Tema Smith (she/her)
Director, Jewish Outreach & Partnerships of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
About Speaker
Tema Smith is a writer, educator, advocate and community building whose work centers on antisemitism prevention and antiracism. She currently serves as the Director of Jewish Outreach & Partnerships at ADL, where she leads the agency’s work in partnering with Jewish organizations across the United States to fight back against antisemitism and all forms of hate. A recipient of the 2022 JPro Young Professionals Award, Tema speaks and trains frequently on racial equity, diversity and antisemitism for synagogues, Jewish organizations, and community groups across North America. She serves on the Board of Trustees at the Union for Reform Judaism and as the board chair for Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy. Tema was previously the Director of Professional Development at 18Doors (formerly InterfaithFamily), an organization that empowers people in interfaith relationships to engage in Jewish life and make Jewish choices, and encourages Jewish communities to welcome them. This comes after seven years as a synagogue professional, most recently as the Director of Community Engagement at Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto’s oldest synagogue. Over the past ten years, Tema has worked to advance the conversation on racially diverse Judaism, working with organizations like Be’chol Lashon, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the Miles Nadal JCC, CJPAC, and conducting trainings and presentations for numerous synagogues and Jewish organizations, including the Boston JCRC, the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Hillel International, Limmud North America, the JCRC of Greater Washington, the Buffalo JCRC, Hadassah, the AJC, Drexel University and Facing History and Ourselves. Before beginning her career in Jewish communal service, Tema was a graduate student in Religion and Politics and Early Judaism under the supervision of the former Canada Research Chair in Modern Jewish Thought at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She holds certificates in Instructing Adults from George Brown College, and Leadership and Inclusion through the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion and Centennial College. The proud daughter of an Ashkenazi Jewish Torontonian and a Bahamian-American New Yorker, Tema lives in her hometown of Toronto with her sidekick, a thirteen-year-old extraordinarily stubborn shih tzu named Tashi and his tiny buddy Padma, her pour over coffee gear, and way too many books.