Jewish Heritage Month 2026: Meet Tom Gafni

TD Securities is dedicated to fostering positive change, promoting an inclusive work environment and supporting the development of upcoming TD professionals. In recognition of Jewish Heritage Month, Tom Gafni shares his family's journey, diversity found within the Jewish community and the values of integrity and allyship.

What does Jewish Heritage Month mean to you personally, and why?

For me, Jewish Heritage Month isn't something I observe from a distance. It's something I feel in my bones. My grandparents came to Israel on a ship carrying over 4,500 Holocaust survivors who had nothing but a dream of safety and a homeland. I grew up on a kibbutz; a community built on exactly that spirit of collective purpose and resilience. So, when I think about what this month means to me, it's about honoring people who refused to give up, even when the world told them to. That's not just heritage. That's the foundation of everything I am.

Is there a tradition, holiday, food or family story you'd like to share?

The story I always come back to is my grandparents' journey. It's hard to fully comprehend Holocaust survivors, displaced, boarding a rickety ship toward an uncertain shore, refusing to disembark even under British pressure, enduring a 24-day hunger strike. And then, eventually, making it to Israel and helping to build the kibbutz where I was born and raised. Growing up on that kibbutz, surrounded by that generation, I absorbed something that's hard to put into words: a belief that community is everything, shaped by generations of perseverance and shared responsibility, and connects you to something much bigger than yourself. Shabbat (the Sabbath) on the kibbutz, the communal meals, the shared labor, all of it was suffused with that history.

Are there common misconceptions about Judaism or Jewish identity you wish more people understood?

One thing I wish more people understood is that Jewish identity isn't monolithic. There is no single version of what it means to be Jewish. I grew up in Israel, served in the Israeli Navy, moved to the United States and studied at Columbia. My Jewish identity has been shaped by all those experiences. It lives in language, in memory, in the stories passed down from my grandparents, not always in formal religious observance. The Jewish people are enormously diverse in background, in culture, in belief and this diversity is a strength, not a contradiction. When people reduce Jewish identity to a single image or a single political view, they miss the richness of what it actually is.

Has a mentor, community or experience shaped your relationship with your heritage?

My father has been the most formative influence in my life, professionally and personally. He is a hard-working, honest and deeply principled green tech entrepreneur, and watching him bring his unique ideas to life showed me what it means to lead with integrity and vision. He instilled in me the belief that failure is not an ending; it's information. That lesson carried me through every setback that could have become an excuse, and it carries me now on the trading desk. My father also raised me to view problems in the most optimistic way to believe that business and ethics are not opposites, but complements. That is as Jewish a value as any.

What does meaningful allyship look like at work — especially when antisemitism shows up in society?

The most meaningful thing an ally can do is speak up not just when it's comfortable, but when it costs something. Antisemitism rarely announces itself with a sign. It often shows up as an offhand comment, a stereotype deployed as humor or a silence when something hateful goes unchallenged. I've learned through my Navy service that the strength of any team comes from its people feeling seen and valued. When one person is made to feel unwelcome for any reason the whole team loses something. So allyship, to me, means treating this not as someone else's problem, but as a shared responsibility. It means asking questions with genuine curiosity and listening to the answers. It means being the voice in the room that says: that's not okay.

How can your team and company recognize Jewish Heritage Month in a way that feels authentic, respectful and inclusive?

The most authentic recognition starts with listening. Give Jewish colleagues space to share their stories not as representatives of an entire people, but as individuals with their own deeply personal experiences. Create moments where that sharing feels safe and welcomed, not performative. Beyond that, education matters: Jewish history is long and layered, full of contributions to science, art, law, finance, medicine, and culture that often go unacknowledged. A lunch-and-learn, a speaker, a film screening - these things don't require a large budget. They require genuine curiosity. What I'd ask of any organization is this: don't treat Jewish Heritage Month as a checkbox. Treat it as an invitation to understand something real about the people you work alongside every day.