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in organizing attendees in a 
streamlined and simple way. 
Externally, the functionality of 
Jlive continues to improve, most 
notably in the way the system 
automates event reminders and 
emails attendees their tickets.
”
Kaufman expects that in the 
future, Jlive will host seminars 
for participating organizations 
to help them understand the 
aggregated demographic data 
that Jlive can provide. 
This year, Jlive added an 
online job board that includes 
50-100 job openings for Metro 
Detroit and Windsor Jewish 
organizations, as well as some 
remote jobs with nation-
al Jewish agencies. Further 
enhancements are being 
planned. By the end of the 
year, Weisman expects users 
will have access to a Jlive app 
through their phones. 
Jlive began about two 
years ago as a joint venture 
of the Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit and 
Montreal CJA — the Jewish fed-
eration in Montreal. The annual 
budget of about $1 million has 
been provided by philanthropy, 
according to Kaufman. This 
includes support from both fed-
erations and family foundations. 
Costs are mainly for contractors 
who provide coding, customer 
service and other operational 
functions.
The original plan was to 
market and operate the Jlive 
platform for other Jewish fed-
erations, and that process has 
begun. Cincinnati’s Federation 
and its JCC will be the first to 
adapt Jlive to its community 
for an expected annual fee of 
$50,000. Kaufman says Ann 
Arbor and Seattle are close to 
implementation of Jlive and 
discussions have been held with 
other communities. Eventually, 
Kaufman anticipates, Jlive will 
become a stand-alone organi-
zation. 
For more information, visit 
Jlive.app. 

W

est Bloomfield’s 
Frankel Jewish 
Academy and 
Southfield’s Farber Hebrew 
Day School rank among the 
top private schools 
in the state of 
Michigan.
Niche, a U.S.-
based company 
that ranks K-12 
schools and colleges, 
evaluated 30,800 
private schools 
nationwide for its 
annual rankings. 
Frankel and Farber 
placed in the top 25 
private high schools 
in Michigan, with 
Frankel landing at 
No. 4 and Farber at 
No. 13.
Niche said its 
rankings differ 
from others that 
rely almost exclusively on 
test scores and academic 
performance in that 
it also includes input 
from students, alumni 
and parents, as well as 
quantitative data from 
sources such as the U.S. 
Department of Education to 
evaluate teachers, resources 
and facilities. 
The company said its 
rankings were created 
to provide families with 
valuable information, both 
quantitative and qualitative, 

on schools in their area or 
in a neighborhood they’re 
not familiar with yet. 
Dr. Josh Levisohn, 
Farber’s Head of School, 
and Rabbi 
Azaryah Cohen, 
Frankel’s Head of 
School, are proud 
their respective 
institutions are 
being recognized in 
this way, especially 
while being dual-
curriculum schools. 
Cohen attributes 
the ranking to not 
just one thing, saying 
Frankel is the “full 
package.”
“I think it says 
a lot about our 
academics, who we 
are as an educational 
community, and the 
quality and dedication 
of our teachers. We have 
high-caliber students and 
families that are dedicated 
to education,” Cohen said. “I 
am just proud to say we have 
an amazing product here.”
Cohen is especially proud 
of Frankel’s expanded 
experiential education 
opportunities. 
“Every single grade goes 
out on a trip, and they can 
take what they learned in 
the classroom and actually 
experience it in the world 
outside of the classroom,” 

Cohen explained. “It’s really 
important for students to 
see what they’re learning 
has application on the 
outside, and what they 
experience on the outside 
has application to what 
they’re learning.” 
Levisohn says Farber 
is a school with a strong 
commitment to its students, 
both academically in the 
classroom and outside the 
classroom as human beings. 
“I think that provides for 
the students an environ-
ment that allows them to 
grow as full human beings, 
and allows their minds, 
hearts, bodies and relation-
ships to grow. I think build-
ing and nurturing great 
young adults is our super-
power,” Levisohn said. 
Levisohn is proud that 
Farber students are “great 
representatives of the 
Jewish community” and 
proud of the way the school 
as a whole embodies a sense 
of connection to Israel. 
Levisohn says he isn’t 
surprised Jewish schools 
rank so highly. 
“We as a people invest 
heavily in our education. It 
matters to us, our parents 
and our students,” he said. 
“We have an investment in 
our children and a dedi-
cation to education that I 
think is second to none.” 

Frankel placed at No. 4 and Farber at No. 13 in Niche’s 
rankings of the top 25 private high schools in Michigan.

Frankel, Farber 
Rank Among State’s 
Top Private Schools 

Rabbi 
Azaryah 
Cohen

Dr. Josh 
Levisohn

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

