Jay Joel Farber

Jay Joel Farber died November 3 at Carol Woods in Chapel Hill, of complications related to Lymphoma. Joel is best known for his seminal interpretation of the papyri from Elephantine to describe the history of a mercenary colony of Jews living on the Nile in the fifth century BCE. He was 91. 

Joel was raised in Elkins Park, the son of Albert Farber, a pharmacist, and Sarah Farber, a schoolteacher. He met his wife and companion of 75 years, Ada Farber, at the University of Chicago, where he studied classics, fenced, and acted with future notables such as Ed Asner. After earning his PhD in classics at Yale, he taught at Rutgers before settling into his career at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA where he was known for his popular course “Cannibalism and Incest in Greek Myth,” his multimedia extravaganza “Greek Myth and Tragedy,” and for hosting the Ingmar Bergman film series. His first act in the faculty senate was to propose banning fraternities, a proposal which passed 25 years later. As a teacher, Joel shared his enthusiasm for precision in language, and he was gentle and affirming to students and junior colleagues alike. He tutored his late-life student, philanthropist Shirley Watkins Steinman, in ancient Greek, and Joel and Ada accompanied her on tours of the Greek islands and Egypt. Joel’s final research project, with Bezalel Porten of Hebrew University, the papyri from Elephantine, is the oldest written description of Jewish life and the first reference cited in Simon Schama’s History of the Jews.

Joel brought his enthusiasm and perseverance to many activities. His house was full of woodworking items he made, mostly of walnut, his favorite. He raced Lightning sailboats on the Susquehanna, flew small planes and practiced aerobatics, played classical piano, and rehabbed a small house in a gentrifying neighborhood a few blocks from campus. With Ada, Joel bought wilderness land in Ontario Canada in the 1960s, where he built a house himself with the assistance of his family, and outfitted it to run off the grid with an early generation solar panel system. The couple often canoed there, in a canoe Joel built, and Joel constructed a floating nest site for the loons that he loved to hear at night, and which – to his delight – the loons actually used for their brood of young “loonlets.” In retirement, Joel – with Bruce Kellner of Millersville University – founded All Kinds Blintzes press, which released hand-sewn editions of previously unpublished short works (from poems by Gertrude Stein to photos of Tennessee Williams) on unique tactile materials. 

In 2009, Joel and Ada moved to Carrboro, North Carolina, to be near their sons, Jonathan, a psychologist, and Jeremy, a contractor, and their daughters in law, Nancy Berkman and Christina Fowler, and the four Farber grandchildren: Hannah, Ezra, Ari, and David. Joel is also survived by his dearly loved great-grandchildren, Hiram and Rina.

Like his parents, Joel was a lifelong, and passionate advocate for the Jews to have sovereignty in their indigenous homeland, Israel. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations in Joel’s memory to the Friends of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) at fidf.org.