Farber Hebrew Day School – Yeshivat Akiva

The school grew out of a March 1964 meeting, called by Rabbi James Gordon and Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin, with 13 parents at the home of Mr. and Mrs. David Dombey.[3] The original trustees of the school were David I. Berris, Mrs. David Dombey, Rabbi Hayim Donin, Dr. Jacob Goldman, Rabbi James I. Gordon, Rabbi Israel I. Halpern, Dr. Max Kapustin, Ithamar Koenigsberg, Dr. Charles Levi, Seymour Ribat, Elliot Steiman and Phillip Stollman.[4]

The first Annual Akiva Dinner was held on Jan 18, 1966 at the Bnai David Synagogue.[5] At the tenth annual dinner in 1974, Abba Eban was the guest of honor and presented the school with the 1974 Spiritual Bridges Award of the WZO's department for Torah Education and Culture.[6] At the same dinner, Rabbi James I. Gordon was honored for his work with the school. In 1984, Avital Sharansky spoke at the annual dinner.[7]

In December 1974, Phillip, Max and Frieda Stollman dedicated a kindergarten building in the school. The kindergarten was a prefab building on the property of Young Israel of Southfield.[8]

In November 1986, Mrs. Hannah Karbal dedicated the Elementary school, which then became known as the Karbal Elementary School.[9]

In January 1988, The Sara Tugman Learning Resource Center for students with special educational needs was dedicated.[10]

In 2001, the Schostak Family set up the Millennium Fund to boost the high school program at Akiva.[11] The campus was subsequently known as the Schostak Family Campus.

In 2013, as the school approached its 50th anniversary, the school received two major donations. The William Davidson Foundation donated $2.25 million, for "augmentation and improvement of Akiva's academic offerings." This was followed by the William and Audrey Farber Philanthropic Endowment Fund, which came forward with a 3 million dollar donation, which instigated a funding campaign and the construction of Akiva's first ever new facility.[12] The Farber donation was later increased to $8 million and a new building was planned. Groundbreaking was in November, 2015.[13][14]

Rabbi Manfred Pick was the first principal of the school, starting in 1964 and remaining at that post until 1970.

Through 2018, and according to school records, there have been 562 graduates of Akiva. This divides into 274 men and 288 women. Eight are deceased. By decade, there were 84 graduates in the 1970s (38 men, 46 women), 124 graduates in the 1980s (54 men, 70 women), 100 in the 1990s (49 men, 51 women), 131 graduates in the 2000s (61 men, 70 women) and 123 in the 2010s (72 men, 51 women).

The largest class was in 2013 (26 students), followed by 1977 (25) and 2002 (24). The smallest class was in 2014, when there were no graduates, followed by 1994 (1), 2003 (2) and 1993 (3 - though no official graduation was held.) The most common class size has been 12 students, with an average size of 12.49.

Rabbi Eliezer Cohen taught at Akiva from 1974[22] until the time of his death in 2014. He influenced several generations of Akiva students, teaching them Mishna, Talmud, and Bible.[23] He was known for teaching the 6th grade class as well as the highest track of high school students. His yahrzeit continues to be marked by former students with days of learning.

Elisha Prero was the first Student Council president, elected in 1968.[24] He was succeeded by Mike Feigelman in 1969,[25] followed by Gary Torgow in 1970[26] and Sheldon Klein for the 1970–71 school year.[27] Sharon Rose was elected president for 1971–1972, becoming the first woman to serve that role.[28] Jamie Pearlberg was student council president in the 1991–1992 academic year.

Akiva has had many sports teams over the years, though some were quite short-lived. The basketball team was known as the Pioneers, named after the school yearbook, HeChalutz.[50] With the name change that occurred in 2016, the sports team took on the moniker Farber Fire. The early floor hockey team was known as the Cougars.

From the inception of the high school, students were expected to spend time studying in Israel. At first this was done for most of 12th grade, after having completed an accelerated curriculum over the previous three years. In August 1973, the school's first 12th grade, consisting of Jonathan Freier, Sheldon Klein, Gary Torgow, Danny Schnipper, Jonathan Simon, Barbara Eskin, Michael Greenbaum, Benny Micznik, David Donin, Karen Polk, Judith Mermelstein, Lynn Dombey, Sarina Flatt and Solomon Pesis, left for Israel. The program was arranged in conjunction with the Jewish Agency. The girls were originally enrolled in an Ulpana in Kiryat Motzkin, but ended up on Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi, while the boys were in Tikvat Yaakov on moshav Sde Yaakov. The first class was present during the Yom Kippur War.[64][65]

Among this first class, who had spent 12th grade in Israel, several elected to return to Israel for another year of study, going to Machon Gold, Keren B'Yavne, Hebrew University, the army-kibbutz Nahal program.[66]

Subsequent classes spent their 12th grade in Israel as well.[67][68][69][70] The Class of 1976 marked the first cohort that learned in Akiva from 1st through 12th grade. The Class of 1977 had the largest number of graduates, at 22,[71] and five elected to attend Bar Ilan University after graduation.[72]

In 1990, the 12th grade Israel program was cancelled. This led to the entire class of 1991 leaving the school a year early, along with most members of the Class of 1993. Remaining members of the Class of 1993 were skipped a grade and graduated along with the Class of 1992. Again in 1994, only one student was enrolled for senior year. By the 1994-1995 year, however, the transition was complete a regular 12th grade has existed in the school since. Students were widely opposed to the cancellation of the program. Reasons given for the decision were that it became widely accepted among day schools for students to spend a year in Israel post-graduation, and that the Akiva students no longer attended the same schools in Israel, so it no longer felt like an extension of the class. The principal at the time, Zev Shimansky, also felt that students were suffering from the condensed academic program during three years of high school.[73]

Many graduates of Akiva choose to spend a year or more after graduation studying in Israel. The school also has a high aliya rate.

The original home of Yeshivat Akiva was in the Labor Zionist Building at 19161 Schaefer. The school moved from there to Young Israel of Oak-Woods, and then to the United Hebrew School "Rohlik" building at 21550 12 Mile Rd in 1971.[74]

In 1980, having grown to 260 students, the school began negotiations to lease either the Annie Lathrup Elementary School building on Southfield Rd, or Southfield No. 10 on Berg Road.[75] The school ended up moving to the former, and remained there until 1999. Reticence to lease the building to Akiva led to charges in the Detroit Free Press of anti-Semitism, but the Lathrup City Council approved the transaction unanimously.[76] In 1984, Akiva purchased the building for $350,000.[77] In 1990, the student council raised money to repair the school's old flagpole, which had been vandalized in 1985.[78] In May 1990, the school was closed for two days due to vandals breaking in and damaging the school.[79] In the mid-90s, Akiva began to once again outgrow its building and began looking for a new space. One option was to move back to the UHS building.[80] At the same time, the school ran into difficulties selling its existing property to developers, due to the building's historic status[81] and a failure of the property to be rezoned.[82] In 1998, with the merger of Adat Shalom and Beth Achim, Akiva was able to move into the old Beth Achim building on 12 Mile Road, which took place for the start of the 1999–2000 school year.[83] To celebrate the move, a parade was held down 12 Mile Road with the school's Torah scrolls.[84] The school remains on that campus, though a new building was constructed in 2016.

Starting in 1972, Akiva offered a summer day camp for ages 4–13. The camp was originally held at Congregation Bnai Torah.[85] In the 1990s the camp was known as Camp Ruach. In the early 2000s it was called Camp Akiva, and in 2010 it joined with the JCC's Camp Discovery.[86]

In 1992, a uniform was instituted in Akiva, to strengthen an existing dress code. The uniform was approved by the board of directors on November 5, 1991, and polling showed an 80% approval rate among parents, though it was widely opposed by the students.[87] The dress code had called for girls to wear blouses with sleeves and skirts below their knees, while boys were to wear pants, collared shirts, kipot and tzitzit. The uniform was eventually relaxed in the mid-1990s, and returned to being a dress code of a similar nature.

By 2011, the school had a uniform for the elementary school and a dress code for the upper school. This was done to allow students the ability to develop their own sense of style and to teach them to balance style with halachic demands.[88]

The school has used a number of fundraising techniques over the years, including bingo games, flower sales, rummage sales, Chinese auctions and an annual dinner. In 1982 the school filed for reorganization under Chapter XI, but was able to recover and continue operating, opening with 330 students in 1982.[89] By March, 1983, the school had exited Chapter XI after a successful reorganization. Rabbi Moshe Tendler spoke at the dinner that year.[90]

In September 1983, the teachers of Akiva declared a strike. Twenty-two of the twenty-six teachers picketed the school, while the remaining four teachers continued to work, aided by replacements.[91] Issues at stake were seniority policy, job security and workload. Picketing teachers were accused of violence, and in return sued the school for libel.[92] Picketing continued for nine weeks.[93] By November 18, six teachers had returned and fifteen remains on strike.[94] By the middle of December, those teachers who remained on strike were fired.[95]

In 2008, Akiva students realized that some classmates were leaving the school due to tuition costs and organized a fundraising drive to create tuition scholarships. This campaign was dubbed Lead the Way, and supports tuition-based scholarships for Akiva students.[96] It continues to run on a yearly basis.[97]

• History of the Jews in Metro Detroit

• Yeshivat Akiva official website

42°30′08.4″N 83°15′10.3″W