In the final days of 2022, Michael Marrus, the author, historian, and foremost scholar of Holocaust studies in Canada, died in Toronto at the age of 81. He authored eight books on Jewish history, edited a set of 15 volumes entitled Historic Articles on the Destruction of European Jews, and was a member of the Order of Canada. But the final years of his career were coloured by a comment he made to a Junior Fellow at Massey College within the University of Toronto. The remark was quickly labelled as racist and the ensuring outrage and fallout in the media pushed Prof. Marrus to resign from the college only six days later.

On today’s episode of Bonjour Chai, The CJN’s weekly current affairs podcast, we were very excited to officially welcome Phoebe Maltz Bovy to the co-host chair. She and Rabbi Avi Finegold dive into the topic of how best to think about figures with complex and sometimes chequered legacies.

They also discuss Phoebe’s recent piece on the late Irving Layton, a giant of 20th century Canadian poetry, and the numerous reports of his bad behaviour towards the women in his life.

What we talked about

• Obituary: Michael Marrus, 81, was a globally renowned scholar of the Holocaust—primarily based at the University of Toronto
• Time’s up for Irving Layton: A post-#MeToo assessment of a renegade—based on reading the tell-all books by his ex-lovers
• You Must Remember This A Novel By Kat Rosenfield
• Moneyball Judaism
• It’s No Ibiza

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold, Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.