Sunday, March 25, 6 pM - The Toronto Heschel School

GOURMET DINNERS
& DIstiNGUIShED SPEAKERS
Sunday, March 25, 6 pm
Benefitting The Toronto Heschel School

The toronto Heschel school
The Toronto Heschel School serves students
from Junior Kindergarten through Grade
8, from families spanning the spectrum of
Jewish observance. Heschel students
thrive academically and spiritually with a
multi-sensory curriculum that combines the
best of global research in education and the
rich tradition of Jewish learning. The students’
experience is further enriched by the
integration of arts-based learning born out of
well-founded educational research that links
the arts with increased cognitive capabilities.
Low student-teacher ratios and talented,
motivated teachers ensure high academic
achievement within a positive, nurturing and
joyful learning environment. By fostering
a culture of individuality, responsibility and
social integrity, Heschel inspires students to
make a difference.
Dear Friends,
We are thrilled to invite you to the second annual Table Talk event, a salon-style
gourmet dining experience benefitting The Toronto Heschel School. On Sunday,
March 25, ten Toronto Heschel families will open their homes, each hosting an
intimate dinner party that features an inspiring speaker. Funds raised from this
unique, thought-provoking event will go towards purchasing science
equipment for our school.
Table Talk invites parents, grandparents and alumni families to gather in a warm
and relaxed setting and engage in mindful discussions of worldly topics, from
social justice and politics to psychology and the arts. At the same time, guests
will connect with other Heschel families and strengthen the sense of community
that sets our school apart.
Last year’s inaugural Table Talk was a tremendous success, and funds raised enabled
the school to purchase a state-of-the-art computer lab. We hope you will be part of this
exciting evening in support of The Toronto Heschel School. Your contributions have a
profound impact on our students and the entire Heschel community. We want to thank
our host families for their generosity, as this event would not be possible without them.
B’tayavon,
Lisa Richler, Joanna Shapiro and Michelle Shulman
Co-Chairs, Chevra Committee and Table Talk, 2012

Dear Heschel Community,
Table Talk is about creating a mind-engaging, palette-pleasing, chevra-building event
for Heschel parents, grandparents and alumni. And it’s also an opportunity to raise
funds to enhance science equipment for students in our school.
The Toronto Heschel School stands apart not only because of its rich education and the
fine graduates it produces, but also because of the inspirational commitment of the
community of parents. We know many parents spend countless hours volunteering both
inside and outside the classroom. Their dedication extends beyond Heschel as they
practice the virtues of tzedakah and tikkun olam by supporting a myriad of causes at
home and abroad, Jewish and secular – each worthy and important.
We appreciate the significant tuition fees as well as the sacrifices families make to
send their children to Jewish day school. The reality, however, is that all schools – public,
private, Jewish and secular, from elementary to post-graduate — fundraise to provide
what tuition alone cannot support.
This is our opportunity to join together to make a visible impact on the Heschel
student experience. All funds raised from Table Talk will be allocated to science
equipment for our students. A tax receipt will be issued for all ticket sales and
donations for the maximum allowable amount under CRA guidelines.
Please join us at this fantastic event and consider making a donation above the
ticket price. You will not only have the chance to attend a gourmet dinner party
and be enriched by a world-class speaker, but you’ll also bring our children
new opportunities to learn and explore.
With thanks,
Eileen Jadd and Linda Wolfond
Co-chairs, The Toronto Heschel School Board of Directors
Dear fellow Heschel grandparents,
As Heschel grandparents, we feel so fortunate that our grandchildren are receiving
an excellent Jewish education. We have nachas watching our grandchildren grow up
in a supportive, caring community, learning to apply Jewish values into their daily life.
And we have even more nachas knowing that our children have committed to putting
the next generation on this path.
We believe that investment in Jewish education is pivotal to the future vibrancy of
the Jewish community. The children of today will shape our Jewish future and we
all have a stake in making sure that they receive a high quality Jewish education.
With this in mind, a group of Heschel grandparents has come together to form the
Tuition Assistance Fund. This Fund will support The Toronto Heschel School’s
philosophy that no child should be turned away because of financial reasons. The
reality of today’s economy is that more and more families are in need of financial
assistance. Over the recent past, the Jewish Day Schools of Toronto have been faced
with a decreasing amount of support from the Jewish Community through the Centre
for Jewish Education, while the population needing assistance has remained stable or
in some instances has grown.
We ask you to join us in building this important Tuition Assistance Fund. We are thrilled
that our grandchildren have the opportunity for an excellent Jewish education at
Heschel and believe that all Jewish children deserve this opportunity.
With sincere thanks,
Merle and Steve Goldman, Thelma and Saul Shulman
The Toronto Heschel School would like to thank the following grandparents for helping
to kick off the Tuition Assistance Fund: Hilda and Jerry Cohen, Merle and Steve Goldman,
Serena Gould, Rabbi David Lapin, Diane and Ron Richler, Monica and Barry Shapiro, Saul and
Thelma Shulman, Yaffa and Shelly Wise, Mel and Pedie Wolfond, Cynthia and Michael Wyman.”

How Table Talk Works
You are invited to attend one of ten dinner parties in the intimacy of a Heschel family home.
Each dinner will feature a world-class speaker and a four-course gourmet meal. The speakers
will make their presentations during hors d’oeuvres and join the party for continued discussion
during dinner. All ten dinner parties will take place simultaneously on Sunday, March 25
at 6pm and each one will host approximately twelve guests. Please review this invitation
and consider which dinner party you would like to attend.
This year, for those who have scheduling conflicts, we have added one additional
dinner party on Sunday, April 1 at 6pm. Please see page twelve for more details.
As last year’s event sold out early, please fill in your top three dinner preferences on
the enclosed RSVP card and return it to the school office as soon as possible.
Proceeds & Donation Information
Ticket price is $150 per person. As our generous hosts have donated all dinner party costs,
and all the printing and invitation costs have been donated, 100% of funds raised will be
allocated towards purchasing science equipment for students at The Toronto Heschel School.
A tax receipt will be issued for the maximum amount allowable under CRA guidelines.
Table Talk Kashrut Policy
All dinners will be catered by a COR supervised caterer.
A vegetarian option will be available upon request.
What will the Talk be
at your Table?
Exposing Victoria’s Dirty Secret (and other environmentalist adventures)
Tzeporah Berman ~ Environmental Activist and Author.............................6
The Jew Is Not My Enemy
Tarek Fatah ~ Reformist Muslim & Author....................................... ...........7
Journalists Under Fire
Dr. Anthony Feinstein ~ Renowned Neuropsychiatrist ................................8
Game Changers
Ronen Gadot and Gideon Soesman ~ Entrepreneurs .............................9
Jews, Civil Rights and Torah: A.J. Heschel and Martin Luther King Jr.
Rabbi Joe Kanofsky ~ Rabbi and Scholar.................................................10
The Politics of Food
Andrea Most ~ Associate Professor of American Literature
and Jewish Studies.....................................................................................11
Tales from Tehran: One Woman’s Story of Triumph
Marina Nemat ~ Author and Human Dignity Award-Winner..................12
Save the Deli:
David Sax ~ Best-selling Author, Blogger, Journalist and Deli Lover.......13
Being Jana: The Woman Behind Canada’s Bestselling TV Export
Jana Sinyor ~ Creator and Executive Producer of Being Erica............14
A Night At The Museum
Matthew Teitelbaum ~ Director and CEO of the AGO...........................15
5

Exposing
Victoria’s Dirty
Secret (and other
environmentalist
adventures)
Tzeporah Berman
Environmental Activist
As comfortable in a suit as she is on a blockade,
Tzeporah Berman has negotiated with CEOs and political
leaders to help reshape policies and practices, from
the preservation of our forests (including the Great Bear
Rainforest and the boreal forest) to the wood-and
paper-purchasing practices of some of the largest
corporations in the world.
Berman has been an influential activist and leader,
instrumental in shaping the tactics and concerns of
modern environmentalism for almost twenty years. In the
early nineties she joined protests to save the endangered
rainforests of Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island.
For her role in organizing blockades on logging
roads – then the largest act of civil disobedience in
Canada’s history – she faced nearly one thousand
criminal charges and six years in prison. Later, she
took on Victoria’s Secret with a well-publicized photo
of a chainsaw-wielding lingerie model, pressuring the
catalogue manufacturer to stop using paper made from
old-growth forests. Berman founded PowerUp Canada in
an effort to fight climate change, and continues this fight
in her current role with Greenpeace International.
The Royal BC Museum has included Berman in a
permanent exhibition as one of the 150 people who
have changed British Columbia’s history. She was lauded
as “Canada’s Queen of Green” in a Reader’s Digest
cover story and the Utne Reader recognized her as
one of 50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.
Berman is the author of This Crazy Time, Living Our
Environmental Challenge (Knopf), which is part memoir,
part impassioned plea for a better world.
Tarek Fatah is a liberal Muslim and critically acclaimed
author. In his latest book, The Jew is Not My Enemy:
Unveiling the Myths that Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism, he
explores the historical, political and theological basis for
centuries of Muslim animosity towards Jews, debunking
long-held myths and tracing a history of hate and its
impact today.
To Fatah, no subject is taboo. He calls himself a secular
Muslim and ranks as one of Canada’s most fearless
critics of Islamism – the ideology that promotes Islam
as a political system as well as a religion. In 2008, he
published Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an
Islamic State, arguing that when Muslims buried the
Prophet they also buried many of its values. Professor
Shlomo Avineri of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
said, “It is courageous people like Tarek Fatah, who
build bridges of understanding between Muslims
and Jews. His new book is an important
contribution towards this goal.
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Fatah settled in Canada in
1987 and became best known after 9/11 as founder
of the Muslim Canada Congress, an alternative to the
country’s many Islamist organizations. He writes op-ed
pieces, appears as a TV pundit, and co-hosts a nightly
talk show on 1010 radio.
The Jew is
Not My
Enemy
Tarek Fatah
Canada’s Most Outspoken
Reformist Muslim and Author
Serving:
Salmon
Serving:
Chicken
Hosted by,
Gail Baker and Sandy Buchman
Hosted by,
Judi and JASON Berman
6
7

Journalists
Under Fire
Dr. Anthony Feinstein
World-Renowned Neuropsychiatrist
How are journalists affected emotionally by their work in war
zones, and what motivates them to pursue such dangerous
occupations? Join world-renowned neuropsychiatrist Dr. Anthony
Feinstein for a look into his work with front-line war reporters who
suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Feinstein is
the author of Dangerous Lives: War and the Men and Women
Who Report It (Thomas Allen), and Journalists Under Fire:
the Psychological Hazards of Covering War (John Hopkins
University Press). He is also the producer of a new documentary
film entitled Under Fire, which chronicles nine combat
correspondents suffering from PTSD, several of whom
Dr. Feinstein has counselled. The film was one of
15 documentaries short-listed to become a finalist
at this year’s Academy Awards.
Dr. Feinstein is currently the director of neuropsychiatry at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He received his medical
degree in South Africa and completed his training in Psychiatry
at the Royal Free Hospital in London, England, before training as
a neuropsychiatrist at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square,
in London. His Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. were obtained
through the University of London, England. In 2000-2001
Dr. Feinstein was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study
mental health issues in post-apartheid Namibia. This led to the
development of that country’s first rating scale for mental illness.
He has also worked on a similar project in Botswana.
In addition to Dr. Feinstein’s work on PTSD, he has written
books about a range of topics including The Clinical
Neuropsychiatry of Multiple Sclerosis (Cambridge University),
In Conflict (New Namibia Books), an autobiographical account
of his time as a medical officer in the Angolan and Namibian
wars, and Michael Rabin, America’s Virtuoso Violinist (Amadeus
Press). He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and
has authored many book chapters.
The Economist recently reported that Israel now has more
high-tech start-ups than any other country in the world. How is it
that a country of 7 million people, only sixty years old, facing the
constant threat of war, with few natural resources, produces more
start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations?
Join Gideon Soesman and Ronen Gadot, two entrepreneurs
at the helm of fascinating Israeli companies, for their unique
perspectives into the success of Israel’s high-tech industry.
Gideon Soesman is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of
Greensoil, a privately owned investment fund focused on Israeli
companies that develop technology for the agro and food
industries. Investment in agricultural innovation was recently cited
by Bill Gates as “a necessary global priority” in order to meet the
world’s growing demand for food and prevent the looming food
crisis. Israel has historically been a leader in agro technologies
and GreenSoil is the first Israeli fund focused solely on this area.
Gideon holds a B.A. in Economics from the Hebrew University
and an MBA from the Boston University/Ben Gurion University
of the Negev.
Ronen Gadot is the CEO of ElMindA, a company dedicated to
revolutionizing the treatment of brain disorders by opening a new
window into the way the brain works. Founded in 2006, ElMindA
has developed cutting-edge technology to objectively diagnose
and guide treatment of brain disorders and injuries (such as
concussions, ADHD, Alzheimer’s and depression). For eight years,
Ronen served as an Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter pilot and was a
member of the Israeli Aerobatic Team. He holds a BSc in
Industrial Engineering and an MBA from INSEAD in France.
Game
Changers
Ronen Gadot and
Gideon Soesman
Entrepreneurs
Serving:
salmon
Serving:
chicken
Hosted by,
Pam Medjuck Stein and Michael Stein
Hosted by,
Joy Kaufman and Eric Cohen
8
9

Jews, Civil
Rights and
Torah: A.J.
Heschel and
Martin Luther
King Jr.
Rabbi Joe Kanofsky
Rabbi and Scholar
Martin Luther King Jr. is a household name, but how
many of us understand the legacy of Abraham Joshua
Heschel? Join Rabbi Joe Kanofsky to learn about how
Rabbi Heschel’s embodiment of Jewish values inspired
Martin Luther King Jr. on his march for civil rights.
Rabbi Joe Kanofsky earned his Ph.D. in Comparative
Literature at Boston University under the direction of Elie
Wiesel. His Master’s degree in Comparative Religion
focused on the study of Christian reception of
Abraham Joshua Heschel. Rabbi Kanofsky was
ordained at the Rabbinical College of America,
where he was also a Wexner Graduate Fellow.
From 2001-2004, Rabbi Kanofsky was the director of the
Ronald S. Lauder Foundation in Warsaw, an organization
committed to rebuilding Jewish life in Eastern Europe.
Rabbi Kanofsky travelled around Poland to learn with
Jews of all ages and backgrounds, devastated by the
Holocaust and stifled by decades of Communism, yet
determined to embrace their faith and heritage.
Rabbi Kanofsky has published scholarly and popular
articles in several languages, and contributed to
The Comparative Religious Ideas Project, a multivolume
series published by SUNY Press. He has served as a
scholar-in-residence at synagogues in the US and
Canada, and consults with major Jewish educational
institutions on curriculum and policy. Rabbi Kanofsky is
currently the rabbi at Kihellat Shaarei Torah in Toronto.
The politics of food production and consumption have dominated
headlines in North America for nearly a decade. Bestselling books
and films and government interest in these issues have created a
lively public discussion about the sustainability of North American
eating practices. Religious groups have always been deeply
involved in the regulation of food. Over the past decade, ethical
and theological concerns about climate change, environmental
degradation, hunger, and the broad goals of the contemporary
food movement have led many religious groups to re-consider their
food practices and to pursue strategies to bring communal eating
into line with other religious values. Join Andrea Most for a fascinating
look into the unique relationship between Judaism and the issues of
food and sustainability
Andrea Most is Associate Professor of American Literature and Jewish
Studies in the Department of English at the University of Toronto. Her
book Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical (Harvard
UP) won the 2005 Kurt Weill Prize for distinguished scholarship on
music theatre. Her second book, Theatrical Liberalism: Jews and
Popular Entertainment in America, is forthcoming from NYU Press
in 2012. Most’s new research project, Holy Lands, focuses on food,
agriculture, and religion in Canada and the United States.
She began this project by organizing a conference and multi-faith
community workshop on Food, Religion and Sustainability for the
Religion in the Public Sphere initiative at the University of Toronto.
Andrea has been working in the Jewish food movement for
more than five years, serving as the Site Coordinator for the
Narayever – Everdale CSA, the co-Chair of the Food Committee
at the first Narayever Congregation, a founding Board member
for Shoresh and for Bela Farm, and a member of the Hazon
Food Council. She will be spending the coming year conducting
research on the Jewish food movement under the auspices of the
Jackman Humanities Institute Fellowship on Food Studies.
The Politics
of Food
Andrea Most
Associate Professor of
American Literature and
Jewish Studies
Serving:
CHICKEN
Serving:
RAINBOW tRouT
Hosted by,
Tova Moscoe and Jason Mausberg
Hosted by,
Rhonda and David Newman
10
11

Tales from
Tehran: One
Woman’s
Journey of
Triumph
Marina Nemat
Human Dignity Award-Winner
and Author
March 25 Dinner
Serving:
Beef
Hosted by,
Eileen and Mark Jadd
April 1 Dinner
Serving:
CHICKEN
Hosted by,
Suzy and Steve Kaufman
In 1982, 16-year-old Marina Nemat was arrested
on false charges by Iranian Revolutionary Guards
and tortured in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. At a time
when most Western teenaged girls were choosing their
prom dresses, Nemat was having her feet beaten by
men with cables and listening to gunshots as her
friends were being executed. She came to Canada
in 1991 and has called it home ever since.
Nemat’s chilling and powerful memoir of her life in Iran,
Prisoner of Tehran (Penguin Canada) is a 2012 finalist
in CBC’s Canada Reads literary competition. It has
been published in 29 countries and is an international
bestseller. MacLean’s Magazine called it “…one of the
finest (memoirs) ever written by a Canadian.” Prisoner
of Tehran has been short listed for many literary awards,
including the Young Minds Award in the UK and the
Borders Original Voices Award in the US. In 2007,
Marina received the inaugural Human Dignity Award
from the European Parliament, and in October 2008,
she received the prestigious Grinzane Prize in Italy. In
2008/2009, Nemat was an Aurea Fellow at University
of Toronto’s Massey College, where she wrote her
second book, After Tehran: A Life Reclaimed, (Penguin
Canada, 2010). The stage adaptation of Prisoner
of Tehran will make its theatrical debut at Toronto’s
Theatre Passe Muraille in April, 2012.
The American writer Damon Runyon once said, “As I see
it, there are two kinds of people in this world; people
who love delis and people you shouldn’t associate with.”
David Sax would certainly fall into the first category.
Sax’s passion for salted, cured meats led him on a
world-wide tour of Jewish delicatessens, getting to know
deli owners across North America and in Europe, and
interviewing famous deli-lovers, including Ed Koch, Ruth
Reichel, Mel Brooks, and Mr. T.
Join David Sax as he shares hilarious and insightful stories
behind his best-selling book, Save the Deli: In Search of
Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish
Delicatessen (McLelland and Stewart, 2009).
The book has garnered international critical acclaim
and has won awards in Canada and the U.S., including
a 2010 James Beard Award and a Canadian Jewish
Book Award.
Born and raised in Toronto, Sax frequented Yitz’s
Delicatessen as a child and expanded his smoked
meat horizons to Schwartz’s and Ben’s as a university
student in Montreal. As an adult, Sax became
concerned about the decline of Jewish delicatessens
around the world; New York, for instance, had close
to 2,000 delis in the 1930s, but today has only a few
dozen. Sax argues that to lose the deli would be
to lose an essential (not to mention delicious) part
of Jewish cultural heritage. His popular blog,
savethedeli.com chronicles the ongoing ups and
downs of the deli movement. David Sax has an
extensive portfolio of non-deli work: he has covered
South American politics, business, travel and culture
for The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, Wine Spectator,
Foreign Policy, and The New Republic, and has also
written for Toronto Life, Rolling Stone, GQ, American
Way, and The Huffington Post.
Save the Deli:
Preserving
a Delicious
Piece of
Jewish
Heritage
David Sax
Best-Selling Author,
Blogger, Journalist and
Deli-Lover
Serving:
CHICKEn
Hosted by,
Lisa Richler and Yishai Wise
12
13

Being Jana:
The Woman
Behind
Canada’s
Bestselling
TV Export
Jana Sinyor
Creator and Executive
Producer of Being Erica
Join Jana Sinyor for a frank, funny and inspiring
discussion about the universal appeal of Being Erica
and her own unconventional path to success. Unsure
what to do with her B.A. in Religious Studies from McGill
University, Sinyor took an unfulfilling job at a call centre.
While working a dreary late night shift, she considered
all of her strengths and goals and decided to
take a stab at screenwriting.
By the time she was 32, Sinyor had scored writing jobs
with Degrassi, created an Emmy-winning television
show for kids entitled Dark Oracle, and had conceived,
pitched, written and produced the hit show Being Erica.
Being Erica chronicles a 30-something Jewish woman
living in Toronto, whose therapist sends her back in time
to fix past mistakes. Now in its fourth season on the CBC,
Being Erica is a huge hit not only in Canada, but also
on networks in 160 countries around the world, from the
U.S. to Russia to Iceland to South Korea. The producers
have sold the rights for remakes of the show
to ABC and the BBC.
Are the great economic, political and social changes of
our time leading us to think about museums differently?
Join one of Canada’s most influential arts leaders to
explore the evolving role of museums, their audience,
and their place in society.
Matthew Teitelbaum, the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Michael
and Sonja Koerner director, and CEO, joined the AGO
in 1993 as chief curator and was appointed director in
1998. Teitelbaum led the AGO through a $276-million
transformation (designed by the Toronto-born architect,
Frank Gehry), which increased the viewing space for art by
47 percent and dramatically changed the gallery spaces
within the existing beaux arts building. During Teitelbaum’s
tenure at the AGO, the gallery’s permanent collection has
acquired nearly 60,000 works, including the renowned
Thomson collection of Canadian historical art, European
works of art and historical ship models, the Murray Frum
collection of African art, the Gotlieb collection of prints by
James Tissot and Andre Masson, significant collections of
photography, as well as historical works by Cézanne, Leger,
Bonnard, van Gogh and Denis, and sculpture by Giovanni
Bernini. The AGO has become the central repository of
works by Canadian contemporary artists like Betty Goodwin,
Jack Chambers, and Greg Curnoe. In 2001, Mr. Teitelbaum
created the first permanent archival position in a Canadian
art museum, positioning the Gallery as a leader in research
and study of the lives, contributions and working methods
of artists.
A Night
At The
Museum
Matthew Teitelbaum
Director and CEO of the
Art Gallery of Ontario
Serving:
salmon
Mr. Teitelbaum’s vision for the AGO is that it become “the
imaginative centre of our city and province, reflecting our
diverse and dynamic setting.” While working to enhance
the AGO’s international profile as a leading cultural
destination and innovative partner in the celebration of
art, he has sought new ways to connect the art of our
times to daily life and contemporary issues.
Serving:
halibut
Hosted by,
Michelle Shulman and Mitchell Abrahams
Hosted by,
Linda and Gregory Wolfond
14
15

“Our goal should be to live life in radical
amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the
world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything
is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life
casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
– Abraham Joshua Heschel
16

819 Sheppard Avenue West Toronto, ON M3H 2T3
T: 416.635.1876 • www.torontoheschel.org