20 | SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

E

xpect at least a few 
laughs at the Judi 
Schram Annual 
Meeting of Hadassah 
Greater Detroit as the fea-
tured presenter is Ophira 
Eisenberg, a television talk 
show and comedy specials 
guest, radio host and club 
comedian. 
Eisenberg, who didn’t 
think about becoming a 
jokester until after college 
graduation in Canada, will 
join the luncheon starting 
at noon Tuesday, Sept. 13, 
at Adat Shalom Synagogue 
in Farmington Hills, where 
there will be shopping 
opportunities as well to sup-
port the organization’s com-
munity causes.
“What I do is not so much 
what I would call a speech,” 
Eisenberg said in previewing 
her appearance. “I would call 
it a performance or an act. 
I look for material I think is 
appropriate for the group, 
and I hone it specifically for 
that place.”
Eisenberg, who has per-
formed in Michigan with the 
radio show The Moth and in 
various clubs, has included 
jokes about plants in her 
most recent presentations 
so food might enter into her 
messages for this program. 
All of her programs repre-
sent her own writing.
“My comedy is essentially 
autobiographical,” explained 
Eisenberg, whose many 
comedy festivals have placed 
her in New York, Nantucket 
and Montreal. “Mostly, I 
talk about stories from my 
life that I think others can 
relate to, and it’s conversa-
tional. I mix standup jokes 
with more poignant stories. 
I weave in and out of that to 
create one huge narrative for 
my show.”

Eisenberg, who grew up as 
the youngest of six children 
in Calgary, Alberta, was the 
first in her family to go to 
public school. Around the 
time of her birth, her dad 
changed jobs from being the 
principal of a Jewish school, 
and she grew up explaining 
Judaism to her classmates. 
“I have that classic situ-
ation where there were a 
lot of louder voices in my 
family ahead of me,” she 
explained. “That put me in 
the situation where I want-
ed to have a forum for me 
to speak. There was a lot 
of joke telling that we did 
around the dinner table. I 
think my brothers and sis-
ters were all naturally funny, 
and my mom and dad were 
pretty funny.
“I took ballet while I was 
growing up. At the end of 
the year, they gave every-
one awards, and I got an 
award for Miss Personality. 
Nothing says you’re not 
going to be a dancer like this 
award.”

ENTER COMEDY
After graduating from 
McGill University in 
Montreal with a major 
in cultural anthropology 
and theater, she went to 
Vancouver to decide how 
she would approach her 
future. While working at 
Kinko’s, she also served as 
a volunteer usher at the 
Vancouver Comedy Festival 
and was invited to a standup 
comedy workshop.
“We were asked to tell 
jokes, but I didn’t have 
any so I told stories that I 
would tell to my family,” she 
recalled. “The teacher said I 
had something, which was 
a wonderful thing to hear. I 
did my first show the next 

Ophira Eisenberg to be the guest 
speaker at Sept. 13 gathering at 
Adat Shalom.

Hadassah 
Welcomes 
Comedian to 
Annual Meeting

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

