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