JEDx 2019

Claudia Oshry Soffer is the creator of the breakout Instagram account @girlwithnojob. Oshry, 24, is a former New York University student who’s made a career on social media about not wanting a job. She’s amassed a female-millennial-skewing audience of more than 4 million followers online, including 4 million on Instagram.

Claudia is evolving into a buzz worthy comic. Her current DIRTY JEANS Tour regularly sells out theatres and clubs across the country. Oshry also hosts and produces the entertainment news show, THE MORNING TOAST, alongside her sister Jackie which is streamed live on YouTube and Facebook weekday mornings. Oshry has been featured on THE TODAY SHOW, THE STEVE HARVEY SHOW, VH1’s CANDIDLY NICOLE and TLC’s SAY YES TO THE DRESS. She was nominated for a 2016 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Social Media Star and the 2016 Shorty Awards’ Instagrammer of the Year, and also was named to Vogue’s 2015 Best 15 Instagram Accounts and Tech Insider’s 2015 Top 50 People on the Internet.

Mark Shapiro is the President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays, where he oversees the baseball and business operations for the club. Shapiro is now entering his 27^th year in baseball and fourth year with the Toronto Blue Jays, and is widely recognized as one of the Major League Baseball’s top executives and a key leader for his contributions to all aspects of the game.

Shapiro’s leadership and impact goes beyond the club level, where he is committee to various key initiatives led by the Office of the MLB Commissioner.

Shapiro was named the Sporting News Executive of the Year, the only active General Manager at the time in MLB to win the award twice.

In her lifelong journey to define how to best serve her maker, a 17-year-old Quaker cowgirl from Idaho became inspired by a Jewish piece of music that set her on a long journey to her conversion to Orthodox Judaism in Israel.

Yehudit Abrams is currently Founder and CEO of MonitHer Ltd. MonitHer’s goal is to dramatically reduce the death and suffering caused by late diagnosis of breast cancer by making cutting edge early detection methods affordable and accessible for all. MonitHer combines artificial intelligence with the power of the cloud to detect any potential problems at an early stage. In 2018, MonitHer Ltd. was awarded the prestigious $360,000 WeWork Creator Awards grand prize.

Abrams worked as a mechanical engineer at HP and Intel in robotics and plasma science, completed her MD, and was awarded a 25k Google scholarship to attend Singularity University on the NASA Campus. During medical school, she travelled extensively with international medical volunteers across the globe, gathering the critical experience needed to join NASA as a Biomedical scientist developing and accessing medical diagnostics supporting the Mars Mission. After losing her cousin, a gynecologist and breast cancer survivor, Abrams decided to dedicate herself to preventative medical imaging and opted to work on early detection of breast cancer.

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David Yarus is the Founder of JSwipe, the #1 Jewish dating app with over 1 million users worldwide, which is responsible for thousands of Millennial *Jewish* marriages. JSwipe is a household brand, making Jewish dating for Millennials fun and accessible.

Outside of his work with JSwipe, Yarus is the founder of mllnnl, a Jewish community focused social media and creative agency. He has worked closely with The Israeli Consulate, Jewish Federations of North America and many other Jewish organizations, helping them to understand and engage the Millennial Jewish audience. Yarus now oversees the entire JDate brand, community and partnerships worldwide, for the world’s largest and longest-running Jewish dating site.

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Powered by The Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman Foundation, JEDx is The House’s flagship annual event and Toronto’s premier event for Jewish young adults and community leaders.

With some of the global and local Jewish community’s most dynamic and accomplished personalities, JEDx (short for Jewish Ethics Defined) borrows from the TED Talks concept to deliver high-impact presentations to inspire life choices through the lens of Jewish values and wisdom.

Co-Chairs: Tamar Zagdanski & Jesse Tepperman

Tamar Zagdanski

Tamar Zagdanski is the Marketing and Sales Manager for State Building Group, a large Real Estate Development company in and around the GTA. Tamar is involved in a number of organizations within the Jewish community including the Association for the Soldiers of Israel Young Leadership Committee, UJA’s Ben Gurion Society, as well as leading annual trips to Israel for students at the Ivey Business School. Tamar strongly believes in the House, their core values and the importance of engaging and inspiring young professionals. Tamar was an inspiring co-chair of JEDx 2018 and she is excited to be co-chairing JEDx2019.

Jesse Tepperman

Jesse Tepperman is an articling student at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, a full-service business law firm in downtown Toronto. Jesse has been involved in a number of organizations within the Jewish community and community at large including One Family Fund and the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. Jesse has been attending JEDx for many years and is very excited to be co-chairing this unique event. He is looking forward to working with the 2019 JEDx team to create another memorable and impactful program.

Missed JEDx?

For the second consecutive year, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music was busting at the seams, as an exciting mix of the city’s finest young professionals and community leaders flooded a sold-out 1,000 seat Koerner Hall for JEDx: Empowerment.

The evening did not disappoint; four incredible speakers exploring the human gift within all of us to empower ourselves and others to make the world a better place for all.

Click here to view the 2018 speaker videos!

The night would not have been possible without the incredible support of our sponsors, including JEDx’s new Title Sponsor, The Gerald Schwartz & Heather Reisman Foundation.

JEDx sponsors, friends and community partners empowered us to design a world-leading community experience like no other, and to create connections and inspiration for all those in attendance to last a lifetime.

AN EMPOWERING EVENT

A half-dozen community partners worked with The House to enrich the participant experience
- Attendees were wowed when flying Air Canada’s virtual reality flight simulator. AC also gave away two tickets to Israel in a joint venture with SodaStream (see below)
- The JCCs showed-off their boxing program with a test of strength
- UJA highlighted the community’s campaign launch featuring the legendary Jerry Seinfeld
- Kehilla Toronto raised awareness about the struggle for affordable living
- Habitat for Humanity’s (Re)Store invited people to participate in hands-on volunteering in one of their second-hand furniture shops
- SodaStream provided the bubbles for an epic, theatre-wide game of Heads or Tails, with eight participants each winning $250 SodaStream prize packages commemorating Israel’s 70^th Anniversary, and one Grand Prize Winner taking home a pair of tickets to visit SodaStream in Israel compliments of Air Canada!
- And, of course The House added its own brand of magic with an interactive donut wall (because yum), and a dress-up photo-booth highlighting Summer in the 6ix.

In the end, JEDx: Empowerment raised more than $400,000 in support of The House and its programs!

It was a night talked about for many days thereafter, and proved once again that our community can do magical things when we work together to empower each other.

So what’s next?

It all depends on you! Get in-touch to let us know what’s on your mind.