@

Celebrating
Israel!

Farber students go all
out for the Jewish state’s
70th anniversary.

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PHOTOS BY PAUL FISCHER

M

ore than a half-century ago,
the founders of Akiva Hebrew
Day School (Yeshivat Akiva), an
Orthodox Zionist institution, intended
to create an educational institution dedi-
cated to Jewish and secular studies “while
imbuing its students with a love for and a
commitment to the land of Israel.”
The Southfield school, now known as
Farber Hebrew Day School, put that com-
mitment on vivid display April 19 at a
day-long school-wide celebration of Yom
HaAtzmaut, Israel’s 70th Independence
Day.
The celebration culminated in a mul-
timedia presentation of the history of
Israel, performed entirely by students,
on the premise of bringing back Israel’s
founders to encounter the current reality
of the country.
Theodore Herzl got to talk with
Benjamin Netanyahu; Rabbi Avraham
Kook, chief rabbi of pre-state Israel, spoke
with a student at Migdal Oz (a seminary
for female students of Torah); Chaim
Weitzman, the scientist who served as
first president of Israel, talked with Omer
Gal, an engineer who designs desaliniza-
tion plants.
Eliezer ben Yehudah, who invented
Hebrew words for new phenomena,
pioneering Hebrew as a modern spoken
language, got to observe a concert in con-
temporary Hebrew, filled with even newer
words. The program included a short
video address in Hebrew from Natan
Sharansky, the heroic refusenik who now
heads the Jewish Agency for Israel. The
event also featured the hope that Jews
around the world will make aliyah.
The script for this presentation was
written by Merav Edrei, based on an idea
suggested by Daphna Feldman, head
of the school’s Hebrew Department.
Merav and her husband, Yonatan, serve

30

May 17 • 2018

jn

as shlichim (emissaries) of Bnei Akiva,
a worldwide Jewish youth movement
dedicated to Torah, service and the land
of Israel. They came from Israel to head
Bnei Akiva Detroit, providing an Israeli
presence and leadership for the local
branch of the youth movement, for local
synagogue groups and for Farber Hebrew
Day School.
Merav summarized the theme of the
program: “Connecting the people who
made the country, and the people who
dreamt it, with the people who are now
making the country stronger and more
peaceful. Maybe 70 years from now, these
people now will be the subject of celebra-
tions of Israel.”
Also active behind the scenes in this
program are shlichot Avital Parnes, Tohar
Barsheshet and Hadar Sagiv, young
women doing national service for Israel
by staffing Bnei Akiva projects in the
Detroit area.
Commenting on the presentation,
Avital said it was designed “to connect
everyone with Israel.” Hadar emphasized
that it “connected us with each other.”
And Tohar added that she enjoys it “when
the kids get to know the songs that we
know in Israel.”
Posters introducing significant indi-
viduals in the history of Israel decorated
almost every inch of the main hallway of
the school. Pairs of students had done
the research, producing short essays in
English and Hebrew for each subject,
along with relevant photos.
Earlier in the day, the entire school took
part in a parade on 12 Mile and Lahser
roads, carrying Israeli flags and dem-
onstrating their commitment to Israel.
When the students returned, they were
able to visit stations with projects related
to Israel, including cooking and science
experiments. •

FROM TOP: Farber
Hebrew teacher and
shlicha Merav Edrei
introduces the evening’s
ceremony.

Third-graders Amalya
Winer and Tiferet Stein
enjoy the parade.

Benjamin Netanyahu
(ninth-grader Joseph
Kornblum) with eighth-
graders dressed as a
farmer (Kiki Hyman), TV
host Hannah Herdman
and David Ben-Gurion
(Daniella Weil).

Elementary school
students perform
during event.

The entire school
population marched from
the school’s entrance up
12 Mile Road.

High school students
Molly Yarbrough, Estee
Brown and Zoe Korelitz.