34 | MARCH 26 • 2020 

Jews in the D

New Leadership at Farber 
Hebrew Day School

A

s Farber Hebrew 
Day School shut 
its doors last 
week in response to the 
coronavirus outbreak, the 
school also announced 
that the Board of 
Directors appointed Dr. 
Joshua Levisohn as its 
new head of school. His 
tenure will begin July 1.
The Silver Spring, 
Maryland, native has 25 
years of experience in 
day school education, 
including 12 years 
of bringing engaging 
Judaic programming and 
attending to students’
 
academic needs as head of 
school at Berman Hebrew 
Academy in Greater 
Washington. 
“We were impressed not 
only by his educational 
vision, but by the way 
that he began building 
relationships with 
all of our stakeholders, 
from students to teachers 
to board members, even 
in the short time that he 
visited,” Farber President 
Gil Feldman and Joey 
Selesny, chair of the 
search committee, said in 
a press release.
Levisohn took a 
sabbatical in 2018 to 
work as an educational 
consultant, where he 
merged two day schools 
in West Hartford and 
built Prizmah’
s new 
Coaching Institute for 

school leaders. 
The Harvard graduate 
will succeed Rabbi Scot 
A. Berman, who plans 
to make aliyah to Israel 
at the end of the school 
year. Levisohn says he is 
eager to return to a school 
leadership role in Metro 
Detroit. 
“The community 
has a reputation as 
such a wonderful 
place to raise caring, 
Jewishly committed and 
thoughtful children, and 
the school is poised for 
growth,” Levisohn said 
in the release. “I feel 
tremendously privileged 
to have the opportunity to 
lead Farber into the new 
decade.”
Levisohn is currently 
participating in academic 
decision-making at 
Farber. He and his wife, 
Dr. Lisi Levisohn, and 
their three children will 
relocate to Metro Detroit 
in the following academic 
year. 
“When Lisi and I spent 

time in Detroit this year, 
we were inspired by the 
wonderful people that 
we met, by the warm 
and passionate Modern 
Orthodox community, by 
the devoted, creative and 
loving Farber teachers, 
staff and administration, 
and by the amazingly 
dedicated lay leaders,” 
Levisohn shared on his 
personal Facebook page. 
“We look forward 
to helping the school 
and community grow 
(affordable housing, great 
school, good restaurants!) 
and to writing the next 
chapter of our lives in a 
resurgent Michigan.”
As a result of 
coronavirus concerns, 
“meet-and-greet” events 
that had been scheduled 
later this month for 
Levisohn will be 
postponed. The school is 
currently implementing 
distance learning for its 
students.
“Given the faculty’
s 
complete focus on the 
immediate school closure, 
our preference would 
have been to hold this 
announcement,” the 
release said. “However, 
because word of this 
announcement inevitably 
would start to become 
more public in the 
coming days, we wanted 
to communicate with you 
as soon as possible.” 

ALLISON JACOBS DIGITAL EDITOR

Dr. Joshua Levisohn 

VIA DR. LEVISOHN FACEBOOK

A

fter months of searching for 
its new leader, The Well, 
Metro Detroit’
s nationally 
recognized organization for Jewish 
young professionals, released a 
statement March 17 
welcoming Rabbi 
Jeff Stombaugh as 
its next executive 
director.
Stombaugh will 
step in for The 
Well’
s founder, 
Rabbi Dan Horwitz, 
who announced in 
January he would 
be departing in June to become the 
head of the Alper JCC in Miami, 
Florida.
“What a win for The Well and 
Metro Detroit to be able to welcome 
Rabbi Jeff and his fiancée Stephanie 
to our community,” Horwitz told the 
Jewish News. “Rabbi Jeff’
s warmth, 
humor, musicianship, knowledge 
and skills will lend themselves 
beautifully to the role. I’
m excited 
to watch The Well flow in new and 
dynamic ways under his leadership.”
A Seattle native, Stombaugh has 
a background in Jewish education 
and nonprofit management, along 
with a passion for music, teaching 
and an innovative eye. Since his 
ordination as a rabbi at the Reform 
movement’
s Hebrew Union College, 
Stombaugh has served as the 
Jewish Emergent Network Rabbinic 
Fellow at Mishkan Chicago, a 
“radically inclusive” congregation 
geared toward families and young 
professionals.
Stombaugh and his fiancée will 
move to Detroit this summer. 

The Well
Names New 
Director

ALLISON JACOBS 
 DIGITAL EDITOR

Rabbi Jeff 
Stombaugh

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