Students Aidan Altman, 14, of Birmingham and Brandon Rottman, 14, of West Bloomfield

New Beginnings

Frankel Jewish
Academy begins
its eighth school
year with a shower
of festivities.

Diana Lieberman
Special to the Jewish News

T

he Jewish Community Center's
Handleman Hall was overflowing
at 8 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 27. Only
those intimately connected with the Jean
and Samuel Frankel Jewish Academy were
invited to the opening ceremonies for the
West Bloomfield school's facilities — and
there wasn't an empty seat in the house.
"If you are a founding father or past
president of the FJA, stand and be rec-
ognized ... if you are an alumnus of the
Academy ... if you are a ninth-grade
student ... a 10th-grade student ... an
upperclassman ... if you have taught here
or are teaching here ..."

One by one, Dr. Marc Borovoy, FJA
president, singled out every group that
has contributed to the success of the
school.
"If you are an officer of the Jewish
Federation or the Jewish Foundation ...
if you are a parent of a student or alumni
... if you helped build, design or contrib-
ute to our new space ..."
Finally, all of the 500 people in the
audience were on their feet.
"We are a single soul;' Borovoy said,
a soul with many waveforms, each reso-
nating as individual sounds in a large
orchestra. Without our individual parts
we could not be one. Through mutual
respect and interaction, we form some-
thing greater than each of us!"

"

Stream of Knowledge
After seven years in temporary housing
in or near the JCC in West Bloomfield, the
Academy is now settled into a new 50,000-
square-foot modern facility. Located on
the JCC's top floor, FJA includes a modern
science suite, a media center, a performing
arts studio, a chapel, classrooms, offices,
and study and lounge areas.
Running through the carpeted hallways
is a curved blue pathway. To keynote
speaker Basil Williams of White Lake, FJA
10th-grade president, this path represents
the ongoing stream that is the FJA.
Borrowing from artist and inventor
Leonardo Da Vinci, Williams said," 'The
water you touch in the river is the last of

New Beginnings on page 16

September 6 • 2007

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