28 | OCTOBER 22 • 2020
Farber students build a successful
Sukkot fundraiser.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Senior Assembly
W
ith a few safety-guide-
line modifications,
seniors at Farber
Hebrew Day School –Yeshivat
Akiva in Southfield grabbed
their tools, umbrellas and masks
and forged ahead with the class’
s
annual sukkah-building fund-
raiser.
Eighteen classmates ham-
mered, measured, carried and
lifted supplies to construct 38
sukkahs, many of them amidst
a nearly October downpour.
Organized by 17-year-old Lev
Ershler of West Bloomfield and
Joseph Korman, 18, of Southfield,
the group built sukkahs rang-
ing from canvas to wood and
free-standing to those anchored to
the sides of area houses.
“Because of COVID social
distancing restrictions this year,
the senior class had to be creative
with how we built the sukkahs,
”
Ershler said. “Each person would
be assigned a different part of
the sukkah and was responsible
for that part unless someone
else needed help with theirs. We
often used either wooden planks
or metal poles to keep distance
between each other.
”
Following the end of the holi-
day, the students returned to the
sites of their pre-Sukkot construc-
tion under clear skies, for part two
of the fundraiser: take down.
FACES&PLACES
TOP LEFT: Sima Stein, 17, of Southfield, colorfully blends right into the space
where a sukkah is being built. TOP RIGHT: Joseph Korman, 18, and Dani
Lerman, 17, both of Southfield, look on as Shira Schon, 17, of West Bloomfield/
Huntington Woods and Sima Stein of Southfield, both 17, do some DIY suk-
kah-space measuring.
ELLIE SLOVIS
I
n many Jewish
communities, there is a
custom that at the end
of the shivah period (the
seven-day period of initial
mourning following burial),
mourners take a walk around
the block to symbolically
mark the end of an intensely
inward time and a return to
the world.
Oct. 2 marked this
symbolic ritual shift in
mourning for the first Jewish
woman to serve on the U.S.
Supreme Court, Ruth Bader
Ginsburg.
To honor her memory
and her legacy, National
Council of Jewish Women,
Michigan (NCJW|MI) joined
with others to symbolically
walk back into a world that
demands a fair and impartial
judiciary.
NCJW|MI walked — in
silence holding banners — to
honor a justice who worked
tirelessly for women’
s rights,
reproductive rights, LGBTQ+
rights, voting rights and for
justice, freedom and equality
for all.
The socially distanced
walk took place behind the
Southfield 46th District
Court and included
Southfield Mayor Ken Siver;
Sue Simon of Courts Matter
Michigan, a nonpartisan
coalition of organizations
working for a qualified, fair
and independent Federal
judiciary; and Amy Cutler,
president of NCJW|MI.
NCJW Honors RBG
LEFT: NCJW State Policy Adviser Irma Glazer said, “I can't fill RBG’s shoes, but I can
wear her socks.” RIGHT: NCJW Chair Suzanne Simon welcomes Mayor Ken Siver.
LEFT: Sandy Collins and Maxine Sherman at the walk. RIGHT: Randi Levin wears
a mask decorated with RBG’s famous collar.
Participants walk around the courthouse in honor of RBG.
ABOVE: Cara Lopatin of Huntington
Woods, Joe Kornblum of Southfield and
Cobi Smith of Southfield, all 17, in front of
their newly constructed sukkah.