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BIO
“Reb Zale” Newman was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His parents were passionate about the Jewish People, Torah study, the Land of Israel, and acts of outreach and kindness. They imbued these values in their children and sacrificed greatly to provide advanced Jewish education to all of their children. As a result, Reb Zale attended Eitz Chaim Day School, Ner Israel Yeshiva High School, Bais Medrash l’Torah (BMT) and Kerem B’Yavneh (KBY) yeshivot in Israel, and Yeshiva University in New York, where he studied Talmud, Judaic Studies and completed a BA in economics.
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Hedge Fund Manager
After completing his MBA studies at McGill University in Montreal and York University in Toronto, with an emphasis on marketing and Corporate Strategy, he spent the bulk of his professional life in the field of Canadian financial services. He is the founder and President of Bond Street Mercantile, where the concentration is on opportunities to invest in Israel as well as mortgage and real estate investments in Toronto. The flagship products are the Holy Land Investment Fund, the Canada Israel Infrastructure Funds, the only hedge funds of their kind available to Canadians who wish to invest in Israel.
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Education
Reb Zale’s passion is partaking in daily Torah study that encompasses many different areas, from Talmud and Halacha to Chassidic thought. He studied for thirty-eight years with Rabbi Reuven Silver of Bais Medrash N’siv Olam from whom he received Rabbinic ordination, and for thirty-four years with Rabbi Elazar Robinson, Rosh Yeshiva of Reishis Chochma at the Bobov Kollel in Toronto. He studied Chassidic thought with Rabbi Immanuel Schochet a”h and Rabbi Elisha Schochet. He considers Rabbi Mordechai Machlis of Jerusalem his teacher in the area of G’milut Chessed (acts of kindness) and has many Torah teachers in North America and Israel. He developed a close, personal relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe and corresponded with the Rebbe on a regular basis.
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Community
Reb Zale’s first love and “real” work is in the area of outreach to Jews who are unaffiliated or marginally affiliated with their Jewish heritage. To this end, he served in every level of NCSY over the past forty years, including a stint as the International Director. He continues his high-school outreach activities with involvement in NCSY Canada and the Torah High program for Jewish public school teens. He has been involved with Aish HaTorah for more than thirty years. Toronto’s Village Shul, of which he is a founding member, is Reb Zale’s primary base for adult outreach. He runs the “Stairway to Heaven” weekly Shabbat service for the novice, where the text is his book Stairway to Heaven, A Novice’s Guide to Traditional Jewish Prayer as well as teaching the weekly Soul Spa program for women and various educational series including Kaddish Club, To Remember a Soul, Lemazaltov, The 7 Most Important Mitzvot and many more. Zale has lectured throughout much of the Jewish world including Costa Rica, Russia, Israel and most of North America. And he recently led a large men’s mission to Israel for the JWRP. He has assisted with outreach activities of Chabad Lubavitch in locales across North America and serves as an advisor, teacher, consultant, and speaker for a number of outreach organizations around the world.
Charity
Reb Zale works with numerous charitable projects for needy people in Israel and continues his efforts on behalf of widows, orphans, handicapped children, the sick, and the needy in Toronto and beyond. He is a member of Toronto’s Bikur Cholim, the Jewish Volunteer Services, where he serves Jewish patients at Sunnybrook Hospital and other medical facilities. His newest book A Light in the Dark, A Guide to the Traditional Jewish Practice of Visiting the Sick is based on his many years of experience in this field.
Music
Reb Zale’s musical talents have allowed him to contribute to the field of Jewish music as a musician, songwriter, record and concert producer. He served as the music producer of the legendary Shlomo Carlebach a”h and as the producer/songwriter for Yehuda!, the popular Chassidic pop singer, among many others. Perhaps his best known work is the Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men project for Jewish children, which has spawned nineteen albums, fifteen DVDs, and multiple world tours over the past thirty-seven years.
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Family
Reb Zale is married to Rochel, a family therapist, who is a daughter of Rabbi Pinchas Hirschprung zt”l, the late Chief Rabbi of Montreal and world-renowned Torah scholar, and the legendary Rebbetzin Hirschprung a”h. Together they have been blessed with three children, Chayim, Batsheva, and Dovid Zvi (“DZ”); their son-in-law, Amram; their daughter-in-law Esther their five grandchildren, Yaakov Shlomo, Pinchas Yadin, Keira Biba, Yehuda and Kalev Yisrael; and thousands of students and Shabbat guests.