Aden joined Jews for Jesus in 2014 and was commissioned as a missionary in 2017.

Aden Friedman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to an orthodox Jewish family, where they were very involved in the Chabad community. In 1998 Aden was accepted to study at a Yeshiva in Hadera Israel. In 2010 Aden met Cara, a believer in Yeshua (Jesus) and through her family he realized that Yeshua was the Messiah of the Jewish people and the whole world.

After giving his life to Yeshua, Aden felt called to share his faith with his Jewish people. In 2014, he and Cara were married, and Aden joined Jews for Jesus in South Africa later that year. In 2017 Aden authored My Yiddishe Mama, a Jewish heritage cookbook for both secular and orthodox Jewish families in Johannesburg. In 2021, Aden and Cara had their first child, Levi Ezra, born in Jerusalem. Aden continues to serve with Jews for Jesus in Toronto as our Canada branch leader.

Tewodros (Teddy) Lema was born and raised in an Ethiopian Orthodox family by his grandparents until the age of 12. In 1996, he moved to Toronto, Canada to be with his mother and siblings. Despite attending a Pentecostal church with his mother for over five years, he refused to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. He thought that accepting Jesus as Savior would be betraying his grandparents, who faithfully raised him in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition. After many years of attending Bible studies with the church’s youth group, one day his heart was changed after reading Exodus 20:4. He came to believe and understand that Jesus was the only way, the truth, and the life. Teddy and Dvora both serve as missionaries in the Toronto branch. They have been married for close to 10 years. They have three children, who are also their best friends: Mielli, Tuvel, and Elroee.

Dvora was born in Ethiopia to a traditional religious Jewish family and was raised in Israel. She served as a lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces in the Education Corp for five years. After the army, she traveled to Pennsylvania to teach Hebrew in a Jewish summer camp. In 2011, she moved to Canada where she met her husband, Teddy Lema, who is also a missionary with Jews for Jesus.

She came to faith in Yeshua in 2012 at the age of 23 when she went to visit her family in Israel. In that visit, she witnessed the power of Yeshua when He healed her sister in the most life-changing experience. Dvora is passionate about sharing the love of Yeshua with others and helping Jewish unbelievers see what she once both couldn’t see and denied. She is now focusing on reaching out to the Israeli unbelievers in Toronto.

Prior to coming on staff, Dvora worked as a Hebrew teacher at a Haredi pre-school in Toronto for three years. She speaks Hebrew, English, and Amharic. Dvora and Teddy have three children: Mielli, Tuvel, and Elroee.