years, people have been unjust-
ly incarcerated and prosecuted
due to their cannabis use.
Changing the mentality around
marijuana is, to him, a chance
to help those who were previ-
ously subjected to a discrimi-
natory system. “It very much
goes along with the Jewish
ethos of helping the downtrod-
den,
” he said.
Spivak-Birndorf sees some
similarities between the pro-
cess of kosher certification and
cannabis safety testing. He says
their lab also works to uphold
a code of safety and quality.
“It involves both the ethical
standpoint about what’
s right
and wrong, as well as setting
a minimum baseline in terms
of quality for what you expect
a product to
have if you
are going to
consume it,
”
he said.
For others,
cannabis and
Judaism go
back a long
way. “They’
re
both ancient,
”
Abel said.
Abel adds that it’
s only been in
the last 100 years that cannabis
has been villainized, but that
thousands of years before that,
Jews likely used cannabis.
LOOKING AHEAD
When Whitmer approved the
opening of retail spaces in the
state for up to 10 customers
at a time, she cleared the way
for dispensaries to open their
doors again. But for those in
the retail sector of the canna-
bis industry, reopening stores
under the coronavirus presents
particular challenges.
Millen says it will be a dif-
ficult transition back to wel-
coming customers in the dis-
pensary. He is most concerned
for the health of his medical
marijuana patients, who some-
times have weakened immune
systems.
Some feel confident in the
industry’
s ability to bounce
back. Rosman says the eco-
nomic trajectory of the indus-
try before the coronavirus will
be indicative of its future.
“Everyone was going
through this tremendous
growth period when the entire
world was hit by the pandemic,
and it knocked the world off its
axis,
” he said.
In two to three months, he
hopes the industry will start to
see some of that same growth
start back up again.
Even in the wake of a pan-
demic, Weinberg plans on
expanding his business to
dispensaries in the near future.
When he obtains his adult-use
medical mar-
ijuana license,
Weinberg
explains that
Johnson and
Sims will serve
as central
ambassadors
for the compa-
ny and its can-
nabis products
through the
PRIMITIV brand. Sims says
he and Johnson are looking
forward to the opportunity to
work with diverse groups to
create cannabis products for
the masses.
Ultimately, many see huge
economic potential in the
future of the cannabis industry
in Michigan and the United
States. Abel says some are call-
ing it the new dotcom boom.
If approached with the right
planning and forethought,
he views the industry as an
economic driver and a devel-
opment tool that communities,
including Jews, would do well
to embrace.
“It would be nice if the
Jewish community could assist
in the cannabis mission,
” he
said. “I think it helps bring the
world together, tikkun olam.
”
JULY 2 • 2020 | 17
COURTESY OF GROW CANNABIS MARKETING
“I think it
helps bring the
world together,
tikkun olam.”
— MATTHEW ABEL
Parking Lot Ceremony
Farber Hebrew Day School
celebrates graduates.
O
n June 7, Farber
Hebrew Day School
celebrated their eight
graduating seniors by throwing
them their very own parking lot
graduation. Although it was not
how seniors envisioned their
graduation, it was the perfect
way to end this memorable
senior year.
“No one was excited about a
Zoom graduation. The thought
of having a remote graduation
was the last thing that anyone
wanted to have,
” said Head of
School Rabbi Scot Berman.
Farber’
s graduation ceremony
had been scheduled for May 31.
But the faculty and staff post-
poned it to see if an in-person
graduation ceremony would be
possible.
“Time was in our favor. The
later we had the graduation,
the better the chance that
there would be less restrictions
imposed upon us that would
interfere with us having it
in-person,
” Rabbi Berman said.
Once residents were allowed
to gather outdoors, Farber
moved ahead with setting up
the outdoor ceremony. All eight
graduates were socially distanced
on the stage and families of the
graduates gathered in the park-
ing lot while practicing social
distancing.
Farber had most of their
speeches pre-recorded so there
would be fewer faculty and staff.
Each senior was given their own
microphone as well.
Yaffa Magier and Micah
Eizen were two of the seniors
who graduated from Farber.
They both expressed their grat-
itude to the faculty and staff for
being able to make this last event
at Farber a special one.
“It was not what I was expect-
ing at all, especially with every-
thing going on,
” Magier said. “In
the end, being able to be on stage
and seeing family in their cars,
it was exciting and felt like we
earned this. Compared to other
graduations, I appreciate our cer-
emony so much.
”
Since their graduating class
was so small, all the seniors were
able to attend and come together
for one last time.
“This process has been very
hard. These last couple months
are supposed to be the best
four months of our educational
careers,
” Magier said. “However,
our school really pushed through
and tried to make our gradua-
tion as special as they possibly
could, and they did just that.
”
Prior to the graduation, Rabbi
Berman and some of the other
staff members dropped off lawn
signs and personalized cookies
to the homes of each graduate
as a surprise to all eight seniors.
They had graduation music
playing and took socially dis-
tanced graduation photos with
the seniors.
“This whole thing has been
surreal. We walked out of school
on March 13, and who knew
that it was going to be our last
day in the school,
” Eizen said.
“The graduation ceremony and
the lawn sign drop-off was really
nice and meant a lot to all of us
to see the continued support
from our teachers and staff that
we have had throughout our
years at Farber.
”
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
FARBER HEBREW DAY SCHOOL