34 | MARCH 23 • 2023 

T

he very fact that you are here, in 
this place, at this time and with 
these opportunities available to you, 
means that there is something to be done — 
something that only you can do, something 
of utmost importance to God.
” 
These words, credited to the Lubavitcher 
Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel 
Schneerson, of righteous memory, were 
shared during the presentation and printed 
in the program for UMatter’s fifth annual 
“One Thing I Wish You Knew” event.
Typically, when teens find themselves at 
other schools, it is to compete. This is quite 
the opposite goal of the UMatter resource 
fair and annual “One Thing I Wish You 
Knew” program. 
Hundreds of students and family mem-
bers gathered at Seaholm Auditorium on 
Sunday, March 5, to learn about community 
resources and support one another by lis-
tening to first-person narratives of mental 
health struggles and the winding road our 
lives take to the present moment. It’s by no 
means easy to live, but as UMatter Director 
Rabbi Yarden Blumstein reiterated again 
and again, “Never underestimate the impact 
you have on those around you. We need 
you.
”
Neda Ebrahimi, lead counselor at 
Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School and 
one of the event speakers, spoke of living 
with anxiety and depression and surviving 
a suicide attempt. Reflecting on the attempt 

to take her own life, she emphasized, “This 
was a defining moment in my life, but not a 
moment that defined me.
” Ebrahimi spoke 
of the promise of the coming moment 
— the difference in holding on for just a 
moment longer can change everything. 
Now, she again and again intentionally 
chooses to be brave over being perfect.
Jonas Annear used the metaphor of a 
fairy tale to share his personal story of 
survival of sexual abuse and navigating 
through post-traumatic stress disorder and 
self-blame. He remarked that in a fairy 
tale, we don’t learn what happens after the 
knight swoops in and rescues the princess. 

The fairy tale does not continue to unfold 
through all the struggle and challenge of 
memories and scars and rebuilding hope 
and faith. Annear encouraged those listen-
ing, “Instead of striving to fix ourselves, let’s 
strive to better ourselves.
” 
Rabbi Blumstein expressed how import-
ant it is to “work every day to show up for 
life.
” 

UMatter was sponsored by the Andrew Kukes 

Foundation for Social Anxiety, Hebrew Free Loan 

Detroit, Children’s Foundation, Impact 100 Oakland 

County, the Jewish Fund and We Need to Talk. If you 

or your organization is interested in partnering with 

UMatter, visit www.friendshipcircle.org/umatter.

YEVGENIYA GAZMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMIE FELDMAN
UMatter:
One Thing
 I Wish
 You Knew

OUR COMMUNITY

Neda 
Ebrahimi

Rabbi 
Yarden 
Blumstein

UMatter 
audience

