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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3/23/20 10:43 AM
3/23/20 10:43 AM