Tomorrow night (Saturday, July 27), Brother Eric Farbman (Northwestern, 2006) will be installed as Alpha Epsilon Pi’s 77th Supreme Master (International President). In today’s special #FridayPiDay, we want to give you a chance to get to know Eric a little better, hear his story of AEPi involvement and get an understanding of his goals for his term as the fraternity’s leader.
Brother Eric Farbman is on the doorstep of becoming Supreme Master (International President) of the world’s leading Jewish college fraternity and he can’t stop thinking of those who mentored him and brought him to this moment.
“I give credit to my parents for instilling in me a strong Jewish identity. we belonged to a Reform synagogue and between my time there and at home, I developed a strong Jewish identity along with strong support for Israel. It was really among my most formidable experiences surrounding my early years,” said Brother Farbman.
When looking at colleges, one of the things that attracted him to Northwestern was its abundant Jewish life but, in his mind at the time, one of the drawbacks of the school was the (then) predominance of Greek life. “When I got to college, Northwestern was about 50% Greek and if you removed International students from the equation, it was probably closer to 75% Greek. I really wasn’t interested in joining a fraternity, so I wasn’t very excited about that aspect.”
“So, I go to school. It was move-in day and I had already found out that the person assigned to be my roommate had decided not to come to school so I was going to be alone until they gave me another roommate. A group of guys came to my door and introduced themselves as members of Hillel or the Jewish Welcoming Committee or something like that and they invited me to an event. They never once mentioned AEPi and somehow I was invited to a fraternity event and I didn’t realize it. It wasn’t until a while later that I realized that I was being ‘dormstormed.”
Eric’s relationship with the Tau Delta chapter of AEPi had begun.
“As the semester continued, I kept going to AEPi events but I was also being rushed by another fraternity. I had a friend from home —who was also Jewish — who had come to Northwestern the year before me and he was trying to get me to join his fraternity. I remember later in the semester (Northwestern’s formal freshman rush didn’t begin until second term). I was at my friend’s fraternity, and he was trying really hard to be supportive and he said to me, ‘Let me introduce you to the other Jewish guy in our fraternity.”
That was the moment that led Eric to AEPi.
“At that moment it hit me that I wanted my college experience to be around other Jews and around the Jewish community. That was the moment that I figured out which of the two Greek organizations I was going to join. That moment with my friend in the other fraternity — who was really just trying to be helpful —that was the moment that really helped me crystalize that I wanted Jewish life to be a part of my college experience and I wanted to do it through AEPi. I wanted to be involved in AEPi and I wanted to be a leader there and in other Jewish organizations.”
AEPi at Northwestern was a relatively young chapter at the time. the chapter had just moved into a house on campus for the first time and was struggling to keep it filled and to establish itself on campus.
“They probably had about 25 guys in the chapter at the time and with my pledge class, we brought the numbers to 40. They were still trying to find their place on campus and for them to get a guy to pledge like my pledge brother, Michael Oxman, was a huge accomplishment. Michael was a varsity athlete and very social.”
Michael Oxman now serves on the Supreme Board of Governors with Eric and has become one of Eric’s closest friends.
“You know when they (AEPi staff or alumni) tell you that the other members of your pledge class will be your closest friends and they will be the ones standing up for you at your wedding? They were right. Maybe because we were small and growing, we were always very tight-knit and that continues to this day.”
After serving as Rush Chair his sophomore year, Eric was elected chapter Master (President) in his junior year. Along the way. he got involved in helping to lead other Jewish organizations on campus, including Hillel and Chabad. In his senior year, the man who didn’t want to join a fraternity was on the IFC board.
“AEPi was growing, and we were working to solidify our place on campus. Every other fraternity had been there for like 50 years and we were almost brand new. During those years we launched some events and programs like our annual “Dog Days” where we made hot dogs on campus and raised money for philanthropy.”
In the summer Before his sophomore year, Eric began his relationship with AEPi International by attending convention in New Orleans. “A bunch of us went to New Orleans. Everybody told us that convention was a great time, so we decided to take a chance and go. we had a great time. I feel like it was the first time that I got to see what AEPi was really all about. “I think until that moment I was still looking at AEPi as a collegiate experience, but I realized that it Could be more than that.”
“I met people from everywhere and they were different but exactly the same. That was one of the special parts of AEPi.”
Throughout his undergraduate years, Eric began attending more regional conclaves and continued going to convention. But his relationship AEPi International initially grew stronger because of the outreach of one man: Past Supreme Master David Bacharach (z’l”).
David served the fraternity as Supreme Master from 1996 – 1997 and lived in the Boston area but through a business relationship spent considerable time at Northwestern and developed a special affinity for the Tau Delta chapter at Northwestern.
“I remember when I was a freshman, the Brothers told us that Past Supreme Master Davd Bacharach was coming to town and that we all needed to meet him, and I was like what is this all about. I remember that first time I met him. He came to Evanston and took about 20 of us out to dinner and, of course, he paid for everything. But we were sitting there, and he just exuded his love for AEPi. And that just solidified my love for AEPi.”
“David made an effort to visit us every year. Even though most of the chapters he worked with regularly were near him in New England, he would always fly to Chicago to see us. He was always there for us, to talk to us, to give us advice and encouragement. And as I kept going to conventions and seeing him there and he would introduce us to other involved alumni. At conventions, I also had the chance to meet David’s wife, Pam, and their son, Jonathan. They gave me the sense that AEPi is a big family.”
Unfortunately, David Bacharach was battling a terminal illness and while he fought that battle valiantly, he always knew that he would eventually succumb to it.
“Michael and I went to convention after graduation and David pulled us aside and he told us, ‘I’m dying. And my dying wish is that you guys keep watching over the chapter. Make sure that they stay strong.’ I took that to heart. After college, I made it a point to go to the chapter house regularly and talk to each pledge class about our history. I helped get the chapter’s housing situation straightened out and I advised the chapter leaders in good time and when things were more challenging. I did everything I could to live up to the promise Michael and I made to David.”
When David Bacharach died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 62 in 2007, he left a legacy of fraternal love, and it lives on today in Eric Farbman and Michael Oxman. When Eric dons the Supreme Master robes tomorrow evening, David Bacharach will be with him in spirit.
Eric returned to his South Florida roots and began his career but AEPi kept calling. “I attended another New Orleans convention where Sam Blustein was installed as Supreme Master, I was talking with some of the other South Florida volunteers about getting involved and Larry Leider (Later to become AEPi’s first Canadian Supreme Master) came over. Larry had been tasked with working on the AEPi website and I think I said to him that I could help. I was always involved with technology, and it was my strength (today, Eric runs his own technology firm). Larry literally raised my hand and said, ‘Thank you for volunteering.’ And that’s when I started getting involved with AEPi International again.”
“It started with the website and then I helped with selecting the CRM (Customer Relationship Management software) and then I was named the Regional Governor of technology, and I would fly up to Indianapolis twice a year to work on technology issues in the office. All because Larry Leider raised my hand.”
“Andy Borans was CEO of AEPi then and he completely trusted me to do my work to revitalize our technology infrastructure. Without him allowing me to do what I wanted to do, we never would have made the impact that we have.”
“I also started working closely with Past Supreme Master Richard Stein because he was so involved in the AEPi housing and financial aspects at the time. Richard became another mentor for me. He was the Brother who convinced me to run for the Supreme Board of Governors (SBG).”
In 2017, Eric Farbman was elected to the SBG and began on his path to becoming Supreme Master. Along the way, though, something new came into his life and again, Eric’s AEPi relationship was the catalyst. “The wife of my pledge brother, Howard Tillman, knew this woman, Shoshana Brownstein, who had just moved to South Florida and was looking to meet people in the area and they both thought I would be a good person for her to connect with. A few years later Howard officiated at our wedding.”
The couple now live in the Fort Lauderdale area and have two sons, Sammy (3) and Ezra (2). “Life is busy now,” said Eric laughing. “But it’s great!”
“I’m looking forward to serving AEPi as Supreme Master so that I can continue to help us grow and succeed. People can volunteer and help AEPi in lots of different ways and I’m a good example of that. We’ve done a good job of growing our board with more diverse contributors. Some people are thought leaders, some people are doers, some people are connectors. We need them all. I know that I will have been successful if when I step off the board and the organization is doing fine without me.”
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jim Fleischer’s (z’l”) role in all of my involvement as well, because he was an amazing partner as a staff member for the volunteer work, I was doing, and an amazing friend and mentor also. (Jim was AEPi’s CEO until he entered chapter eternal in 2021). And I don’t think I would have been as interested in doing it if I didn’t have his humor along the way.”
“Jim used to say that convention starts and then it ends, and we go home. It’s the people – both the undergraduates and the alumni — who make convention great. After this past year and the COVID years before that, I’m looking forward to being with our undergraduates this year and celebrating what makes AEPi great.”
The Torah teaches us that it’s not enough for us to learn on our own, instead we have a responsibility and an obligation to pass our knowledge on to others. Over the coming years, after absorbing lessons from so many others, it is time for Supreme Master to use the illustrations set by his mentors to provide leadership examples for all of AEPi.
He’s ready.
#ProudtobeaPi