Hillel Ontario

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Outstanding Networking Event

by | Mar 29, 2018 | Jewish Life at Ryerson | 0 comments

On March 7th, Hillel Ryerson hosted an outstanding networking event focused on showcasing Israel’s advancements in the field of biomedical engineering. About 45 students, 10 professors and employers as well as many other guests attended the event at the MAC Alumni Lounge. I planned this event as part of my Israel engaged campus internship this year.

Collaborating with the Ryerson Career Centre, the purpose of the event was to expose students studying biomedical engineering, biomedical sciences, and medical physics to the numerous opportunities they have as undergraduate students. In addition, the event was tailored to promote and educate students on the monumental impact Israeli biomedical innovation has on the world. The featured guest was Eliav Shaked, an Israeli-Canadian entrepreneur and biomedical engineer. He gave an incredible keynote presentation starting off with his journey as an army medic in the IDF and why he chose to study biomedical engineering and not medicine. His answer was, “As a doctor, you can only save one life at a time, while as a biomedical engineer, you can affect the lives of millions”. After getting his undergrad and master’s of biomedical engineering at Tel Aviv University and working for various Israeli start-ups, he was motivated to do more. In 2016, he received an invitation by Singularity University to participate in a program with 50 other entrepreneurs around the globe. The goal of the program was to motivate entrepreneurs to help 1 billion people in 10 years. He was coached day in and day out by global innovation leaders such as executives from Google and Microsoft. Motivated by the program, Eliav set out to launch his own revolutionary start-up company called Retispec. Located in the Ryerson biomedical zone at St. Michael’s Hospital, Retispec is currently developing an optical scanner that will diagnose Alzheimer’s years before symptoms emerge! Topping off his presentation, Eliav compared Israel’s and Canada’s biomedical industries. By outlining the chutzpa of Israeli entrepreneurs, he explained how Israel, although so small, attracts 1.5x more venture capital funding yearly than all of Canada!

Research, summer internship, biomedical graduate programs, and many more opportunities were showcased at the event. The presentations were followed by a professional networking fair that provided students the opportunity to connect with the professors and employers they were interested in.

Overall, the event was a successful night of discussing Israeli biomedical innovation, discovering new opportunities, and networking with industry and academia professionals. Because of all the positive feedback received, I plan to create a committee to host a similar Hillel event next year!

Parshat Vayishlach

Parshat Vayishlach

by | Nov 18, 2021

In this week’s parsha, Parshat Vayishlach, the Torah tells us about the famous story regarding Yaakov and the angel that he fought. One night, Yaakov went to sleep and in his dream, he finds himself fighting someone. The famous commentator Rashi states that this person that Yaakov fought was the angel of Esav, Yaakov’s brother. The fight lasts all night and ends with the angel tearing out Yaakov’s sciatic nerve and then blessing Yaakov, giving him the name Yisrael, because Yaakov struggled with both man and G-d and prevailed. At the end of this portion in the Torah, we are commanded not to eat the sciatic nerve, as a memory of Yaakov’s struggles.

The Sefer HaChinuch, a 13th century Jewish text that discusses the 613 mitzvot in depth, writes that the prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve is a commandment about Jewish survival. When we, as Jewish people, eat kosher food and refrain from eating the sciatic nerve, we are reminding ourselves of the struggles that Yaakov went through and despite all those struggles, he still survived. It is no coincidence that the Jewish people are called Bnei Yisrael, Children of Israel, which was the name that Yaakov was given after fighting with the angel throughout the night. We emulate Yaakov and use his name Yisrael to remind ourselves that despite any struggles, trials and tribulations, we will prevail and survive. Yaakov teaches us how to deal with struggles that we have with other people and with G-d and as long as we remember that we are the children of Israel, we should be blessed with a bright future!
Written by Ilan Shields
A Hillel Summer: Keeping Spirits High

A Hillel Summer: Keeping Spirits High

by | Jul 15, 2021

My name is Stacey Ianco and I am going into my third year at Ryerson’s Ted Rogers School of Management. Hillel has been my home away from home, and has helped me embrace my Jewish culture, enhance my Jewish identity, and meet new people.. 

This year has been like no other we have experienced. Throughout these challenging times, I have felt lucky to have remained connected with my fellow students – especially through my involvement in Hillel. 

Especially given the year we just experienced, Hillel has been vital to my Jewish campus life. That’s why I was so excited to hear that Hillel programming was going to continue during the summer.

Hillels Ryerson, York and UofT teamed up to create the Summer in the 6ix program, and I knew I wanted to participate. 

In addition to receiving some really cool swag, Summer in the 6ix connected me with activities and programming I

 could engage in alongside (virtually) other Jewish students across the GTA. We baked and decorated delicious sugar cookies over a Hillel Zoom meet, sharpened our knowledge and competed with other Hillel students in bi-weekly trivia games, and customized our Hillel t-shirts with tie-dye. In a summer characterized by distancing and separation, Hillel brought me closer to my community.

To be sure, this has been a difficult year for so many reasons. I am so appreciative of all that Hillel does for Jewish students across the province. Especially this year.

I will continue to be an active member of Hillel for all my years of university and the future. Hillel has given me the confidence I need to be a proud Jewish woman and has enhanced my university experience in many ways. 

I look forward to being able to create more special events to include and connect every Jewish student in Ontario for many years to come.

Stacey I., Hillel Ryerson Student Leader

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