COVER STORY

Our alumni are the backbone of our school. Close to home, as board members, staff, parents, guest speakers and more, their contributions to TanenbaumCHAT are vital. You can also find them making a difference further afield, in Toronto, Tel Aviv and all points in between.

The values and lessons they learned in high school inform their lives in a variety of ways. They provide leadership, vision and professional skills to numerous communities, both within the Jewish world and beyond. We can’t wait to celebrate them and the pride they bring to our school in our new project – Spotlight: Alumni.

In these pages we’re sharing a very brief overview of the global reach of our graduates, but we know there are more of you – especially in the GTHA! This will be an online feature, and we hope it will grow to include many more alumni. So, wherever you are, let us know what you’re doing. We’d love to hear from you!

To see the project online and submit information, go to

Or contact Jesse Primerano ‘11 Alumni Relations Officer jprimerano@tanenbaumchat.org

Beit Shemesh, Israel Itzik attended the one-year Program at the Hebrew University through a scholarship awarded by the Canadian Friends of Hebrew U to a selected CHAT grad. He holds a doctorate in law from The Hebrew University and is Senior Assistant to the Legal Advisor of Israel’s State Comptroller helping, among other things, to oversee the auditing and compliance of Israel’s various political parties and candidates. He and his wife Chaya made aliyah to Beit Shemesh where they raised three children. Their growing family includes a son-in-law, two grandchildren and the recent arrival of Savta Mary Becker as a new olah.

Massachusetts, USA Lindsay played NCAA basketball at Tufts University in Boston, where she also explored her passion for technology and graduated with a degree in Computer Science. She is a software engineer and works at Sonos, an American developer and manufacturer of audio products in Boston.

USA Russell holds an MBA from Harvard Business School where he focused on social entrepreneurship. He was the Founder and CEO of CrowdChange, a fundraising technology company. He also co-founded Feed the Deed, a social media initiative spreading kindness globally. He is now working on building new initiatives in the selfhelp and education spaces.

Jerusalem, Israel Renee is a freelance journalist covering Israel and the Jewish world. Her work has been published in The Times of Israel, Haaretz, The Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Hadassah Magazine, The Jerusalem Report, and other media outlets. Prior to becoming a journalist, Renee worked for nearly two decades in Jewish education in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area. Renee made aliyah seven years ago. She and husband Joel have three grown sons.

Colorado, USA Paula is the Associate Director of Global Student Experiences at Hillel International. Still taking an “extended vacation” from Toronto, Paula has resided in Israel and Ohio, and is currently based in Colorado where she lives with husband Seth, who she met in Israel, and daughter Bari. She has kept in touch with the great friends she made at CHAT, and she credits the school with preparing her for university and graduate school, and in helping raise the bar and expectations that she sets for herself professionally.

California, USA Larry received a degree in Physics from Harvard in 1987, and an MA in Film from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He was personally selected by Steven Spielberg to direct DreamWorks’ flagship interactive computer game Goosebumps straight out of school. He then went on to direct the box office hits Cats & Dogs and Antz! Larry is cofounder and Chief Customer Officer of SonicCloud, a revolutionary technology for personalizing sound on phones and computers for people with hearing loss. He was named one of Fast Company Magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” in 2018.

Melbourne, Australia Dan fell in love with Jewish history at CHAT, leading him to pursue a career as a historian of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and Israel. After completing his Ph.D. in History at Stanford University, he was an assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Jewish Studies. In 2019, Dan moved

with his Australian husband Alex and their daughter Miriam to Melbourne. He currently teaches in Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation.

New York, USA Martin Himel has worked as a filmmaker, foreign correspondent and war correspondent for 25 years for CTV, Global TV, FOX, and as a producer for ABC NEWS. His television series, documentaries and news coverage have exposed major issues throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and have appeared on PBS, Bloomberg TV, NBC, SKY, BBC, CNN, CBC Documentary Channel, CTV, and Global Television Canada, among others. His most recent documentaries include The Arrest, Undercover in ISIS, and Secrets of Survival.

Connecticut, USA Miriam is Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Yale Law School, where her team focuses on admitting diverse, academically and professionally excellent students, and ensuring equitable financial support. Prior to this, she worked at NYU Law School as a legal research and writing professor and administrator. She has also been a litigator in private practice and at a non-profit organization focused on child welfare reform. Her first job out of law school was as a clerk for Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of the Canadian Supreme Court.

Jerusalem, Israel After completing dentistry at the University of Toronto, Simi followed her dreams and made aliyah to Israel. She is currently owner and principal dentist at Landau Dental, providing Canadian-standard dentistry to Israelis and foreigners alike. Simi lives in Jerusalem with her husband Chaim and four children.

New York, USA Brian is currently based in New York City and runs a Tony Award-winning production company, AF Creative Media. After attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, he began producing theatre alongside his wife, Dayna Lee. Broadway productions include: Angels in America, Company and Moulin Rouge. Their twin girls, Ella and Emmy, are their proudest achievement.

Belfast, Northern Ireland Leon’s primary academic research area is the life and works of Charles Dickens. He has written and lectured widely, and is an expert analyst of Dickens’s letters, manuscripts, and handwriting. He is Reader at the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast, and has been appointed to the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives (ACNRA), an independent body in the UK that deals with freedom of Information requests. Dr. Litvack has held a range of public appointments in the areas of peace and reconciliation, and arts and culture.

Melbourne, Australia Elise resides in Australia, where she has worked in sales and marketing roles in the coworking and fintech industries. She is an active member of the Orthodox Jewish community in Melbourne and co-founded WOTIV (The Women’s Orthodox Tefillah in Victoria), a group that provides opportunities for women to learn and practice skills such as leading tefillot and leining.

California, USA Jeremy is a prolific and award-winning feature film and television director with too many credits to mention. He has been nominated for the Best Director Emmy Award for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, and for the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg-produced The Pacific. He has directed for many of the most ground-breaking cable television series, including The Handmaid’s Tale, True Detective, Six Feet Under, Homeland, The Borgias, The Tudors, Dexter, Weeds, and Queer as Folk. He has also written and directed three award-winning feature films: Fugitive Pieces, The Five Senses, and Eclipse.

Utretcht, Netherlands Talia is a European and Dutch migration law specialist, currently working as a legal advisor with undocumented migrants in the city of Utrecht, Netherlands. One of her fondest high school memories is of a Jewish History trip to Kensington Market, which made a particularly strong impression. Learning about the overlapping migrant groups that lived in that neighbourhood was formative in her choice of career path.

London, England After articling and working in Toronto, Jeffrey relocated to London and was a partner in UKbased law firm, Freshfields, for 17 years. In 2016, he became Partner in the London office of New York-based international law firm, White & Case. He resides in north London. He and his wife have four children all of whom attend Jewish schools.

Bristol, England Karen is a senior teaching fellow and the director of Liberal Arts at the University of Bristol in the UK. She is a scholar of multiethnic, American, and women’s literature. Her most recent book, Women of Valor: Orthodox Jewish Troll Fighters, Crime Writers, and Rock Stars in Contemporary Literature and Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2018) examines media portrayals of Orthodox Jewish women and delves beyond stereotypes to identify a powerful tradition of feminist literary portrayals of Orthodox women – often created by Orthodox women themselves.

Tzfat, Israel Karl has served in various positions at Rambam Medical Center and at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. He is currently Dean of the growing Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University in the Galilee. He is a nephrologist, and enjoys teaching and conducting research in population genetics. Karl and his wife Linda moved to Israel in 1995. His five married children and eighteen Israeli-born grandchildren live, study, and work in Haifa.

Tel Aviv, Israel Kyle graduated with an MBA from Tel Aviv University in 2019. He was drawn to the tech ecosystem in Israel, joining high-growth start-up, Oribi.io where he is scaling up their Business Development and Sales Team.

Massachusetts, USA After graduating from TanenbaumCHAT, Robbie went on to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He co-founded the seven-piece jazz-funk band “Ripe” with fellow students. The band has since grown into a North American touring act.

In February, Giselle Hausman ‘08, the self-described “creative wanderer”, and singer and songwriter, called “Gisun”, launched a new collaborative project: Gracias a la Vida. Giselle uses uses her Uruguayan background and South Korean roots to showcase her own style of Latin and soul-inspired sounds. The objective of the new project was to increase awareness of the healing power of music, and it will support important music therapy initiatives.

Dr. Sandi Seigel ’80 was named President of Na’amat Canada. Founded almost a century ago, this not-for-profit volunteer women’s organization aims to improve the lives of women, children and families in both Canada and Israel. Sandi, a paediatrician and McMaster University medical school professor, has been volunteering her time with Na’amat in Hamilton for over 20 years since moving from Toronto.

This year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list featured three Class of 2010 alumni! They were: Bryan Gold and Adam Rivetz who co-founded #Paid (hashtagpaid), an online, all-in-one creator platform that allows companies to partner with word-of-mouth marketing; and Lior Ohayon who co-founded Hush, a company that makes Canadian-designed weighted blankets and other products.

In January, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Education honoured members of the community who had volunteered within the Jewish day school system over the last year. This group of volunteers invested their time and energy into ensuring the strength, welfare, and continuity of Jewish life in Toronto. TanenbaumCHAT alumni from several decades were extremely wellrepresented! We are exceedingly proud, and say a hearty yasher koach to all of them.

Victor Arrobas ‘97, Board President, The Joe Dwek Ohr Haemet Sephardic School Lisa Dack ‘99, Immediate Past President, Leo Baeck Day School Jasmine Eliav ‘96, Board Co-Chair, The Toronto Heschel School

Michelle Freedman ‘86, Community Director, Montessori Jewish Day School Jacob Jesin ‘97, Board President, Montessori Jewish Day School Suzy Kauffman ‘90, Board Member, Parent Ambassador, TanenbaumCHAT

Barry Pakes ‘93, COVID Advisory Volunteer, Netivot Hatorah Day School; Safe Reopening Committee Member, Associated Hebrew Schools Michelle Porepa ‘96, Member of Pandemic Advisory Task Force, Robbins Hebrew Academy Alicia Richler Kalman ‘94, Vice President, Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School Ashley Ross ‘95, Board President, Netivot Hatorah Day School Maya Roth ‘97, Executive Member, Associated Hebrew Schools

Erika Rubin ‘90, Former Board President, Leo Baeck Day School Randy Shiff ‘73, Immediate Past Co-Chair, The Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Education

Sylvia Goodman, a former French teacher and head of our French department (and a current grandparent), recently published her memoir: Someone to Watch Over Me: Looking back on a life of upheaval, kindness & fortune. Sylvia, who was known by many of her students simply as “Madame” taught at the school for more than 20 years, beginning in 1983. She has shared her story many times with students, children, and adults. She was a hidden child during the Holocaust, and her memoir dives deeper into her remarkable story and journey. The book is available on Amazon.

Jillian Abramsky ’18, currently a student at Queens University, organized seven different “Life after TanenbaumCHAT” information sessions for current students who are considering their posthigh school options. Sixty-two alumni from 17 different institutions spoke about arts & science, engineering, creative arts, general science, kinesiology, health science, education, business and humanities. “When I was in Grade 12, I looked to students in years above to help shed light on their experiences,” said Jillian. “I was lucky to have those familiar faces during my decision-making process and the alumni of 2018 wanted to be those people to the class of 2021.” A couple of months later, Class of 2020 alumni, Jeremy Margles and Talia Levitt, who are both spending the 2020-21 school year ba’aretz, gathered online with some 25 current students to discuss taking a gap year in Israel.

During Mental Health Awareness Week in March, four TanenbaumCHAT alumni generously offered to share their stories. An extraordinarily high turnout saw more than 900 members of our school community tune into this online presentation which was ably hosted by Guidance Counselor, Stacia Wolle. All the speakers stressed the importance of de-stigmatizing the issue of mental health and of reaching out for help when you need it.

Clockwise from top left: Molly Pascoe ’18, David Pasoff ’18, Cooper Levy ’17, Jessica Katzman ’16.

Zack Belzberg and Ryan Freeman, both Class of 2005, brought their business experience and acumen to Zoom to help adjudicate “Tiger’s Den”, a competition organized by the TanenbaumCHAT Business Council after the well-known Dragon’s Den TV show. Many novel and creative ideas were presented. The winner was the “Cathalert” team for their impressive and potentially life-saving medical device. The runner-up was “Remask”, an environmentally friendly take on the modern face mask. Geoffrey Handelman ’15 spoke to two different groups of students and faculty about inclusivity and his own journey coming out as an LGBTQ member of the Jewish community. He shared his insights and unique perspective on kindness, education and acceptance, and why the Jewish community should be especially equipped to welcome all, based on our own history of systemic persecution and discrimination.

In March,

Zoomed into a program set up by our Israeli Engagement shlichim, Lee Kestecher Solomon and Ariel Solomon. The topic was the environmental and ecological effects of the recent oil spill that had occurred in February in Israel. Sami recently graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science in Marine and Atmospheric Science with minors in Chemistry, Microbiology and Immunology. Our students and faculty were excited for the opportunity to learn from such a passionate and wellinformed alum.

annual entrepreneurship and business career conference, took place in March. Organized by the Business Council, and overseen by Jordan Hoffman, Head of the Business Department, this is an amazing opportunity for students to attend panel sessions, ask questions, and hear from speakers from various sectors of the business world. This year, 66 students heard from eight speakers, six of whom were alumni: Zack Belzberg ’05 (President, Dodds Garage Door Systems), Russell Citron ’09 (Founder, CrowdChange), Rebecca Howard ’13 (Founder, Becked Goods Bake Shop), Jenna Kellner Izraelski ’05 (Head of Growth & Revenue at Ampli; Co-founder, Little Traders), Aaron Maresky ’19 (Founder and CEO, AMNotify), and Joshua Pope ’14 (Co-Founder, Trajekt Sports Inc).

When I tell former classmates that I’ve begun working at TanenbaumCHAT, the responses are an overwhelming combination of excitement and nostalgia. Big smiles, encouraging words, and the traditional line of questioning: ‘’Have you seen old teachers yet? Is it strange being at the other campus?’’ The latter of these questions brought to light a concept that effectively describes the ethos of TanenbaumCHAT: that it’s not the building that makes this community so special, but the people. Whether you studied on Neptune, Wright Street, Wilmington, or Bathurst – you’ve played a critical role in shaping this incredible community over the last six decades.

The strength of a community isn’t measured by the buildings that house it, the neighbourhoods they’re found in, or the colours on the walls – and our school is no exception. This community is defined by its ruach; by the seemingly endless theme days, shabbatons, clubs, committees, and social events that have built an unbreakable link; and by the intangibles that might be difficult to see (but that are certainly easy to feel) that assure our graduates that no matter where they are, TanenbaumCHAT will always be home to them.

Put another way, our school is about the people in the hallways, the experiences we share, and our ongoing collective commitment to a thriving Jewish community.

I am so thrilled to return to TanenbaumCHAT, and I encourage our over 8,000 alumni to be in touch so we can find a way to bring you back as well.

Jesse Primerano ’11 jprimerano@tanenbaumchat.org