Where are all the new posts? They moved.

Dear Reader!

You must be wondering, where did we go? Where is The Jew Do? Where are the updates? We moved. We have a new beautiful home at www.thejewdo.com. Please check us out. Comment there, let us know what you think. We value your readership immensely. We are so excited to continue this journey with you.

The new Jew Do has been running for a few months. We are delighted with its success so far and we hope you will add to it and bring to it your own flavour to it. Comment often, we always read them and would love to hear from you. If you have a story idea, email it to ylipinsky@ujafed.org and we will see what we can do!


The CoCo Team!

MEGA EVENT T.O. 2011 HIGHLIGHTS

Nearly 2 weeks ago UJA's Community Connect along with the Magen Boys Entertainment threw what became the BIGGEST Birthright Israel party Ever in Toronto. The Warehouse Event Venue was filled with nearly 800 young Jewish adults. It was an awesome night filled with good times, good music, reunions, and lots of limes being shared ;)

Check out some of these Mega Event T.O. 2011 moments and highlights:

Happy Birthday Charles (It was Mr. Bronfman's 80th Birthday)

"It's that damn Hansel! He's so hot right now!" 

Mega Event was filled with some ridiculously good looking people

  

Marko Bongo, Peter B, DJ Daniel Basta and DJ Skratch Bastid were RIDICULOUS

The Warehouse was PACKED and check out the line-up

700 balloons dropped from the ceiling to celebrate over 

10 Years of Birthright and to announce the two winners of the 

Air Canada round trip flights to Israel!!!

Congrats to our two winners: Laurie Piltz and Edan Twena

This event could not have been possible without our amazing sponsors: 

TWO HOT WOMEN- Friends that Volunteer together, stay together!

By Alana Kayfetz

Over the past 7 years, there has been thousands of young adults coming together in an annual day of social service. These series is known as One HOT Day. Leading the charge of this coming season of volunteering, tikkun Olam and social action are two HOT women! We would like to take this opporunity to introduce the incoming Chairs of HOT ( Hands On Toronto). These two ladies have an amazing friendship. We can see in their dynamic duo volunteering that friends that volunteer together, stay together. Its an enriching and bonding experience to take on a volunteer opportunity along side your BFF. Here are two ladies who know how to pay it forward and give while having fun!

Shelby Draper is an acountant. In her limited free time, Shelby has worked in the past with UJA's Impact Toronto as an influential Telethon chair. Shelby is engaged and is going to be married in the fall. When asked why she volunteers, she responded: "I grew up in a family where charity and philanthropic giving were made a priority. I was fortunate to learn these values at a young age and always knew that I would incorporate them in my life in a meaningful way; being a part of Hands on Toronto will allow me to do this. I am very excited to have this opportunity to see where our dollars are going and who they are helping."

Shelby and Leila

Leila Kohn is a teacher. Leila, along side Shelby has worked as the chair of  UJA's Impact Telethon and is still glowing from her recent marriage. When asked why she volunteers, she responded: "I volunteer because I believe it is important to give back to the community that has provided me with so many meaningful opporunities that have enabled me to strengthen my Jewish identity and connection to Israel."

We hope you feel inspired to grab your closest friend, step up to the plate and volunteer! Its an amazing way to create new shared experiences that will last a lifetime! Take the opportunity at one of our upcoming Hands On Toronto events to give back and make a difference! SAVE THE DATE for One CHILL Day- SUNDAY OCTOBER 23rd, 2011.

Capture Series featuring Lexi Mitz (eye-lek-see)

The JewDo is thrilled to present the photo talents of Lexi Mitz, a budding Toronto-born photographer and executive at Spin Master Ltd.!  Lexi provided us with some great insights into what inspires her, as well as some background on this gallery of photos specific to a personal trip to Jerusalem.  Here is a synopsis of her work from Lexi's keyboard to our blog:

 

"As a photo artist, I take my photograph as the starting point to create the final product. I print and display using different mediums that bring out the feeling within the shot; creating an end result that’s both eye-catching and visually stimulating. I do not use photoshop...everything you see in my gallery represents the subject as I saw it in the moment with only minor enhancements.

Throughout the Jerusalem Perspectives series, you’ll notice my perception is as broad and far stretching as the city of Jerusalem itself. The passion and stereotype throughout the city is glaringly evident; but also as apparent is the enjoyment and happiness had by its citizens." 

 

"To say I have an enormous passion for travel is an understatement. My inspiration for taking pictures comes from observing all forms of life in countries around the world. To me, the joy in taking pictures is related to the ability to freeze time and still a moment that others aren't there to see."

 "There are multiple ways that each photo I take can be construed. Each individual photo is named using only a single word. There is an underlying meaning and back story to almost every photograph I take, and the single word title represents my feeling at the time of capturing the moment. Some are abstract and some are concrete, but all are honest and real."

"Philanthropy is also an extremely important element of my everyday life. ilexi donates numerous pieces to various charitable silent auctions and donated 100% of all sales during the Jerusalem Perspectives exhibit to The Jerusalem Foundation. The exhibit was held for 5 days in October 2010 at the Pikto Gallery in Toronto with all proceeds going directly toward Jerusalem’s youth realize their potential through educational, recreation and career development programs."











    


"Throughout the Jerusalem Perspectives series, you’ll notice my perception is as broad and far stretching as the city of Jerusalem itself. The passion and stereotype throughout the city is glaringly evident; but also as apparent is the enjoyment and happiness had by its citizens."





Lexi certainly is a talent in our young Jewish community and UJA's CoCo loves showcasing the talent of fellow photo artists in our network to share with our blog followers.  Enjoy the rest of 'eye-lek-see' Jerusalem Gallery!

 

"I am proud to share my perspective with you all and I hope you enjoy the series. Additional galleries can be found on my website and for purchase inquiries at www.ilexi.ca " -Lexi Mitz

Basketball player Jon Scheyer Uses Right of Return

By Adam Gurza

Jon Scheyer scored over 2000 points during his career at Duke University along with winning a national championship in 2010.

Scheyer went undrafted in the NBA Draft. He attended the Miami Heat's and LA Clippers' summer camps in back-to-back years before suffering an eye injury.

After letting the eye injury heal, he signed to play on the Houston Rocket's D-League team, an affiliate league for the NBA.

Jon Scheyer then made a monumental decision regarding his career and also his Jewish roots. He decided to sign a contract with Israel's top basketball team and one of Europe's best, Macabbi Tel-Aviv.

As Macabbi Tel-Aviv can only have a certain number of international players on their roster, Jon Scheyer made a life changing decision for his career based on his heritage.Jon Scheyer used his Right of Return to become an Israeli citizen. This meant that he became an Israeli player on the team so that more international players to come over and play on Macabbi Tel-Aviv.


Along with his amazing talent as a basketball player, Jon Scheyer displayed that he is also quite the Mensch, thinking about his team first.

Jordan Nahmias: A photographer who captures light

Jordan Nahmias is a Toronto-based lawyer who, when he has time, photographs, teaches yoga, and co-directs the Open Roof Festival for film and music in Toronto.

He started photographing on his solo backpacking trip to Europe after graduation from university in 2005. Having always been involved in creating art, the feedback surprised Jordan when he arrived home that his pictures were well liked. After he broke that camera, he bought his first SLR and photography occupied many hours. It was over the course of a 2008 semester exchange in Hong Kong that Jordan became very serious about photography. He started selling his works upon returning from Asia, and shortly thereafter started his own photography business selling art works as well as photographing commercially and on commissions.
“I love photography because it is so information-rich. It is unbelievable the amount of information that can be found in any piece of visual art, or otherwise. I love the fact that when I look at my photos, and those of others, I know there is a very serious story going on in that image. It doesn’t matter what the specific subject matter is – there is not only the history of the content, but the history of the photographer contained within that image. Knowing that, when I take a picture, I also know that I am conveying a message from myself at the same time. It’s a pretty cool experience.”

“My subject matter is usually found. In that, I take myself somewhere and use what’s around me. Of course, I’ve shot weddings, engagements, family portraits, and so on, but I try very hard not to prepare too much. The improvisational aspect of photography, at least the way I try to do it, is key. So, when I go on a trip and shoot journalistic or travel work (which is really my favourite) I just shoot what’s around me – people, faces, architecture, flora, fauna – you name it. When its free flowing like that, there isn’t much thought beyond ‘That looks really good, I want that on film,’ and that can be very freeing and relaxing.”

“For everything though, the inspiration for me is generally lighting, story and culture. Most of my favourite pieces are travel or journalistic pieces. They can be portraits or simply settings, but in all of them the first thing that struck me about what I saw was light. I mean, that’s what photography is all about at its core. But, the light has to interact with the objects in my shots so that there is a story told – usually about the culture or history of the subject matter – and acknowledging the history (told or untold) of some things is really inspiring. It makes you realize how small you are in such a massive and ancient world and universe.”

All photos copyright Jordan Nahmias. 

Photo of Jordan Nahmias copyright Jessica Blaine Smith