Alumni Honored

OUR COMMUNITY

Alumni Honored

Farber Hebrew Day School’s 58th Annual Dinner honors esteemed alumni.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Joey and Chaya Selesny

Farber Hebrew Day School-Yeshivat Akiva’s 58th Annual Dinner takes place on June 8, and this year’s alumni honorees, Chaya and Joey Selesny and Shaindle Braunstein-Cohen, are as representative as ever of Farber’s consistency in producing communal leaders.

The Selesnys’ time at Farber shaped them as people and professionals, and Joey Selesny fondly recalls there always being a desire for excellence in education.

“And along with that, the Jewish values that were instilled upon us as students,” he said. “We’re taught from the time we’re in kindergarten about the importance of Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Bazeh (“All Jews are responsible for one another”), tikkun olam and all the other attributes that make a well-rounded person.”

Chaya (Akiva 1992) went on to work for many years at Jewish Family Service, including the pilot year spent through JFS/Federation at Farber providing counseling to Jewish day schools. Joey (Akiva 1990) started working in the Jewish nonprofit field in 2000. He enjoyed working for JNF/KKL (Jewish National Fund/Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael), the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and Birthright Israel Foundation. He is now the senior regional director of development at the American Technion Society.

Chaya volunteers at Farber, served on community committees and does community chessed work. Joey sits on the executive board of Farber and is currently vice president at Chessed Shel Emes/Hebrew Benevolent Society. Chaya and Joey have five children, all of whom have attended Farber, with three currently attending.

As well as a love for their own community, Farber also brought to the Selesnys a tremendous love of Israel.

“We’re taught to take care of Israel, to love Israel and be a part of Israel,” Joey Selesny said. “And when you’re a part of something greater than yourself, it opens up your eyes and heart to the world and its issues and makes you more empathetic to what’s going on in the plight of humankind and our planet at the same time.”

The Selesnys were humbled when informed they would be honored.

“If this helps the school in any way, if even one additional dollar is raised for the school that would not have been raised otherwise, we will do it,” Joey Selesny said. “We feel this school is a very important institution in the Detroit Jewish community and we’ll do whatever it takes to help them.”

Shaindle BraunsteinCohen (Akiva 1991) is the CEO of JARC. She has 20 years of experience in high-level roles at social service agencies in the Jewish community, including seven years at Jewish Family Service and nine years as director of the David B. Hermelin ORT Resource Center.

She says one of the most important things that shaped her at Farber was being encouraged to be curious, to ask questions, to try new things and the idea there’s nothing off-limits.

“I think that gave me the tools at JARC and even at the beginning of my career, which was in publishing, to really feel comfortable and feel like I have strong footing in the world in my observance, in who I am as a Jew, in my education, what I feel my capabilities are and in my confidence.”

As far as what Farber does well to create so many communal leaders, she thinks a Farber education crafts strong Jewish identity.

“I think graduates come out knowing who they are and fully confident in who they are, knowing what’s important to them, and I think that’s what creates people who want to put meaningful contributions into the community.”

The dinner’s faculty honoree is Nachshon Wyma. Wyma joined Farber in 2016 and has taught not only history in middle and high school but also physics, computer science, engineering and robotics. Wyma accepted the responsibility as the chair of the ISACS (Independent Schools of the Central States) accreditation steering committee at Farber in 2019. His leadership of the process and of his peers culminated in Farber’s receipt of ISACS accreditation for the first time this past January.

Shaindle BraunsteinCohen

Nachshon Wyma

Go to farberhds.org/giving/ annual-event/ for more details and to buy tickets.