and toiling towards a very important purpose.

I would like to again express tremendous gratitude to the Korman and Galazan families for giving us such a great reason to celebrate. I would also like to thank Dr. Seth Korelitz and Rabbi Yechiel Morris who have been pillars of our school during our leadership transition. I am incredibly thankful to our administrative team, Tova Slome, Ellen Berlin, Rabbi Leib and Lizzy Doppelt, Rachel Kosowsky and Kathy Sklar, who, together with our teachers, have been instrumental in helping instill this sense of achdut (unity/brotherhood) into our students. I would also like to express gratitude to our front office team of Tzippy Brenner, Rachel Lopatin, Naomi Gardin, Amy Hager and Andrea Strosberg and all of our staff who have been working so hard on all the incredible programming this year.

Lastly, I would like to thank our Board, Executive Committee, Recruitment Committee and Events Committee on all of their dedication this year. I cannot thank you enough for the time you have spent away from your families, continuing to grow and develop our school.

I will end with Rabbi Sacks' blessing in his message 20 years ago: "May our prayers this year have a special depth and intensity. And may the Almighty hear our prayers, for ourselves and our families, for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and for the world – and may He grant us health and fulfillment, blessing and peace."

Shana Tova!

Dr. Nathan Gonik

Farber Board President