The CJN Daily: Recent Episodes
The CJN Podcast Network
A daily bite-sized newscast from The Canadian Jewish News, hosted by veteran broadcaster, writer and journalist Ellin Bessner. Airs Monday to Thursday.
Since Oct. 7, at least five mezuzahs have been torn off the doors of Jewish students living in residence at Queen’s University. At the University of Windsor, a law professor urged a Jewish student not to attend their class because “Zionists aren’t welcome”. And in just the last few weeks, some protesters who set up pro-Palestinian tent encampments on Canadian university campuses have celebrated Hamas’ slaughter of 1,200 people in Israeli last fall—while urging Jews to “go back to Europe”.
Against this backdrop, hundreds of Jewish post-secondary students have teamed up to form a brand-new national organization, the Canadian Union of Jewish Students (CUJS). They’re raising their voices against campus hate and gathering evidence to lobby governments to do better. They’re not trying to replace Hillel or other Jewish campus clubs—but in light of the situation facing Jews at Canadian universities, they believe they can complement them by focusing solely on political action.
On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from CUJS founder Nati Pressmann, a Toronto native who is currently studying at Queen’s University, and from several CUJS organizers: Lindsay Cogan of Winnipeg, Jacqueline Snidman-Stren and Hayley Kupinsky of Toronto, and Miranda Collard of Vancouver.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the Canadian Union of Jewish Students on their Instagram page
- Watch members of the CUJS and others testify on Parliament Hill on May 9, 2024, about antisemitism on campus, or read the transcript
- Why Jewish students at Canadian universities say they are hiding their identities on campus after Oct. 7, in The CJN
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
One day after the weekend targeting of Bais Chaya Mushka, a Jewish girl’s school in Toronto, by suspects who sprayed the front of building with bullets, the school’s students and their families have gone from initial shock and fear, to the determination not to be intimidated.They turned out in large numbers at a popular park to join the city’s Chabad Jewish community for a fun-filled day of balloons, clowns, archery and a parade marking the religious festival of Lag b’Omer.Then they hoisted their banners and hand-made signs and carried them on a short Jewish unity parade march along Bathurst Street around Earl Bales Park.News of the pre-dawn shooting targeting the private Jewish school rocked the community when they learned about it after Shabbat ended late Saturday. It is the first time that Canada’s largest city has experienced a similar attack to what several Jewish schools in Montreal went through, shortly after Oct. 7. Some leaders are calling this incident a “heinous act of hate” and a “brazen and deliberate attempt to intimidate” the Jewish community.But as The CJN Daily’s Ellin Bessner found out when she attended the celebrations on Sunday, the school is finding a lot of support from the wider Jewish world, who will be present on Monday morning as the school reopens its doors. On today’s episode, you’ll hear from parent Mirel Freund who’s family founded the all-girl’s school, as well as from the school principal Rabbi Yaakov Vidal.
What we talked about:
- Read why security equipment at Bais Chaya Mushka School helped deter the suspects from causing more damage on May 25, in The CJN.
- Join Mizrachi Canada and the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto in a rally of solidarity outside Bais Chaya Mushka School at 8:30 a.m. Monday May 27. Details here.
- Learn more about the Hebrew schools which Bais Chaya Mushka School founder Toby Bernstein now runs in Vaughan, Ont. in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Show notes
Seniors are in the spotlight this week as Canada and other countries are meeting at the United Nations to discuss ways to help the world’s billion people over the age of 60. And Dan Levitt is in the thick of it—the longtime nursing home administrator from Vancouver, who started as British Columbia’s official seniors advocate in April, flew down to New York to advocate for a binding international convention for seniors’ rights. The urgency is real: he predicts a “silver tsunami” has already started and Canada will have a full quarter of the population over the age of 65 within the next 10 to 20 years.Levitt has been in a unique spot in his provincial government. Since last month, he’s been bringing the concerns of B.C.’s million seniors and their caregivers directly to the ears of provincial politicians. And those concerns have been expansive. Canadian seniors are worried about the cost of living, housing, transportation, employment and even something that’s become his pet peeve: how so many birthday cards aimed at the silver-haired crowd are actually ageist.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Levitt explains why he took the job and how it helps him fulfil the biblical commandments about honouring one’s parents.
What we talked about:
- Read more about Dan Levitt, B.C.’s new seniors advocate
- How this 104-year-old Montreal super-senior stays engaged in life, on The CJN Daily
- Why Camp B’nai Brith in Montreal had trouble with a summer program for seniors, in 2020, in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
The CJN Daily‘s Honourable Menschen is back, just ahead of Lag b’Omer on June 11, when tens of thousands of observant Jews traditionally make a pilgrimage to Israel’s Mt. Meron to visit the tomb of Rabbi Simeon Bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar.Ahead of the calendar anniversary, it felt important to shine a spotlight on the legacies left by these recently departed Canadian Jewish figures: Patricia “Patti” Starr, who rose to notoriety at the centre of one of Ontario’s biggest political scandals; Harry Davis, a boxer turned legendary boxing referee; Jack Prince, who caught the last boat out of Poland before the Holocaust and became a philanthropist in Israel and Canada; Alexander Eisen, a self-taught engineer and Holocaust survivor; Rabbi Dovid Schochet, who built the Chabad Lubabvitch community in Toronto; and Lita-Rose Betcherman, a women’s rights advocate and author who was told she shouldn’t pursue her PhD because she was a woman.The CJN’s retired reporter Ron Csillag joins to share his personal recollections of covering these trailblazing Canadians.
What we talked about:
- Read more about author Lita-Rose Betcherman in The CJN
- Watch the video recording of Patricia Starr’s funeral
- Read The CJN’s obituaries of Toronto’s Chabad Lubavitch founder Rabbi David Schochet, boxing referee Harry Davis, Halifax philanthropist Jack Prince, and Alexander Eisen
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Eitan Cohen, 13, is determined to head back to class after the Victoria Day long weekend—despite months of being bullied, taunted, threatened and assaulted by a few fellow students in his school in Toronto, in the wake of Oct. 7.It came to a head on May 17, when hundreds of neighbours and friends came to walk Eitan to Faywood Arts-Based Curriculum School. It was a show of solidarity for the boy and his family. His parents—two Israeli doctors who came to Canada for specialized training—say they initially tried to enrol their four children in private Jewish schools while they were in Canada, but eventually decided to send them to public school so the kids could to learn about Canadian diversity. But after Oct. 7, they say they have been complaining in vain to Toronto school officials—and also to Toronto police—about the atmosphere of Jew-hatred impacting both Eitan and his younger brother Hillel, who also attended the same school. Toronto’s police confirm the hate crime unit is now actively investigating one incident from last week, alongside two other investigations that remain open.The Cohens are already making plans to return to Israel and Eitan could have switched to a Jewish religious school until the end of June. But he won't quit: if he leaves now, he says, it will mean open season for bullies to ramp up antisemitic attacks on other Jewish students who attend public schools in Toronto.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Ellin Bessner sits down at the home of Eitan and his parents, Moshe Cohen and Adi Halberthal Cohen, to find out what safety plans are in place for this week—and why they went public with their struggles.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the Toronto Jewish community accompanying the Cohen family to school on Friday May 17, 2024, in The CJN.
- Read the Fredericton police news release about an arrest being made in the beating of an Israeli teenager on April 30.
- Read the back story on the Fredericton family’s antisemitism problems at their daughter Shaked’s school, in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
On April 30, Shaked Tsurkan, a 14-year-old Israeli girl attending high school in New Brunswick, was followed and beaten up by an older student. It happened off school grounds during the lunch hour and other classmates gathered to watch—someone even filmed the whole thing on their phone, later posted to social media, where you can see Tsurkan getting jumped from behind, thrown to the ground and punched repeatedly.According to Shaked, her assailant is an older female Muslim student who also attends her school, Leo Hayes High School, in Fredericton. It appears the physical assault came after months of being targeted for being Israeli after she started Grade 9 in Sept. 2023, just weeks before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.The altercation left Tsurkan with cuts, bruises and black eyes. While the school declined to share details about the incident to protect the privacy of its students, Tsurkan says her assailant was suspended from school for a week; she also says when she returned to school, she was advised to use the teachers’ private washroom for her own safety, not to walk alone and to stay inside the building between classes.Tsurkan’s parents are frustrated, because they feel local authorities are ignoring the antisemitic overtones to their daughter’s beating. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Shaked Tsurkan and her parents, Eli and Michal, share their side of the story, detailing how the war in the Middle East is playing out in their corner of Atlantic Canada.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the antisemitic vandalism that resulted in broken windows on the Fredericton synagogue early on Jan, 27, 2024, in The CJN.
- Read why Fredericton's Major Crimes Unit has been called in to investigate the case, in The CJN.
- Why Canadian Jewish students are feeling afraid in public school classrooms, after Oct. 7, in The CJN
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
The respected Israeli journalist and author Yossi Klein Halevi is bringing his message of hope to Canada on May 14, 2024, to mark Israel’s 76th anniversary. Speaking at a synagogue in Toronto about the impact of Oct. 7 on Jewish history, Klein Halevi believes that, after Hamas’s attack seven months ago, Israel made the decision not be a victim. Instead, the Jewish state unleashed the country’s full military power in an existential fight against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.Now, Klein Halevi—a scholar and podcaster with the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem—is urging Jews in the Diaspora to embrace their power and stand up for themselves, rather than live as victims, even if right now that seems daunting because of the surge in global antisemitism.Ahead of his speech, Yossi Klein Halevi joins The CJN Daily to explain how we should celebrate Israel’s 76th birthday: with a lot of grief, and also gratitude.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Yossi Klein Halevi’s previous stops in Canada, and this week’s public lecture
- If you missed our episode profiling student Sofia Meiha Perfiliev and the other Ontario students who won medals at the JewQ contest, catch it on The CJN Daily.
- Read more about the origins of the GaGa ball game.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Read transcript
As Israel and Jewish communities around the world mark Yom ha-Zikaron, the Israeli memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, some Toronto veterans of the Yom Kippur War are remembering the chaos and the fear they experienced during their own military service some 50 years ago. On Oct. 6, 1973, Israel fought Egyptian and Syrian forces after the Arab states launched surprise invasions during Israel’s solemn day of fasting.Henry Balaban, now 75, served with the Golani infantry brigade in the north, where Syrian soldiers swarmed into the Golan Heights. Yoram Shalmon, 72, served in a tank unit that was the first to cross the Suez Canal into Egypt under General Ariel Sharon. His wife, Rachel Shalmon, served in intelligence.Since Oct. 7, the veterans have been anxiously following developments in this latest war—the longest in Israel’s modern history. While the 1973 war resulted in the deaths of 2,656 IDF soldiers in just two and a half weeks—triple the IDF’s current losses of more than 700 casualties since Oct. 7—these veterans also worry about the long-term psychological cost for those young men now fighting inside the Hamas tunnels in Gaza.On today’s special Yom ha-Zikaron episode of The CJN Daily, the veterans offer a fascinating and in-depth perspective on what it’s like to lose your friends and suffer through the fog of war.
What we talked about:
- Browse the new memorial website by the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel listing all 425 Canadians and Americans who were ever killed defending Israel, or in terrorist attacks, including since Oct. 7
- Learn more about ERAN, the 24-hour mental health hotline for Israelis that Toronto IDF veteran Yoram Shalom volunteers
- Watch the 2024 memorial service in Israel for North Americans killed in battle, on the AACI Facebook channel
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
According to Robert Brym, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto, while two-thirds of Canada’s Jews currently feel unsafe and victimized in this country, and think it will get worse, his new study also shows most non-Jewish Canadians actually have positive feelings about Jews.His research was published before B’nai Brith Canada released its annual antisemitism audit earlier this week, in which the organization cited at least 5,791 incidents of violence, harassment, online attacks and threats against Jews in Canada in 2023—the highest level recorded since it began documenting this phenomenon more than 40 years ago. The worrying trends were also noted in a global report by the Anti-Defamation League and Tel Aviv University, which indicates “that the war in Gaza helped spread a fire that was already out of control.”But Brym calls both those reports “misleading” and he questions their “very flawed” methods.His findings, published in the spring 2024 edition of the academic journal Canadian Jewish Studies, measure people’s attitudes to Jews and Israel, not antisemitic incidents. While he found 83% of Canadians hold positive feelings about Jews, the antisemitism comes primarily from four specific groups in Canadian society—Muslims, white supremacists and leftists, non-Jewish university students, and Quebecois.As Brym tells The CJN Daily, his study should also be a wakeup call for Canadian Jewish leaders that they’re tackling the problem of antisemitism the wrong way.
What we talked about:
- Read Robert Brym’s survey on Canadians’ attitudes towards Jews and Israel, published in Canadian Jewish Studies,
- Read B’nai Brith Canada’s 2023 antisemitism audit, and read The CJN’s coverage of its release
- Read the ADL/Tel Aviv University report on global antisemitic incidents in 2023
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Organizers of the 36th annual March of the Living commemoration, in Poland, knew that this year’s three-kilometre walk at Auschwitz would feel even more poignant after Oct. 7.That’s why some Israeli Holocaust survivors were invited to join the procession, which honoured not just the memory of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust—but also the 1,200 people in Israel who were murdered in the single worst slaughter of Jews since 1945. Yet it appears some groups in Poland weren’t willing to allow the annual March of the Living to proceed without conflating the ongoing Middle East war with Hitler’s systematic genocide. Pro-Palestinian protesters wore keffiyehs, waved flags and held signs saying “Stop the Genocide” as the marchers passed by.It was a scene one Canadian family will never forget. Harvey Wright, 85, whose grandparents were among Hitler’s victims; his son Erin Wright, of Edmonton, who served as the trip’s physician; and Erin’s daughters, Abby and Zoe, currently university students, all join The CJN Daily to explain why they joined the march this year and how they hope it will help them face an uncomfortable future for Canadian Jews.
What we talked about:
- Read survivor Nate Leipciger’s message to travellers on this year’s Canadian delegation to the March of the Living, in The CJN
- Learn how the annual Canadian delegation to the March of the Living is scaled down for 2024, in The CJN
- Watch the March of the Living 2024 recorded broadcast
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Show notes
Vancouver Holocaust speaker Rubin Pinsky fled a Nazi work camp in May 1942 and survived for more than two years in the forests of Poland, serving as a teenage Jewish partisan.Pinsky, a former yeshiva student, blew up trains, sabotaged telephone wires and killed Nazis and collaborators. One time, he even finished off a timber wolf attempting to hunt a wild rabbit the starving partisans had called dibs on, so to speak—they needed the game for their own next meal.Pinsky’s story of survival, including how he pretended to be a tailor with bad eyesight to enter Canada after the war, is now captured in a gripping new biography. Written by his son Bernard Pinsky, a lawyer and community leader in Vancouver, the book is called Ordinary, Extraordinary: My Father’s Life. The sweeping tale spans nearly a century, beginning and ending in the Pinsky family’s small bakery in modern-day Belarus, with stops in Germany, Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina and finally Vancouver, where Rubin died in 2001.For Yom HaShoah, The CJN Daily is joined by Bernard Pinsky, who explains why he took so long to publish his father’s story—and what he hopes readers will learn.
What we talked about:
- Watch the Yom HaShoah National Memorial Ceremony from Ottawa on Monday, May 6, 2024, beginning at 11 a.m. EST
- Buy the book about Rubin Pinsky, and watch his video testimony done in 1983 through the Vancouver Holocaust Centre
- Read how one man is restoring Holocaust-era rural cemeteries in Hungary, one at a time, in The CJN
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Show notes:
At least five Canadian university campuses are now home to temporary tent cities erected by pro-Palestinian students protesting Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The U of T, McGill, Western, the University of Ottawa and the University of British Columbia have all become focal points for protestors insisting they won’t leave until their schools divest of financial ties to Israel, among other demands. Other schools like TMU are coping with sit-in protests.So far, local police departments have not forcibly cleared out the compounds, as happened earlier this week at Columbia University in New York, where the movement began. But protests on this side of the border are equally polarizing: some Jewish students and faculty have joined the protests, while Hillel and other Jewish organizations argue these demonstrations aren’t peaceful, and call for the destruction of Israel and kicking Zionists off campus and out of Canada.So what’s behind the phenomenon? And where will it go next?On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from Opher Baron, a management professor at the University of Toronto who’s worried that protests could derail an important annual conference he’s hosting next week; then we’re joined by Arno Rosenfeld, the Forward’s antisemitism beat reporter, who’s been covering the chaos from Columbia to UCLA, the University of California, Los Angeles.
What we talked about:
- Read more about McGill encampment, in The CJN
- Follow Arno Rosenberg’s work and get his Antisemitism Notebook newsletter in the Forward
- Learn more about Opher Baron at Rotman’s School of Management
- Listen to Wednesday’s interview with three Canadian Sunday school students who took home the top prizes at the International JewQ contest, run by Chabad, on The CJN Daily
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
The youngest child traditionally asks the Four Questions at Passover. But Daniel Marquez, 8, of Mississauga, Ont., could probably have answered all the questions by himself: the Grade 3 student won the 2024 JewQ competition, an annual tournament of Jewish knowledge hosted by Chabad.Marquez hoisted his trophy onstage during a live game show on April 7–held an hour away from the Lubavitch movement’s headquarters in Brooklyn. To reach that point, he had to beat around 4,000 Chabad Sunday school kids from 25 countries during local, regional and national playoffs.It’s an especially remarkable achievement for Daniel because this is his first year of formal Jewish education. His twin brother, David Marquez, also attends the Miriam Robbins Chabad Hebrew School in Mississauga—and he also made it to the JewQ finals, winning a gold medal. A third pupil from the same school, Sofia Mejia Perfiliev, 13, took home gold in her older age group.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner meets the three Canadian JewQ finalists—then tries to answer some of their quiz questions, with surprising results. Listen and play along to ask yourself: do you know Jewish better than a third grader?
What we talked about:
- Watch the 2024 JewQ International Torah Championship broadcast
- Take the Grade 7 test yourself, and the other tests from Gr. 3 up.
- Learn more about Mississauga’s Chabad Jewish Discovery Centre and its founding
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Show notes
It’s coming up on five months since Paul Finlayson, a business instructor in the Toronto area, was suspended from teaching at the University of Guelph-Humber, in Nov. 2023. Finlayson, who is not Jewish, is the subject of an internal investigation after several students and staff members filed complaints in the aftermath of Oct. 7. They told the university they felt unsafe on campus after seeing one of his personal social media posts on LinkedIn, in which Finlayson sided with Israel and denounced Hamas’s murder of 1,400 Israelis, saying they want a “barbaric primitive Islamic caliphate and hate all post-enlightenment values.” He suggested that someone who said “From the River to the Sea” was a Nazi, wants dead Jews and supports Hitler.Finlayson took his LinkedIn post down in a matter of days, but a week later, the school suspended him. The complaint—led by a Palestinian colleague—said the professor’s words incited hatred, Islamophobia and possibly even physical violence against Muslims, adding that his post “dehumanized Palestinians”.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Finlayson to find out why he is still fighting for his rights to free expression, despite a climate where “Zionist” has become a dirty word on Canadian campuses.
What we talked about:
- Read more from Finlayson and follow his Substack, called “Freedom to Offend”
- See LinkedIn posts made by complainant prof. Wael Ramadan
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
It’s going to be a special Passover seder this year in Victoria, B.C. for The Klezbians, an all-woman musical group that performs Klezmer music. They’re marking 10 years since the band formed to play professionally in 2014. And even before that, the band and their wider group of Jewish lesbian friends have been holding annual inclusive seders, by invitation only, at a private home.These seders started as an alternative to the women’s unpleasant memories of their experiences as lesbians at their own traditional family seders, which were usually not welcoming spaces for them or their partners. Over the years, guests have created their own seder rituals, including making their own haggadah. The seder is usually accompanied by live klezmer performances of their favourite Passover songs.For a special Erev Passover edition of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by two of The Klezbians to hear their heartwarming story: Debby Yaffe is a retired women’s studies professor from the University of Victoria who plays guitar, and Susan Dempsey is a psychotherapist and counsellor who plays the accordion.
What we talked about:
- Read more about the Klezbians on their official Facebook page
- Check out their music on YouTube
- Check out Bonjour Chai’s “Third Annual Great Canadian Seder”
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Show notes:
In just a few weeks, Ruby Grinberg will be packing her red ball gown and heading to Montreal to compete in the 2024 Miss Canada competition. The 20-year-old Toronto-born political science student will vie for the tiara against 20 other young women in the venerable contest—a pageant that, when it started in the 1940s, was all about beauty and bathing suits, but these days is more about personality.Grinberg isn’t your typical pageant contestant. In fact, she actually entered the event as a bit of a lark. But she isn’t totally unqualified: she’s a world-champion public speaker, debating coach and award-winning community volunteer. She hopes to use her voice and upcoming national platform to raise awareness about cancer, a disease that has directly impacted her own family.However, Grinberg is also acutely aware that being a Jewish woman competing in a public event these days likely will open her up as a target for some ugly antisemitism post Oct. 7, which is why she’s played down that important part of her life… for now. To hear more about her strategy, Grinberg joins The CJN Daily, and later, CJN podcast producer Zac Kauffman tells the history of Connie Gail Feller, his aunt’s sister, who was the first Jewish Miss Canada in 1961.
What we talked about:
- Read more about Ruby Grinberg’s efforts to win Miss Canada, and learn how to vote
- Read about previous Canadian Jewish pageant contestants, from the archives of TheCJN.ca
- Read about the first Jewish Miss Canada from 1962, Connie Gail Feller (Salomon).
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
The week before Passover is always a busy time for supermarkets’ kosher meat sections. But this year, the meat you’ll find is likely different, because of a change in how kosher cows are being slaughtered in Canada.As The CJN Daily reported on earlier this year, the country’s two main kosher certifying bodies, the Kashruth Council of Canada and the Jewish Community Council in Montreal, which runs MK Kosher, have launched a high-profile legal dispute against the Canadian government. At issue are newly enforced regulations designed to make the killing process more humane for animals—but Jewish groups say they are based on bad science and also violate Jewish freedom of religion; plus, they warn, if they have to continue following them, the added costs could effectively end kosher slaughter in Canada.So who is right? How painless is Jewish ritual slaughter of beef, and what does science say? Is this a Charter case or mainly about money? To discuss the issue, we’re joined by Rabbi Allan Nadler, an Orthodox Montreal commentator and professor, and Dr. Joe Regenstein, a food scientist professor emeritus from Cornell University in New York, who is also one of the world’s foremost experts on ritual slaughter.
What we talked about:
- Hear why MK Kosher and COR are suing the Canadian government on The CJN Daily
- Learn about a similar, previous threat to the kosher veal industry in Canada, in The CJN (from 2018)
- Why a Canada-U.S. trade dispute led to higher prices for all kosher imports, in The CJN
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
A delegation of 17 Canadians from British Columbia spent an anxious Saturday night hunkered down in Tel Aviv, watching the skies and waiting for air raid sirens, as Iran made good on its threat to retaliate for the Israeli airstrike that killed two top Iranian military commanders in Syria earlier this month.The overnight barrage of 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched from Iran were been mostly intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces, with help from U.S. and other allied forces in the region. There have been few reports of injuries in what Israel’s army calls a major escalation of hostilities.And stuck in the middle of it all is a delegation led by Vancouver’s Jewish Federation that’s been visiting Israel with provincial and municipal politicians, an Indigenous leader and local donors.They were staying inside while booms and sirens blared in the country. On this breaking-news episode of The CJN Daily, Ezra Shanken, the CEO of Vancouver’s Jewish Federation, joins from his hotel in Tel Aviv to describe what the last 24 hours have been like.
What we talked about:
- Watch Ezra Shanken’s videotaped message from Tel Aviv on the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s X (Twitter) account
- Register for the Jewish Federations of North America special briefing on Israel under Iran attack, on Sunday April 14 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time
- Follow The CJN’s continuing coverage of the Iran attack on Israel, on TheCJN.ca
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Show notes
Two Toronto community leaders have gone public about a legal fight involving one of Canada’s oldest Zionist organizations, which also runs Camp Shalom, a 75-year-old Jewish summer camp in Ontario.David Matlow, a CJN columnist who also lectures widely about Theodore Herzl, has taken the little-known Toronto Zionist Council to court over allegedly restricting who can be a member, claiming the organization only allows Jews who hold right-wing political views on Israel and Zionism. His legal case also alleges years of financial mismanagement by the organization’s former (and one current) directors, negatively impacting the TZC’s neglected Toronto headquarters at 788 Marlee Avenue, and Camp Shalom, in Gravenhurst, Ont.The lawsuit has been before the courts since August 2022. But while it continues, Matlow’s not-so-quiet pressure campaign has already resulted in a partial victory: the replacement of nearly all the longtime TZC directors at the centre of his allegations.Guidy Mamman, a Toronto immigration lawyer, was named the new president of the TZC board, and says he’s vowing to set things right. He wants to help Camp Shalom grow, fix the office building on Marlee, investigate any financial wrongdoing and even try to retrieve any allegedly missing money. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we bring you the full fascinating back story with plaintiff David Matlow and with new TZC president, Guidy Mamman.
What we talked about:
- Read our first part of the investigation into the squalid conditions of The Toronto Zionist Council’s headquarters at 788 Marlee Ave., in The CJN.
- Watch our tour inside 788 Marlee, on The CJN’s YouTube channel.
- See the 1995 letter from Revenue Canada revoking an affiliated charity that illegally sent money to the West Bank.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Show notes
Mount Royal’s Member of Parliament, Anthony Housefather, has made headlines for the past three weeks for publicly mulling over whether to quit the governing Liberal party. He found himself torn after being one of just three members of his own party to reject an anti-Israel motion held in Parliament on March 18.But late on Friday, April 5, Housefather announced he will be staying a Liberal after all. Why? It’s partly because he says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to doing even more to fight the rampant antisemitism in Canada since Oct. 7—and expects Housefather to play an important new role. The exact details will be formally announced sometime before Passover, he tells The CJN.He will likely work together with Canada’s special envoy on combatting antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, to tackle the relentless anti-Israel street protests replete with hateful language that have become regular events. He also wants to find better ways to help Jews feel safer, especially at Jewish buildings and on university campuses.Housefather joins The CJN Daily to explain why he made his choice, and what pushback he’s been receiving from Jewish voters and others who felt he should jump to the Conservatives because of that party’s stronger support for Israel.
What we talked about
- Hear Housefather explain why he thought about quitting the Liberal party after March 18’s anti-Israel vote, on The CJN Daily
- Anthony Housefather intends to run again, in Mount Royal, in The CJN
- Why the Montreal Jewish community received a court injunction blocking aggressive protests outside Jewish buildings until early April, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
For the second time in less than two weeks, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is promising Canadian Jews that he has their backs after Oct. 7 in a way that, he says, Canada’s current prime minister no longer does.Poilievre told a crowd of 600 people at Toronto’s Beth Tikvah synagogue on April 7 that he wants more done to protect Canadian Jews’ rights to live and worship in the country. He called for a crackdown on campus antisemitism, pushed for expanded funding for security around Jewish buildings, and slammed Canadian lawmakers who recently voted in Parliament on March 18 to block arms sales to Israel.The message struck a similar tone to what Poilievre has been promoting in recent weeks—and he’s been finding a receptive audience among Canadian Jews. Many are frustrated with Canada’s resumption of funding for UNRWA, calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, the refusal to denounce a UN court case investigating Israel’s “plausible” genocide against Palestinians—not to mention the fact that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not yet visited Israel, despite Hamas murdering eight Canadian civilians during the terrorist attacks six months ago.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we followed Poilievre during his weekend campaign through Jewish Toronto. You’ll hear from Rabbi Jarrod Grover, who invited him; Rabbi Adam Cutler, and community leaders Claire Horowitz, Karen Kizell and Stan Korolnek. Plus, we tracked down Ephraim Shore, the mysterious rabbi whom the Conservative leader often credits with sparking his support for Israel and the Jewish people decades ago.
What we talked about
- See Pierre Poilievre’s Toronto speech to Beth Tikvah congregation on April 7, 2024, and also watch his speech at the Six Months in Hell Rally for the hostages at Nathan Philips Square on YouTube
- Read more about Poilievre’s stance on Jewish issues, from a November 2023 announcement he made at Shaarei Shomayim Synaogogue in Toronto, in The CJN
- Why Poilievre didn’t sanction three Conservative MPs who met with a far-right anti-immigrant European politician in 2023, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
With over 41,000 members and counting, the Everything Jewish Toronto Facebook group has found itself serving as an unofficial online public square for Canada’s largest Jewish community. The group was created a decade ago by two Toronto sisters–Jennifer Stallman and Brittney Waxman Sultan–as a vehicle to promote Jewish businesses, for a fee, to a Jewish audience.It has since morphed into a popular online space where Jewish people who aren’t necessarily members of a synagogue or of other formal Jewish organizations, could connect: find a hairdresser, book a lawyer or even rent an apartment. But since Oct. 7, Everything Jewish Toronto has exploded with hundreds of posts per day from members reporting on the Israel-Hamas war, on efforts to free the hostages, and updating when they encounter instances of antisemitism, boycotts, vandalism and threats as a result of the anti-Israel protests happening in Toronto-area schools, hospitals, stores and especially on the streets.So who is behind Everything Jewish Toronto? How do they decide who can join, who can post, and how do they keep the level of discourse civil in a space that can often be flooded with online trolls and hate? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we meet the founders: sisters Jennifer Stallman and Brittney Sultan.What we talked about:
- Learn more about Everything Jewish Toronto on Facebook.
- See Entertain Kids on a Dime, a related website run by one of the sisters.
- If you missed Ellin on ‘Bonjour Chai’s last episode about whether Canada is really so antisemitic (because it sure feels like it), listen here on The CJN website.
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Just two months after Justin Trudeau held a closed-door meeting with Toronto’s Jewish leaders, the Canadian prime minister spent an hour last week doing the same thing at a Vancouver synagogue, Temple Sholom. Trudeau met privately with four leading community rabbis and the local Federation’s chair of the community security committee. Sources tell The CJN the meeting was arranged in advance by the Liberal MP for Vancouver Granville, Taleeb Noormohamed.While there are 10 members of the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver, the meeting was kept small. Several told The CJN they received criticism from their community for attending, because the meeting came a week after the Liberal government supported an NDP motion on March 18, in the House of Commons, that resulted in halting arms sales to Israel, resuming funding for UNRWA, and—before the language was hastily amended—would have seen Canada unilaterally recognize Palestine as a state.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom explains why he felt it was important to “take the prime minister to task” on a half-dozen key issues.
What we talked about:
- See and sign the petition to stop the B.C. Ministry of Education from including the Nakba (meaning “The Catastrophe”, what Palestinians call Israel’s 1948 War of Independence) in the provincial social studies curriculum
- Watch Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s speech at Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue in Montreal on March 26, 2024
- When Justin Trudeau quietly met with Toronto Jewish leaders in Jan. 2024—and why some rabbis left dissatisfied, on The CJN Daily
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
I got to be a guest on The CJN's 'Bonjour Chai' this week, and actually gave my personal opinions about the past 6 months of being a Jewish journalist in Canada. On The CJN Daily, I don't usually state my opinions, so this is a big debut for me! Here's the show as a special bonus Sunday episode.
A slew of headlines came out this week, within Canada and beyond, warning of a rising tide of antisemitism within Canada. It’s not just Fox News and the National Post—_when the Times of Israel is reporting on Canadian Jews worrying their “golden age” is over, and the _Globe and Mail warns of a “dangerous slide into antisemitism“, you know things have gotten bad.Nobody knows this better than Ellin Bessner, host of The CJN Daily, who has been reporting on day-to-day antisemitic acts, political shifts and everything else in the Jewish community since she started her breaking-news podcast in May 2021. To help understand the cultural shift, as well as Canadian government’s recent actions and internal divisions vis-a-vis Israel, she joins for a macro view of everything that’s happened in the last month (and longer).
What we talked about
- Subscribe to The CJN Daily at thecjn.ca
- Hear Ya’ara Saks explain her now-infamous photo with Mahmoud Abbas on The CJN Daily
- Hear Anthony Housefather waver on whether he’ll stay in the Liberal Party, on The CJN Daily
CreditsBonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. 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. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast’s Substack.
In the early days after the shock of Oct. 7, many Diaspora Jewish communities including Canada swung into action to send military equipment, clothing and medical supplies to Israel–along with emergency financial help. But with the conflict in its sixth month and over 130 Israeli hostages still being held in captivity, grass roots groups have sprung up from coast to coast to coast, as Canadians take their all their grief and worry from the past few months and try to do something positive with it: some with their hands, some with their feet, and some with light.They are getting out in the world and encouraging others to start moving towards hope-even if it’s just for a few blocks (or a few hats or prayers).On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we meet members of Run for Their Lives: Toronto’s Tovit Neizer, Thornhill’s Michelle Factor and Vancouver’s Daphna Kedem, plus Calgary’s Michele Doctoroff, who runs, too, but also helms the Knitzvah Project: creating warm hats for IDF soldiers. And you’ll hear about Gale Star’s growing Candles4Israel initiative, now taking place in homes every Friday night in her Toronto neighbourhood.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Run for Their Lives campaign and find a chapter near you.
- Read more about Daphna Kedem’s activism in Vancouver, in The CJN.
- See the pattern to knit toques for IDF soldiers, and learn more about other knitting projects for the IDF, in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Just days after Canadian lawmakers voted to stop further export permits of arms sales to Israel, the Israeli ambassador to Ottawa, Iddo Moed, hinted the move would not go unanswered. He told The CJN that Canada’s decision to halt weapons sales—even though the motion was non-binding on the government—sent “the wrong message at the wrong time.”However, Moed denied that Canada’s new policy would make it harder for Israel to defend itself in its current war against Hamas. This is a walk back from comments the ambassador made earlier last week to other media organizations.So how does Israel now view Canada’s pivot in military support for Israel after the March 18 House of Commons vote? What does Israel make of Canada becoming the first G7 country to renew funding for UNRWA, before the UN’s own internal investigation is finished? Is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even welcome in Israel anymore? Moed returns to _The CJN Daily _nearly six months after his first interview with us, which took place just hours following the Oct. 7 massacre.
What we talked about
- Follow Iddo Moed on Twitter to see his daily posts about the remaining hostages
- Hear Moed’s first interview with The CJN Daily after Oct. 7, on The CJN.ca (transcript available)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Canadian Liberal MP Anthony Housefather is clear about one thing: he will run for office again in the riding of Mount Royal—and he expects to win. But he’s undecided about whether he’ll stick with the federal Liberals, or choose instead to cross the aisle or even sit as an independent. The 51-year-old, who has represented his riding since 2015, says has been “reflecting” on his political future since Monday, after he found himself one of only three Members of Parliament from the governing party who voted against a motion outlining Canada’s official stance on the Israel-Hamas war.Housefather has been a loyal Liberal for 30 years, but this past week he hinted that he wasn’t sure whether he still fits. His House of Commons speech, entitled “I am a Canadian, I am a Jew, I am a Zionist,” was a cri de coeur _outlining the anxiety and fear that many Canadian Jews now feel amidst a spike in antisemitism seen after Oct. 7. In his view, the federal government has shifted towards a harder stance against the Israeli government’s actions in response to the Hamas massacre.So what’s Housefather’s next move? Might he leave the federal scene for a second career in provincial politics? How has he been handling the alarming antagonism from both the right and left? To answer these questions, Housefather sat down with Ellin Bessner on _The CJN Daily for an extensive and insightful interview.
Related links
- Read Anthony Housefather’s interview with The CJN Daily in print form, on The CJN.ca
- Watch Anthony Housefather’s speech to Parliament
- How the NDP channelled Vivian Silver and the Holocaust in pushing for Canada to recognize Palestine, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Embattled cabinet minister Ya’ara Saks says it was her “choice” to meet with the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas last week in Ramallah, and that includes posing for photos that show him holding her arm and hand.The Liberal MP for a heavily Jewish Toronto riding, the Canadian-Israeli has been heavily criticized by community members since those photos were posted March 14 on the official social media account of Canada’s foreign minister Mélanie Joly. (They were not posted on any of the accounts belonging to Saks herself.)Saks says she “was asked to go” with Joly on a diplomatic swing through Israel and the West Bank, and is adamant that despite the optics, it was “important for me to be in that room.”Ya’ara Saks joins The CJN Daily to explain the background to THAT photo, what she told Abbas and why she voted “yes” to a controversial NDP motion passed Monday in the House of Commons that many say rewarded Hamas terrorists.What we talked about:
- Read Ya’ara Saks statement on her Facebook page or on her Twitter(X).
- Ya’ara Saks on protests in Toronto since Oct. 7 in The CJN, and read Josh Lieblein’s opinion column, in The CJN.
- Learn more about the World Wide reciting of the Shema prayer set for Thursday 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Late Monday night, March 18, 2024, Canada’s lawmakers voted to keep a key part of the country’s foreign policy on Israel-Palestine the same as it’s been for decades.The controversial opposition-led motion, originally put forward to the House of Commons by the NDP’s foreign affairs critic and a longtime Palestinian advocate, Heather McPherson, called for Canada to immediately recognize Palestine as a state. She and others donned keffiyehs and watermelon pins during the House vote.But a last-minute deal with the Liberal government saw the NDP agree to remove that seemingly critical demand. In the end, the motion simply restated Canada’s longstanding view that a Palestinian state must be contingent on a two-state solution, and should come only as part of a negotiated peace between Israel and Palestinians.The motion, which is non-binding and purely symbolic, nonetheless passed 204-117, leading to celebrations from the NDP, Green Party and Bloc Québécois—while Jewish communal organizations swiftly expressed outrage over the motion’s call for an immediate ceasefire, continued funding for UNRWA and a ban on weapons sales to Israel. (The motion also calls for the immediate release of Israeli hostages and blames Hamas for the murders and kidnappings of Israelis.)On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we bring you highlights from the fiery debate, including words from Jewish MPs who voted against the motion—including Anthony Housefather, Melissa Lantsman and Marty Morantz—as well as Jewish MPs who voted in favour, such as Liberal Julie Dabrusin and the NDP’s Leah Gazan. (Karina Gould and Ya'ara Saks also voted in favour, while Ben Carr voted no.)
The photo has caused outrage in Canada’s Jewish community. Last week, the government released an image of the minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly, and Ya’ara Saks—her Israeli-Canadian cabinet colleague and Toronto area MP—smiling and holding hands in Ramallah with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. The grip and grin photo was taken on March 12, while the two Canadian politicians were on a diplomatic swing through the region, pledging aid to both sides while the war between Israel and Hamas enters its 24th week.The furor over the photo comes just as Canadian lawmakers on Monday are set to debate a key NDP motion in Parliament which, among other things, would see this country unilaterally recognize Palestine as an independent state.Will this motion will pass? What is Canada signalling about whose side they are on, now that Ottawa has also restarted financial aid to UNRWA, blocked export permits for military equipment to Israel and pledged $1 million to investigate sexual assaults on Palestinian prisoners by Israeli police and soldiers? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we dive into that infamous photo, the upcoming vote and what it all means. With Conservative insider Anthony Koch of AK Strategies; Emma Cunningham, a former Ontario NDP riding president; and Joe Roberts, formerly of JSpace Canada, and now a lobbyist and managing director with Winston Wilmont Public Affairs in Ottawa.
What we talked about:
- Read the NDP motion on recognizing Palestine as an independent state, on the House of Commons website.
- When the Liberals voted in favour of an NDP motion to re-examine Canada’s relationship with Israel and Palestine, in May 2023, on The CJN Daily.
- Read about Emma Cunningham’s departure from the Ontario NDP over antisemitism, in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
It’s been a week since Selina Robinson scorched her premier and former B.C. NDP colleagues for their “silence” after Oct. 7, and for the way they’ve treated the prominent Jewish politician ever since. Robinson quit the governing party on March 6—the day of her 60th birthday—releasing a blistering five-page letter.Robinson said she was heartbroken, but felt compelled to leave when her premier, David Eby rejected her “too political” offer to host a bridge-building initiative between Muslims and Jews. He’d already fired her from her cabinet post as the minister responsible for post-secondary education back in February.Her troubles began when she participated in a live webinar hosted by B’nai Brith in January, wherein she described pre-1948 Israel as a “crappy piece of land” without an economy. Despite issuing two long apologies and offering to take anti-Islamophobia training, the premier declared she had “screwed up” too badly.Since the controversy began, she’s received a death threat that forced her to leave Canada for a while. Her constituency office was vandalized with posters comparing Zionism to Nazism. But Robinson vows she won’t be cancelled so easily.Selina Robinson sat down with _The CJN Daily _ahead of Wednesday March 13, the day she sits in the provincial legislature for the first time as an independent MLA representing her Coquitlam-Maillardville riding in Vancouver.
What we talked about
- Read about the B.C. Jewish community’s outrage after Selina Robinson got fired from cabinet, in The CJN
- Watch the controversial remarks which Selina Robinson made on Jan. 30, 2024, during her webinar with B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights
- Read the full text of Selina Robinson’s resignation letter from the B.C. NDP caucus
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Canada’s main kosher supervision agencies, the Kashruth Council of Canada (COR) and the Jewish Community Council in Montreal, which runs the MK brand, do not believe Canada wants to ban kosher slaughter. But they say new regulations to reduce animal suffering will have the same impact and puts the nation’s entire domestic kosher meat industry “very much at risk”.COR and MK and two of the country’s largest kosher meat producers—Shefa and Mehadrin—are launching a legal challenge to the country’s new slaughter regulations, which were introduced in 2019 but have only begun being enforced since 2023.Under the regulations, animals must be first stunned with a bolt to the brain, which is not permitted under Jewish law. Alternative methods are also being allowed, such as stunning after the neck is cut, with is still a no, or giving the animals more time to die—but will cost meat processors too much money to make it profitable much longer, the plaintiffs argue.The collective of Jewish organizations filed for a judicial review on March 8, 2024, in the Federal Court of Canada. They’re arguing that kosher slaughter is already humane—and say they have the science to prove it. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear the backstory from Richard Rabkin, managing director of COR, and Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the history of similar threats to kosher meat production in Canada, in The CJN archives
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
For decades, Israeli entrepreneurs have been mounting traveling real estate trade shows here in Canada, to encourage Diaspora Jews to buy property in Israel.But in the wake of Oct. 7, there has been renewed attention paid to anything having to do with Israel and Palestinians, meaning several of these annual real estate events in Montreal and Toronto last week touched off large, aggressive anti-Israel street protests. Critics accuse the promoters (and buyers) of stealing Palestinian land, especially because some of the apartments for sale are located in disputed areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN and Canada consider these illegal settlements because they are still under Israeli military rule since being captured during the 1967 Six Day War.So are the protests hurting business, or are they having the opposite effect, as Diaspora Jews worried about the rising antisemitism at home look for a safer place to live or invest in Israel as a show of support? On today’s The CJN Daily, we go inside one of the real estate events in Toronto to see what they are all about. We also speak with Israeli promoter Gidon Katz of the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, and with Ben Murane, head of the New Israel Fund of Canada, who explains why the event is problematic for many.
[Ed. note: Organizers of this past week’s Israeli Real Estate Event have been a client of The CJN for many years, buying ad space in our magazines and other news products. ]
What we talked about:
- Read more about the protests at two Israel real estate sales events in Toronto, and also at the tour’s stop in Montreal, in The CJN.
- Israeli real estate events have been visiting Canada since at least 2009, in The CJN.
- Watch and learn more about the made-in-Canada Oscars’ antisemitism ad that was originally supposed to air during the Super Bowl in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence against women, and may be disturbing to some listeners.
On March 4, days before International Women’s Day, the office of the UN’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict released their long-awaited report on what happened to Israeli women near Gaza on Oct. 7. The report paints a gruesome picture of what happened to some of the 300 Israeli women who were attacked and killed by Hamas—and also warns that hostages still being held in Gaza are likely still being rape and tortured.The UN’s fact-finding mission to Israel took place last month, with the blessing of the Israeli government. And the resulting 23-page report is important for a whole host of reasons. Supporters say it spells out, for the first time—despite repeated denials by Hamas and their supporters—”clear and reasonable grounds” to believe rapes, and even gang rapes, happened that day. It also cites “clear and convincing” grounds sexual violence happened to hostages—then, and even now.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak to Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a professor and Israeli legal expert on women’s rights, who helped make this report happen. She was in Toronto.
What we talked about
- Read the UN special representative’s report on sexual violence during and after Oct. 7
- Learn more about the work of Ruth Halperin-Kaddari at Bar Ilan University and the Rackman Centre
- Hear Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer, explain why she was “ashamed” it took her so long to pay attention to #believeIsraeliwomen, on The CJN Daily (and read other CJN coverage)
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
It’s been more than 150 days since Hamas captured Israeli hostages on Oct. 7 and took them into Gaza. Hamas leaders claim they don’t know where all the hostages are, or even if they are all still alive. But Nir Maman, a security expert who lives in Toronto, has his theories—including his take on why the Israel Defense Forces haven’t been able to rescue them.Maman, 47, is one of the older volunteers who’ve flocked to the Jewish State to help his native country respond to the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. But despite his age, Maman offers a special set of skills: the married father of five is also an elite counter-terrorism expert who trains police and military in North America and Israel how to rescue hostages and conduct urban warfare.For the last four months, Maman has been deployed with an IDF light infantry reserve battalion in Hebron, in the West Bank. He’s been manning checkpoints, hunting for terrorist cells and conducting raids.He was on leave back home in Canada last week, for just 11 days, until it was cut short by a surprise summons to return to the front lines—this time, in Gaza. He spoke to _The CJN Daily _during his furlough, about what the war has been like and whether Israel can rescue the remaining hostages.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Maman and his CT707 counter-terrorism company
- Follow Maman on Instagram
- Learn about other lone soldiers in the IDF on The CJN Daily and in The CJN
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Brian Mulroney didn’t meet a Jew until he left his home in Quebec to go to boarding school. Yet despite this, the Canadian prime minister, who died on Feb. 29, made fighting antisemitism and supporting Jews—and Israel—priorities during his lengthy political career.Mulroney, 84, died after a fall in the bathroom of his home in Palm Beach, Florida, friends say. He had recently been treated for prostate cancer. Mulroney served as prime minister for nine years, from 1984 to 1993. He resigned due to growing separatist sentiments in Quebec, a recession and record-low popular support.However, Jewish leaders and experts say Mulroney’s support for Jews in and out of office was remarkable. His dedication included hiring a succession of Jewish political advisors to be his chiefs of staff; appointing Norman Spector as the first Jewish ambassador to represent Canada in Israel; establishing a public inquiry to investigate how Nazi war criminals were allowed into Canada after the Holocaust; and welcoming Chaim Herzog, then the president of Israel, as the first leader of the Jewish State to address Parliament, in 1989.On today’s edition of The CJN Daily, we explore why Canada’s 18th prime minister felt moved to fight what he called “a noxious social cancer” of antisemitism, even to his last days. We hear from philanthropist Charles Bronfman; Irwin Cotler, the former special envoy on combatting antisemitism; political panelist for _The CJN Daily _Stephen Adler; and Don Abelson, the founding director of the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government in Nova Scotia.
What we talked about:
- Read professors Don Abelson and Monda Halpern’s scholarly paper about Brian Mulroney and the Jews, “On the Right Side of History”
- Read Ron Csillag’s article about Brian Mulroney’s legacy, in The CJN
- Watch Mulroney’s last public speech, to the World Jewish Congress in New York, from Nov. 2023
- Why criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitism, Mulroney said: in The CJN archives
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
On Feb. 26, Canada signalled it is done waiting for internet giants and social media companies to protect children from consuming or being victims of harmful online content. Justice minister Arif Virani introduced Bill C-63, which sets up a new Digital Safety Commission to handle these cases and impose multimillion-dollar fines on social media sites for not complying.For the Jewish community, the new law would also toughen penalties for those who incite hatred, including antisemitism, and promote genocide or Holocaust denial.It’s a long-awaited piece of legislation for Jewish advocacy groups like CIJA, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal and B’nai Brith: all have been warning about the dangerous explosion of online hate, saying that it could lead to actual terrorism, especially after Oct. 7. But some critics, including the federal Conservatives, fear the new law may go too far in curbing free speech, and have hinted they will vote against it as the proposed law now makes its way through Parliament.On today’s The CJN Daily, we speak with Bernie Farber, who was one of the consultants hired by the government to shape the new legislation, and with professor Michael Geist, an internet law expert from the University of Ottawa, who sees some red flags.
What we talked about:
- Read more about the Ottawa teenager charged in December with a terror-related bomb making plot against Canadian Jews, in The CJN
- Read how Canadian Jewish leaders reacted to the Canadian government’s new Online Harms Bill, in The CJN
- See the actual Online Harms Act for yourself on the Government of Canada’s website and read the accompanying explanation
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Last Thursday, Feb. 22, the school of business at McGill University in Montreal had to quickly cancel its in-person classes and switch to online learning, because anti-Israel protesters blocked access to the department’s Bronfman building, off Sherbrooke St. W. The protest was called by a campus Palestinian club and was the latest incident in an escalation of what the authors of a new study have found was an alarming rise of antisemitism on Canadian university campuses, especially after Oct. 7.Researchers at the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI) released their 2023 campus antisemitism report on Feb. 16. It documents the “intimidation, harassment, and regrettably, violent behaviour against Jewish students” and also the “blatant targeting of Jewish students”, and calls into question the effectiveness of the institutions’ embrace of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. They also gave letter marks for each of the universities: York, University of Toronto and Concordia got the lowest grades of F, while five schools weren’t much safer: University of Victoria, Queen’s, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), UBC and Lethbridge–they all scored Ds and D-.Dr. Neil Orlowsky is Director of Education for the AGPI, and he joins to review the findings, and why he feels parents should consider the report before advising their teens where to attend university this fall.
What we talked about:
- Read how a blockade impacted classes at the McGill University Bronfman building last Thursday, in The CJN.
- Read the AGPI’s 2024 report on campus antisemitism, and hearThe CJN’s coverage of the AGPI’sfirst report in 2022 on the best and worst schools for Canadian Jews, on The CJN Daily.
- Excellent campus safety resources page for Jewish students in Montreal, by Federation CJA.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Gary Grill and Leora Shemesh want an apology from the owners of the Toronto Raptors basketball team, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. On Feb. 22, security at Scotiabank Arena asked Grill to remove his black-and-white “Free Our Hostages” sweatshirt while the two were watching the Raptors play the Brooklyn Nets at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The reason given? Because it was “political”.On principle, Grill chose to leave, rather than remove his hoodie–a gift from Shemesh. Now the friends, who are both criminal defence lawyers, are calling the act discrimination—even though MLSE’s website clearly prohibits fans having “signs, symbols or images for commercial or political purposes”. Despite the longstanding ban, which is common among sports arenas and not unique to Toronto, Grill and Shemesh say they could take legal action.Did they know about the rule but choose to ignore it? Was this a stunt to provoke attention to the plight of the 140 hostages still held in captivity by Hamas? Or was it a genuinely unexpected brush with an overzealous security officer? Grill and Shemesh join _The CJN Daily _to explain what happened, why they went public afterword, and whether this is good for the Jews.
Related links
- Read MLSE's code of conduct
- Why Phoebe Maltz Bovy was triggered by Kiana Ledé wearing a Keffiyeh to sing the U.S. national anthem at the NHL All-Star game, in The CJN
- Why the Toronto Raptors never went on their promised trip to Israel after winning the NBA championship in 2019, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
On Jan. 30, a striking piece of pop-up theatre was staged near Vancouver’s art gallery. A man dressed as a Hamas militant marched a woman in a white top and grey sweatpants down the street—her hands tied together, her crotch blood-stained (with dye, not real blood). Behind them was a placard: “This is what free Palestine looks like.”
It was a re-enactment of one of the most infamous videos shot on Oct. 7, in which Hamas terrorists kidnapped an Israeli teenager and stuffed her into a black jeep. The video fuelled widespread speculation that the young woman had been sexually abused by Hamas terrorists.The Vancouver protest was the initiative of Nonviolent Opposition Against Hate (NOAH), a fledgling organization created by two Israeli expats that aims to counteract the louder anti-Israel voices in British Columbia’s largest cities.
Those organizers are not alone—other groups have staged similar protests, including one organization called Canadians for Israel, in Toronto, which on Feb. 14 held a street side re-enactment of the same Hamas incident. While the Toronto's event's stated goal is to call attention to the female hostages still believed to be in captivity in Gaza, and pressure the federal government to do more to demand the hostages' immediate release, the group on the West Coast aims to warn Canadians that Hamas's message represents real danger for all Jews around the world.
On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, NOAH co-founder Asaf Arad explains why he personally dressed up like a Hamas terrorist and marched in Vancouver to make the powerful statement.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the NOAH initiative via their Instagram account, and watch their street demonstration video on YouTube. They are now fundraising through Gofundme, at this link
- Follow the Toronto activist group Canadians for Israel, on Facebook. Read about them in The CJN
- Read more about the Enough_T.O. sticker initiative, just launched to bring back civility and dialogue in Canada’s largest city
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Insp. Paul Rinkoff was known to Jewish leaders in Toronto before Oct. 7, 2023 for his diplomatic, low-key approach to establishing good relationships between the Toronto police and the Jewish community. But since the Hamas attack on Israel last Thanksgiving, Rinkoff has been thrust into the very public spotlight–as the highest profile Jewish officer in charge of the police force’s community partnerships and engagement unit.While Rinkoff also oversees police outreach to Toronto’s other ethnic and racialized groups, including Palestinians and Muslims, what’s happened since Oct. 7 is obviously deeply personal- he’s also co-chair of the Jewish consultative committee for the police.The veteran officer was born to a Jewish family from England, raised in St. Catharines, Ont. where his parents are still active in the Niagara Jewish community, he reads Hebrew, he went on Birthright, he’s visited Auschwitz, and is a proud alumnus of the Chidon Hatanach, the National Bible Contest for Jewish students.Rinkoff, 44, says the Toronto police have had to manage over 340 protest rallies since Oct. 7, including last week’s targeting of the Mount Sinai Hospital, plus investigate an unprecedented number of hate crimes and graffiti, resulting in over 54 arrests and 117 charges to date.Rinkoff recently took The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner on a tour of one of the two Toronto police command posts erected in Jewish areas and then shared what it has been like for him to be the Jewish point person during this fraught, historic time.
What we talked about:
- Watch more about Inspector Paul Rinkoff and his advice for the Jewish community on safety in this webinar by UJA Federation Toronto’s Real Estate Division from Dec. 2023. He appears at 29:00
- Watch an upcoming live seminar from Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw speaking to B’nai Brith on Feb. 29, 2024.
- Read more about Toronto Police Services hate crime statistics since Oct. 7 in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
As hospitals in Toronto announce they are beefing up their security procedures following Monday's anti-Israel protest outside Mount Sinai Hospital, on Feb. 14 police were called to the Thornhill constituency office of Canada's deputy Conservative party leader, Melissa Lantsman. Her staff arrived to work Wednesday to find anti-Israel posters plastering her office's front windows.
After more than four months of anti-Israel protests popping up seemingly everywhere in major cities, calls are getting louder for police to start cracking down on intimidation and harassment of Canadian Jews.
But Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, says banning these protests outright would be a dangerous thing—even though many Jews find them annoying, scary or even fuelled by hatred. It's an opinion she knows might be unpopular, but she joins The CJN Daily to explain her case.
What we talked about
- Read more about the Canadian Civil Liberties Association position on protests in The CJN
- Read more about the vandalism at Melissa Landsman’s office in The CJN
- Learn why the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is challenging Quebec’s Bill 21, which bans religious symbols at work for public servants
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Canada’s century-old Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto was founded in 1923 by Jewish doctors who couldn’t find work elsewhere due to antisemitic hiring policies of the day. Now, the hospital which treats patients of all faiths and employs staff from all walks of life, has become the latest flashpoint for anti-Israel protesters and their campaign of intimidation and targeting of Jewish-affiliated institutions across Canada–in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and the Israeli government’s declaration of war in Gaza four months ago.It’s exactly the kind of thing that’s been keeping Deborah Lyons awake at night. Lyons is Canada’s Special Envoy to combat antisemitism and to promote Holocaust remembrance. She started her job in October, right after Oct. 7.Lyons says stopping the rampant antisemitism now facing the Jewish community in this country, will take a team effort: from Canadian leaders in business, academia, politics, other religions, and also of course law enforcement. She’s put them on notice that they must step up and do more.Lyons joins today’s episode of The CJN Daily for a report card on her first four months in office.
What we talked about:
- Read about Ambassador Lyons’ appointment as Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and for Holocaust Remembrance, in The CJN. Hear Ambassador Lyons’ debut interview on The CJN Daily from Nov. 2023.
- Read the Bloc Québecois’ Bill 373 to toughen Canada’s hate crimes laws outlawing antisemitic speech, to now include religious speech or opinions based on religious books
- Read more about the reaction to the Mount Sinai Hospital protests, in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
You may have heard the story of Adi Vital-Kaploun, the Canadian citizen who was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. The 33-year-old scientist died in the safe room of her home, murdered while protecting her two sons: four-month-old Eshel and four-year-old Negev.
The boys, and their father survived the massacre, as did Adi's father, Yaron Vital. But for days, no one knew if Adi was dead or taken hostage—until her body was found booby-trapped under a bed.
It's a series of events that Yaron Vital and his wife, Jacqui—who is originally from Ottawa—have retold countless times, mostly on Zoom presentations with synagogues and Jewish groups. They have transformed their grief into a mission to share her story with the world. That includes many in-person meetings with well-wishers who want to help support Adi's family—despite little assistance from the Canadian government.
On this episode of The CJN Daily, the Vitals recount their daughter's inspiring, horrifying final hours, and explain what the future looks like for Adi's bereaved husband and their two traumatized sons.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Adi Vital-Kaploun, 33, in The CJN
- Make a tax-deductible donation to help Eshel and Negev Kaploun through AJA50 Plus and Canada Helps. (Note that donations must be accompanied by a message that the donation is for Adi’s children.)
- Learn more about the store belonging to Adi's grandfather, Irving Rivers, located in Ottawa's ByWard Market
Credits
Special thanks to Sheila Osterer and the AJA 50+ group in Ottawa for inviting us to attend the Vitals' presentation on Jan. 23, 2024, with permission to use the audio.The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Two weeks ago, Canada joined the United States and other top Western donors in announcing they will suspend further funding to UNWRA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The move comes after intelligence from Israel and other sources proved the extent to which thousands of UNWRA employees and their family members have ties to Hamas—in some cases, even being full Hamas members and taking part directly in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, kidnapping and hiding hostages.Canadian lawyer Hillel Neuer runs the Geneva-based UN Watch, which helped reveal some of that damning evidence. He brought to light a 3,000-member UNWRA teachers’ chat group on Telegram that vocally supported the attack on Israel. UN Watch also exposed the identities of UNWRA teachers who proudly trumpet anti-Israel hate on their social media accounts.UNWRA has now launched its own official investigation, due at the end of April. But already there are calls to allow the discredited agency to be allowed to weed out the few “bad apples”, and for full funding to be restored. due to the humanitarian emergency and displacement of the vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents during Israel’s war with Hamas, now entering its fifth month.Hillel Neuer joins Ellin Bessner on _The CJN Daily _to explain why he thinks UNWRA should be disbanded permanently—but probably won’t be.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Canada announcing it will pause funding for UNWRA, and what new agencies will get the money instead, in The CJN
- Watch Hillel Neuer’s testimony (eight minutes) before the U.S. Congress on Jan. 30, on YouTube
- Read when the UN launched investigation in 2014 after missiles were discovered in UNRWA buildings in Gaza during war with Israel, in The CJN
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
One of the lesser-known consequences of the horrific Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, has been the shutdown of normal life for Israelis living in northern Israel: hundreds of families who live near the border with Lebanon had to be evacuated from their homes to escape the barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah forces, which continues to this day. And that has meant the suspension of hockey games and practise for the small coterie of Israeli players in the country’s hockey program housed at the Canadian-founded arena in Metulla.But thanks to Canadian supporters of the Israeli hockey program, the Vancouver and Winnipeg Jewish communities, and Maccabi Canada, twenty hockey players between the ages of 12-18 got a break from the tension and anxiety of living through the war, with an all-expenses-paid two week trip to Canada.One group visited Vancouver, while another visited Winnipeg-where they got to practise at the Winnipeg Jets’ training arena, meet with Indigenous elders and the local Jewish day school, and even throw some strikes at a local bowling alley.Last month, the teens travelled to Toronto to end their trip, with the requisite stop at the CN Tower and a visit to what some might consider the shrine to the game of hockey: The Hockey Hall of Fame.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, producer Zachary Kauffman speaks to Liv Sharabi, 18, who plays defence for the Israel Women’s National Team; Maksim Dashanov, also 18, who played defence on Israel’s gold-medal winning U18 Men’s National hockey team at the 2023 World Championships in Iceland, and to chaperone Melissa Wronzberg, a veteran Canadian women’s hockey player.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Mike Levin and the Israeli U20 Men’s national hockey team’s quest for gold at the IIHF World Championships in Bulgaria last weekend, in The CJN.
- Read why Israel’s U20 men’s hockey team nearly didn’t play the 2024 IIHF tournament for Division lll, in The CJN.
- Hear player Melissa Wronzberg on The CJN’s Menschwarmers podcast on why women’s hockey had a moment during the 2022 Maccabiah games in Israel.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Mike Levin and the Israeli U20 Men’s national hockey team’s quest for gold at the IIHF World Championships in Bulgaria last weekend, in The CJN.
- Read why Israel’s U20 men’s hockey team nearly didn’t play the 2024 IIHF tournament for Division lll, in The CJN.
- Hear player Melissa Wronzberg on The CJN’s Menschwarmers podcast on why women’s hockey had a moment during the 2022 Maccabiah games in Israel.
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
On Feb. 1, the Canadian government announced it wants to postpone until 2027 the commitment to expand medical assistance in dying (MAiD), which currently does not allow patients with mental illness to end their lives with a physician’s or nurse practitioner’s help.MAiD has been legal for terminally ill patients since 2016, and since 2021, for those with chronic illness, allowing nearly 45,000 Canadians to subsequently legally end their lives with the program. That number is growing every year.The new mental health provision was actually supposed to come into effect this March, already a year later than originally planned. But the Liberal cabinet says the country’s health system still isn’t ready.While Orthodox Jews are prohibited from taking one’s own life, and also medically assisting someone to end their own life, there is now some room for more nuanced approaches for MAiD within the Conservative and Reform branches of the Jewish community—although expanding the program for patients suffering from mental illness is not yet on the books in this country. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Ellin speaks with Rabbi Louis J. Sachs of Toronto’s Beth Torah synagogue, who has come to support MAiD, and also with Dr. Karen Devon, a surgeon at Women’s College Hospital and Toronto General, who is one of the nearly 2,000 Canadian physicians trained to carry out medically assisted deaths.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about how a Vancouver Jewish nursing home became a flashpoint for medically assisted deaths in Canada, in The CJN
- Read Lila Sarick’s feature article on MAiD and Jewish seniors’ homes, from The CJN archives (2020)
- Read the in-depth report from the Canadian government on MAiD use in Canada from 2016-2022
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
As the rabbinic leader at Temple Sinai Congregation in Toronto, Rabbi Michael Dolgin has gotten used to speaking to a crowd. But now Dolgin and an all-Canadian cast are appearing in a new commercial about combating antisemitism that was filmed completely in Toronto in January, mainly in the Kensington Market. The ad was commissioned by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, set up in 2019 by Robert Kraft, the American Jewish billionaire philanthropist and owner of the New England Patriots.
The ripped-from-the-headlines story shows how an American teenager's bar mitzvah service was interrupted by a bomb threat in Massachusetts just days after Hamas's attack on Israel last October. The stranded Jewish worshippers had to evacuate the building, but found themselves quickly welcomed in by an Evangelical church across the road in Attleboro.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Dolgin joins to describe why the role was actually created with him in mind—and what he hopes the ad will do, now that it is out online and will air at the Oscars telecast on March 10.
[Ed note: the interview was done when the cast was told their ad would be aired during the Super Bowl in February, however the organizers chose to use one with a former speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King.]
What we talked about
- Watch the new commercial
- Read more about the behind the scenes of the Canadian-filmed ad, in The CJN.
- Learn more about the Ernie’s Books project run by Liberation 75, which distributes free Holocaust books to Grade 6 students and their teachers
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
When the trustees of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board convene their monthly public meeting on Tuesday Jan. 30, the trustee for Zone 9, Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, will not be permitted to participate. It’s a result of the sanctions imposed on the high-profile physician, back in December, for what the board voted were breaches of their trustees’ code of conduct. In effect, the sanctions bar her from fully carrying out her elected role, which also means keeping her off five school board committees for the next three months.Kaplan-Myrth maintains she did nothing to justify the punishments in what she calls an “Orwellian” situation. Rather, she feels the code of conduct has been weaponized because she was forcefully pointing out how the Ottawa school board and some of its trustees routinely ignore her situation as a victim of rampant antisemitism and sexism: she has been the target of constant hateful emails and even death threats, including several currently being handled by police.Kaplan-Myrth has now asked for a leave of absence while she appeals the sanctions through the court system and elsewhere. But with two and a half years left on her term, the beleaguered trustee tells _The CJN Daily _why being in public life may not be worth it for Jewish women like herself.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the sanctions imposed on Kaplan-Myrth in December 2023, after an investigation into her conduct during meetings and during disputes with some of the other 11 trustees, in The CJN
- Read about the threats Kaplan-Myrth has received for her stance on COVID and masking, and also for being a Jewish woman, in The CJN (from 2022)
- Read the full report by the Ottawa school board’s integrity commissioner on complaints about the behaviour of three trustees, including Kaplan-Myrth, Donna Dixon and Donna Blackburn
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
What did Friday’s International Court of Justice ruling mean? Did Israel actually get convicted of carrying out genocide on the Palestinian people in Gaza during its three-month military campaign that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7? Why did Israel’s own judge on the panel, Aharon Barak, vote against his country in some rulings? And what happens now?While the ICJ didn’t tell Israel to stop the war, it also didn’t throw out South Africa’s genocide charges altogether: they could be something the court looks into down the road.The ruling worries Canadian human rights lawyer Tamara Kronis, who fears it gives Jew haters around Canada even more ammunition to ramp up their public protests and hateful attacks, like the one this past weekend against a synagogue in Fredericton, N.B.Kronis has worked as a prosecutor in The Hague. She wasn’t expecting the ICJ to come back with a ruling so soon. South Africa and Israel put forward their oral arguments before the 17 judges only two weeks earlier.Kronis returns to The CJN Daily with an insider’s analysis of the ICJ’s provisional measures imposed on Israel—and what happens next.
What we talked about:
- Hear Tamara Kronis explain how the UN’s International Court of Justice works, and what was at stake for Israel, on The CJN Daily from earlier in January 2024
- Read Canada’s official reaction to the ICJ ruling in The CJN
- Watch the taped video showing the ICJ presiding judge read their ruling on imposing provisional measures against Israel
- Read more about how Fredericton is reacting to the vandalism on the city’s only synagogue in The CJN, and donate to help the synagogue carry out repairs and install a security system
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
A Federal Court judge has ruled that the Trudeau government broke the Charter of Rights by invoking the Emergencies Act to stop the truckers’ convoy in 2022. In today’s encore presentation of The CJN Daily (because Ellin is still sick) we revist her interview with Benjamin Dichter, who rose to fame as a spokesperson for the Freedom Convoy that overtook Ottawa (and other parts of Canada) in 2022. Since then, the Toronto resident and part time trucker has become a known quantity in conservative and right-wing media circles, appearing on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program and earned an endorsement from Jordan Peterson for a new self-published book about his experience: Honking for Freedom: The Trucker Convoy that Gave us Hope.Dichter calls the protest a success because most provinces – and eventually the federal government – did lift their COVID vaccine mandates, and Ottawa got rid of the controversial ArriveCan app.But Dichter is still feeling the ramifications of his involvement with the convoy, including how the federal government unleashed the rarely used Emergencies Act to freeze his and other key protesters’ bank accounts. There’s still the massive lawsuit launched against the convoy leaders by residents of downtown Ottawa.Underlying his story is the fact that Dichter wasn’t just the convoy spokesperson—he’s also their biggest Jewish face. In this extensive interview with The CJN Daily, Dichter explains his decision to reveal his Jewish identity publicly, and how the convoy organizers felt about Nazi imagery in their protests.
What we talked about:
- Find Dichter's book
- Watch Dichter’s testimony before the Emergencies Act inquiry on Nov. 3, 2022 (starts at 2:32:05)
- Hear The CJN Daily's stories about the freedom convoy: Jews who supported the cause, locals who opposed it and the original outrage at the Nazi imagery within
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In one of 2023’s buzziest blockbuster films—Oppenheimer, about the real-life head of the top-secret wartime Manhattan Project—the film’s director neglected to include an important Canadian figure.A Jewish scientist from Winnipeg, Louis Slotin, was a key part of the team of groundbreaking researchers at the Los Alamos atomic laboratories. He helped build and assemble the bombs that would be dropped on Japan in 1945, ultimately ending the Second World War.Slotin’s family thought he was researching medical uses for nuclear radiography. They only learned the truth after he was killed in a controversial experiment after the war had ended. Slotin received an immense—and fatal—dose of radiation, but not before he heroically saved everyone else in the room by separating unstable plutonium pieces with his bare hands. Slotin died in Los Alamos in 1946 at age 35.On The CJN Daily, Slotin’s surviving Canadian relatives Beth Shore and Rael Ludwig both of Winnipeg, join to tell their uncle’s story, in hopes the world will learn more about what Oppenheimer overlooked.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the “Trinity” nuclear bomb test of July 16, 1945, and see original silent film of Louis Slotin as part of the Manhattan Project, from the Trinity Remembered website
- Read Beth Shore’s tribute to her late uncle Louis Slotin on the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba website
- Learn more about scientist Louis Slotin in Ellin’s book, Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military and WWII, published by the University of Toronto Press
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer..Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
A note to listeners: I am sick in bed with the flu and have lost my voice (since Friday). Apologies, but there is no new show today.Check The CJN.ca website for the latest breaking news or catch up on episodes you might have missed-like this one, just ahead of Tu B’Shevat later this week: about how Canadian synagogues are going green.
The yearly observance—which some consider the Jewish Earth Day—sees more Jewish congregations embracing sustainable Judaism year-round: they’ve installed solar panels on the roof, put LED lights in the sanctuary, and stopped using disposable paper plates at Kiddush.And in Vancouver, over a dozen Jewish sites are really buying in, hoping to earn a “Seal of Sustainability.” On this encore episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Shlomo Schachter of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue joins, along with Ariel Greene, head of the shul’s sustainability committee.
Did you know the late Toronto men’s fashion retailer Harry Rosen actually paid for his first store with a bag of quarters? Or that George Cohon, the lawyer who founded McDonald’s restaurants in Central and Eastern Canada, later brought Big Macs and fries to the USSR?In the last few months, Canada’s Jewish community said goodbye to Rosen, Cohon and many other esteemed community builders. And on today’s episode of The CJN Daily’s Honourable Menschen, we pay tribute to these honourable men and women. You’ll hear about Zelda Young, who hosted a daily Jewish radio show for nearly four decades; Holocaust survivors and educators Vera Schiff of Toronto, Willie Glaser of Montreal and Toronto Rabbi Erwin Schild, who lived to be 104; McGill professor Gershon Hundert, a world-renowned giant of Jewish academia; toy store owner Harry Bricks; and Moishe Goldstein, the father of longtime CJN editor-in-chief Yoni Goldstein.
At a time when so many are mourning what’s happening abroad, and are anxious about what the future might hold here in Canada, it feels all the more important to honour the incredible impact on our country made by these recently departed Jewish men and women. CJN reporter emeritus Ron Csillag joins host Ellin Bessner to share the stories behind the names.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Willie Glaser, Vera Schiff, Zelda Young, Gershon Hundert, Rabbi Erwin Schild in The CJN
- Learn more about xHarry Rosen, and George Cohon and Moishe Goldstein
- Listen to the wisdom of Rabbi Erwin Schild on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Last week, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Jewish State was accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a case launched by South Africa. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly both gave oddly confusing statements, in which they said Canada’s support for international law “does not mean” they support South Africa’s accusations. Onlookers were confused by the phrasing—and even federal government staffers didn’t know what to make of it.It took a few days before a statement by Global Affairs Canada confirmed that the country will, in fact, abide by whatever the ICJ rules. But Israel is vehemently defending itself on the international stage, with its barristers at The Hague describing South Africa’s case a “libel” designed to prevent Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas after Oct. 7, 2023.That’s the big takeaway for legal expert Tamara Kronis, a Canadian human rights lawyer who has worked in The Hague on other genocide cases. On The CJN Daily, Kronis walks us through the inner workings of this important court, what’s likely to happen and what it means if Israel loses.
What we talked about
- Watch Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comment on Canada’s position vis a vis the genocide hearing on Israel at the International Court of Justice
- Learn more about Tamara Kronis and about her late father Jules Kronis’s esteemed legal background in The CJN
- Watch Israel’s submission before the International Court of Justice on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Last week, the International Ice Hockey Federation—the sport's governing body—announced they were barring Israeli national teams from competing in crucial championship matches this winter. The move is seen by many as an unfair penalty against the Jewish State in the wake of the war with Hamas, in which an estimated 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, resulting from Hamas's terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
IIHF officials insist their decision was not political, but instead made purely for security reasons: they couldn’t guarantee Israeli athletes' safety from protestors during upcoming matches in Bulgaria, Serbia and Estonia. Nontheless, Israel’s hockey federation has announced a legal appeal.
In the meantime, the IIHF’s ruling has shocked the team's fans around the world—not to mention Israel's athletes and coaches themselves, including a handful of Canadians closely tied to Israel's hockey program. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, you’ll hear from two of them: Esther Silver, the Canadian-born manager of Israel’s women’s hockey team, and Eliezer Sherbatov, a veteran of the men’s team, now based in Montreal.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the growing reaction to Israel’s hockey teams being blocked from international competition, in The CJN
- Read more about athlete Elie Sherbatov’s long hockey career, including his escape from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and about his new book on overcoming a weak left foot condition to succeed on the ice, on The Menschwarmers’ podcast
- Hear about the birth of Israel’s national women’s hockey team and manager Esther Silver’s support for the players, on The CJN Daily
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
For the first time since Oct. 7, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several Liberal Members of Parliament met with a large group of Toronto-based Canadian Jewish leaders on Jan. 10 at Beth Tzedec synagogue in Toronto. While the prime minister’s office and community guests had to keep the details secret ahead of time for security reasons, The CJN has learned what was discussed.The group pressed the prime minister on what Canada’s position will be vis-a-vis the International Court of Justice hearings, beginning today, on genocide charges against Israel. Trudeau’s meeting in Toronto also came a month after Canada voted for a UN motion calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas—a policy change that has angered many Jewish Canadians, who see it as a betrayal of Canada’s longstanding support for Israel. The prime minister also discussed how the Jewish community is coping with the explosion of antisemitic public discourse, a surge in hate crimes and anti-Zionist protests.Trudeau later released a statement on social media saying he listened to the community’s “pain and anger and grief,” and that he remains focused on combating antisemitism and keeping Canadian Jews safe. He also described his commitment to Canadian Jews, and also to Israel as a Jewish, democratic state as “unwavering”.While the meeting was closed to the public and off the record, we at The CJN Daily spoke to several guests who were there—and who say the meeting didn’t make them feel better. On today’s episode, you’ll hear from host rabbis Steven Wernick and Robyn Fryer Bodzin, both from Beth Tzedec, and from audience member Rabbi Daniel Korobkin of the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation.
Vancouver rabbis Dan Moskovitz and Carey Brown spent four days in Israel in December 2023 as part of a delegation of eight spiritual leaders from the city. They carried 21 duffel bags full of supplies, toured Kibbutz Be’eri and heard from survivors, met with mourners and visited the grave of Vancouver’s Ben Mizrachi, who was murdered at the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023.
Three months after the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 residents–sparking a war that shows no end in sight–tourism in the Holy Land has stalled. Many airlines have yet to resume full service to Israel; hotels are full of displaced residents from Israel’s frontline communities; lifestyle travellers have cancelled trips. In the midst of this bad economic news, however, one unique type of tourism has partly filled the void: volunteer missions. Wine tastings in the Galilee and mud baths at the Dead Sea are out, but picking avocados is in. And hundreds of Diaspora Jews have volunteered.
On today’s The CJN Daily, we’ll hear why so many Jews are feeling compelled to “bear witness”. Rabbi Moskovitz will discuss his December visit; we’ll meet Yael Benarroch and Sherri Ettedgui, both Toronto residents, who volunteered on a “Mother to Mother” mission organized by U.S.-based Jewish organization Momentum. And Gal Hana, Israel’s consul for tourism in Toronto, describes what tourism will look like from now, until the fighting ends.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the “Till They All Come Home” hostage bracelet fundraiser created by Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, including how to order.
- Read more about how volunteers are preparing food for Israelis, in The CJN.
- Why Canadian cardiologist Dr. Brad Strauss flew to Israel to help a hospital after Oct. 7 on The CJN Daily.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
After weeks of Palestinians staging anti-Israel protests on Canadian streets—even going so far as to take over highway overpasses in the Toronto area—on Jan. 6, uniformed Toronto police officers were filmed handing over a large Tim Hortons coffee container and cups and snacks to some protesters blockading a Jewish neighbourhood at Avenue Rd. and Wilson Ave.After the video went viral, the Toronto police later explained they did not provide the coffee to the protesters themselves, but were rather “managing a dynamic situation” by handing it over on behalf of some other protesters who had brought it but weren’t being permitted back inside the protest zone. Nevertheless, the gesture has touched off strong feelings, coming just days after a Jewish-owned deli in Toronto was set on fire—and after months ofhundreds of Palestinian protests: including taking over shopping malls, vandalizing bookstores and Jewish businesses, including setting fire at a Jewish grocery store. Community members want answers on why Toronto police are permitting these overpass protests— protests that even the Ontario solicitor general, who lives in the area, calls “intimidation and harassment”. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we try to find out why no one is stopping the protests, with guests Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, who is in charge of Ontario’s public safety and policing, and Toronto city councillor James Pasternak. Also with special guest Lila Sarick, The CJN’s News Editor.
What we talked about:
- Read the petition circulating from residents of the Avenue Rd. and 401 neighbourhood in Toronto asking for the Palestinian overpass protests to be banned
- Watch the video clip of the coffee incident via Caryma Sa’d on X
- Learn more about the arson at the IDF grocery store in Toronto on Jan 3, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Canada’s Jewish community wants the 119 remaining Israeli hostages to know that they are not forgotten—even though the letters they’re writing to them most likely will never arrive.For nearly three months now, in schools and synagogues and kitchen tables across Toronto, more than 1,000 volunteers have been penning letters to the hostages, filling care packages and mailing them—or, in some cases, delivering them in person—to the offices of the Canadian Red Cross.The letter-writing campaign, called “You Are Not Forgotten”, is supported by Toronto’s UJA Federation, which provides a suggested script and the address of the Canadian Red Cross president, Conrad Sauvé, in Ottawa. It’s also designed to keep the pressure on the Red Cross’s international head office in Switzerland to finally visit the hostages and demand their immediate release. Other local groups like Canadians for Israel have undertaken the same letter-writing project. Camp Gesher saw campers write to now-freed hostage Ofri Brodutch, 10, who attended the Jewish camp in the summer of 2023.On today’s The CJN Daily, we’ll hear from some of the letter-writers, including Eynat Katz, Sophie Giterman and bat mitzvah girls Ainsley Davidson and Halyn Freeman—and also from the Canadian Red Cross, to explain why they can’t deliver any of the notes.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the letter-writing campaign in The CJN
- Volunteer to write letters via the UJA Genesis project
- Hear how Ofri Brodutch and her siblings and mother were released, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me. Special thanks to Judith Guttman for the audio recording of Andrea Weinstein at the Saturday vigil.
Israel’s government says 45,000 new immigrants came to live in the Holy Land in 2023, including over 720 alone who landed since Oct. 7–when Hamas terrorists attacked and slaughtered 1,200 Israeli residents and took 240 others hostage. Among the newcomers is Irving Matlow, 96, a well-known member of Toronto’s Jewish community, who may be among the oldest people ever to make Aliyah.Matlow has been deeply attached to the State of Israel since he grew up in a Zionist home in Toronto, the son of Jewish immigrants from Belarus. In 1948, while studying for his business degree at the University of Toronto, he left Canada and snuck into Israel to fight for a year in the Israel War of Independence. Now, 75 years later, the widower's personal gesture of support for the country he helped found comes as Israel is engaged in a similar existential war of survival, although Matlow is long past the days of putting on a uniform.On today’s episode, we’ll speak to Matlow just before his plane lands in Tel Aviv, plus you’ll meet other Canadians who’ve permanently moved to Israel in recent weeks–despite the war, or maybe, even partly because of it: Montreal schoolteacher Laurence Ittah, and Victoria B.C. bakers Moshe and Leah Appel and their children.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Irving Matlow’s service in the Israel War of Independence in 1948, in The CJN.
- Moshe and Leah Appel ran the only kosher bakery on Vancouver Island until a few months ago, in The CJN.
- How the Canadian parents of Israeli lone soldiers are surviving the war after Oct. 7, in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
Nearly three-and-a-half years after Shai DeLuca felt he had been defamed by the owner of the now-closed Foodbenders restaurant—who suggested on social media that the Toronto interior designer was a “racist” Israeli “terrorist” who had killed Palestinian babies—an Ontario court has found in his favour.The Superior Court of Justice judgement, which was released on Dec. 22, said DeLuca was entitled to $85,000 in damages because he was defamed by Kimberly Hawkins back in the summer of 2020. The judge found Hawkins acted with malice, was irresponsible, and had tried to not only ruin DeLuca’s public reputation but his professional career as well: she had hoped to get him fired by Citytv, where the Israeli-Canadian designer has been an on-air expert in decor and style for over a decade.DeLuca says the whole ordeal was very stressful, especially because he even received death threats at the time. But now, he says with this court victory, he hopes it will serve as an example to the Jewish community to fight back against the current explosion of antisemitism at play in Canada after Oct. 7. Shai DeLuca joins The CJN Daily today to talk about what he went through, and what will happen next.
What we talked about
- Read more about the Foodbenders lawsuit in The CJN.
- Learn more about Shai DeLuca in The CJN.
- Last chance to donate to The CJN for 2023, to support our work, get a tax receipt, and receive our sparkling CJN magazines 4x per year. Hear why The CJN is important to me, in this short message.
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
As 2023 comes to a close, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has sat down for a lot of year-end interviews with major Canadian journalists, and The CJN Daily has been asking for one with him, too–for months. But to no avail (we will keep trying). Canada’s Jewish community (and The CJN) have a lot of questions to ask about this government’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7, including why it continues funding for UNRWA, why Canada’s initial strong support for Israel has now changed with a recent UN vote calling for a ceasefire, why it took Canada’s foreign affairs minister so long to say she believes Hamas terrorists raped and murdered Israeli women, and why CBC News continues to be permitted not to call Hamas ‘terrorists’.So we’ll ask the next best thing: our panel of experts to evaluate how well or in many cases how poorly Canada’s elected leaders have handled these big issues, especially from the Jewish community’s perspective. And we’ll get them to make their predictions for the New Year. Ellin is joined from Toronto by Stephen Adler, a former Conservative insider now a senior director with National Public Relations; by Emma Cunningham, a former NDP riding president in Pickering, Ont. who quit her provincial party over antisemitism–she is now a trustee with the Durham District School Board but is speaking on her own behalf; and by David Birnbaum, in Montreal, a former Liberal member of the Quebec National Assembly for the riding of D’Arcy McGee, retired in 2022.
What we talked about
- Last chance to donate to The CJN for 2023, to support our work, get a tax receipt, and receive our sparkling CJN magazines 4x per year. Hear why The CJN is important to me, in this short message.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The latest hate crime figures released by the Toronto police show they are at their highest level in a decade–with 147 reported hate crimes targeting Jews in Canada’s largest city to date in 2023. That’s more than double 2022’s total. Most of these have occurred since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, prompting Israel’s retaliation.Nearly 50 people have been arrested, and charged with everything from mischief to assault. There have been 111 cases of verified antisemitic graffiti this fall, compared with 27 anti-Muslim cases. Meanwhile Toronto police are coping with what the chief described as a “staggering” number of 248 protests in the past 10 weeks. These new numbers show the unprecedented spike in antisemitism facing the Jewish community in Toronto–a spike that some Holocaust survivors and others have said reminds them of 1939 all over again.Yet, despite disturbing sightings of posters with swastikas equating Israel with Nazis, and the targeting of Jewish businesses such as Indigo books, plus a terrorist bomb plot in Ottawa and Molotov cocktails thrown at Montreal Jewish schools, we’ve also seen six Canadian provinces recently announce mandatory Holocaust education in school, and in some cases, expanding it into even younger grades. So how can both things be true at the same time? Will Holocaust education need to change in order to help what’s happening right now?On today’s The CJN Daily, we speak to Nina Krieger, director of Vancouver’s Holocaust Education Centre, and to Dara Solomon, head of the Toronto Holocaust Museum.
What we talked about
- Read the hate crime statistics released Tuesday, Dec. 19, by the Toronto police chief, Myron Demkiw and Jonathan Rothman's print story in The CJN.
- Learn more about the provinces that brought in mandatory Holocaust education this year, in The CJN.
- Hear why Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce, was inspired by his Italian heritage to make Holocaust education mandatory, on The CJN Daily.
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas has also been playing out in one of Canada’s smaller Jewish communities: Victoria, B.C.—where a city councillor sided with Hamas and wore a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, and where 400 Jewish students at the University of Victoria reported being spit on, and they and their Jewish professors have to run the gauntlet of anti-Israel protests on campus.Although the B.C. premier, David Eby, and other provincial politicians have thrown their support behind the Jewish community by announcing mandatory Holocaust education in Grade 10 by 2025, and have condemned antisemitism–as has the university president–the anti-Israel climate in the B.C. capital now is, as one Jewish leader put it, making Jews feel unsafe to go downtown on weekends.To learn more, we’re joined by Sharon Fitch, president of the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island, and Noa Arama, a student at UVic who is co-president of the campus Hillel club.
What we talked about
- Read more about the controversy surrounding Victoria city councillor Susan Kim, and calls for her to resign, in The CJN.
- Learn more about the situation for profs and students at the UVic, in The CJN.
- Victoria is the fastest growing Jewish community in Canada, according to the latest census figures, on The CJN Daily.
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
David Hofmann has seen it before. Hofmann, a terrorism expert and professor at the University of New Brunswick, has spent years researching extremist hate groups operating in Canada, including neo-Nazis but also homegrown Islamic terror sympathizers. He’s published widely, particularly about the case of the “Toronto 18”, a large group of mainly young Muslim men arrested in 2006 in a foiled plot to blow up several Canadian landmarks, storm Parliament, take hostages and behead then-prime minister Stephen Harper.Hofmann wasn’t directly involved in the RCMP’s arrest on Friday, Dec. 15 of an Ottawa teenager who was charged with two counts of terrorism: instructing someone to carry out an attack against Ottawa’s Jewish community, and giving them material on how to use explosive material. The teen has been held in custody all weekend and is set to appear in court today Monday Dec. 18.But while the youth’s young age means the RCMP won’t release his name or any identifying information, Hofmann believes that the kind of charges laid, plus other details, point to something involving a young Muslim man who likely became radicalized online after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.We have extensive coverage of the story, including Ellin Bessner's story in print on The CJN.ca, and also on today’s The CJN Daily, where she's joined by professor David Hofmann for his take. We also we hear from Sarah Beutel, the interim-CEO of Ottawa’s Jewish Federation.
What we talked about
- Read reaction from the Canadian Jewish community to the terror charges, in The CJN_._
- See the RCMP media release about the suspect’s arrest and charges, and the force’s concerns about online radicalization
- Read one of professor David Hofmann’s scholarly articles about the Toronto 18 and continued threats to Canadian security.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
It appears there’s more to the story about why Calgary’s mayor, Jyoti Gondek, abruptly cancelled her participation in the Jewish community’s 35th annual Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony on Dec. 7.Organizers of the now-infamous ceremony at City Hall acknowledge they had actually wanted the event to be an even stronger show of support for Israel, and let city officials know this in meetings during the days leading up to Hanukkah. Here were some of the original requests: let guests and dignitaries hold up posters of the Israeli hostages now captives of Hamas. Play a video of a Hebrew prayer for the hostages, called “Acheinu”. Stage a pro-Israel demonstration outside the City Hall after the candles were lit. Bring Israeli flags into the building. The city turned these down.
Rabbi Menachem Matusof of Chabad of Alberta in Calgary said his committee reluctantly agreed to follow the restrictions, although he balked at the flag veto. The city also frowned on two slogans on the publicity posters: “Support for Israel” and “Israel Bonds raffle”. The rabbi promised them the evening would be a celebration of Hanukkah, and not a demonstration.
But mayor cancelled anyway, claiming the organizers “repositioned” the traditional lighting ceremony “as an event to support Israel.” The move has been felt as a slap in the face to the Jewish community in Canada’s fourth-largest city, especially during this time of rampant antisemitism in Canada and the world.
On today’s The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner goes behind the scenes of Calgary’s chanukkiah debacle with event organizer Nelson Halpern; Rabbi Mark Glickman of Temple B’nai Tikvah and journalist Jen Gerson, who slammed the mayor for not doing her job.
What we talked about
- Watch the Calgary city council menorah-lighting ceremony, presented by Chabad of Alberta
- Why Calgary’s mayor pulled out of the official menorah ceremony, in The CJN
- Read Jen Gerson’s opinion piece on Mayor Gondek’s misstep in The Line
- Read about the anti-Israel protests in Calgary and why the police dropped hate-motivated charges against one of the leaders, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer, has offered this country’s help to Israeli law enforcement teams who are now piecing together evidence of systematic sexual violence against women and girls by Hamas during and after the terrorist attack on Oct. 7. Stadelbauer officially reached out to the Israeli police, to women’s groups and the chair of Israel’s civil commission on sex crimes by Hamas.The Tel Aviv–based diplomat may have been the first Canadian ambassador to publicly declare that she believes Israeli women: she made her statement on Nov. 24, more than two weeks before Canada’s own minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly, tweeted the same thing on Dec. 7.The issue of feminists around the world not believing Israeli women has gained traction in the last week, while Hamas denies its militants sexually violated any Israeli victims or hostages. On today’s The CJN Daily, Lisa Stadelbauer speaks out, saying she is personally ashamed that it took her so long to realize what Israeli investigators have been telling the world.
What we talked about
- Learn more about #MeTooUnlessUrAJew on last week’s episode of Bonjour Chai
- Why a city councillor in Victoria, B.C., denied that Hamas used rape against Israeli women, in The CJN
- CJN columnist Phobe Maltz Bovy on why there is no #MeToo for the victims of Hamas rapes
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the
For the past eight weeks, Canada has welcomed at least 900 Israelis who’ve arrived looking for a temporary respite from the rockets and warfare in the Middle East. While many stayed only briefly and have already returned home, some are giving up on Israel after Oct. 7, hoping to make the move permanent.They are all enormously grateful for the support they’ve received from the Jewish communities in the form of housing, schooling, mental health counselling and even recreation programs at JCCs. But, as you’ll hear on today’s episode of The CJN Daily, they’ve also been shocked by the wave of antisemitism crashing across the country.Host Ellin Bessner speaks with Maya Tobin Gonen, now staying in Ottawa, whose family survived the attack on their moshav on the Gaza border by hiding for 11 hours in a shelter; Maya Trajtenberg Madar, who left Tel Aviv with her four-month-old baby boy and two older sons to spend the fall in Toronto; and Gabi and Galit Uzan, who initially fled Ashkelon for northern Israel and are now trying to put down roots in Canada.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Yair Shpiler’s Jewnity Sports project to bring Israeli orphans to North America for a basketball holiday in January 2024
- Read how JIAS is helping Israelis coming to stay temporarily (or longer) in Toronto
- A tribute to Vancouver’s Ben Mizrachi, killed at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
An estimated 20,000 people, mostly members of Canada’s Jewish community, gathered in Ottawa on Dec. 4 to rally in support of Israel, call for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, and fight back against antisemitism.The event was, by far, the largest single demonstration of unity held by Canada’s Jewish community since the terrorist attack that happened on Oct. 7 in Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 more kidnapped.Coming just three days before the start of Hanukkah, the rally featured many speakers who pointed to the Jewish festival of light as a concrete example of what steps Canadians should take—including political leaders—to fight against evil and fight for religious freedom. On today’s The CJN Daily, you’ll hear what it sounded like at the rally, as host Ellin Bessner speaks with several Canadians who made the trip: Myrna Yazer of Halifax; Montrealers Julie Kristof, Judy Litvack and Lucy Shapiro; and Toronto high school students Galit Bell and Jaclyn Charlat.
What we talked about
- Watch the Rally for Israel on YouTube
- Read Jonathan Rothman’s on-the-ground coverage of the rally in The CJN
- Learn more about Moncton city council reversing its menorah ban in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The City of Moncton’s abrupt decision to quietly halt the display of all religious symbols on municipal property—including the Hanukkah menorah it owns—came as a shock to the New Brunswick city’s Jewish community. The decision was made on Nov. 30 during a closed-door council session. It came one week before the community was expecting to participate in the annual lighting of the menorah, a tradition that’s been celebrated at City Hall for 20 years.The resulting public outcry over the weekend has included a petition, social media posts from all over the world and a flood of emails to the municipality. While the mayor has not commented, the issue is likely to be revisited on Dec. 4, when Moncton’s city council holds its bimonthly public meeting. At least three city councillors have publicly condemned how the process was conducted in secret, including Daniel Bourgeois, who vowed to The CJN he’ll try to have the issue added to the agenda when the meeting starts at 4 p.m. local time.On The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner is joined by Bourgeois and also by Leigh Lampert, a Moncton-born lawyer who is a member of that city’s Jewish community.
What we talked about
- Read more about the Jewish community of Moncton’s deep hurt over city decision to end decade’s-old Menorah lighting ceremony, in The CJN
- Watch the Moncton city council meeting on Dec. 4 on Rogers Cable (taped, not live) beginning at 9 p.m. Moncton time
- Learn more about the petition to have the Menorah reinstated, on Change.org
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Toronto businessman Evan Kosiner lodged a complaint with the CBC’s ombudsman last month concerning why the news organization won’t let its journalists describe the Oct. 7 Hamas attack by using the word “terrorism”.Kosiner felt that CBC News—in choosing to refer to Hamas as militants, despite the Canadian government’s own official designation—is biased against Israel. He also accused the CBC of publishing misinformation, particularly for how some journalists initially portrayed the controversial bombing of a Gaza hospital.The CBC received more than 300 complaints, but Kosiner’s was singled out publicly on Friday Nov 24. when the CBC ombudsman, Jack Nagler, published his report. Nagler agreed terrorism is what it was, and thinks the news department could have used the word without breaking CBC journalistic standards.On today’s The CJN Daily, Kosiner joins host Ellin Bessner to explain why he’s not satisfied and is still working to hold the Crown corporation accountable, especially because it receives over $1 billion in taxpayers funding to operate.
What we talked about
- Read more about the complainant, Evan Kosiner, in The CJN archives
- Hear our interview with the head of CBC News about why they can’t call Hamas terrorists—except in some cases—on The CJN Daily
- Read the CBC ombudsman’s report on how they decide between “terrorists” and “militants”
- Support The CJN by donating to the future of what Jewish Canada sounds like
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This past weekend, Canadian physicist Aharon Brodutch enjoyed an emotional reunion in an Israeli hospital with his kidnapped sister-in-law, Hagar, and her three children, all of whom were taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The Israelis from Kibbutz Aza were set free on Sunday, Nov. 26 as part of the ongoing hostage deal reached between Israel and Hamas. They'd been held for more than seven weeks since the attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and saw 240 people taken hostage.
Brodutch said the four freed hostages have lost a lot of weight and were not ready to leave the hospital yet. His brother, Avichai—Hagar's husband—managed to survive the attack that day, but was wounded in the fighting trying to defend his community.
Aharon Brodutch spoke to The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner just before boarding a return flight to Toronto. He recounted the tense moments leading up to his family's release and explained why his 10-year-old niece, Ofri Brodutch, who attended a Jewish summer camp this year in Ontario, wants to come back to Canada.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Aharon Brodutch’s campaign to convince Canada to do more to free the hostages, on The CJN Daily and in The CJN
- Read how Shira Brodutch assembled a stroller protest in Toronto to draw attention to Hamas’s kidnapping of 33 Israeli babies, in The CJN
- Support The CJN by donating to the future of what Jewish Canada sounds like
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Nearly 500 episodes. Nearly 10,000 hours of programming. It's "what Jewish Canada sounds like." For more than two and a half years, Ellin Bessner and The CJN Daily podcast have been bringing the voices and sounds of Canadian Jewish newsmakers to listeners from coast to coast—and around the world.
And since Oct. 7, it's never been more important to provide you with authoritative, trustworthy, accurate and balanced reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict, including updates on the hostage situation, the massacre of 1,200 Israeli residents and a new wave of antisemitism within Canada and beyond. It's coverage you won't find anywhere else.
That's why, on #GivingTuesday, Ellin wants to get personal. In this episode, you'll hear why she and the rest of The CJN team need your financial support to keep producing award-winning journalism that's unique in Canada.
What we talked about
- Support The CJN by donating to the future of what Jewish Canada sounds like
- Where we’ve been and where we’re going, with CEO Yoni Goldstein on The CJN Daily
- How niche publications like ours are being hurt by Canada’s fight with Meta and Google—and what you can do—on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As Shye Klein Weinstein was fleeing from Hamas terrorists who attacked the Supernova music festival in Israel on the weekend of Oct. 7, his camera was clicking constantly, capturing photos and videos of their escape. Except, he says, he doesn’t remember photographing anything.
The Canadian photographer—who had just immigrated to Israel in the spring—bought last-minute tickets to the festival, only because a girl he liked was going. The pair travelled with friends and relatives from Tel Aviv to experience the overnight outdoor dance rave, held near Kibbutz Be’eri.
The photographer brought two cameras with him and at first, spent hours wandering around and snapping portraits of people enjoying themselves at the festival: young partygoers, DJs, jewelry makers, and body paint artists. Little did he know that, at dawn, Hamas terrorists would descend on the 4,000 revellers and slaughter roughly 350 of them, with 40 more taken hostage.
Deeply traumatized by the event, the young photographer is now touring North America, speaking to Jewish students at university campuses and showing them the stark photographic evidence he took of this massacre. As he tells The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner, he hopes that by repeating his story to anyone who will listen, it can allow others to understand what really happened—and help him personally process the life-changing events of that fateful day.
What we talked about
- See Shye Klein Weinstein’s photos on his Instagram page
- Learn more about the group that sponsored Shye Klein Weinstein’s trip, Faces of Oct. 7 , which was set up to fight denial and misinformation on college campuses in North America
- Donate to Faces of Oct. 7 on their Instagram account
_ _Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In the last few weeks in Montreal, anonymous gunmen have targeted Jewish schools; vandals threw molotov cocktails at Jewish buildings; and pro-Palestinian supporters are boycotting Jewish businesses. With this intense backdrop, it's not surprising that Montreal's Jewish community is afraid. Ever since Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, leaders in Canada's second-largest Jewish city have been dealing with an eruption of antisemitism, including at least 100 hate crimes and similar incidents already reported to police.
Jewish parents are scared to send their children to school; rabbis and other leaders are demanding the Quebec government permit armed, off-duty police officers to come guard Jewish buildings; and Jewish students at McGill and Concordia are facing sometimes violent anti-Israel protesters. Law enforcement officials say they have everything under control, but to date, only one person has been charged with anything in relation to the incidents described above—compared with nearly 20 charges laid by police in other parts of Canada.
The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner travelled to her hometown this week to see for herself why antisemitism seems so much worse in Montreal than elsewhere in Canada. On today's episode, she speaks to Yair Szlak, CEO of Federation CJA; Rabbi Saul Emanuel of the Jewish Community Council; Jamie Ross, a financial advisor and insurance broker; Olivia Weizman, an architect helming a petition for more security; and Esther Klein, the owner of Kosher Quality Bakery.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Olivia Weizman's petition
- Montreal’s Jewish Community Council wants more funding for better security during tense time, in The CJN
- Read how Jewish students at Concordia and McGill are feeling threatened, and what they are doing to fight back against antisemitism, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
On Oct. 16, 2023, Deborah Lyons was officially named Canada’s new special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism. She takes over from the inaugural envoy, Irwin Cotler, at a time when Jews in Canada are facing frightening waves of antisemitism on the streets of this country, stemming from Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the subsequent war.Lyons, 73, is not Jewish herself but has deep ties to Israel, and to the Canadian Jewish community, having served as Canada’s ambassador to Israel from 2016–2020.She calls what is happening in this country “a moment of crisis” that calls for numerous societal changes. And to oversee that, she needs more staff. Right now she has one senior civil servant to help her.Marking one month on the job, Lyons joins_ The CJN Daily_ host Ellin Bessner to explain what she is doing on the ground to help make Canada’s Jewish community feel safer.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Lyons’s recent appointment as Canada’s special Envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, in The CJN
- Read about Deborah Lyons’s appointment as Canada’s ambassador to Israel in The CJN, from 2016
- Hear Lyons’s tribute to the slain Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver on The CJN Daily
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
There has been an outpouring of love and support from around the world for the late Vivian Silver, the Canadian-born peace activist whose remains were identified last week, five weeks after she was murdered by Hamas terrorists in the safe room of her home in Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7, 2023. Silver was buried in a private ceremony on Nov. 17 at her kibbutz, with just her two sons and her siblings and a few soldiers as witnesses. The zone is still considered the front lines of Israel's war with Hamas, making access severely restricted.
But the day earlier, hundreds gathered for a public memorial service on the lawn of a kibbutz she founded, Kibbutz Gezer, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. They paid tribute to the woman who made it her life's work to build bridges with Palestinians, founding charities and social justice organizations dedicated to solving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis—without violence.
While the Jewish community of Winnipeg plans to hold its own memorial in the coming weeks, on today's episode of The CJN Daily, you'll hear sections from her memorial service and tributes from those she was close to: her brother Neil Silver; a childhood friend from Winnipeg, Lynne Mitchell; and Deborah Lyons, Canada's new special envoy for combatting antisemitism.
What we talked about
- Read how Silver’s family learned her remains had been identified, in The CJN
- Watch the full memorial service for Silver from Kibbutz Gezer, on Facebook
- How Vivian Silver worked for peace and bridge building with Palestinians, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The historic March for Israel in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14 is already being described as the largest public rally by Jewish people in American history, with an estimated crowd of 300,000 people gathering at the capital’s National Mall. Among them were at least 2,000 Canadians. Some were driven in on buses from Jewish high schools, such as Yeshivat Or Chaim and TanenbaumCHAT; some flew from Montreal aboard a plane chartered by Federation CJA; others simply drove themselves on their own dime.One thing unites them: they all wanted to be part of the effort to support Israel, campaigning to free the 240 hostages in Gaza and fighting back against widespread antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas.For nearly four hours, they heard speeches from top U.S. lawmakers, Israeli politician Natan Sharansky, families of Israeli hostages, actors such as Debra Messing, and live performances by Israeli pop stars Ishay Ribo and Omer Adam.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner speaks to several Canadians who made the long trip: Toronto’s Susan Osher and her niece Dani Schkolne, 23; Montrealers Rabbi Reuben Poupko and CIJA national chair Gail Adelson-Marcovitz; Toronto high school student Adin Bendat-Appell, 15, and his mother, Yael; and Jacob Rifkind and Akyva Spiegel, members of Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in Toronto.What we talked about
- Watch the March on Washington video on YouTube
- Read how Toronto’s Jewish, Iranian and Ukrainian communities rallied for Israel on Nov. 12 at Christie Pits park, in The CJN
- Why Canadian police aren’t doing more to stop antisemitic speech, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Show notesPolice in Montreal are redeploying their squad cars in different locations this week in an effort to better protect the city’s Jewish community. The move comes a week after bullets were fired through the doors of two Jewish schools; Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue and a Jewish office; and three people were injured in a fracas over the Israel-Hamas war at Concordia University. Despite all this, however, there have been no reports of anyone being charged in Montreal over antisemitism. Local Jewish community leaders point to the incitement actually starting on Oct. 28, after a high-profile Muslim clergyman exhorted a large crowd of pro-Palestinian protestors to “exterminate Zionist aggressors”.Canada, of course, does have hate speech laws under the Criminal Code—but, historically, it’s been difficult to convict people with these provisions. And even when that does happen, the accused often appeal their sentences for years through the legal system. So how should Canadian police and provincial Crown prosecutors get control of people now targeting Canada’s Jewish community? Legal expert Mark Freiman thinks police could be doing a lot more, but hopes what the Calgary police department has done—charging someone for simply “disturbing the peace”—might just work for other law enforcement units across Canada. Freiman joins The CJN Daily‘s host Ellin Bessner to discuss whether Canadian police could do more to act upon this recent wave of hate-filled acts.
What we talked about
- How Calgary police charged two men with crimes related to hatred against Jews in connection with the Israel-Hamas conflict, in The CJN
- Why Toronto’s police have quadrupled the size of their hate-crimes squad, in The CJN
- A security expert opines on Canadian Jews’ safety on The CJN Daily
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In the summer of 2022, coin expert Brian Iseman stumbled on a trove of long-forgotten personal military possessions belonging to the family of Lt. Myer Tutzer Cohen. Cohen, from Toronto, was the first Canadian Jewish soldier to win the Military Cross for bravery in the Great War—and possibly the first in Canadian history to do so. Iseman quickly realized he needed to buy the collection to save it from being sold off, even though at the time, he didn’t know who Cohen was, nor was he aware of the young soldier’s remarkable achievements fighting against the Germans on the western front during the First World War.Cohen was the son of one of the founders of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, and attended Harbord Collegiate high school. He was killed holding the line and badly outnumbered on the rain-soaked, muddy battlefields at Passchendaele on Nov. 3, 1917. His death came just a few weeks after he had been awarded the British Commonwealth’s second-highest military medal, the Military Cross, for taking out two German patrols in no man’s land in France, then capturing the rest as prisoners.Iseman has rescued an important piece of Canadian history, and connected with Cohen’s surviving family in Israel while documenting the young officer’s life. Now, he is looking for suggestions on where he can best share Cohen’s colourful story with the world.As we approach Remembrance Day this Saturday Nov. 11, The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner visited Iseman at his Richmond Hill office to see the lost Lt. Myer Tutzer Cohen collection.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Lt. Myer Tutzer Cohen in The CJN archives.
- See a display about Lt. Myer Tutzer Cohen in the lobby of Beth Tzedec synagogue in Toronto until the end of this week.
- How Canadian Jews contributed to the country’s military history, in The CJN’s “Northern Lights” book.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Being a Jewish post-secondary student on Canadian campuses this semester has become an uncomfortable experience in the past month. Students have received death threats; mezuzot have been ripped down; professors have injected anti-Israel rhetoric into their lectures; and student councils—even entire departments—have issued declarations condemning Israel. All this while Jewish students, wanting to support Israel, are suffering from the same mental health crisis that’s gripped the broader Jewish Diaspora community.The world of academia has been fertile ground for anti-Zionism, where Israel is widely considered an oppressive colonial state within anti-racism frameworks. But in the past month, college campuses have become flashpoints, pitting Canadian Jewish students against vocal antisemitism from so-called progressive teachers and classmates. This has culminated in a series of lawsuits launched by Jewish students on Nov. 2, 2023, against some of Canada’s most high-profile institutions—Toronto Metropolitan University, Queen’s, UBC and York—accusing them of negligence in failing to address antisemitism for decades.The CJN Daily‘s producer, Zachary Kauffman, spoke with four Canadian students to find out what they’re encountering on campus. He’s joined by Hannah Alper, who attends Western University in London; Ido Ziv-li, from the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus; Morgan Rosenberg, from McMaster in Hamilton; and Emily Broitman, at Queen’s in Kingston.
What we talked about
- Learn more about antisemitism on Canadian university campuses this month in The CJN
- Hear why Canadian police have charged nine people so far with hate-related crimes related to the Hamas-Israel protests, on The CJN Daily
- York University is ordering its student union to retract solidarity statement with Palestine, in The CJ
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Toronto police have arrested and charged a 32-year-old Toronto man after he allegedly tried to stop someone from putting up posters of missing Israeli hostages along Yonge Street. Police say further hate-related charges could be laid. Meanwhile late Monday, Ottawa police announced they have laid various charges against a 29-year-old man after death threats were made during a phone call with Rabbi Idan Scher, of Congregation Machzikei Hadas last Friday.The charges brings the total so far to 9 people who have been arrested and charged in Canada since Oct 7, when the barbarous Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,400 people and prompted Israel’s declaration of war against Hamas in Gaza.Jewish communities from Vancouver to Regina and Winnipeg and Ottawa to Montreal and Moncton have been targeted with antisemitic incidents. These have included damaged mezuzot; a bomb threat made to an elementary school; a weapon fired in the dead of night through the front door of a Jewish home; restaurant patrons being harassed; and death threats made against Canadian Jews. All this to say nothing of Hamas and ISIS flags being waved in the streets.Canada just announced a one-time pot of $5 million for security guards and equipment to protect Jewish and other religious groups’ offices and day care centres. But can the police do more? Should Canadian Jews stay away from schools and synagogues and events? CIJA’s director of community security, Gerry Almendrades, tells _The CJN Daily _host Ellin Bessner that’s actually the worst thing Jews can do: give into the fear.
What we talked about
- Read the Public Safety Canada announcement on temporarily expanding funding for security at Jewish and other buildings, issued on Nov. 6.
- Why Toronto police charged a man with a hate-motivated assault in connection with an incident involving someone putting up Israeli hostage posters in Toronto, in The CJN
- Read the sections of Canada’s Criminal Code dealing with hate.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Maya Winkler, 19, was supposed to be taking classes at Reichman University in Herzliya this year—but is instead spending her days collecting supplies for Israeli soldiers and babysitting their kids.
Leora Prutschi, 18, was supposed to be on a reverse Shinshinim project—a year of service for Diaspora teens in Israel—but is instead commuting from Eilat to Timna, 30 km north, to teach English to displaced Israeli kids whose homes were destroyed.
Meanwhile, Joey Lipetz, 18, studies at a yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion, near Jerusalem, where he also assembles piles of ritual green prayer shawls for soldiers and recites psalms for them.
These three teenagers are among an untold number of young Canadian Jewish students who went to Israel for a gap-year program, or to do a year of university studies, only to find their plans dramatically upended by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and subsequent war. And while many in their cohort have returned to Canada, these three have chosen to remain in Israel, despite pressure from their families.
Winkler, Lipetz and Prutschi spoke to The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner about why they feel safer staying to help Israel, even as they face rocket attacks in a country traumatized by the barbaric murders of 1,500 Israelis and foreign tourists near the Gaza Strip a month ago.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Maya Winkler and her brother Zachary's famous fundraising charity events for SickKids in The CJN archives (2018 and 2014)
- Hear the hostages’ families plead with Canada to do more to help free their loved ones held by Hamas in Gaza, on The CJN Daily
- Meet the social worker who helps bereaved Israeli families identify the remains of their loved ones murdered by Hamas, on The CJN Daily
_ _CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Just ahead of her first visit to Canada as Israel’s newly-appointed Special Envoy on Combatting Antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh had strong criticism of the Trudeau government’s decision to abstain last week on a vote at the United Nations’ General Assembly about the Israel Hamas war.Cotler-Wunsh calls the decision by Canada to abstain, rather than vote “No”: “worse than silence”.
The new special envoy arrives in Canada today for talks in Ottawa on Parliament Hill, and then speaks in Toronto at a fundraiser for a Jewish group. Cotler-Wunsh is Israeli, but grew up in Canada, the daughter of professor Irwin Cotler, human rights crusader and Canada’s own first Special Envoy fighting antisemitism – a position he just finished last week.
Cotler-Wunsh was apppointed to her new post just three weeks before the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Southern Israel killed over 1,400 people and kidnapped over 239 more, using tactics which she calls “genocidal”. She’s working feverishly now to explain to the world why Jews and allies must fight “this existential war” on the Jewish State and people, and why Hamas’s tactics have roots in age-old antisemitism now disguised as modern anti-Zionism.
As you will hear, some moments of panic ensued when Cotler-Wunsh joined The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner from her office in Tel Aviv right in the middle of a rocket attack.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Michal Cotler-Wunsh and her previous work as an MK in Israel’s Knesset, in The CJN.
- How Michal Cotler-Wunsh co-founded an inter-Parliamentary task force to combat online hate on social media, in The CJN.
- Read Michal Cotler-Wunsh writing in The CJN in 2016 about her father’s legacy.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
If you ask some relatives of the nearly 240 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, they will say “there hasn’t been enough pressure” to free their loved ones. That’s one of the key messages they emphasized during private meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and with other Canadian politicians and journalists, on Oct. 30.The Israeli group said they are getting little to no information on their loved ones’ status from their own government, which they’ve accused of failing to protect their families. They called on Canada to break off diplomatic and financial ties to organizations and countries that help Hamas, and they want Canada to pressure Israel to make hostage recovery the top priority.On today’s The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner brings you the powerful words of several relatives, including Winnipeg-born hostage Vivian Silver’s son, Chen Zeigen; Aharon Brodutch, a Canadian-Israeli physicist whose sister-in-law and three young children were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza (including his niece, Ofri, 10, who attended Camp Gesher in Ontario this summer, and nephews Yuval, 8, and Uriah, 4); Harel Lapidot, a Regina-born Israeli lawyer, whose niece Tiferet Lapidot, 22, was murdered at the Supernova music festival, and Itay Raviv, with three relatives held hostage and one uncle murdered at Kibbutz Nir Oz.
What we talked about
- Why Vivian Silver’s close friend thinks she would want to be freed from Hamas peacefully, on The CJN Daily
- Watch the full press conference by families of the Hamas victims on CPAC’s YouTube channel
- Read more about the hostage families’ anguish in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As Israeli tanks and infantry forces began a limited push into Gaza over the weekend, ahead of an expected full-scale ground invasion, families and friends of the now-230 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 want to make sure their loved ones aren’t forgotten. That’s why Toronto social worker Lynne Mitchell, a longtime friend of kidnapped Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, is speaking out.She’s telling the world who Silver is and how her friend went to Israel to devote her life to helping forge peaceful relationships between Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and Jews. She believes Silver, a widow, would not want to be freed through violent raids—but rather by mediation or negotiation.It’s been more than three weeks since Silver, 74, was captured by Hamas while hiding in her safe room inside her Kibbutz Be’eri home, where 130 residents were later found slaughtered.Mitchell joins The CJN Daily to share how Silver’s family has been navigating this tense moment—and what she hopes will happen next.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Vivian Silver in The CJN
- Join the “Missing Vivian Silver” Facebook group
- Read about the funeral for Alexandre Look, a Canadian murdered at the music festival in Israel, in The CJN
- Register for the Toronto rally on Nov. 1 in support of the hostages
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Canadian social worker Joy Frenkiel can’t get two particular sounds out of her head: IDF soldiers hammering wood to build coffins, and the motors of refrigerated containers storing hundreds of still-unidentified bodies at an Israeli military base. Frenkiel moved to Israel from Chomedey, north of Montreal, in 1996; since the horrific murders of at least 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals earlier this month by Hamas, the Ramat Gan resident has been helping bereaved families go through what is likely the hardest experience of their lives.Frenkiel not only travels with military teams on solemn home visits to break the news to next of kin—she also supports grieving parents, spouses and other relatives when they go in-person to the morgue at the Shura military base at Ramla to officially identify the remains.For Frenkiel, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, seeing the condition of many of the bodies has been almost beyond description. But, as she tells The CJN Daily‘s host Ellin Bessner in the third episode of our series on “The Helpers” in this war, Frenkiel is honouring those who were murdered to fulfill the mitzvah of giving kindness during the darkest period of Israel’s modern history.
What we talked about
- Help ZAKA, an Israeli organization giving the victims of Hamas a Jewish burial
- Read more about the work of ZAKA in The CJN archives (2015)
- Meet the Canadian couple who hid for their lives near the Gaza border when Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Dr. Brad Strauss is a cardiologist at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, with a roster of patients and several new medical devices under development. But immediately following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, Strauss dropped everything and booked a plane ticket to Tel Aviv. Despite his flight being delayed by missile threats—it took him two days in transit—he arrived ready to work near the frontlines around Gaza. Instead, he was accepted by the cardiology team at the HaEmek hospital in Afula, in the country's north—within firing range of Hezbollah's rockets.
Strauss is the only Canadian doctor volunteering with that hospital's heart unit right now. But The CJN is aware of many other Canadian medical professionals who are on the ground to help.
And there will be thousands more, as Israel wants foreign-trained medical staff from Canada, the U.S. and the European Union to volunteer, anticipating casualties straining their health care system.
In the second episode of our week spotlighting "The Helpers" in the Holy Land, Strauss speaks to The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner about what motivated him to come and why stress is causing heart problems for patients who he has seen during these last two weeks.
What we talked about
- Help the HaEmek hospital in Afula buy a portable x-ray machine for the ER and a portable cardiac echo machine. Tax-deductable donations can be sent via the Neeman Foundation
- Learn about Israel’s health ministry creating this web portal for foreign-trained medical professionals from Canada and abroad to sign up to volunteer
- If you missed Monday’s The CJN Daily episode with the Canadian toymaker Ronnen Harary of Spin Master and how he is delivering 25,000 toys to displaced Israeli kids, listen here
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please
Ronnen Harary and his university friends founded the toy and entertainment company Spin Master in 1994, launching with Earth Buddies and later the wildly successful Air Hogs toys. Today, it’s their Paw Patrol characters and Gund stuffed animals that are globally famous. And for the last two weeks, since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel, Harary has been on the ground in Israel distributing 25,000 toys for Israeli kids and their families who have been affected by the war with Hamas.
And that’s not all. His personal charity is buying new beds for the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem to boost capacity ahead of expected casualties. Meanwhile, the Canadian philanthropist has also personally driven boxes of socks and supplies to army bases all over Israel, and his charity is helping a Canadian-led operation sending a food truck to feed soldiers before they embark on what’s expected to be an unprecedented ground assault on the Gaza Strip against Hamas.
Today, The CJN Daily is kicking off a week of stories about what we’re calling “The Helpers”: Canadians stepping up to help Israel during these difficult times. Host Ellin Bessner speaks to Harary and to Franck Azoulay, a former Montrealer who now runs Harary’s personal charity and is himself serving with the IDF.
- Read how Harary sends gifts to children in conflict zones, including Israel, through The Toy Movement, in The CJN
- Learn more about the Canadian initiative to send a food truck from the Canaanite restaurant in Kfar Adumim, the West Bank, to feed Israeli soldiers at their bases—and donate to the crowdfunding campaign.
- Read how Spin Master was founded in a garage, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
There’s been a lot of attention paid this week to the way some major news organizations are covering the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, which was launched on Oct. 7. The CBC, in particular, has come under scrutiny because it is a government-funded body to the tune of more than $1 billion a year.Twelve days ago, a CBC internal memo was sent to staff right after the attack happened, reminding journalists not to use the word “terrorists” or “terrorism” without attribution, when writing their stories. The memo was leaked to the public, sparking a barrage of complaints. This week, the federal Conservatives demanded CBC brass appear in front of a parliamentary committee to explain why their news teams have been advised to use more neutral language when describing the murderous massacre of 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals.The CBC says it is not alone in insisting its team not call the Hamas gunmen terrorists: the BBC doesn’t either. They don’t want to be seen to be taking sides, even while showing the gruesome carnage in as clear and accurate detail as they can.The CJN Daily‘s host, Ellin Bessner, spoke to Brodie Fenlon, the editor-in-chief of CBC News, to find out what’s behind the controversial wording policy of militants vs terrorists, and whether it should change.
What we talked about
- Read the CBC blog by Brodie Fenlon, editor-in-chief of CBC News, explaining the reasoning why they won’t call Hamas terrorists.
- Learn more about the show of solidarity by Canadian leaders at the CIJA Antisemitism: Face It, Fight It conference, in The CJN.
- How the conflict is impacting Jewish students on university campuses, in The CJN.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Tiferet Lapidot had been teaching English to children in Africa before she returned to Israel this fall to be with her family for the High Holidays. She was planning to go to Australia after holidays ended, around the time she was going to turn 23. But, first, she decided to go to the Supernova music festival near the border with Gaza.
That's where she found herself frantically running for her life on Oct. 7, trying to escape from Hamas terrorists, who committed a murderous massacre at the now-notorious festival. Lapidot managed to make one last phone call home to her mother. But after that, the family heard nothing. They feared she was among the nearly 200 kidnapped Israelis and foreign tourists taken hostage in Gaza.
But on Oct. 18, after an agonizing wait that took over a week, the family learned their daughter was among the 260 partygoers who died that day.
On The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner speaks with the late Tiferet Lapidot's aunt, Galit Goren, and with her uncle, Harel Lapidot, both of whom are Canadians living in Israel. This interview was recorded days before the family learned of Lapidot's fate.
What we talked about
- The Canadian Sephardi Federation and the Quebec Sephardic community are asking people to put up free posters showing the names and faces of the missing hostages. You can download these posters for free, which can also be sent to your politicians, at kidnappedfromIsrael.com
- Read more about The Abraham Global Peace Initiative’s $100,000 reward for information leading to the exact locations of the hostages
- Ten mental health tips to help your kids (and you) cope with anxiety during this difficult time in Jewish history: on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here
Toronto cognitive behavioural therapy counsellor Leanne Matlow says her phone has been buzzing ever since the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists on southern Israel on Oct. 7. She’s been hearing from Canadian parents who don’t know how to reassure their children, who are being exposed to gruesome videos and images of blood-stained rooms and also wounded or dead Israeli victims of the massacre–not to mention being nervous since extra squads of police and security guards have turned up patrolling their schools, community centres and synagogues since the violence began.Matlow has worked as a school guidance counsellor and now is in private practice specializing in helping anxious young people as her clients. She’s just issued a series of ten tips for adults (and the children they care for) to help them manage their mental health at this difficult time in Jewish history.On today’s The CJN Daily, she joins host Ellin Bessner with practical advice that everyone can use.
Leanne Matlow’s 10 Tips:
Here are some suggested tips. As the conflict is dynamic, so must be our responses
- Take care of yourself and your own mental health first. (Take media breaks, go for a walk, stick to a routine with proper eating and sleeping.) It is okay to ask for help from neighbours, relatives or friends when you need a break.
- Remember your kids are always watching and listening to you and how you react. Be mindful of the emotional impact of your words and actions.
- Set boundaries on the news consumption in your house, especially around your kids. This is an opportunity to talk about critical thinking and bias in the world of social media.
- Are your kids hungry or tired? Very simple, but before you speak to your children about anything difficult, check on their physical needs first. It will not be helpful to have a potentially stressful discussion unless everyone is calm before you begin.
- Understand your child’s level of knowledge and comprehension: Take cues from your child and let them lead the discussion. Ask open-ended questions. ” Please share with me what you’ve heard and how are you feeling about it?” Avoid jumping in with a lecture or giving more information or details that they are unaware of or are not asking for.
- Reassure your child that they are safe here. Clarify where the conflict is happening.
- If you don’t know the answer to a question, it is ok to say that you will get the information and answer them later.
- It’s ok to be lenient and be reassuring, but don’t set a precedent that is not sustainable.
- Take what your kids are worried about and turn it into action-oriented tasks. Brainstorm ideas about how what you can we to feel hopeful and helpful? (Give and collect tzedakah, make cards for soldiers or kids who are displaced from their homes/schools, etc.)
- Ensure that your child has access to you to talk daily and that you are there to listen empathetically. Set a time for this discussion which should NOT be as they are getting into bed.
What we talked about
- Attend The CJN’s live emergency mental health seminar at Toronto’s Prosserman JCC on Tuesday Oct. 17, 2023. Free but you have to register. It won’t be livestreamed, but will be rebroadcast.
- Read more about Leanne Mallow’s work giving hope to anxious young people struggling with their mental health, in The CJN.
- Meet the Canadians evacuees from Israel who arrived home in Toronto this weekend, on The CJN Daily.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
A student who’d been volunteering at an Israeli daycare. A widower and his three children honouring the anniversary of their mother’s death. A 15-year-old studying at an Israeli boarding school—and her mother, who was visiting her for Sukkot.These are just some of the first Canadians who’ve returned home from Israel Friday, having been safely evacuated as part of Ottawa’s emergency airlifts which began Oct. 12. After Hamas launched a murderous attack on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, including eight Canadians, the federal government took a few days to arrange the official evacuation.The Canadians boarded Royal Canadian Air Force transport planes in Tel Aviv, which brought them to the airport in Athens, Greece—where many had to spend the night sleeping on the floor, because there were no hotels available, given the mass exodus of travellers leaving the Holy Land.They then boarded an Air Canada flight home the next day, safely arriving at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Oct. 13. _The CJN Daily’_s Ellin Bessner was there on Friday evening when the special flight landed. There she spoke with Simona Bitton and her family, Kinneret Butterfield-Morrison, along with her brother Noam, and Sivanne and Jordyn Detsky.
What we talked about
- Read more about Canadians scrambling to board rescue flights out of Israel in The CJN
- Canadians can register for emergency military airlift flights from the Government of Canada to get out of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, via Global Affairs Canada here
- How the Israel-Hamas war is playing out on social media, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
On Oct. 11, the Canadian government announced it is mounting an emergency operation to fly Canadians out of Israel, possibly beginning as early as Thursday night. Several Canadian Forces transport planes will be sent to Tel Aviv to shuttle hundreds of Canadians and other passengers out of Israel to Greece, even as rocket fire continues raining down from Gaza, and mortars fall along the northern border with Lebanon.So far, according to Ya’ara Saks, the minister of mental health and addictions, who is the first Israeli-Canadian elected to Parliament, Canada has received 1,280 calls for travel help since the weekend, when Hamas terrorists swarmed across the Gaza border in southern Israel.Critics have blasted the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv for responding too slowly to appeals from desperate Canadians trapped in bomb shelters, especially after Air Canada and other airlines cancelled flights. Saks deflected the criticism, insisting her government is mounting an “all-hands-on-deck effort” to get Canadians out, including sending a negotiating team in for Canadians believed to be hostages in Gaza, including Vivian Silver, 74, originally from Winnipeg.Ya’ara Saks spoke to The CJN Daily’s Ellin Bessner about coping with her own personal grief over family members who’ve been killed, while helping Canadians caught up in Israel’s war with Hamas.
What we talked about
- Learn more about three Canadian victims of Hamas: Adi Vital-Kaplun, 33; Vancouver’s Ben Mizrachi, 22; and Alexandre Look, also 33, of Montreal
- Ya’ara Saks becomes first Israeli-Canadian MP, in The CJN
- Canadians can register for emergency military airlift flights from the Government of Canada to get out of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, via Global Affairs Canada here
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
One is a doctor. One is with a tank unit. One is in reconnaissance. All three sons of Toronto-born Ira Garshowitz were called up on the weekend to serve at the front with the Israel Defense Forces after the unprecedented Hamas attack on Oct. 7. Garshowitz’s daughter is also in uniform–and like her brothers, all are Canadian citizens but born in Israel.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Shiff now has two married sons and a daughter in action since the weekend.The Canadian-born lawyer immigrated to Israel in 1989 and like Garshowitz, is also an IDF veteran.Between him and Garshowitz, they have seven children fighting in what’s been dubbed “Operation Iron Swords”, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed will “exact a price that will be remembered by [Hamas] and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.” More than 150 Israeli soldiers have been killed to date in the war.
Garshowitz and Shiff join _The CJN Daily _host Ellin Bessner to describe what life is like for them right now, their fears for their children in battle, and what their families are doing as civilians to help the war effort.
What we talked about
- Donate to help Israeli soldiers via UJA Federation of Toronto, Vancouver or Mizrachi Canada
- Read how Jonathan Shiff and his brother retraced their great-uncle’s wartime footsteps to find his grave in Holland, in The CJN
- Why Ira Garshowitz’s brother went to England to mark the 80th anniversary of his uncle’s heroic Dambusters Raid in the Second World War, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Iddo Moed arrived in Ottawa only six weeks ago to take up the post as Israel’s new ambassador to Canada. He hasn’t even presented his credentials to Governor General Mary Simon yet, which means he isn’t permitted to make direct contact with Canadian politicians until that ceremony takes place. Nevertheless, Moed is making Israel’s position clear on who is behind the unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas over the weekend that has killed at least 700 Israelis, wounded thousands more, and saw Palestinian terrorists kidnap over 100 people, including possibly two or three Canadians.While Moed said Iran was clearly the mastermind behind the Hamas onslaught that began Saturday Oct. 6, he suggested that the international community, including Canada, should rethink its habit of sending funds through the UN to help Palestinians in Gaza, since that money winds up instead being used to incite terrorists who carried out “barbaric” acts of hatred of Jews and Israel.Since 2016, when Canada resumed funding the UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East), the Liberal government has sent or pledged at least $300 million.Despite this contentious issue, Moed welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s declaration of support for Israel now, including the move to light up the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill on Sunday with the Israeli flag. Moed joins _The CJN Daily’_s Ellin Bessner from Ottawa.
What we talked about
- Register_ _with the Canadian government if you are in Israel
- Concerns over the Trudeau government adding another $103 million to help Palestinian refugees in Gaza and West Bank and other areas around Israel, in The CJN
- This former Winnipegger is now among the missing in aftermath of the Hamas attacks on southern Israel, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, Gloria and Howard Wener woke up to the sound of rockets and an air raid warning. The Canadian couple immigrated to Israel 50 years ago as pioneers of Sde Nitzan, a moshav of 500 people, less than 10 km from the Gaza border. Now, two days into Israel’s latest war with the Hamas-controlled region, the Weners remain locked inside their home, angry and disillusioned.
The couple has found themselves living near the frontlines of the most lethal attack in recent Israeli history. The surprise invasion by Hamas breached the Israeli border by land, sea and air into Israel’s southwestern towns and communities, killing (as of publication on Oct. 8) more than 600 Israeli people and wounding 2,000 Israelis. At least 100 people, mostly Israelis, have been kidnapped and are being held hostage.
For now, the Weners are under orders to remain in lockdown, or even evacuate their home, while Hamas terrorists still roam their Eshkol Regional Council zone. Some of the Weners friends and neighbours have been killed or kidnapped.
The Canadian couple is “fuming” and “disappointed” over the colossal inteIligence failure by the Israeli army, which didn’t see the attack coming and took hours to respond. They join The CJN Daily‘s host, Ellin Bessner, from their home on the front lines.
What we talked about
- Read the warnings from Global Affairs Canada about travel in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza
- Register with the Canadian government if you are in Israel
- Learn more about the Sde Nitzan moshav in The CJN archives (from 2008)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
A century after Chicago 58 Food Products’ late founder, David Bernholtz, borrowed $500 dollars to open a kosher butcher shop in Toronto’s Kensington Market, his grandchildren—and great-grandson—are still running the business. Chicago 58 threw a 100th anniversary barbecue for suppliers and customers last week, complete with fresh hot dogs and steaming brisket sandwiches on rye.For 80 years, the Chicago 58 all-beef salamis, Lanky Franky hot dogs and beef pastramis were made with the founder’s secret old-world recipes at the company’s original factory on Lippincott Street. Diners could find them at famous Ontario delis, including Pancer’s, Shopsy’s and even The Pickle Barrel.But by the 2000s, new health rules—plus family disputes and union issues—convinced the Bernholtzes that it was time to leave the aging warren of rooms in the historic Jewish neighbourhood. In 2005 they moved to a modern industrial building in the northwest Toronto suburb of Woodbridge.Today, Chicago 58 no longer makes their own meat and deli products in-house. They contract it out. And they have expanded into distributing other food lines, too, like lasagna, cheese, coffee, tuna and even bacon, supplying restaurants and grocery chains like Farm Boy, Metro, Sobeys Longos and Loblaws.Now, on the company’s centennial, the family is working to preserve the founders’ old-fashioned ways of doing business, while adapting to modern customers’ eating habits.The CJN Daily‘s Ellin Bessner visited the warehouse to speak to current president Teddy Bernholtz, a grandson of the founder, and also to Yittie Starkman, his aunt, aged 96 and a half, who worked at her father’s plant for decades.
What we talked about
- Read more about Chicago 58’s story and watch a documentary video on the history of the company
- Is the deli dying? Read more in The CJN (from 2009)
- The owner of Vancouver’s Omnitsky Kosher Deli is looking to close or sell, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As the fallout continues from the Canadian Parliament applauding a 98-year-old former member of a Nazi-led Ukrainian Waffen SS unit, the spotlight is focusing on how the former soldier Yaroslav Hunka and thousands of other enemy troops like him, were permitted to come to Canada in the first place.
For decades, Jewish groups have been calling on the Canadian government to release the complete files from the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada—known as the Deschênes Commission—which, from 1985 to 1986, looked into how many Nazi war criminals were here and what Canada could do about it. While the final report led to a few (mostly unsuccessful) prosecutions, much of the detailed information, including the names and cases of hundreds of other suspects, was never released. The papers are held by Library and Archives Canada, the Department of Justice and the RCMP.
Now, however, some are hoping the international public embarrassment might convince the federal government to finally reckon with Canada’s past and release all these historic files.
On The CJN Daily, we meet the main Canadian historian, Alti Rodal, who worked for the Deschênes Commission nearly 40 years ago. Then we speak to David Matas, B’nai Brith’s senior legal counsel, who intervened in those hearings in 1985 and continues to lobby for the full records to be made public.
What we talked about
- Why Edmonton’s Jewish community wants two monuments honouring Ukrainian Nazi soldiers finally taken down, in The CJN
- Read the B’nai Brith Canada brief to Parliament on why Canada should release the Deschênes Commission documents in full and read the Canadian government’s update (1998) on names of suspected war criminals and what happened to their cases
- What the political fallout will be on Canada’s “blunder” to give two standing ovations to a former Ukrainian soldier in the Waffen SS’s 14th Division, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Artur Wilczynski has choice words to describe what happened in the Canadian House of Commons on Sept. 22, when lawmakers gave two standing ovations to a 98-year-old former Ukrainian solider who served with a Nazi unit during the Second World War. Wilczynski, a former diplomat and senior civil servant in Ottawa—and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor—calls the scandal an “absolute public relations disaster for Canada.”Wilczynski was stunned as he watched the incident unfold during Friday’s official ceremony in the House to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Canada. After the leader of the war-torn country made his formal speech, the Speaker of the House, Anthony Rota, recognized the presence of Yaroslav Hunka in the public gallery. Rota called Hunka, who lives in Rota’s riding of North Bay, a Canadian hero—but it soon was discovered that, in fact, he had actually fought for the Nazis and against the Russians, as part of a notorious Waffen-SS unit known for massacring Jews during the Holocaust and committing atrocities against Polish civilians.The Speaker has since announced his resignation, effective Wednesday night. But observers, including Wilczynski, say the damage will have long-lasting repercussions on Canada, NATO and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.Wilczynski joins The CJN Daily to unpack how such a failure in protocol could have happened—and what Canada needs to do to fix things.
What we talked about
- Read CJN editor Lila Sarick’s interviews with Jewish Canadian leaders about Speaker Anthony Rota resigning, in The CJN
- Why the Canadian government’s poor record of prosecuting Nazi war criminals is considered a failure by Jewish groups, in The CJN (from 2017)
- Why this Nazi hunter called Helmut Oberlander’s peaceful death in his Waterloo, Ont., home in 2021 a disgrace, on The CJN Daily
What we talked about
- Read Lila Sarick’s interviews with Jewish Canadian leaders about House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota resigning over the Ukrainian former Nazi SS war criminal he personally invited as his guest to Parliament last week, in The CJN.
- Why the Canadian government’s poor record of prosecuting Nazi war criminals is considered a failure by Jewish groups, in The CJN.
- Why this Nazi hunter called the death of Helmut Oberlander in his Waterloo, Ont. home in 2021 a disgrace, on The CJN Daily.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
On Sept. 26, Temple Sholom in Vancouver is hosting two of the leaders of Israel's months-long protests: Jerusalem professor Michal Muszkat-Barkan and Ora Peled Nakash, a computer engineer who lives on a kibbutz outside Haifa. The pair will speak about their grassroots efforts these past nine months to stop the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. The two women are being flown in on the invitation of progressive Jewish groups including JSpace Canada, ARZA, the New Israel Fund, UnXeptable and the America-Israel Democracy Coalition.
This is the first time anyone from the self-described pro-democracy protests (which have attracted hundreds of thousands of people every weekend for the past nine months) has made the journey to Canada to drum up support from the world's third-largest Diaspora community. They're also speaking the next day in Seattle before heading home for Sukkot.
On The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Muszkat-Barkan and Peled Nakash about why they are coming to Canada—and then we catch up with Joan Garson, of Toronto, active in a wide range of local and international Reform and other Jewish organizations. She travelled to New York to protest against Netanyahu while the Israeli leader was speaking at the United Nations a few days ago.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the Jerusalem-based protest group “Safeguarding our Shared Home”, which broadcasts its weekly demonstrations from outside the president’s residence every Saturday night live on Facebook
- Register to attend the event in person in Vancouver or watch the event live on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. PST on Temple Sholom’s website
- Join the Safeguarding our Shared Home WhatsApp group for English speakers
- Read more about UnXeptable’s Canadian chapters: the pro-democracy organization was formed by expatriate Israelis, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Last Monday, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board voted to determine if trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth breached the board’s code of conduct by sending a series of arguably bullying text messages to another trustee in trying to garner allies as she attempted to reinstate a mask mandate in Ottawa schools. In her messages, Kaplan-Myrth wrote that trustees opposing her motion didn't care "if Black and Indigenous children get sick… If children in poverty get sick… If children with disabilities and immunocompromised family members can’t safely go to school." She later implored her colleague to not "vote with white supremacists."
The chaotic special meeting devolved into a shouting match before the final tally, when the motion failed by a single vote.
In response to the debacle, The CJN's political columnist Josh Leiblein wrote a piece criticizing Kaplan-Myrth—and she responded to our publication with a lengthy three-page rebuttal. We share a bit of her response in this re-airing of our conversation with Kaplan-Myrth from May 2021. With her name back in the news—and with COVID season starting up again—we wanted to revisit this interview, recorded during her rise to prominence as an outspoken proponent of masking, back when she was hosting large-scale vaccination events known as "jabapaloozas".
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Many Jews around the world will be reciting the Yizkor memorial prayer as Yom Kippur approaches this weekend. And while most synagogues maintain traditional memorial wall displays, with columns of bronze or brass yahrzeit plaques, a growing number of Jewish congregations in North America and even Europe are embracing new technology and replacing the hardware with interactive digital memorials.Not only can you put longer, fuller biographies and photos on the digital memorial, but they can be also be accessed from anywhere in the world, even on your phone. It’s a modern solution for synagogues that are merging, as well as for others that are running out of wall space. And, yes, you can set the memorial so it will not violate the ban on using technology during Shabbat and holy days.Beit Rayim Synagogue and School in Vaughan, Ont., is the latest shul in Canada to install a digital kiosk, although Ottawa's Kehillat Beth Israel has had a digital display for several years, as has Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek. Now other congregations in Toronto and Montreal are considering the concept. Already some 65 congregations in the United States have installed them. On today’s The CJN Daily, Beit Rayim’s vice president, Lorraine Bloom, joins host Ellin Bessner, along with Heshy Spira, a partner with the W and E Baum company based in New Jersey, which makes the machines.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the digital yahrzeit memorial kiosk at Beit Rayim Synagogue and School in Vaughan, Ont_._
- See more styles of digital yahrzeit memorial boards installed in the United States at the W&EBaum company website and the Winnipeg-based company which also sells them, Plannedlegacy.com
- Hear about putting QR codes on gravestones, and other future technological trends in the funeral business, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This weekend, Atlantic Canada is preparing to get slammed by Hurricane Lee, a Category 1 hurricane that could blast winds as strong as 110 km/h across parts of the country. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are on especially high alert in the storm's path, with residents preparing for worst-case scenarios: power outages, storm surges, flooding and property damage.
This is the second year in a row that Maritime Jews are finding their new year celebrations threatened by a lethal storm. This same time last year, community members across Nova Scotia were all set for Rosh Hashanah when Hurricane Fiona smashed into the coast, blowing winds of up to 170 km/hr and dumping seven inches of rain across the region. The community was left without power, light, refrigeration or heat.
In the aftermath of the natural disaster, The CJN Daily spoke with Shayna Strong, a Jewish community member in New Waterford, just northeast of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Strong explained how they managed to celebrate Rosh Hashanah despite the hardship. With a near-identical situation facing Atlantic Jews this weekend, we're re-airing our interview with Strong, which originally ran in September 2022.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
September 10 was a milestone day at the Donald Berman Jewish Eldercare Centre in Montreal: the staff threw the organization's annual group birthday party for a record number of residents over 100 years old. This year’s 22 “super seniors” include a Second World War veteran, David Kucer, who worked forging metal miniature weapons as collectors items, and also Bella Bernstein, the oldest of the group. At 104, she is a renowned former soprano who performed opera and Jewish music across the community.
But it wasn't all smiles and birthday cake. Originally, there were supposed to be 23 seniors to celebrate—until, sadly, one passed away just a few days earlier.
To learn the secret of living a long life, we turned to the experts. On The CJN Daily, the 104-year-old Bernstein joins host Ellin Bessner, along with Bernstein's daughter Harriet Segal and the home's recreation coordinator, Josie di Benedetto.
What we talked about
- Read how COVID-19 decimated the Jewish long-term care homes in Montreal in The CJN
- Read about Cecile Klein, z”l, who was Canada’s oldest person at 114, until her death, in The CJN
- Learn about Rabbi Erwin Schild, who marked his 103rd birthday recently in Toronto, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This summer, Canadian housing minister Sean Fraser blamed Canada's housing crisis, in part, on post-secondary institutions bringing in unregulated and record-high numbers of international students. This could cause the rental market to skyrocket in urban areas; on the flip side, the number of newcomer students has also created a swell of illegal rooming houses, even fostering homelessness among international students, who lack credit checks and Canadian references to find housing in the first place.
Fraser is not alone in pinpointing non-Canadians in this debate. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has repeatedly called out the rising number of newcomers for his province’s housing crisis, using it as justification for his (now scandal-ridden) Greenbelt land swap plan, whose entire purpose was to help build 500,000 new homes by 2025. And in the broader public eye, Nanos conducted a recent poll for CTV News on the subject, finding that roughly three in five Canadians support decreasing the number of immigrants coming into the country until housing becomes more affordable.
A rising fears of immigrants, rootless cosmopolitans and foreign influences undermining Canadian livelihoods have not historically been good for the Jews. But there could be some Jewish players who help solve the puzzle. Today on The CJN Daily, producer Zac Kauffman speaks with Noam Dolgin, who co-founded CoHo BC, which "hacks" the housing market by matchmaking strangers to pool their money to buy a home. He explains how this kind of unorthodox thinking could be one key piece in solving the country's housing crisis.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As rescue efforts continue in Morocco to find survivors of Friday’s powerful earthquake, the disaster is also affecting Canada’s significant community of Moroccan Jews—especially those based in Montreal. As of Sunday night, more than 2,100 people were killed in the 6.8-magnitude quake, while at least 2,400 have been seriously injured. The quake hit hardest in the remote villages of the Atlas Mountains, southeast of Marrakesh, although it was also felt as far as Casablanca to the north. Before Canadian Jewish relief efforts kick into high gear Monday, _The CJN Daily _caught up with a young engineer from Toronto who was staying in Marrakesh when the quake hit. Seth Davis, 25, and his girlfriend, count themselves lucky to be unscathed. They were set to make their way home to Canada on Monday. Davis joins host Ellin Bessner on _The CJN Daily _to describe what he saw. After that, you’ll hear from Montrealers Avraham Elarar, president of the Canadian Sephardi Federation, and Yair Szlak, CEO of Montreal’s Federation CJA, for local reactions.
What we talked about
- To donate funds and help the Moroccan earthquake victims through Federation CJA, click here
- Learn more about the history of the Jews of Morocco in a piece Elarar wrote in The CJN in 2019
- Read more about the Canadian Sephardi Federation from their website
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Next week, on Sept. 12, Israel’s High Court is set to hear appeals of a key plank in the judicial reform plan of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
The core issue is a law, passed by the Knesset in July, that curbs the court’s use of what's called the “reasonableness” doctrine—a doctrine that allows judges to review controversial government decisions and political appointments. The opposition says that new law gives politicians too much power, while supporters say the unelected judges use the reasonableness doctrine too often to defy the will of elected officials.
The Knesset took a break for the summer, and won’t reconvene until after the High Holidays, on Oct. 15. But that doesn’t mean the protests and political turmoil have gone away. And while the chaos unfolds in the Holy Land, Canadian Jewish leaders are figuring out how to navigate the crisis domestically and abroad.
On today’s The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner returns to bring you her conversations with CIJA’s Shimon Koffler Fogel; Miriam Pearlman, the past president of the Canadian Reform movement’s ARZA organization; and Michael Kerzner, Ontario’s Solicitor General, who is urging Jewish schools and synagogues to apply for security funding before Sept. 12.
What we talked about
- Nine months ago, in December 2022, The CJN Daily spoke to Canadian Jewish leaders about Netanyahu’s re-election. Listen to that episode here.
- Hear what Jewish Canadian rabbis and progressive Jewish groups predict will happen in Israel this fall, from The CJN Daily on Aug. 29, 2023.
- Apply here for funding from the Ontario government’s anti-hate security and prevention grant by Sept. 12 at 11:59 p.m. E.D.T.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
On Tuesday, the criminal trial began for two key leaders of the trucker convoy protest, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. The case touches on some of the deepest political divides in Canada today—and was, back in 2022, an equally hot topic for Canadian Jews.
While many in the community turned against the convoy after antisemitic images emerged of protesters waving Nazi flags, some Jewish Canadians felt comfortable brushing aside the antics of the movement's fringe members in support of the broader anti-government message.
To bring that discussion back into context, we're re-airing an interview from February 2022, when the action was happening. Ellin Bessner spoke with two Jewish Canadians who supported the controversial convoy to figure out how they viewed the Nazi symbolism and how the pandemic’s economic fallout permanently impacted their careers.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
On September 3, Ukraine's defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who has stood at the helm of the country's protracted war with Russia since Day 1, announced his resignation. If you missed the news, you wouldn't be alone; with the war heading into its third year in a few months, global attention has drifted away. Clear media narratives and easily digestible stories have fallen wayside since the conflict began in February 2022.
A new book aims to recall some of the humanity that's been lost in this inhumane struggle. Ukrainian Portraits, by Canadian writer, journalist and professor Marina Sonkina, focuses on human-scale stories she gathered at a refugee centre on the Polish border, which was set up by the Joint Distribution Committee, one of the world's largest and oldest Jewish humanitarian organizations. Sonkina joins The CJN Daily to relay these stories that so easily get lost in the fog of war.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This year has been the worst wildfire season in recorded Canadian history, with the millions of Canadians waking up for the first time to the smell of smoke and hazy skies. In the last week, blazes have continued raging in Canada’s coldest, northernmost regions, with all 20,000 residents of Yellowknife, the capital of Northwest Territories, being ordered to evacuate the city. Thousands more across the territories and northern British Columbia have followed suit.
What can Canadians expect moving forward? And how much progress have we really made in the last few years? To get a sense of the urgency and what's at stake, we're re-airing an interview The CJN Daily ran with Seth Klein in November 2021. Klein is the head of the climate emergency unit of the David Suzuki Institute. Like his sister, Naomi Klein, he’s also a published author, with his book, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, published Sept. 2020.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In recent months, thousands of Canadian workers—in separate industries—have organized in unions and walked off the job. Port workers in British Columbia, teachers in Nova Scotia, liquor store staff in Manitoba, Metro grocery employees in Ontario—all have hit picket lines this summer, in a significant reversal of a long decline of union power.
Jews have a long history of labour activism in North America, dating back to when their leadership in the shmata business evolved into some of the first organized unions in the United States. But are Jews still deeply embedded in the movement? And what are the economic and political forces behind this recent emboldening of workers?
With Labour Day around the corner, The CJN Daily speaks to Rabbi Shalom Schachter, a former labour lawyer who has worked with the Ontario Nurses' Association and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, to understand the bigger picture around the future of Jews in organized labour—and the future of work.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In late July, the Israeli government won a major victory in its mission to shift power from the Supreme Court to the legislature, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presides over the governing coalition. The so-called "reasonableness bill" stripped the High Court’s ability to use the legal standard of reasonableness to outlaw actions of the government. The action has resulted in massive endless protests, clashes with police in the street and a serious reckoning about the future of Israel as a liberal democratic state.
In Canada, Jewish community leaders reacted strongly to the historic legislation. Today, we're bringing you four of those voices from across the country, recorded in the aftermath of that vote. You'll hear from Rabbi Elan Mazer, director of of Mizrachi Canada; Steve McDonald, VP of communications for UJA of Greater Toronto; Ben Murane, executive director of the New Israel Fund; and Joe Roberts, chair of the board at JSpace.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
With students returning to classrooms next week, Ontario will become the first Canadian province to mandate Holocaust education starting in Grade 6.
The process began last fall, after a number of high-profile American celebrities—including Kanye West and Kyrie Irving—brought antisemitism centre stage, especially online. Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced a series of reforms to combat the rising trend of antisemitism across Ontario schools, as The CJN Daily has previously covered.
Earlier this summer, The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner and CJN news editor Lila Sarick spoke to Lecce about the new material, how it’s being introduced, what parents can expect and why the changes are so important to the minister on a personal level.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This interview originally aired on Bonjour Chai_, The CJN's weekly current affairs podcast. Hear the full episode and subscribe at thecjn.ca/bonjour._
With back-to-school prep in full swing and another semester around the corner, we wanted to ask: what is the Jewish community really getting out of Jewish day schools? What’s their long term effectiveness in terms of building Jewish identity? And, knowing the extreme costs, how do these effects stack up against other, potentially cheaper, forms of Jewish education, including after-school programs, summer camps and Birthright trips? As Canadian Jewish parents are collectively paying out tens of millions of dollars for a product, we're asking: is it working?
With those questions in mind, we're revisiting a conversation Bonjour Chai host Avi Finegold had with Dr. Yehudah Kurtzer last year. Back then, Rabbi Kurtzer was the president of the North American wing of the Shalom Hartman Institute; this summer, after Rabbi Donniel Hartman of Montreal announced he was retiring as the president of entire international organization, Rabbi Kurtzer filled his seat.
This interview originally aired on Rivkush_, The CJN's podcast interviewing incredible Jews of colour. Hear the full episode and subscribe at thecjn.ca/rivkush._
Charly Wai Feldman is a woman of the world. Born in Montreal to a Jewish father and mother from Hong Kong, she lived in Jamaica and Vietnam before settling in the United Kingdom with her husband, himself of Indian descent (but grew up in Germany and Singapore). But while her nationality is an evolution, a central underpinning has always been her Jewish faith.
As she puts it in this episode of Rivkush, “The whole principle of learning how to exist as a diaspora and being able to exist as a diaspora really hit home for me, at a time when I was looking for that sense of belonging.”
Today, Wai Feldman is a documentary filmmaker whose most recent work, Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini, profiles the prominent Syrian refugee as found herself propelled to international stardom as an Olympic athlete and global ambassador for refugees. It's a story that was later made into the hit Netflix film, The Swimmers. She spoke to Rivkush shortly after her film debuted at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto.
This interview originally aired on Culturally Jewish_, The CJN's podcast covering Canadian Jewish arts and culture. Hear the full episode and subscribe at thecjn.ca/culture._
There’s a certain type of Jew, usually Ashkenazi, sometimes Israeli, with a mop of curly hair, an acousitc guitar and an affinity for marijuana, who will inevitably love bands like The Grateful Dead and Phish. Those groups are collectively known as “jam bands”, which play lengthy, musically complex songs, often in concert, always with a hefty reliance on improvisation.
Once synonymous with psychedelic drugs, the jam band scene has gone mainstream in recent decades—and for a myriad reasons we’ll dissect on today’s episode of Culturally Jewish, Jews are buying front-row tickets.
This summer, the Ashkenaz Festival and Magen Boys Entertainment are putting on their first-ever summer jam concert series. Producer Michael Fraiman visited the first show to ask concert-goers why they felt Jews loved jam bands; after that, Ashkenaz artistic director Eric Stein joins Ilana and David for a discussion about the surprisingly deep connections between Deadheads and Yiddishkeit.
This interview originally aired on Menschwarmers_, The CJN's podcast about Jews and sports. Hear the full episode and subscribe at thecjn.ca/menschwarmers_
On July 19, Josh Sokol, a 29-year-old Scrabble influencer from Montreal, won the top prize of US$10,000 at the 2023 North American Scrabble Players Association championship in Las Vegas. But, as Sokol explains on this episode of Menschwarmers, he isn’t even the first Jewish Montrealer to win this competition—one of his local club colleagues took home the top prize last year. What is it about Montreal that’s producing such high-quality gamers with encyclopedic memories of the dictionary? And why are so many of them Jewish?
To give answers and insight into the world of professional word gaming, Sokol joins our podcast about Jews and sports—because, you know what, it’s summer, and board games are competitive enough that we consider them a sport. Subscribe to Sokol’s channels on YouTube or Twitch to watch him play.
As some of you may already know, last week, Evan Friedlan passed away at 23—the youngest son of The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner. For now, our show will be taking some time off.
We at The CJN are extending our deepest condolences to Ellin; her husband, John Friedlan; and Evan’s brother, Alex.
Ellin has invited anyone who wishes to share messages of condolence to email her at ebessner@thecjn.ca. You can also read Evan's obituary on the Steeles Memorial Chapel website.
There were whistles and angry shouts of “Go back to New York” and “Get Lost” last Wednesday at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, as a group of observant Jewish women known as Women of the Wall conducted their monthly morning prayer service–complete with a small Torah scroll they’d smuggled in with them. Using the scroll is against the rules set down by the holy site’s authorities, which still only permits men to have the sacred scrolls or to chant prayers out loud. And as has happened for years, the women had to run a gauntlet of security forces who searched them for religious items, and they also had to endure noisy insults and even physical attacks from Haredi men and women who oppose the women’s non-Orthodox methods of praying at the Kotel. Red juice was thrown at the women’s prayer shawls. The Israeli courts have just handed a legal victory of sorts to the women, thanks to a ruling by a Jerusalem judge that they can no longer be subjected to invasive special searches of their bags and purses for religious articles. However, the ruling stopped short of legalizing their requests to use Torahs. On this Tisha b’Av episode of The CJN Daily, producer Zac Kauffman took his recording gear into the crowd to bring us this special on-the-ground report. He talks to the women involved in the service, and to some protesters, including one with Canadian roots, who came to drown them out.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the Canadian woman with the Women of the Wall, Rachel Cohen Yeshurun,_ _working to expand egalitarian prayer services at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, on The CJN Daily.
- Read when Israel’s government proposed to expand prayers for non-Orthodox at the Kotel, in 2017, in The CJN.
- Anat Hoffman, founder of Women of the Wall, bringing social change to Israel, in The CJN.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, July 25, for Monte Kwinter, the long-serving Toronto politician who set the record as the oldest sitting MPP in Ontario’s legislature. Kwinter, who came from a family of Polish immigrant butchers in Kensington Market, was re-elected nine times for the Liberals in the heavily Jewish riding of York Centre—and, before that, Wilson Heights, as it was previously named. Kwinter held five cabinet posts in his 33-year career. A proud Jew, he brought Holocaust remembrance and Jewish observance into Ontario’s parliament, and fought for extending government funding for Jewish private schools, although it was a fight he would ultimately lose. On today’s The CJN Daily, we look at Kwinter’s legacy with journalist Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda; lawyer Alf Kwinter, Monte’s cousin; and Peter Shurman, a former Conservative MPP who served with Kwinter for years.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Monte Kwinter in the archives of The CJN from 2013 and 2017, when he became the oldest sitting MPP in Ontario.
- Monte Kwinter was one of the Jewish politicians who shaped Canada, in The CJN.
- Watch Monte Winter’s funeral on Tuesday July 25, 2023 on YouTube at 10 a.m.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here
France’s Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia is wrapping up his hectic weeklong tour today of Ontario and Quebec. It was his first time back in Montreal since he was a student over thirty years ago. In an interview with The CJN Daily, Korsia downplayed the impression that France’s Jewish community faces an increasingly difficult future in the wake of terrorist attacks and physical violence in the past decade. Tens of thousands of French Jews have moved to Israel, while about 700 French Jewish families are now living in Montreal. The rabbi also supported Quebec’s controversial new law, Bill 21, banning the display of religious headgear or other items for people who work for the provincial government. A similar veto has long existed under France’s embrace of “secularism”. He returns to France Monday night after visiting the myriad of Jewish organizations, Sephardic synagogues and communal agencies operating in Montreal–a network which left him deeply impressed by what he views as a strong, unified sense of community–something which he said does not exist for Jews in his native France. Korsia’s trip was arranged by the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée de Québec (CSUQ) and the Canadian Sephardi Federation. On today’s episode, hear Rabbi Korsia’s sit down conversation with The CJN Daily’s host Ellin Bessner, recorded outside his Montreal hotel.
What we talked about
- Learn more about immigration of French Jews to Canada, in The CJN from 2014 and 2017.
- When Quebec Jews pressured a p_romoter to cancel show by French rapper Freeze Corleone, on antisemitism lyrics, in The CJN._
- Discover the Initiative France Montreal run by Feder_ation CJA to absorb French Jewish immigrants including those from Belgium and Switzerland._
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Rosalie Mednick Nepom and her brother Sol Mednick were born in the mining town of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., and grew up there–the children of a local grocer. Meanwhile, Dr. Issac Katz is the son of the community’s first permanent rabbi. Now, these former Rouyn-Noranda residents have collected memories and stories of growing up in the once-vibrant pioneering Jewish community, and published them in a new book so their grandchildren will know where they came from. Rouyn-Noranda sprung up in the bush in the 1920s after prospectors discovered gold and copper deposits. It was so far north, it took 10 hours by bus on gravel roads to get there from Montreal. But at its peak, Rouyn-Noranda’s 45 Jewish families enjoyed a vibrant community life. That ended in the 1970s, as young people left to go to university and never returned. Their parents soon followed. The once-busy synagogue closed in 1972. Today, as the authors explain on The CJN Daily, the facade is a historic site, but the buiding is now apartments—and Jewish life there is hard to find. What we talked about
- Learn more about Rouyn-Noranda and Northern Quebec’s vanished Jewish community in The CJN
- Buy the book, The Jewish Community of Rouyn-Noranda
- How a Jewish dad brought a taste of Tinseltown to Val D’Or, Quebec, in The CJN
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In one of the summer’s buzziest blockbuster films—Oppenheimer, about the real-life Jewish head of the top-secret American wartime Manhattan Project—the film’s director neglected to include an important Canadian figure. A Jewish scientist from Winnipeg, Louis Slotin was a key part of the team of groundbreaking researchers at the Los Alamos atomic laboratories. He helped build and assemble the bombs that would be dropped on Japan in 1945, ultimately ending the Second World War. Slotin’s family thought he was researching medical uses for nuclear radiography. They only learned the truth after he was killed in a controversial experiment after the war had ended. Slotin received an immense—and fatal—dose of radiation, but not before he heroically saved everyone else in the room by separating unstable plutonium pieces with his bare hands. Slotin died in Los Alamos in 1946 at age 35. On The CJN Daily, Slotin’s surviving Canadian relatives Beth Shore and Rael Ludwig both of Winnipeg, join to tell their uncle’s story, in hopes the world will learn more about what _Oppenheimer _overlooked.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the “Trinity” nuclear bomb test of July 16, 1945, and see original silent film of Louis Slotin as part of the Manhattan Project, from the Trinity Remembered website
- Read Beth Shore’s tribute to her late uncle Louis Slotin on the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba website
- Learn more about scientist Louis Slotin in Ellin’s book, Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military and WWII, published by the University of Toronto Press
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As The CJN Daily _reported earlier this week, the Anglican Church of Canada adopted a strongly worded resolution condemning what its members believe are systemic human rights abuses by Israel against Palestinians. After some Jewish leaders criticized the Church’s statement as “misleading” and “disappointing”, the Anglican Archbishop of Calgary, Gregory Kerr-Wilson—who moved the original resolution—now acknowledges the statement wasn’t perfect. In fact, he said, his church should have spent more time in consultation with Jewish groups to get the wording right. Nevertheless, he remains convinced they must speak out against Israeli government policies, which he says force Palestinian families out of the homes they’ve lived in for centuries. The archbishop joins _The CJN Daily to explain his position.
What we talked about
- Hear Monday’s interview with Rabbah Gila Caine of Edmonton’s Temple Beth Ora on why she told Canada’s Anglican Church their resolution on Israel would be “offensive” to Jews, on The CJN Daily.
- Read the final resolution passed by the Anglican Church of Canada on Peace and Justice in Palestine and Israel on July 1, 2023.
- Learn more about the Winnipeg man who remembers the 1984 bombing of the AIMA Jewish community headquarters in Argentina, on The CJN Daily.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As you may have heard, the church representing over one million Anglicans in Canada has voted to formally replace an old prayer calling for the conversion of Jews, although it is hardly used any longer. Anglican officials formally expunged it from the official Book of Common Prayer, during a synod held over the Canada Day weekend. They replaced it with a new prayer for reconciliation with the Jews. While Jewish leaders say the move is a very welcome gesture on the one hand, they are upset with a second resolution adopted at the same meeting which is strongly critical of Israel and what the Church sees as the human rights abuses of the Palestinians. But the resolution was initially going to be even harsher, until a Canadian rabbi addressed the meeting and told them why they had to change some of the wording that compared Israelis to white, settler colonialists' treatment of Canada’s First Nation communities. On today’s The CJN Daily, we speak to Rabbah Gila Caine, of Temple Beth Ora in Edmonton, about how she found herself teaching Judaism and Israel to the third largest body of Christians in Canada.
What we talked about
- Find out more about Rabbah Gila Caine of Temple Beth Ora in Edmonton, at her website.
- Read our past coverage of the Anglican Church mulling removing the prayer for conversion of Jews in The CJN, from 2019.
- Learn more about how the United Church of Canada’s harder stance on the Middle East angered Canadian rabbis in 2022, on The CJN Daily.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The Toronto-raised social media professional Cindy Seni gained fame by appearing on Netflix’s popular Jewish Matchmaking reality TV series to find a husband. Instead, she found the man who is now her basheret all on her own. In fact, Seni met him last summer, when filming was already underway for the eight-part dating show. Their meet-cute happened through her day job with an organization that helps wounded Israeli soldiers, Brothers for Life. The pair have been dating secretly for about 10 months, all while Seni, now 29, went on arranged dates with her potential Netflix suitor. She also led the show’s obsessed fans to believe she was romantically linked to another show cast member, Noah Del Monte. Despite initial misgivings because her now-fiancé, Eldad Cohen, is an introvert and shuns the limelight, Seni credits the show’s resident matchmaker Aleeza Ben Shalom with helping her get to the chuppah. Her real-life love popped the question on Seni’s birthday, July 3, at her Jerusalem apartment. Then she quickly made him do it over, formally, at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall. Seni returns to The CJN Daily to catch us up on her big news—even with an invite to her wedding.
What we talked about Read about Jewish Matchmaking, when it debuted in May, in The CJN Hear Cindy Seni describe the behind-the-scenes reality behind “Jewish Matchmaking”, on The CJN Daily from May 2023
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
It was billed as a “Day of Disruption” in Israel as protesters blockaded the country’s main airport, hundreds of army reservists threatened to refuse to serve, and police arrested at least 77 demonstrators across the country. Although Israel has seen 27 straight weeks of political turmoil, Israelis have taken to the streets in massive numbers this week in a revitalized round of protests. These were called after the Netanyahu government gave first reading Monday to a law that would curb the power of Israel’s Supreme Court to use the so-called “reasonableness” test to overrule lawmakers’ policies. Amid all the flag-waving, drumming and horn-blowing, The CJN Daily producer Zachary Kauffman, who’s in Jerusalem studying at a yeshiva this month, is in the thick of it—literally. He’s even staying in the same apartment complex where the Netanyahus live. So Kauffman grabbed his microphone to hear from protesters, and now joins the show to share stories from professor Veronika Cohen, who used to teach in Calgary; Amos Guiora, an American-Israeli law professor from Utah; and Chaviva Sheffer, an environmental lawyer at Reichman University in Herzliya.
What we talked about
- Hear more about Zachary Kauffman’s course of study and the mood in Jerusalem after the Jenin raids, on Bonjour Chai
- What former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett thinks his country needs to do now, to save itself, in The CJN
- Vivian Bercovici and Aron Heller explain the significance of Israel’s historic protests, from March 2023, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Over the past year, The CJN Daily has run a regular tribute to prominent members of Canada’s Jewish community who have passed away. We’ve highlighted more than 50 honourable menschen and women from coast to coast. In this latest episode, we profile two Canadian women who led their communities: Mira Koschitzky of Toronto and Gladys Rose of Saskatoon. Plus, three beloved Holocaust educators have died, including Vancouver’s Alex Buckman, Calgary’s Sidney Cyngiser and Cantor Moshe Kraus of Ottawa. Meanwhile, the oldest of our honourable menschen, the late Lorne Winer, a Second World War veteran, died in Toronto at age 105. And we recap the accomplishments of two prominent Jewish judges, Horace Krever and Ted Matlow. On today’s episode The CJN’s emeritus reporter Ron Csillag returns to The CJN Daily to tell us more about the people behind the headlines, and we discuss why obituaries are often the most read section of newspapers.
What we talked about
- Read about the late Mira Koschitzky from the pages of The CJN and watch her funeral here.
- Learn more about the late Gladys Rose, of Saskatoon, the first woman president of a Canadian Conservative synagogue.
- Discover how The CJN covered Cantor Moshe Kraus’ passing, on May 29, 2023.
- Why the late Alex Buckman was a tireless force for Holocaust education, in The CJN.
- The late Sidney Cyngiser was considered Calgary’s Elie Wiesel, in The CJN.
- Veteran Lorne Winer, 105, raised countless dollars for Jewish war veterans, in The CJN.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Only one Jewish rookie out of 244 was selected at the NHL 2023 draft, held from June 28-29: Andrew Cristall. If the surname sounds familiar, it’s because the 18-year-old is the son of Alex and Jodi Cristall, leaders and philanthropists who are deeply involved in Vancouver’s Jewish community.
On July 7, Cristall signed his three-year, $2.85-million (USD) entry-level contract with Washington, after completing development camp and orientation in D.C. While he didn’t get the chance to meet any of the team’s current players—including superstar captain Alexander Ovechkin, who, like Cristall, also plays left wing—he now intends to spend the rest of the summer back home in Canada preparing for his rookie camp, which this year, just happens to fall on Rosh Hashanah.
Cristall loves challah, he calls NHL star Zach Hyman his favourite Jewish athlete, and he hopes to represent his own community the way Hyman does.
Cristall joins Ellin for his first feature interview, on this special crossover episode of The CJN Daily, along with Gabe Pulver, co-host of The CJN’s Jewish sports podcast, Menschwarmers.
What we talked about
- Watch Andrew Cristall being drafted into the NHL on YouTube
- Read how Andrew Cristall’s father, Alex Cristall, played rugby for Team Canada at several Maccabiah Games in Israel, in The CJN
- Hear how Alex Cristall is helping spearhead the development of Vancouver’s JWest, the Jewish community campus, on The CJN Daily from Sept. 2022
- Subscribe to _Menschwarmers _on The CJN Podcast Network
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Although they count just 100 member families, Saskatoon’s Congregation Agudas Israel believes there is a bright future for Jewish life in their Prairie city. Which is why the Conservative egalitarian synagogue has just completed a lengthy $3.8 million dollar renovation of their post-war-era building. Aside from improved security and accessibility, and a mikveh, it also now includes bigger space for a small but modern Jewish Community Centre, recently named after Sherwood and Elaine Sharfe: the prominent local family of philanthropists are the lead donors to the project.
On the weekend of Friday June 23, current synagogue members and also former Saskatoon residents returned to the grounds of the building for three days of festivities to mark the official rededication and reopening.
On this episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with the synagogue’s president, Kevin Sharfe–it’s his parents’ names on the venue–and also with his cousin Grant Scharfstein, who spearheaded the multimillion dollar Legacy Project.
What we talked about
- Learn about the renovation project at Saskatoon’s historic Agudas Israel synagogue, on The CJN Daily, from 2021.
- Watch a promo video from the Saskatoon synagogue while under renovations, on YouTube.
- Read more about the history of the Jewish community of Saskatoon, in The CJN, from 2016.
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
It’s an uncertain time for the future of journalism in Canada. Bell Media announced layoffs and closed radio stations; Postmedia and the Toronto Star’s parent company are talking about merging; and Google and Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, threatened to block Canadian news from their platforms because of an ongoing feud with the federal government. That move leaves Canadians, including The CJN’s audience, in danger of having less access to vital information about our world, and threatens the country’s journalism industry as a whole—which relies heavily on visibility on social platforms and search engines to reach our audiences. So what does the future hold, and how will it impact what you can read, hear and watch? We’ve assembled a panel of experts to break it all down and offer tips for what you can do while the dust settles. On The CJN Daily, we’re joined by three key players in the country’s media landscape: Paul Godfrey, the former executive chairman and founder of Postmedia; Yoni Goldstein, the CEO and editor in chief of The CJN; and author Jeffrey Dvorkin, currently a lecturer at Massey College in Toronto, who has formerly been the head of CBC Radio and the ombudsman at NPR.
What we talked about
- Learn how you can bypass Facebook and Google by supporting The CJN directly.
- Read about how The CJN pivoted during the pandemic to a new business model, in The CJN
- Learn more about Jeffrey Dvorkin’s book, Trusting the News in a Digital Age, and where to buy it
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter).Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As Canadian Jewish kids begin settling into their cabins and tents at overnight camp this month, they’ll find some of the camps are offering something extra: mental health support teams. Whether an on-site emotional support dog or a nighttime ritual of journaling positive achievements, camps are adding mental health components including 24-hour support professionals. They’re called “camper care directors” or “spiritual coordinators”. With training and degrees in social work and child psychology, they make sure the campers (and also camp counsellors) have the emotional support they need to deal with anxiety, bullying, eating disorders, severe homesickness and other mental health challenges that arise while they spend weeks away from the familiarity of parents and home. On this episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with Toronto social worker Lynda Fishman, the camper care team lead for Camp Shalom, in Gravenhurst, Ont., about why parents shouldn’t grab their car keys if they feel worried by their kids’ first letter home.
What we talked about
- Read about Canada’s first summer camp for Jewish LGBTQ children opening, in The CJN
- Read about the fire at Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa over the winter, in The CJN
- Why visitors’ day was virtual at summer camps in 2022, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane (@jesterschest on Twitter). Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Construction has begun at the site of the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community campus in Vaughan, Ont. for the Honey and Barry Sherman Memorial Arena. The $52 million dollar arena–to be attached to the existing JCC complex–is a gift from their son Jonathan Sherman to the Toronto Jewish community. The late Sherman’s three surviving daughters are not participating. It would make the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto the only JCC in Canada, and in North America, to own its own indoor ice hockey arena. With two NHL-sized rinks, stands, dressing rooms and a kosher snack bar, the arena is designed to provide badly-needed ice facilities for Jewish youth players and figure skaters, too. It will also be open to rentals by the wider community, where ice time is at a premium. Jonathan Sherman admits the announcement brings “heavy emotions” because the 2017 murders of his billionaire philanthropist parents have not been solved. But on this day, Sherman says he wants to focus on continuing their legacy of community building. On this episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from Adam Minsky, the CEO of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto; Christopher Ainsworth, the city councillor for the City of Vaughan where the project got the green light, and words from Jonathan Sherman himself.
What we talked about
- Read about the construction of the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic campus in Vaughan over the years in The CJN, including the official opening in 2012.
- After the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman in 2017, their legacy of philanthropy was in the spotlight, in 2018 in The CJN.
- Learn why the northern campuses of TanenbaumCHAT high school and Leo Baeck day schools closed in 2017 and 2019 respectively, at the Lebovic Jewish campus, in The CJN.
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamachhane @jesterschest. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Talk about an identity crisis. For his whole life, Canadian actor Noam Tomaschoff, 31, thought he was the son of a Jewish couple with roots in Israel and Montreal. Tomaschoff went to Jewish day school, speaks Hebrew and has visited Israel. But last summer, his life changed when his parents learned he was planning to take a DNA test, for fun, while on holiday at the cottage. So they sat him down to reveal a three-decade-old secret: due to fertility problems, they used an anonymous sperm donor to conceive. The donor is no longer alive. The shocking news prompted Tomaschoff to start searching for answers. He’s since discovered his birth father’s details, including that the man was not Jewish—and Tomaschoff now has 35 half-siblings scattered around the world. Now Tomaschoff has put the experience into a new show, called Our Little Secret: The 23 & Me Musical, debuting July 6 at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Noam Tomaschoff joins The CJN Daily, along with his parents, Gideon Tomaschoff and Sylvie Leone-Tomaschoff.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Noam Tomaschoff and his play
- To buy tickets, check the play’s website
- Read how The CJN covered Noam Tomaschoff and his friends in Grade 12 at TanenbaumChat high school when they wrote their first musical in 2009
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Welcome to one of the most squalid Jewish-owned office buildings in Canada: 788 Marlee Ave. in midtown Toronto. Over the years, it’s been home to countless Zionist organizations and Jewish charities—including Mazon Canada, Canadian Young Judaea, Sar-El Canada, Camp Shalom, Machane Lev summer camp, the Association for Soldiers of Israel, Canadian Friends of Yad Sarah, and more. Some tenants have been complaining for years about the conditions, including a rat infestation; mould on lobby ceilings; extensive water damage from a leaky roof and broken skylights; elevators that haven’t been inspected since at least 2020; bathrooms with no lights and broken sinks; and a toilet with human feces that wasn’t cleaned in eight months. The city has cited the building several times for garbage violations and uncut grass. The conditions have become so bad that at least one tenant moved out permanently in May. Others choose not to work in their offices much, except to drop off the rent. On top of it all, there are two lawsuits filed in the Ontario courts against the longtime owners of the building, the Toronto Zionist Council. Among the lengthly list of allegations in the court documents are accusations of wilful negligence, misappropriation of money (particularly by one of the directors, Paul Rotenberg, to the tune of at least $70,000), forgery, deliberate misconduct and allowing the once-proud symbol of the Zionist movement in Canada to fall into “appalling” conditions. The TZC also owns a 75-year-old summer camp in Gravenhurst, Ont., called Camp Shalom, which is also discussed in the court documents, amidst questions wondering where the money to upgrade the camp has gone.
The CJN will be publishing several reports as part of this exclusive investigation. To start, on today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we take you inside 788 Marlee Ave. You’ll hear from Mazon’s Izzy Waxman; Jessie Lash, the owner of a catering business; and Roni Perez, who served on the board of the ground-floor synagogue known as The Marlee Shul.
What we talked about
- Take a video tour of 788 Marlee Ave. on The CJN’s YouTube channel
- Toronto Zionist Council director Paul Rotenberg has spoken out often in favour of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including in 2016 in The CJN
- Read why the Canada Revenue Agency revoked charitable status of the Toronto Zionist Council’s charity, the Zionist Organization of Canada Charitable Fund, in 1995, for funnelling money illegally to settlements in the West Bank
- A new charity has been set up with a similar name by the same directors of the Toronto Zionist Council, now called the Ontario Jewish Education Association, in Toronto, since July 24, 2020.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Fashion journalist Jeanne Beker has been in the public eye for more than 50 years, most notably as a globetrotting reporter interviewing some of the world’s highest-profile designers and models, as well as entertainers the likes of Paul McCartney and Bob Hope. But for the last year, Beker, now 71, has turned the camera on her own story—as a breast cancer patient. She’s been extremely public about her diagnosis, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and surgery. And now, she’s advocating for better (and earlier) screening for women with dense breasts. Two weeks ago, Beker completed her year of cancer treatments at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. But that challenge hasn’t stopped her from starting to write a new book, hosting her Style Matters television show and making countless appearances at fundraisers for breast cancer and other good causes. Beker joins The CJN Daily to discuss where she got her determination and how she’s found a renewed gratitude for life.
What we talked about
- Follow Jeanne Beker on her Instagram account or her website
- Read The CJN’s coverage of Jeanne Beker’s career from emceeing the Zareinu fashion shows, to winning many awards
- Hear The CJN Daily’s interview with Jeanne Beker’s cancer authority, Dr. Paula Gordon, on why women with dense breasts should get screened beginning at 40
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Torontonians will elect a new mayor, the city’s 66th, on Monday, June 26, in a byelection made necessary by the surprise resignation of John Tory in February. With 102 names on the ballot—including a pet dog—the choice for voters can be confusing, but The CJN Daily‘s political panel is here to break down the issues and evaluate the frontrunners.
In the days leading up to the vote, it’s Olivia Chow’s election to lose. The former NDP MP and city councillor has previously run unsuccessfully for mayor before, but she holds a significant lead over the man polling second in most polls, Mark Saunders, a former Toronto police chief who has run unsuccessfully for the Ontario Conservatives. Trailing those two in third-place: Anthony Furey, a former newspaper columnist; Anna Bailaõ, a former city councillor and ally of ex-mayor Tory; and Josh Matlow, a sitting councillor and member of the Jewish community.
On today’s episode, we’re joined by Stephen Adler, senior director of public affairs at National Public Relations; Sophia Hershfield, The CJN’s “Critical Kvetching” columnist; and Josh Lieblein, The CJN’s “Doorstep Postings” columnist.
Read more
- Read Lieblein’s “Doorstep Postings” columns on some of the candidates running for mayor in Toronto in The CJN, including Josh Matlow, Mark Saunders, Anna Bailaõ, Brad Bradford, Anthony Furey and Rob Davis
- Read more about Ben Carr, who won Monday’s federal byelection in his late dad Jim Carr’s riding of Winnipeg South Centre, in The CJN
- How to votein the Toronto mayor byelection June 26, 2023
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Dani Dayan was in Canada last week to honour the outgoing chair of the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem, Fran Sonshine, and to attend the opening of the new Toronto Holocaust Museum.
Dayan, 67, took the job as chair of Yad Vashem in 2021. After enjoying a high-profile political career as a spokesman for Jewish settlers in Israel, and then as Israel’s Consul General in New York City, Dayan made it his goal to revamp the world’s foremost Holocaust museum, in Jerusalem.
Dayan often says he has to be apolitical, but he hasn’t shied away from speaking his mind since taking office. He’s slammed Russian leaders for Holocaust distortion; criticized Poland’s controversial new law that outlaws discussing Polish crimes committed during the Holocaust; and, most recently, voiced support for a Canadian professor who was harassed while giving a Holocaust lecture in Poland.
Dayan joins The CJN Daily for his only Canadian interview during his recent tour. He praises the new Canadian Holocaust museum, describes what it was like meeting his fellow Argentine countryman Pope Francis, and warns of what he calls “the Disneyland” approach to teaching about the Holocaust.
What we talked about
- Hear our interview with Prof. Jan Grabowski on Poland’s and Wikipedia’s campaign to deny their role in the Holocaust, on The CJN Daily
- Read Josh Lieblein’s column on how Jewish leaders pick their battles, in The CJN
- How Russian President Vladimir Putin falsified Russian Holocaust history while at Yad VaShem in The CJN from 2020
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
On Friday, an American jury brought down a guilty verdict for all 63 counts against the gunman who burst into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, murdering 11 Jews and wounding six others. It was the worst-ever mass killing of Jews in the United States. Among the victims was a Toronto native, Joyce Fienberg. The retired widow, 75, attended the synagogue nearly every day, according to her younger brother, Dr. Bob Libman, a Toronto physician. He’s been monitoring the trial closely from his home in Thornhill. In this exclusive interview with The CJN Daily, Libman talks about the devastating impact his late sister’s killing had on the extended family, and what he hopes will happen with the sentencing hearing for the shooter—in which the shooter faces the death penalty.
What we talked about
- Read more about Joyce Fienberg, z”l in The CJN, from 2018 and here
- How Christians and Muslims formed a “ring of peace” around Canadian shuls in 2018 in The CJN
- Hear journalist Mark Oppenheimer discuss his book on the Squirrel Hill shooting on Bonjour Chai
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
This week, the Consky family of Toronto is marking the third anniversary of Harvey Consky’s death, on June 13, 2020. Consky, 67, was a personal injury lawyer, a husband, and father of two. He was diagnosed with an incurable form of anal cancer during the terrifying first few days of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Doctors gave him two months to live.
That’s when his adult son Mitchell Consky, a Canadian journalist, decided to move back into the family home and help provide palliative care for his father right until the end. The younger Consky coped with his own emotions of grief, anxiety and also joy in the best way he knew how: he kept notes and interviewed everyone, including his father, during those last few weeks of his life. While caregiving at home isn’t for everyone, Consky says, he remains glad that he did it.
Now he’s sharing his own experiences and lessons in a book called Home Safe: A Memoir of End-of-Life Care during COVID-19, published by Dundurn Press. He joined Ellin Bessner for a live taping of _The CJN Daily _podcast in front of an audience at the recent Limmud Toronto event.
What we talked about
- Learn more about author Mitchell Consky and his book Home Safe, including how to order a copy
- Donate to Consky’s preferred charity for bereaved children, Camp Erin Toronto
- Read how Mitchell Consky won The CJN’s writing prize back in 2016 in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
For the past six weeks, thousands of high school students from around Toronto have gone on a special field trip back in time. They’ve attended an immersive outdoor play about antisemitism in 1933 Toronto, when growing racial tensions between local Nazi supporters and Jewish immigrants boiled over at a baseball game at Willowvale Park, now known now as Christie Pits. The ensuing street brawls lasted for six hours, wounding dozens of people and prompting the mayor of the day to clamp down on hate symbols by banning the display of swastikas. The creators of the new play hope that by showcasing the age-old hatred of Jews and immigrants, they’ll also challenge students to recognize modern instances of hate and take action when they see it. Will the play succeed? The CJN Daily’s Ellin Bessner took in a recent performance of The Riot at Christie Pits. On today’s show, you’ll hear from some students who watched it, teachers who accompanied them, the play’s creator Sam Rosenthal of the Hogtown Collective, and his 88 year old father Joseph, who grew up nearby.
What we talked about
- Read Alex Rose’s story on the Riot at Christie Pits live, interactive play in TheCJN
- Hear our interview with Jamie Michaels about his graphic novel about the Christie Pits riot on The CJN Daily, and watch it on our YouTube channel
- Take the audio tour of the Christie Pits Riot with the Hogtown Collective
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The latest court challenge to Quebec’s controversial new French-language law, Bill 96, has been launched by a group of two dozen municipalities with large English-speaking populations, led by the heavily Jewish suburb of Côte Saint-Luc. At a media conference on June 7, mayors outlined their objection to five new rules which came into effect on June 1 this year, after the original bill passed in 2022. At issue are access to government services for people who are entitled to speak English under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but not under Bill 96, because Quebec’s nationalist leaders in the ruling Coalition Avenir Quebec party invoked the notwithstanding clause in the Constitution to override these rights for five years. The lawsuit comes just days after Côte Saint-Luc staffers used a cheeky telephone voicemail message to poke back at the new restrictions. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with Mitchell Brownstein, the mayor of Côte Saint-Luc, to break down the new language laws and why he feels they alienate people instead of making them embrace the French language.
What we talked about
- Bill 96 deeply worrying to Quebec’s Jewish community, in The CJN
- Read about Naftali Bennett’s vision to save Israel from “horrendously” handled judicial reforms, in The CJN
- Follow Nir Guzinski’s Montreal comedy on his Instagram page
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The new $30-million dollar Toronto Holocaust Museum officially opened on June 9, with some of the Holocaust survivors who worked so hard to make this facility a reality in attendance. Nate Leipciger, 95, cut the ceremonial ribbon and dedicated the new museum to his late parents and sister, Polish Jews who were deported to Auschwitz. (His father did survive.) The new Toronto Holocaust Museum uses modern technology, including augmented reality, to put the voices of the survivors front and centre for visitors—an especially important feature as Holocaust education is approaching a “post-survivor” world. Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and other politicians and dignitaries toured the facility at the grand opening. Ford was visibly moved, calling on all Canadians—Jewish and not—to visit and “get educated on what happened. It’s chilling, to say the least.” Ontario will grant $500,000 for more educational programs and extra security at the new museum. The CJN Daily was given a private tour of the new museum, and, as you’ll hear on today’s episode, host Ellin Bessner found it an incredibly emotional experience.
What we talked about
- Read Lila Sarick’s print feature on the new Toronto Holocaust Museum in The CJN
- Watch the museum’s grand opening on YouTube
- Visit the new museum or learn more virtually on their website
- Hear about the early months of the museum in _The CJN Daily from 2022
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
It may be a tired joke that Jews make great lawyers, but there is some truth to it. And that truth begins at events like the annual Jewish Day School Debate Tournament, which drew dozens of middle school debaters on March 21, 2023.
Grades 6-8 students from Heschel, Netivot, Bialik South, Bialik North and Associated competed in a long-overdue war of words—the ninth time the competition was held, but the first since their pandemic-induced hiatus. The lead organizer, Netivot teacher Eli Savage, feels that the focus on in-person communication is critical for young minds in a post-pandemic world, where basic skills like eye contact, active listening and logic can easily get lost in Zoom calls and text messages.
The CJN Daily‘s producer, Zac Kauffman, visited the tournament held at the Heschel campus to hear the students’ side of the story. Now with the school year coming to an end, we bring you his special mini-documentary report about how old school debating may be the remedy to three years of lockdowns, remote learning and social distancing.
Related reading
- How Jewish day schools are handling the Pride issue, by Phoebe Maltz Bovy in The CJN
- When Jewish day schools shut down in March 2020, in The CJN
- Did Jewish day school help or hurt Ilana Zackon, in The CJN
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.
Jewish groups and politicians are calling on the Canadian military to do more than just impose a $3,000 fine and severe reprimand on a soldier who made “disgusting” antisemitic comments during a training course he led at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa in 2021. The court martial judgement was handed down in the fall of 2022, but it’s just come to light now. It involved a 20+ year veteran soldier with the Royal Canadian Regiment named Sgt. K.E. Bluemke. He pleaded guilty to violating Canadian military law and was ordered to undergo counselling, and served a year on probation, while continuing his career in the army. But Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Ed Fitch, who helped investigate systemic racism in the Canadian military, is pleased with the outcome of the court martial. Fitch, who retired as the highest ranking Jewish officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, believes the fact that this case went so far actually signals a major positive change in how the military deals with antisemitism in the ranks. Fitch joins _The CJN Daily _to explain why.
What we talked about
- Read the court martial decision against Bluemke for antisemitism
- Why the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center demanded the penalty be revised
- Learn more about the Department of National Defence study of racism and discrimination, led in part by Fitch, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Actor Saul Rubinek was born in a displaced person’s camp in Germany right after the Second World War. His Polish parents survived the Holocaust thanks to Christian farmers who hid them from the Nazis. After the family moved to Canada in 1949, Rubinek’s father Israel used to blame Hitler for curtailing his burgeoning career in Yiddish theatre. That’s why it meant so much to his son, now 74, to play the role of a Holocaust-era rabbi in the new movie Shttl, reciting his lines completely in Yiddish, his mamaloshen.
Acting in a fully Yiddish film was a first for the veteran Hollywood star, whose Jewish credits include Barney’s Version, Hunters _and _The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick. And shooting it in Ukraine, just before the Russian invasion, has imbued it with even heavier symbolism.
Stttl has its Canadian debut at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival this week, and Rubinek joins _The CJN Daily _from his home in Los Angeles to discuss why filming it felt so personal.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Shttl at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival website, where you can also attend Saul Rubinek’s in-person talk about his long show business career.
- Read why Saul Rubinek is producing a play, All in the Telling, about his family’s personal Holocaust story through several generations, in The CJN
- Hear our November 2021 interview with Saul Rubinek ahead of his Ottawa speech for Kristallnacht on The CJN Daily
- Subscribe to the free CJN newsletter to receive all our stories which Facebook and Instagram are now blocking
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Amichai Chikli, Israel's new Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism, just wrapped up a four-day visit to Canada. And while he met Jewish leaders in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa—briefing them on Israel's new $53-million Alef Bet project to invest in Jewish day school education in North America—his trip also raised some eyebrows because of who else he came to see.
Chikli was the keynote speaker at celebrations for Israel's 75th birthday and Jerusalem Day. Both were arranged by an Israeli-based outfit known as the Israel Allies Foundation, which uses faith-based diplomacy in dozens of countries to curry political support for Israel. On Wednesday, Chikli was on Parliament Hill at the invitation of Leslyn Lewis, an Ontario Conservative MP who heads a mainly Christian group called Israel Allies Caucus. And on Thursday evening, Chikli headlined a gala reception at the Canada Christian College in Whitby, Ont., at the invitation of their leader, Charles McVety, a socially conservative evangelical pastor.
But Chikli tells The CJN Daily that Israel welcomes support from evangelical Christians who believe in the Bible, just like Lord Balfour, General Orde Wingate and others who helped found the Jewish State. You'll hear from Chikli on today's episode, plus we're joined by McVety and Ya'ara Saks, the Liberal MP for York Centre who met with the minister in Ottawa.
What we talked about
- Charles McVety on why evangelicals love Israel and the Jewish people, in The CJN from 2017
- Jews and Christians show support for Jewish victims of Hamas war with Israel, in The CJN from 2014
- Hear our interview with Nachman Shai, the previous Diaspora minister under Naftali Bennett’s government, on The CJN Daily from 2022
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Cellist Denis Brott is about to kick off the annual Montreal Chamber Music Festival in his hometown of Montreal on June 4. It's the 28th edition of the festival he founded in the mid-1990s to make classical music more accessible to the general public. He'll also be performing—marking an incredible story of survival.
Brott, the Juno-award-winning musician from a legendary Canadian classical music family, caught one of the country's earliest cases of COVID in March 2020. He nearly died. After weeks in a coma at a Montreal hospital, he had to relearn to do everything, including speak, walk and play his instrument.
Brott credits the doctors at the Montreal University Hospital Centre (CHUM) for not only saving his life, but for using classical music in his treatment. Now, as he resumes his professional international career, Brott is also giving back to that hospital with a series of private concerts.
It's been a tumultuous few years for the 72-year old Order of Canada recipient. A year ago, Brott's older brother, conductor Boris Brott, was killed by a careless driver in Hamilton. Dealing with the fallout from that, and with his own personal recovery, has made Brott introspective. He joins The CJN Daily for a wide-ranging conversation about his journey.
What we talked about
- Read more about Denis Brott at his website
- Order discounted tickets to the Montreal Chamber Music Festival using the promo code mentioned in our podcast: CJN10
- Watch a YouTube video of Denis Brott's COVID journey and the hospital that saved him
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The Vancouver Jewish Community Garden had its official ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 28, just after the Shavuot harvest festival: a fitting debut for the $200,000 initiative. Organizers hope the tubs of lettuce and apple trees will shortly become a hub for teaching about the environment, feeding the needy and hosting Jewish events.Located on the rooftop of a two-storey parking structure between Congregation Beth Israel and Vancouver Talmud Torah School, the garden is a collaboration between both communities and the clients of Jewish Family Services. And while you can find Jewish community gardens across the country, including Toronto’s Shoresh farms and the heart garden at Winnipeg’s Temple Shalom, the Vancouver initiative may be the only Jewish farm purposely built so close to heaven.On The CJN Daily, we’re joined by the organizers: Congregation Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Infeld; Emily Greenberg, head of school at VTT; and Tanja Demajo, executive director of Jewish Family Services in Vancouver.
What we talked about
- Watch a video of the construction of the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden on You Tube
- In Toronto, the Shoresh farming agency ran a community garden in peoples’ backyards, in The CJN.
- Read more about environmental programming gaining popularity in B.C. in The CJN.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Nearly 90 years after Nazi Germany stripped art dealer Max Stern of his gallery in Dusseldorf and forced the German Jew to liquidate his large art collection to non-Jews, Stern’s heirs have agreed to sell one of the stolen paintings back to the City of Dusseldorf. The painting is called “Portrait of the Artist’s Children” (1860) by Dutch master Wilhelm von Schadow. It’s actually been hanging in the Dusseldorf mayor’s office for half a century. For years, Max Stern’s heirs have been tracking it down, as one of nearly 400 of his wartime paintings–worth an estimated $50 million today–that disappeared into the Nazi coffers in 1937, before Stern himself fled his native city for London.
Eventually, Stern arrived in Canada as a refugee in 1941, and established a storied career as a prominent art dealer, promoting such Canadian artists as the Group of Seven and Emily Carr. After he died childless in 1987, Stern’s estate went to Concordia University, McGill and Hebrew University, which have been funding the Max Stern Art Restitution Project for about 20 years.
The story of how this latest Dusseldorf deal was done, and why Germany gets to keep the painting, has been fraught with controversy.
On The CJN Daily, we’re joined by Clarence Epstein, the Montreal art historian who oversaw the decades-long hunt for Stern’s lost art, and is just back from the symbolic handover ceremony in Dusseldorf.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the Max Stern collection and efforts to repatriate the 400 works in The CJN.
- Visit the Max Stern Art Restitution Project website
- Buy Cantor Moshe Kraus’s 2023 memoir The Life of Moshele der Zinger at Indigo.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
It was a trip down memory lane this weekend for hundreds of former residents of Bathurst Manor, a Toronto neighbourhood that was built starting in 1954 on the northern limit of the city. The Manor, as it's fondly known, became home to scores of Holocaust survivors and also to Canadian-born Jewish families looking for space, greenery and safety in single family homes that cost under $25,0000. It's estimated that of the 9,000 people who moved in, 7,000 were Jewish.
During the pandemic, the Ontario Jewish Archives collected stories and artifacts from the generation of Baby Boomers who grew up in Bathurst Manor. And on Sunday May 28, the archives threw a block party at the Prosserman JCC to launch their new exhibit. Visitors strolled past a series of panels showing the landmarks such as The Plaza where the Dominion grocery store was (later Sunnybrook), the nearby Wilmington Park with the playground and swimming pool and tennis courts, and the Forest Valley day camp, which attracted nearly a thousand kids every summer in the ravine south of Finch Avenue West and Bathurst.
Organizers and former residents tell The CJN Daily why Bathurst Manor was unique: because nearly everyone was Jewish, many spoke Yiddish, it was cut off from the rest of the city by geography, and it felt like a safe shtetl for immigrants from wartime Europe to begin new lives.
What we talked about
- Read more about the Bathurst Manor exhibition at the Ontario Jewish Archives website
- When the Bathurst Manor Plaza closed for good, in The CJN from 2016.
- Our CEO Yoni Goldstein’s memories of The Manor, from The CJN, in 2016.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Hartley Garshowitz went to England this past week to represent his family at the 80th anniversary ceremonies for the famous Dambusters Raid on Hitler’s Germany in 1943. His uncle, Warrant Officer Albert Garshowitz, of Hamilton, was a wireless operator and air gunner on board one of the Lancaster bombers tasked with a top-secret raid that had never been tried before: to bomb three hydroelectric dams deep inside German territory. It’s an operation that many historians today say changed the course of the Second World War. They also say it was a suicide mission.
Albert Garshowitz was one of 133 hand-picked airmen from Canada, the U.K. and other parts of the Commonwealth who trained for two months in England with the RAF’s #617 Squadron. They weren’t told their target until just hours before the raid began on the night of May 16, 1943.
The 19 heavy Lancaster bombers each carried a newly devised 9,000-pound “bouncing bomb” that had to be dropped precisely on the water near the dams. The crews had to fly low and without lights to avoid detection. Nearly half the men didn’t come back, including Albert Garshowitz. His plane crashed en route, the bomb exploded, and all seven men on board were lost. He was 22.
Hartley Garshowitz, an insurance broker in Toronto, has spent decades researching his uncle’s life and honouring his memory. Garshowitz joined The CJN Daily from England, where he met with other Dambusters descendants at the 80th anniversary memorial service.
What we talked about
- Read more about the Dambusters Raid and Warrant Officer Albert Garshowitz of Hamilton, in The CJN from 2018
- The Garshowitz family traces its roots in Canada back over 115 years, in The CJN.
- Watch a scene from the 1955 The Dam Busters film on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
On May 29, Albertans will go to the polls in an election that will either return sitting Premier Danielle Smith of the United Conservative Party for a full second term, or turf her in favour of former premier Rachel Notley, who ran Alberta under an NDP government from 2015 to 2019.Smith was sworn in just seven months ago in October 2022, after the resignation of her predecessor, Jason Kenney. She’d already been in politics for years, but even outside of that realm, she has never shied away from voicing her opinions, writing columns for the Calgary Herald before her political career and hosting a talk radio show since 2015. In recent years, some of Smith’s comments have outraged Jewish groups, especially the Calgary Jewish Federation, B’nai Brith and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. She has posted links from her blog to antisemitic websites and has likened people who took COVID vaccines to the followers of Hitler. Smith has apologized for those remarks, but the impact still reverberates.She’s also been dogged by a slew of other controversies: a UCP candidate compared transgender people to feces; a Muslim multiculturalism advisor was found to have posted antisemitic comments on social media; and, on May 18, Smith herself was found to have breached the government’s conflict of interest ethics. She tried to influence criminal proceedings against an anti-COVID protestor convicted of blockading the Canadian border at Coutts during the truckers’ convoy in February 2022.Observers feel the election is too close to call because the outcome depends heavily on which party wins key ridings in and around Calgary and Edmonton. So The CJN Daily assembled a trio of commentators to weigh in on the 31st Albertan election: in Calgary, Maxine Fischbein, a Jewish community leader and journalist; from Edmonton, Abe Silverman, a Holocaust survivor who is also B’nai Brith’s regional representative; and Laurence Abbott, a former Beth Shalom synagogue president who is a professor at the University of Alberta.
What we talked about
- Read Josh Lieblein on Danielle Smith’s comparing COVID-vaccinated Albertans to followers of the Nazis, in The CJN
- Why a member of Danielle Smith’s new multicultural council had to resign over antisemitic social media posts, in The CJN
- B’nai Brith wants Alberta man charged with hate crimes over anti-Semitic articles, in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
An Ontario court judge has sided with former Conservative senator Linda Frum and dismissed a $2.5-million defamation lawsuit brought against her by a Montreal-area newspaper, the Journal Sada Al Mashrek. The judge ruled on May 15 that the lawsuit violated Ontario’s anti-SLAPP laws, which are designed to protect people from long and expensive court cases that would effectively gag them from commenting on matters of public interest.The lawsuit dates back to the summer of 2022, during the federal Conservative leadership campaign. Frum posted two tweets calling out then-candidate Patrick Brown for comments he reportedly made about Israel and Palestine during his interview with the Montreal newspaper, which were later published online. Frum—whose husband, Howard Sokolowski, is one of the key supporters of the politician who won the leadership, Pierre Poilievre—accused the newspaper of being an organ of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization.The defamation lawsuit was thrown out because the judge ruled it was a blatant attempt to silence Frum. She now joins The CJN Daily to describe why she fought back, why she had to consult personal security experts while the court proceedings were underway, and what may come next.
What we talked about
- Read why Frum resigned her seat in the Senate of Canada in August 2021 to focus on fighting antisemitism in the Jewish community of Toronto, in The CJN
- Learn more about Frum calling out a newly appointed colleague for being anti-Israel, in The CJN from 2021
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
On May 16, the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee adopted a motion introduced by the NDP’s Heather McPherson, a vocal critic of the Israeli government. Her motion—which passed with the support of four Liberal MPs, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois—will now see the committee hold hearings on how Canada can foster peace between Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, in light of the recent upswing in violence that has killed at least 89 Palestinians and 14 Israelis this year.
McPherson’s views have sparked deep concern from some Jewish MPs and Jewish advocacy organizations, who fear the hearings will give a platform to Israel-bashing and pound a wedge between Jewish and Muslim groups in Canada. The Canadian government hasn’t held hearings on its policies on Israel and the Palestinian crisis for years. (Ottawa still supports a two-state solution and sends millions in financial support to the region, mostly earmarked for Palestinians.)
On today’s The CJN Daily, we get the behind-the-scenes story of how this motion came about and hear reaction from Ya’ara Saks, Liberal MP for York Centre and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development; Melissa Lantsman, MP for Thornhill and deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada; and Shimon Koffler Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
What we talked about
- Read the original NDP statement from April 20 from MP Heather McPherson calling on Canada to study the Israel-Palestine question
- Read her statement on Israel extremism from January 2023.
- Find us on May 22 at the Walk with Israel in Toronto: come by our CJN booth
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The group is calling itself the Network of Engaged Canadian Academics, or NECA, and its founders are two professors from Ottawa: Deidre Butler, director of the Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies at Carleton University and Cary Kogan, a clinical psychology professor at Ottawa U.Each has personally experienced anti-Israel or antisemitic incidents in recent years at their workplaces: Butler was not permitted to fundraise to help her religion students accompany her on a study trip to Israel this semester, while Kogan’s faculty association voted to oppose the IHRA definition of antisemitism.The pair say it’s about academic freedom because they are finding that there is no room on campuses anymore for professors who are pro-Israel; only for those who condemn the Jewish State, including many of their Jewish colleagues who are in that camp. And so while there are plenty of existing groups that support Jewish students on university campuses, academics like them also need help to better face the widespread normalization of anti-Zionism in higher education.The co-chairs join The CJN Daily to reveal they have already signed up 100 members and are looking to expand across the country.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the Network of Engaged Canadian Academics in their mission statement.
- Read why an anti-IHRA network of Jewish faculty was formed in 2021 in The CJN
- Find us on May 22 at the Walk with Israel in Toronto: come by our CJN booth.
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Cindy Seni is one of the cast members looking to find true love on the popular new Netflix series Jewish Matchmaking, which debuted on May 3. The show ranks among the streaming service’s most-watched programs in several countries, including in Canada and in Israel. But to Seni’s disappointment, you won’t hear anything on the eight episodes about her Canadian identity and upbringing—including growing up in Thornhill, Ont., and living there until she made aliyah in 2018—because the producers cut all that out.The Netflix series follows Seni, now 28, and a cast of eligible singles from all parts of the Jewish world, who have diverse connections to Judaism. They try to solve their dating problems by using the services of a professional Orthodox matchmaker, Aleeza Ben Shalom, who sets them up with one goal in mind: marriage.Seni joins The CJN Daily to dish about what it was like filming the show, how the experience has helped her love life and we ask whether she really did find her bashert.
What we talked about
- Watch _Jewish Matchmaking _on Netflix
- Follow Cindy Seni on Instagram, her website and Tiktok
- Find The CJN in person at the Walk with Israel in Toronto on May 22
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Michael Kerzner is the highest-ranking Jewish member of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government. Kerzner was appointed as solicitor general last June, shortly after being elected in the York Centre riding—his first successful foray into politics—as part of the Progressive Conservatives’ sweep back to power in 2022.Now Kerzner is taking it upon himself to speak out for the Jewish community. Later today, he is scheduled to speak in the legislature about two hot-button issues: the annual Al-Quds day protest held in downtown Toronto a few weeks ago; and the anti-Israel positions held by a newly elected NDP MPP Sarah Jama, from Hamilton Centre. Kerzner calls Jama’s record of tweets and speeches antisemitic—which some members of the Jewish community also feel have been hurtful.Kerzner joins The CJN Daily to explain why he’s given Jama the silent treatment until now, but things are about to heat up as he ramps up his own personal protest against having her in the Ontario legislature.What we talked about
- How Michael Kerzner navigated attending the official Ontario event to mark King Charles III coronation on Shabbat, on The CJN Daily
- Michael Kerzner eyes run in the York Centre riding for the 2022 election, in The CJN
- Read political columnist Josh Lieblein’s take on Sarah Jama’s election to Queen’s Park in The CJN
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The government of Newfoundland and Labrador will hold a news conference today, May 9, to officially announce its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. The move will be done by proclamation and unveiled at the Confederation Building in St. John’s. “We remain unwavering in our commitment to always challenge antisemitism, wherever and whenever it occurs,” said Gerry Byrne, the cabinet minister in charge of immigration, population growth and skills, in a media release.Officials say the adoption came after a request from local Jewish communities, and is being done as part of the province’s efforts to tackle racism in all its forms.With this, Canada now has seven provinces—plus the federal government—who have incorporated the IHRA definition of antisemitism as official policy.So why are reports of Jew-hatred incidents in Canada still in the thousands last year, according to a recent B’nai Brith report? Does this latest adoption mean a setback to those groups who oppose the IHRA definition, such as academics, unions, the NDP, some First Nations groups, and particularly the Independent Jewish Voices group?The CJN Daily spoke with Belle Jarniewski, a member of Canada’s delegation to IHRA, about the recent successes and where the challenges still lie.What we talked about
- Hear Ellin speak in Calgary on Thursday, May 11, for Jewish Heritage Month at The Military Museums at 7. p.m.
- Learn why Quebec supported IHRA—but Montreal did not adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism—in The CJN
- Read more about Hamilton adopting the IHRA definition, and Vaughan, in The CJN
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
When millions of people around the world tuned in to watch Saturday’s broadcast of the coronation ceremony of King Charles, one of them was Manitoba’s lieutenant governor, the Hon. Anita Neville. Neville felt a particular attachment to the new sovereign—and not just because her job is to represent the King in her province. Neville had, just weeks earlier, flown to London for an in person tete-a-tete with her new boss at Buckingham Palace. They talked about the environment, Indigenous Canadians and the inner workings of the coronation ceremony itself. “I think he’s going to be a very fine King,” Neville declared.Meanwhile, Ontario’s only Jewish cabinet minister, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, found himself facing the same dilemma as other observant Jews in public office. The coronation was being held on a Saturday, and Kerzner had to keep Shabbat while attending an official ceremony in Toronto to mark the coronation.Kerzner and Neville join _The CJN Daily _to share their royal experiences.
What we talked about
- Anita Neville is Manitoba’s new Lieutenant Governor in The CJN
- Michael Kerzner is elected to Ontario’s Doug Ford PC government, in June 2022, in The CJN
- Watch Maya Gamzu’s final performance on Canada’s Got Talent
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Canadians of a certain age will remember listening to the comedy duo of Wayne and Shuster on the radio—and, later, watching them on television from the 1950s well into the 1980s. The duo met in high school in Toronto’s prewar Jewish neighbourhood around Harbord Collegiate, where they began writing and performing sketch comedy. After returning from entertaining the troops overseas during the Second World War, they joined the television era, with specials pulling in audiences of millions, and worldwide syndication.Since their fathers' deaths, Wayne and Shuster’s children have been campaigning to convince the CBC—which owns the broadcast rights to much of their parents’ material—to air it for the first time in years for a new generation of Canadians to enjoy. These efforts have not been successful.Now, the families are taking a new strategy. They’ve teamed up with Bygone Theatre, a theatre company in Toronto, to mount a live Wayne and Shuster stage show that opens at the University of Toronto’s Hart House Theatre May 25. It will go on a national tour, too. Audiences will get to see high-profile Canadian actors perform such classic W and S skits as “Rinse the Blood Off My Toga” and “A Shakespearean Baseball Game”. Michael and Brian Wayne join The CJN Daily, along with Rosie Shuster and the producers of the play, Emily Dix and Conor Fitzgerald.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the new Wayne and Shuster live show and buy tickets
- When the City of Toronto named a lane after Wayne and Shuster, in The CJN
- For Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017, The CJN ran this profile of Wayne and Shuster
- Watch “Rinse the Blood off my Toga” on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
A new documentary is giving viewers unprecedented access to the unconventional life of the Hon. Rosalie Abella, the first Jewish woman—and first refugee—to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The film, Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella, had its world premiere this week at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival.The film follows Abella, a child of Holocaust survivors, during the final months of her 17-year-long tenure on Canada’s highest court. She retired in 2021, when she turned 75. Over the years, she has been credited with seminal social-justice court rulings, paving the way for same-sex marriage in Canada; advocating for women’s workplace rights; ensuring job opportunities for minorities; and enshrining the right to strike.The film follows some of these cases while also diving into Abella’s fierce work ethic and her courage to take unpopular positions on public policy. We also see her private side, including a home and office where every surface is covered in colourful pop art, collectibles and figurines.Abella originally did not want to have a film made about her life, but her late husband Irving Abella—who died during filming—convinced his wife it would be a good idea. Abella wasn’t giving media interviews before the premiere, so we sat down with the documentary’s director, Barry Avrich, just ahead of the film’s weeklong festival run.
What we talked about
- Watch Without Precedent at Hot Docs or online
- Read past coverage of Abella in the pages of The CJN here and here
- Learn about the late Abraham Lieff, the first Jewish judge on Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice (and CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner’s grandfather), inThe CJN
- Vote for Maya Gamzu in Canada’s Got Talent here
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
She’s not even 15 years old, but this Israeli immigrant to Canada is blessed with a powerful singing voice that belies her years. Now Maya Gamzu is hoping that her current success on this season’s reality TV show Canada’s Got Talent (airing on Citytv) will be her ticket to stardom.Gamzu and her family moved from Tel Aviv to Richmond Hill, Ont. four years ago. She was already performing in Hebrew back home ever since she was a toddler, but mastering the English language was a challenge she took on so that she could reach a wider audience.Although she doesn’t flaunt it, her Jewish and Israeli roots are a huge part of Maya’s identity: for her audition episode, she wore a red string bracelet around her left wrist which she had brought from the Western Wall in Jerusalem.Originally, Maya had hoped to make a connection with the lone Jewish judge on the show, Toronto-born comedian Howie Mandel. But surprisingly it was the award-winning rapper Kardinal Offishall who became her champion, and awarded the Grade 9 student at Westmount Collegiate Institute the so-called “Golden Buzzer” – which means she went straight through to the semi finals. That episode airs tonight Tuesday, May 2.Maya Gamzu and her father Sergei join The CJN Daily to take us behind the scenes of the popular show.
What we talked about
- Watch Maya Gamzu’s audition and interview with Canada’s Got Talent on Citytv
- Follow her on Instagram
- Vote for Maya Gamzu after the episode airs, using this link
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
When B’nai Brith released its annual antisemitism report on April 17, documenting 2,769 incidents of Jew hatred in Canada last year, we wondered why the numbers were so high. After all, the Canadian government’s own data on police-reported hate crimes against Jews accounted for a fraction of that number. In France, whose Jewish population is bigger than Canada’s, there were just 469 cases in 2022—six times lower than in Canada. And the American numbers are relatively the same as Canada’s although they have 17 times as many Jews as we do.So The CJN Daily _asked B’nai Brith’s director of the League for Human Rights, Marvin Rotrand, to help explain the numbers.As we begin Jewish Heritage Month today, on May 1—and _The CJN Daily turns two years old today—we kick off the month reflecting on these troubling statistics, asking how safe it is for Jews in Canada and what these disturbing data actually look like.
What we talked about
- Read how the Montreal Jewish community reacted to a recent flag-burning in The CJN
- Why there were 2, 769 reported incidents of antisemitism in Canada last year, according to B’nai Brith’s annual audit, in The CJN.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Hadassa Kingstone’s parents escaped Hitler’s Europe, snuck through the British blockade of Mandatory Palestine and settled in pre-State Haifa, where she was born in 1936. Her memories include hiding Haganah weapons in her father’s factory while their apartment was used as a clandestine radio station in the lead up to the 1948 War of Independence.But after serving in the first Arab-Israeli War at the Suez Canal in 1956, Kingstone left to see the world. She made it to Montreal, where she fell in love, married and remained for three decades. Along the way she encountered some of Israel’s iconic founding leaders, including Golda Meir and Menachem Begin.But the pull of her native land saw her move back to Israel in 1990, after her children had grown up. Kingstone has spent the last 30 years with a front-row seat to Israel’s more recent history, from Intifadas to Start-Up Nation to the current pro-democracy protests engulfing her homeland.On Israel’s 75th birthday, she joins The CJN Daily from Tel Aviv to share her personal journey, which closely mirrors the story of the Jewish State.
What we talked about:
- Read how other Canadians remember their first trips to Israel in The CJN
- Hadassa Kingstone’s niece, Heidi Kingstone, writes her memoirs about covering the war in Afghanistan, in The CJN, from 2015
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
What does Jeopardy co-host (and former Big Bang Theory star) Mayim Bialik have to do with Israel’s 75th birthday? Why does the winner of the Tour de France bicycle race wear a yellow jersey? What year did the Dead Sea Scrolls leave Israel and go on display in Montreal?Here’s your chance to test your own knowledge.To celebrate Israel’s 75th birthday, The CJN Daily has teamed up with David Matlow, creator of The CJN’s popular Treasure Trove column, to explore the history of Israel though his 75 carefully-curated pieces from his massive personal collection of Zionist artifacts.In fact, Matlow has just released a new book, 75 Treasures, where you’ll find all the answers. Listen to the end of today’s episode for your chance to win a hard copy of the book.
What we talked about
- Download a free digital copy of the _75 Treasures _book via David Matlow’s website
- Never miss a new Treasure Trove column in The CJN
- Hear Mayim Bialik’s interview with Bonjour Chai
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As Israel mourns its 24,213 fallen soldiers (and 4,255 civilians killed by terror) this Yom Hazikaron, Canada’s Jewish community also recently lost a war hero who fought for the State of Israel. Bill Novick of Montreal was the second-last surviving Canadian Machalnik—a nickname for volunteers from abroad—who snuck into Israel in 1948 to help the badly outnumbered Israeli military fight their War of Independence.Novick, who practised as an ear, nose and throat physician until the middle of the pandemic, died on March 23 after a brief illness. He was 99.On today’s “Honourable Menschen” epsiode of The CJN Daily, Ellin and Ron Csillag pay tribute to Novick and fellow Montrealer Jerry Gross, who also volunteered for Israel’s 1948 war; Toronto Jewish studies professor Rabbi Michael Brown; Leo Goldhar, who built Jewish projects in Toronto and Israel; and Winnipeg track star Lou “Lightning” Billinkoff, who took up racing only after suffering a heart attack at the age of 89.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Lou Billinkoff in The CJN
- Read Rabbi professor Michael Brown’s obituary in The CJN
- Jerry Gross was one of the last Canadian Machal fighters for Israel, in The CJN
- Hear our extended interview with Bill Novick on _The CJN Daily _from May 2021
- Leo Goldhar devoted his life to building Jewish Canada and Israel, in The CJN
- Find the names of all of Israel’s fallen soldiers
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Read transcript
Ofir Sofer is the first member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to visit Canada since pro-democracy protests began in Israel four months ago. Sofer spent a whirlwind day in Toronto last week, as part of a higher-profile trip to New York’s Jewish community, where his first stop was at the Chabad world headquarters.The cabinet minister is a member of Netanyahu’s coalition partner, the right-wing Religious Zionist Party, led by extremist leader Bezalel Smotrich, now also Israel’s finance minister. Sofer’s trip was his first-ever to North America, where he toured mainly Orthodox schools and Orthodox synagogues, encouraging students and staff to make Aliyah.But he also got an earful from some Canadian non-Orthodox Jewish leaders who are worried that his government will tighten eligibility for automatic Israeli citizenship under the historic Law of Return. Sofir’s visit was accompanied by a small protest outside the headquarters of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.The CJN Daily spoke briefly with the minister, although he wasn’t giving interviews. On today’s show you’ll hear why. You’ll also hear from some of the Canadian leaders he met with, who stand on opposite sides of the current tensions in Israel: Rabbi Steven Wernick, Rabbi Elan Mazer, Rabbi Samuel Kaye, Gail Adelson from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs; and David Koschitzky.
What we talked about
- Read more about the Canadian branch of UnXeptable, which is holding protests every Sunday in Toronto for democracy in Israel, in The CJN
- Why this Canadian Orthodox rabbi says we shouldn’t criticize Israel in public, on The CJN Daily
- Learn more about the 300 Jewish Canadians who signed an open letter published in Canadian and Israeli newspapers on The CJN Daily
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
An orphaned polar bear named Steve with not enough fish to eat meets a lonely electric vehicle named Eve who ran away to the North Pole to escape being bullied by gas-guzzling cars. That’s the plot of a new graphic novel for young readers by award-winning B.C. authors Paul Shore and Deborah Katz Henriquez.Launched at a book reading in March 2023, Steve and Eve Save the Planet: I Can Hear Your Heart Beep is the first offering in what the creators promise will be a series of books that tackle climate change.Shore, a trained engineer, and Katz Henriquez, a professor of nursing, hope their colourful characters and requisite gross-out jokes about herring breath and burps will entertain children—and also inspire them to take action.Paul Shore and Deborah Katz Rodriguez join The CJN Daily to explain how their book promotes tikun olam, and why the message resonates with readers of all backgrounds.
What we talked about
- Find out more about Earth Day and events in Canada this month
- Learn more about the authors and order the book
- Why more and more Canadian synagogues are going green, on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The Rosenstrasse Protest – which occurred in Berlin in 1943 just weeks before the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which we remember today – was the only demonstration by thousands of German citizens against the Nazis’ treatment of Jews during the Second World War. Eighty years ago this spring, non-Jewish German women stood their ground for a week near the Berlin headquarters of the Gestapo. They won the release of their 2,000 Jewish husbands, who had just been arrested and were slated for deportation.The roundups were part of the Nazis’ plan to make Berlin free of its remaining Jews. But nearly all the intermarried Jewish spouses later survived the Holocaust.Now, a role playing game is on sale that highlights the story of this largely unknown Rosenstrasse event. Its Canadian co-creator, Moyra Turkington of Toronto, joins The CJN Daily to showcase the historic but overlooked role which these brave non-Jewish women played in the Holocaust.
What we talked about
- Read more about the Rosenstrasse game and order a copy
- Watch the national Yom ha-Shoah memorial ceremony from Ottawa
- Read about other Holocaust-themed games in TheCJN
Credit_s_
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As ceremonies are held across Canada for Yom ha-Shoah, the commemoration of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, we bring you the little-known story of a Montreal father of four who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.Although Harry Cohen had been born in Poland, he’d immigrated to Canada in 1919 and lived for decades in Montreal with his wife and the couple’s four children. On the eve of the Second World War, in June 1939, Cohen decided to take a quick trip back to Europe – he wanted to see his sister and to inspect some of the family’s fabric factories in Opatow. But when Hitler invaded Poland after Cohen arrived, his Canadian residency documents were not enough to help him escape the fate of Europe’s Jews under Hitler’s Final Solution.Although Cohen’s family never heard from him again, and still don’t know exactly when he was killed, they’ve pieced together what happened thanks to a mysterious parcel that arrived back in Canada after the war. It contained his tallit, siddur (prayerbook) and some travellers cheques with his Montreal address on it. The sender? A Polish Christian woman who had risked everything to hide him before the Gestapo found him.Harry’s family has donated his tallit to the Montreal Holocaust Museum, where his granddaughter Ann Cohen now volunteers to take students on tours and shares the tallit’s incredible story. She joins The CJN Daily, along with the Museum’s marketing director Sarah Fogg.
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As the world prepares to mark Yom ha-Shoah on Monday night, April 17, thousands of Jewish visitors have descended on Poland for the annual March of the Living. On Tuesday morning, more than 150 Canadian students and adults—including seven Holocaust survivors—will be taking part in the large silent march between Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps near Krakow.The commemoration comes amidst a heated debate over the way the Polish government wants its own version of Holocaust history told. Since 2018, a new law has made it illegal for researchers and academics to say that Poles were collaborators with the Nazis, or that they helped hunt down, round up and murder the country’s three million Jews.According to critics—including Ottawa history professor Jan Grabowksi—Poland’s new “feel-good” narrative downplays its wartime responsibility in favour of a nationalistic fable that portrays Poles as victims who even helped the Jews.Grabowski joins The CJN Daily to explain his latest battleground against Holocaust distortion: one that’s now taking place on Wikipedia.
What we talked about
- Read more about how Poland sued Grabowski for libel on The CJN
- Read Grabowski’s new study on Wikipedia’s distortion of the Holocaust
- Watch the 2023 March of the Living live in Poland at 8 a.m. on April 18 here
- Read the Yad Vashem statement on Israel and Poland’s renewal of school trips
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
With the yizkor memorial service fast approaching on the last day of Passover, April 13, The CJN Daily felt it appropriate to shine a light on the cemetery project undertaken by Montreal’s Jewish Genealogical Society. For years, the group’s main researchers, now led by Gary Perlman, have been lovingly cleaning, photographing and investigating nearly 80,000 people buried in Jewish cemeteries in his city and elsewhere in Quebec.A retired software developer, Perlman, who turns 67 this week, also posts this data online for posterity, so families can find out more about their ancestors. And fixes thousands of mistakes.It’s a massive project that involves graves on Mount Royal dating back to the 1800s as well as the largest cemetery, the Baron de Hirsch in Snowdon—and others include more recent burials located just outside of Montreal, including in Duvernay, Dollard and Beaconsfield.What connects them all is the shared story of the history of Jews in Canada. Some tragic stories bring Perlman to tears—and he joins The CJN Daily to describe this sacred work and share his itinerary for this spring and summer.
What we talked about
- Find graves and research about Jewish burials in Montreal and the province of Quebec on the JGS of Montrealwebsite
- Read a profile of Gary Perlman in The CJN from 2019
- Research your ancestors buried anywhere in the world with the Jewish Gen Online Worldwide Online Burial Records
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
The CJN Daily returns Tuesday April 11, 2023 with regular programming but for today, Monday, April 10, we are offering a bonus – for subscribers only: the chance to sit down for the Great Canadian Seder, second edition, brought to you by our colleagues at The CJN podcast Bonjour Chai.
Politicians and proletarians, cantors and comics, all coming together to share stories, songs, wisdom and musings from across the country. Hosts Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy were joined at their virtual seder table by:
- Sami Elmagrehbi
- Cantor Eric Moses
- Ellin Bessner
- Mindy Pollak
- Ralph Benmergui
- Rabbi Gila Caine
- Ophira Eisenberg
- David Birnbaum
- Rabbi Adam Stein
- David Bezmozgis
- Barbara Kay
- Jon Kay
- Jess Salamon
- Yael Halevi-Wise
- David Sklar and Ilana Zackon
- The Menschwarmers
- Marc Gold
- Rabbi Ilana Krygier Lapides
- Oro Librowicz
- David Abitbol
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
As Jewish people around the world sit down for Passover seders this week, they may be using treasured ritual objects such as seder plates and wine goblets. But taking a more careful look at the tableware might reveal these items were made not by Jews, but rather in factories in industrial cities in China or India.These plants churn out orders of kippot, mezzuzot, Stars of David necklaces—and definitely the finger puppets kids use to count the 10 plagues.This outsourcing of Judaica to Southeast Asia or the Far East has become a common phenomenon, even while some independent gift store owners in Canada and around the world, try to support original Jewish artists as best as they can, while also selling the mass produced products.Does it matter where your Judaica comes from? Does it make your grandfather’s tallit or a cherished kiddush cup any less meaningful if it isn’t made by Jews? On today’s The CJN Daily, we hear from the owner of Israel’s The Judaica Centre in Thornhill, Jodi Segal, along with Judaica artist and scholar David Tzvi Kalman with the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.
What we talked about
- Find Judaica products from Canada, Israel, China and India at Israel’s The Judaica Centre
- Browse David Zvi Kalman’s Haggadah products on his website Print-O-Craft Press.com
- Meet the Canadian inventors of the “Kosher Lamp” and other Judaica products in, The CJN.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Later this week, David and Jenny Spigelman will attend a traditional Passover seder at his parents’ Winnipeg home, along with the couple’s three young sons. Then, on Saturday, the Spigelmans will drive out to spend Easter with Jenny’s grandmother at her farm, and the boys—who are being raised Jewish—get to hunt for Easter eggs.It’s a compromise that’s taking place in many interfaith homes around the world right now. This April, both Passover and Easter (and Ramadan) fall within days of each other on the calendar. And with intermarriage rates among Canadian Jews rising in the past generation to at least 25 percent—and closer to 50 percent in Winnipeg—experts say successfully navigating the holidays this week calls for patience, conversations and celebrating the other’s traditions.David and Jenny Spigelman join The CJN Daily, along with Rabbi Aaron Levy of the Makom synagogue in Toronto, with tips and advice.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Makom’s interfaith Shabbat programs and the coming Mamouna/Iftar event April 16 on the synagogue’s website
- Why Winnipeg has 50% or more of its young Jews marrying non-Jews, in The CJN
- Listen to Bonjour Chai’s second annual Great Canadian Seder episode on The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Three hundred Canadian Jewish leaders have put their names to a full-page letter that appeared in several prominent newspapers to express their concerns about what’s happening in Israel and about the threats to democracy there.The first ad ran in the Saturday edition of the National Post. A slightly different version—using more conciliatory language and supporting the “aspiration to find a renewed and applicable balance between the rulings of the majority of the Knesset and the rulings of the courts”—ran Sunday in two popular centre-left and left-wing Israeli newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz.
The organizers admit they didn’t plan for the ads to run as late as they did; they had hoped it would be published before Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week that he would be temporarily pausing the push to reform the judiciary until after Passover, so as to avoid “civil war”. The announcement came as hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets and participated in a nationwide general strike to protest the reforms.
Still, the message from 300 signatories is the latest and the largest single public expression of concern from Canada’s Jewish diaspora since Israel’s right-wing government took power three months ago.
Toronto philanthropist Gary Goldberg and his extended family were among the small group of friends who started the campaign and paid for the ads. Goldberg joins The CJN Daily to explain why they did it.
What we talked about
- Read Phoebe Maltz Bovy writing in_ The CJN _about the history of Jewish open letters
- Lila Sarick on what four Canadian rabbis tell their congregations about Israel, _in The CJN_
- How Halifax got its emergency matzah shipment this weekend, after scarcity, in_ The CJN_
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
With just days to go until Passover begins on April 5, the Atlantic Jewish Council sent out an emergency email to all its members advising of a shortage of matzah at the main grocery stores in Halifax. “Please note that there is no longer any matzah in any store in Halifax,” the note read, and advised the Jewish community that Rabbi Yakov Kerzner, of the city’s Orthodox Beth Israel Synagogue, is trying to source matzah from Montreal. It may arrive in time for the first night of Passover, although Kerzner hopes it will come sooner.The growing Jewish community in Halifax has faced challenges for years when trying to source Kosher food for Jewish festivals: orders from Sobeys or the Atlantic Superstore don’t come in on time, or they come with less product than they were supposed to. But this year, the local Jewish community says it is the worst it has been, requiring extraordinary efforts to help families observe Passover with the required foods, particularly the obligation of eating matzah.Rabbi Kerzner joins The CJN Daily along with Yoram Abisror, the executive director of the Atlantic Jewish Council, to describe what they plan to do next.
What we talked about
- Find out more about Rabbi Yakov Kerzner and Beth Israel Synagogue in Halifax_ _on The CJN.ca
- How post tropical storm Fiona meant Hurricane High Holidays for the Jews of the Maritimes in the fall of 2022, on_ The CJN Daily_
- Watch the Kashruth Council of Canada’s new videos on what is Kosher for Passover on their YouTube Channel
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
As Jews around the world prepare for Passover, beginning April 5, one retired teacher is proposing a new way to welcome young people into the Seder ritual. Pearl Richman is particularly concerned that many traditional haggadot books start the reciting of the Passover story by referring to four types of curious children: wise, evil, simple and the child who doesn’t know how to ask.Richman and her family have created two new haggadot that use more modern, inclusive and accepting language, designed for modern families. They honour refugees, children murdered in the Holocaust, terror victims in Israel and Jews who identify as LGBTQ, like Richman’s own daughter, Maxie. After their original haggadah rewrite for adults in 2019, Maxie, a Jewish school teacher in Toronto, helped co-write a kids’ version of the inclusive haggadah, called Hug-it-Out.Richman’s collection of made-in-Canada Passover items are being sold at Jewish museums and retailers around North America (and are featured in The CJN’s new glossy magazine, coming out for Passover). Richman joins The CJN Daily to explain how her 94-year old mother inspired them to jump into the Judaica business.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Pearl Richman’s Judaica collection The Haggadah Collective
- Read why Pearl and her daughter Maxie wrote their Haggadah for kids, in The CJN
- Sign up for the Murray Foltyn bone marrow swab to save his life with Ezer Mitzion.
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
The CJN Daily is publishing a special breaking-news podcast due to the momentous events happening on the ground in Israel.
A labour strike called by the Histadrut over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s slate of reforms shut down much of Israel on Monday. That means Ben Gurion airport, stores, buses, universities and schools were all abruptly closed—along with Israeli embassies and consulates around the world, including in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
Massive protests were held Sunday across Israel, and these continued Monday outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, where Netanyahu and his coalition colleagues met to decide next steps. In a statement late Monday March 27 Israel time, Netanyahu agreed to pause the judicial legislative package immediately, to avoid “civil war, but vowed to push ahead later this spring after the Knesset recesses for Passover.
Protestors feel the reforms to the Supreme Court and other laws that would shelter convicted politicians – undermine Israel’s democracy. The country’s now-former defence minister Yoav Gallant even warned on the weekend that all the anger against the Netanyahu government poses a serious threat to Israel’s safety, but he was quickly fired on Sunday for making the comments.
And in the middle of it are two Canadian journalists and analysts based in the Tel Aviv area who haven’t slept in the past 24 hours.
Aron Heller was a correspondent for the Associated Press covering Israeli for 15 years, and now works as a freelance journalist specializing in tech, defence and security. Vivian Bercovici was Canada’s ambassador to Israel from 2014 to 2016, appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harper. She is now the editor-in-chief of a startup news platform, State of Tel Aviv.
Heller and Bercovici each joined early Monday before Netanyahu’s announcement with their takes on the political turmoil, security risks and what Canadian Jews in the diaspora should do right now.
What we talked about
- Read more analysis from Vivian Bercovici on The State of Tel Aviv.com
- Follow Aron Heller’s articles and feature stories on his website.
- Read Lila Sarick’s story in The CJN about the protest Sunday in Toronto by Israeli and Canadian Jews.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Jewish social services agencies across the country say their Passover food boxes are going out to more needy clients this holiday season than ever before—and they’re pointing a finger at inflation. From Ottawa to Toronto to Calgary and beyond, volunteers are seeing significant increases in demand over last year.
On Sunday March 26, the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada’s Toronto branch marked the 40th anniversary of its annual Passover food drive by delivering 3,000 food hampers. That’s in contrast to 2,300 last year—a 30 percent spike. In Ottawa, the kosher food bank began assembling Passover boxes also on Sunday at Kehillat Beth Israel synagogue for 131 clients—another increase over the 124 people who received boxes in 2022.
And in Calgary, the increase was 35 percent this year, preparing 74 boxes to families in need vs. 55 last year. Officials there say it’s due to an influx of Ukrainian refugees, increased rents and high unemployment in the Western city.
On today’s The CJN Daily, we visit the massive packing operation with Toronto's Shelly Feldman and Gail Crystal from the Toronto National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, and also speak to Linda Schwartz Prizant from the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank, with a front-line report.
What we talked about
- Read our story about the need rising by 20 per cent last year in The CJN
- Hear volunteers packing at the UJA Global Seder event in Toronto in 2022 on_ The CJN Daily_
- Why is Kosher for Passover Coca Cola different? Read about it in The CJN
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
A new TV series by award-winning Canadian filmmaker Igal Hecht explores whether archeology can definitively prove the Jewish connection to Israel. Just in time for Passover and Easter, the first season of Secrets of the Land debuted March 15 on YES TV, a Canadian faith-based channel.
Hecht and his team were given unprecedented access to some of Israel’s most important archeological excavation sites, from the Tower of David to the tunnels below the the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and even the ancient sites of Shiloh and King Solomon’s Mines in Timna near Eilat.
His cameras follow renowned archeologists from Israel and abroad as they unearth fragments of pottery and tile from thousands of years ago, and then use modern scientific techniques to explore whether the Bible stories surrounding these sites might be true–for Jews and for other faiths.
As Hecht explains on today’s The CJN Daily, he feels the series will help continue the conversation about the deep ties the Jewish people have to the Land of Israel.
What we talked about
- Watch the trailer for Igal Hecht’s Secrets of the Land, out on YES TV Wednesday nights
- Read more about Igal Hecht’s career in The CJN
- Igal Hecht filmed the 2021 war between Israel and Hamas for_ The CJN_
- Register for Thursday’s live CIJA webinar on the current situation in Israel, beginning at 12 noon ET, or watch it on CIJA’s Facebook page.
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
When the Russian invasion began a year ago on Feb. 24, 2022, newlyweds Inna Movchan and Vitalli Shkarbun were in Lviv, eagerly anticipating their wedding reception with more than 100 guests. Instead, as Russian shells started to fall, the party was cancelled, and the young couple found themselves in a long line of cars fleeing to safety.They arrived in Toronto in April of last year. Since then, they’ve both found jobs and housing, thanks to the help of several Jewish communal social service agencies, including Jewish Vocational Services, the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services and the JRCC (Jewish Russian Community Centre), among others.Movchan, 24, is now on parental leave with the couple’s first baby, a daughter, Yeva, who was born a few months ago. Shkarbun, 30, works full-time. They are both keeping a close eye on developments in the war, and also fundraising to help send supplies to the front lines and the wounded.They join The CJN Daily to tell us how they’re coping with making Canada their new home, even while they worry about those they left behind.
What we talked about
- How Canadian Jews are opening their hearts and wallets to help Ukrainian Jews, in_ The CJN._
- Why three Montreal rabbis got on a plane in March 2022 to help Ukrainian refugees, in The CJN.
- Read more about Inna and Vitalli’s fundraising efforts to help their families back in Ukraine.
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In the world of British Columbia high school athletics, it was a huge deal on March 11, when the senior boys basketball squad from King David High School—the province's only Jewish high school—came from behind during the last seven minutes of the BC School Sports 1A Boys Basketball Provincial Tournament finals, beating the defending provincial champions from Unity Christian School.
After the Lions were eliminated in the early rounds of last year's provincial playoffs, coming back to capture their league trophy this time capped off a successful five-year run for their star players: point guard Jesse Millman, shooting guard Ezra Heayie and centre Joseph Gabay.
But after all the celebrating on the court that night following the Lions 72–68 win, and after the welcome-home assembly last week in their school gym, the group realized that the pivotal game likely marked the last time these 17-year-olds would lace up together to play varsity basketball. And they're uncertain whether they'll even continue to play their sport competitively after graduating this summer.
The teens join The CJN Daily, along with their coach, David Amran, to take us behind the scenes of the historic victory, including their secret weapon: rabbis in the stands chanting prayers of support.
What we talked about
- Learn more about the winningest Montreal YMHA men’s basketball team of the 1930s and '40s in The CJN
- How a basketball game taught neo-Nazi Jim Keegstra’s students a lesson in tolerance, and to the Jewish players, too, on The CJN Daily
- Meet the King David High School Class of 2021 who graduated during COVID, _on The CJN Daily_
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Demographer Charles Shahar has been digging into the latest Canadian census data, from 2021, to paint a fuller picture of what Canada’s Jewish community looks like. He says while cities from coast to coast have seen their Jewish populations grow significantly—especially Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax—the Toronto area has plateaued.
Whether it is because of the city’s infamously unaffordable housing prices or COVID sparking an exodus to smaller towns, he suggests his new census findings should be a concern for planners and Jewish community officials in the GTA. Which should they prioritize: building more schools or seniors’ homes?
Shahar says one of the most surprising changes is that Montreal’s Jewish population is now on an upswing, with more than 90,000 people again, after a steep decline that started in the 1970s. Same goes for Winnipeg, reversing 40 years of declines.
Shahar joins The CJN Daily to break down the numbers and what the community looks like.
What we talked about
- Read more about the 2021 Census data’s preliminary findings from last fall in_ The CJN_
- Hear Professor Morton Weinfeld on why Canada’s Jewish population is still growing on_ The CJN Daily_
- Learn more about the_ 2011 results _in Charles Shahar’s report here
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Read transcript
Ben Ben Chimol, 17, is the youngest person we have profiled on The CJN Daily‘s “Honourable Menschen” series, where we pay tribute to prominent members of the Canadian Jewish community who have recently passed away.The Grade 12 teen, who died of cancer in Winnipeg in early December 2022, was a budding artist and beatboxer. His family and classmates have created a memorial fund through the city’s Jewish high school that will help other students pursue their passions.In this edition of Honourable Menschen, CJN journalist emeritus Ron Csillag joins to share the stories and accomplishments of a gallery of creative Canadians in the arts and entertainment world: Ontario painter and singer Mendelson Joe, who went public with his decision to use medical assistance in dying after struggling with Parkinson’s disease; composer Ben Steinberg from Temple Sinai in Toronto; Eleanor Koldofsky, who helped build Sam the Record Man into a retail success before branching out to form her own record company; Montreal painter Roslyn Swartzman; and Lanny Poffo, a professional wrestler whose accomplishments were overshadowed by his older brother, “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Ben Ben Chimol and donate in his memory
- Read about artist and teacher Roslyn Swartzman in The CJN
- Check out Mendelson Joe’s canvases and songs on his website
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Read transcript
Montreal filmmaker Ezra Soiferman loves the winters in his native city so much, he’s made a new film about them, called Montreal, Snowbec. It’s a love letter to the season where the city is covered by nearly six feet of white stuff each year. In the film, Soiferman showcases the beauty of Place Ville Marie’s searchlight, plus many Jewish winter scenes, including two Hasidic men walking through a snow covered lane, and the famous St. Viateur bagel bakery, in the snow.Soiferman feels Montrealers who spend winters in Florida or Arizona are missing out on the joys of the season, from watching snowplows clean the streets to driving by the white-capped iconic Orange Julep restaurant.Ezra Soiferman’s film was released two weeks ago and is already getting people smiling, which was his aim. He joins The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner—a former Montrealer—to compare notes and memories of potholes, driveway plastic car protectors and sledding on Mount Royal.
What we talked about
- Watch Montreal, Snowbec for free on Ezra Soiferman’s YouTube channel
- Read more about the filmmaker on his website
- Learn about Ezra Soiferman’s previous films, in The CJN
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Read transcript
Rabbi Daniel Korobkin leads one of Canada's largest Orthodox synagogues: Beth Avraham Yoseph, known as The BAYT, in Thornhill, Ont.In recent weeks, he has been regularly leading prayers for the victims of the escalating violence and terror attacks between Palestinians and Israelis. They come against the backdrop of growing worldwide condemnation—even by some Canadian Jewish leaders and groups—of the current plans by Israel’s new right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu to reform the Supreme Court, possibly roll back civil rights for LGBTQ citizens, the Arab population in the West Bank and non-Orthodox Jewish residents.Rabbi Korobkin has decided to speak out publicly against Israel’s vocal critics here at home. He says the country will sort itself out in due course and do the right thing, as healthy democracies do. But all the protests and negativity from the Diaspora just helps those who wish to delegitimize the State of Israel.He joins The CJN Daily ahead of Tuesday's special meeting called by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto to seek the advice of prominent rabbis and Jewish schools on forming a community strategy in response to events in Israel.What we talked about
- Read about the NIF and JSpace poll in The CJN
- Watch Rabbi Daniel Korobkin's sermon on the BAYT YouTube channel
- What Montreal-born Likud MK Dan Illouz thinks about his government’s agenda: ’Not an attack on democracy’ on The CJN Daily.
What we talked about
- Read about the NIF and JSpace poll in The CJN
- Watch Rabbi Daniel Korobkin’s sermon on the BAYT YouTube channel
- What Montreal-born Likud MK Dan Illouz thinks about his goverenment’s agenda: ‘Not an attack on democracy’ on The CJN Daily.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
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It might be the first time that Holocaust poems have made it to the top of Canada’s most famous music award, the Junos. The poems were written in 1942 and 1943 by the grandmother of Toronto singer Lenka Lichtenberg, who found them only recently—by accident. She turned these haunting wartime verses into an album called Thieves of Dreams.
On March 11, the Junos—considered the Canadian version of the Grammys—announced that Lichtenberg’s album won best Global Music Album of the year. The ceremony was held in Edmonton, as part of a star-studded week that saw superstars The Weeknd, Michael Bublé and the Arkells also pick up statues.
Lichtenberg learned she was Jewish at age nine, and has recently begun resurrecting the stories of Holocaust survivors, including those who did not survive—such as her Czech grandparents and great-grandparents.
You’ll be able to watch the full awards ceremony on Monday night, March 13, at 8 p.m. on CBC TV, but Lichtenberg joined The CJN Daily right before she headed to Edmonton for the excitement.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Thieves of Dreams and Lenka Lichtenberg from her website
- Download the song lyrics and booket from Thieves of Dreams for free
- Read about Lenka Lichtenberg’s career in the The CJN from 2018
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.
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Adath Israel's emeritus rabbi, Erwin Schild, turns 103 on Mar. 9.
Schild, who proudly lives in the same Toronto home he bought soon after he first took the pulpit job in 1947, may be Canada's oldest living Conservative rabbi. He is nearly as old as the large egalitarian congregation itself, which is marking its 120th year. He served for 42 years, retiring in 1989, after which he wrote four books.
Schild was a teenage yeshiva student in his native Germany and was captured by the Nazis on Kristallnacht in 1938. He survived the Dachau concentration camp. He was freed thanks to the intervention of a Dominican diplomat, only to be shipped to Canada the next year by the British as an enemy alien.
During the pandemic, Adath Israel held drive-by birthday celebrations to mark Schild's 101st and 102nd birthdays. This year, the synagogue created a special fundraising campaign to repair a Torah that was donated to the congregation years ago in Schild's name.
The CJN Daily visited Rabbi Schild in his home to talk about his legacy, his 50 great-grandchildren (and even a great-great grandchild), the pending merger between Adath Israel and Beth David, and his favourite chapter of the Torah.
What we talked about
- Contribute to the Rabbi Schild Torah repair fund at Adath Israel
- Read about Rabbi Schild’s ‘crazy angel’ in The CJN from 2019
- Rabbi Schild looks back on 95 years, in The CJN from 2015
- Watch the new film about Rabbi Schild’s Holocaust story which premiered at the Holocaust Education Week 2022 in November
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Dr. Paula Gordon, of Vancouver, is a renowned Canadian radiologist and breast cancer specialist. She also recently became a recipient of the Order of Canada for her pioneering research into using ultrasound to detect hard-to-spot breast cancers. But that was decades ago. Now, Gordon—a professor at the University of British Columbia's medical school—is campaigning for expanded screening for breast cancer, starting much younger and more often.
Gordon is calling for mammograms to be offered beginning at age 40. Currently, most provinces offer routine screening only at age 50, due to what Gordon calls outdated federal health guidelines. She's also advocating for mammograms to be done annually, not every couple of years, especially for those women at greater risk of developing breast cancer: Ashkenazi women, and women with so-called "dense breasts".
Gordon joins The CJN Daily on International Women's Day to explain why changing these federal breast cancer screening guidelines will save lives.
What we talked about:
- Read more about the risk of dense breasts at densebreastscanada.ca
- Why Ashkenazi Jewish women (and men) are at higher risk of breast cancer_ _in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
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The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, will not take further action to sanction three members of parliament who posed for photos recently with a far-right German politician. Poilievre told reporters on Parliament Hill on Monday March 6 that he will also not kick the trio out of caucus.
The three Tory politicians—Dr. Colin Carrie, of Oshawa, Leslyn Lewis of Halidmand-Norfolk, and Dean Allison of Niagara West—posed for photos at a luncheon in mid-February with Christine Anderson, during her cross-Canada tour. Anderson is a member of the European Parliament representing the Alternative for Germany party, which espouses what Poilievre has since called “vile” and “racist” views on Muslim immigrants, homosexuality, and Holocaust denial.
While the three quickly issued a statement saying they didn’t know about their luncheon guest’s views, this is the first time anyone from the party has spoken in person, publicly, about the controversy. But that’s not good enough for one Oshawa businessman who is calling for his MP to actually do better, not just say he will.
Shaun Bernstein joins The CJN Daily to explain why he wants the veteran politician to attend a symposium at a local synagogue to mend fences.
What we talked about:
- Read Josh Lieblein’s take on the Christine Anderson luncheon in The CJN.
- Why a known Holocaust denier and terrorism advocate got invited to Parliament Hill for a party with MPS, in The CJN.
- Why Laith Marouf isn’t paying back the money he owes to Ottawa, on The CJN Daily.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
My Way Bikery, the only kosher bakery in Victoria, B.C., will of course be selling traditional Purim hamantashen cookies for the rest of March. But Moshe and Leah Appel, the bakery’s new owners, are becoming known for one of Leah’s creative inventions: the “challnut”. It’s a donut made from challah dough, filled with jelly and topped with sugar.
They are so in-demand that, last week, someone actually stole a whole tray right out of the bakery’s storefront location inside Victoria’s Public Market.
The story of how the Appels opened their new bakery just two months ago is not just a kosher food journey: it’s also a love story that reunited these two ex-Montrealers, who had known each other since elementary school. The Appels join The CJN Daily from their noisy bakery in Victoria to explain why going kosher was more than just a business decision.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about My Way Bikery in Victoria
- Moshe Appel on_ The CJN Daily _from July 2021 about why gay men should be allowed to donate blood in Canada
_ _Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Dr. Daniel J. Drucker was sitting in his research lab at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital when his name was announced that he’d won Israel’s Wolf Prize, a Nobel-like award given to scientists and artists who help the world. The announcement came Feb. 9. Drucker is only the 11th Canadian to win the prestigious award since its inception in 1978, and some people think it also gives him a good chance to nab the real Nobel.
Drucker, the Canadian son of Holocaust survivors, is credited for discovering how certain hormones in the body help stimulate insulin to lower blood sugar. His work prompted a batch of new drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, thus helping millions of patients around the world.
Nowadays, these drugs—including the popular Ozempic brand you might have heard of—are also being used for treating obesity, and potentially could work for diseases of the heart and brain, including Alzheimer’s, MS and Parkinson’s. Drucker joins The CJN Daily to explain why.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Dr. Daniel J. Drucker’s research
- How diabetics can survive Passover seders, in The CJN.
- Read Dr. Drucker’s ongoing research on his website
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
For years, Fraidy Hecht of Kelowna, B.C., had to go to great lengths each month to fulfil the ancient requirement for religious Jewish women to immerse themselves in a ritual bath known as a mikvah. In the summers, Hecht could use the nearby lake, in a pinch; but in winter, it meant a five-hour road trip to Vancouver to find a mikvah—not just time-consuming, but occasionally treacherous when the weather is bad.
For the past 14 months, Chabad synagogues in several small Jewish communities across North America—including Kelowna, and also Saskatoon and Regina—have been fundraising in a joint campaign called “Bring Mikvah Home.” Kelowna’s is the first one ready. Last week, the Hechts officially inaugurated the new ritual bath with a ceremony and dinner for donors and members on Feb. 21.
On The CJN Daily, we’re joined today by Rabbi Shmuly Hecht, Fraidy’s husband, who explains why their mikvah is open to all the estimated 500 Jews in the Okanagan Valley area—not just Chabad members.
What we talked about:
- Why so many people converted to Judaism in Kelowna in 2021, on The CJN Daily
- Learn more about the Kelowna mikvah project on the_ _Chabad Jewish Okanagan website
- What life is like for Jews in Kelowna, B.C., on_ Yehupetzville_
_ _Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Travel agent Jay Mandelker of Toronto never imagined his Florida winter holiday would place him at the centre of a rare but horrifying alligator attack that killed his 85-year-old neighbour last Monday. Mandelker is the head of the homeowner’s association in the Spanish Lakes Fairways 55+ retirement community in Fort Pierce, where the victim, Gloria Serge, was pulled into the pond by the 10-foot-long alligator.Video of the attack shows the gator initially rushing out of the water to eat the victim’s small Shih Tzu dog—who survived. After coming ashore, the 500-pound reptile sunk its teeth into the startled senior’s foot and began dragging her into the water, while a neighbour tried unsuccessfully to rescue her and wound up calling 9-1-1.The story, and Mandelker, have been all over the news. He’s since been liaising with local police and Florida wildlife officials, and even held a memorial at a meeting for hundreds of traumatized snowbirds, including several Canadians. He now joins _The CJN Daily _to explain why golfers and walkers need to be more careful in Florida and what his community has learned from the tragedy.What we talked about:.
- Watch the TV news coverage of the alligator attack from WPTV
- Jay Mandelker, a travel agent and longtime snowbird in Florida, gives advice on travel after the Canada/U.S. border reopened in January 2022, on The CJN Daily.
- Learn more about Jay Mandelker at YYZ Travel
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman is one of 15 signatories to an open letter to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which sounds the alarm over the new government’s push to reform the judiciary.Bronfman, who created the Birthright program that sends young Jews to visit Israel, says he didn’t write the letter himself. But his name tops the list of uber-wealthy North American Jews, which includes Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of the KIND energy bar company; Lester Crown, who owns the Chicago Bulls and Maytag; and Marcia Riklis, heir to the late Faberge and Carnival Cruise fortune of her late father, corporate raider Meshulam Riklis.Bronfman has never been a Netanyahu supporter, and feels the Israeli leader wouldn’t talk to him on the phone anyway about his concerns that “the Zionist enterprise is in danger”. Bronfman joins _The CJN Daily _from his Florida home to talk about the threats he believes are affecting Israel’s founding democratic principles.
What we talked about:.
- Read more about Charles Bronfman’s public disputes with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in The CJN.
- Charles Bronfman at 90: On Birthright, saving the Jewish State, antisemitism and the Montreal Expos, on The CJN Daily
- Charles Bronfman memoir is released, in The CJN.
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Nearly 12 years ago, Toronto business executive Stephen Kaplan took a solo motorcycle trip to Alaska. He promised his worried wife, Danielle, it would be his last. But somewhere on a remote road in the Yukon, Kaplan hit a pothole and flew off his powerful bike. When he landed, he’d broken his spine and damaged his heart.The lifelong adventurer couldn’t move, trapped alone on the side of a road in grizzly bear territory.It sounds like a movie, but this was real. If it wasn’t for a few miracles including a passing trucker, a working GPS device, free hospital care in B.C., and his wife’s steely determination to help him recover, it’s unlikely he would have survived.Now Danielle Kaplan, a former health care worker, has written about the couple’s remarkable story, including the toll it took on her family and their marriage. Her new book is called_ I Married a Thrill Seeker: A Cautious Wife’s Memoir of Her Husband’s Risk-Taking and Their Long Road to Recovery._
Danielle and Stephen Kaplan join The CJN Daily to unpack how they survived and the lessons her book can teach couples.What we talked about:
- Find out more about the SPOT GPS device that saved Stephen Kaplan’s life
- Read more about the book, and Danielle and Stephen Kaplans’ experiences on their website
Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
More than 60 years ago, in 1961, Saul Fenster and his older brother, Henry—two Jewish siblings from Poland who had survived the Holocaust—bought a swampy plot of land an hour north of Montreal with the dream of opening a ski resort for families. And so, the Belle Neige ski hill in Montreal’s Laurentien mountains was born.Saul had learned to ski after the war in Switzerland, where he had been sent to try to cure his tuberculosis after the brothers survived a half-dozen death camps—including Auschwitz and Buchenwald.Belle Neige is honouring its founders this weekend with the opening of a new $4-million quadruple chairlift that has been named in the Fensters’ honour. Although both patriarchs have passed away, their families will be on hand for the inauguration ceremony in Val Morin, Que., on Feb. 25—which also happens to be the one-year anniversary of Saul’s death.Two of Saul’s sons, Mark and Elie Fenster, join The CJN Daily along with Nicolas Vallieres, the Belle Neige general manager, to describe how their family created its snowy field of dreams.
What we talked about:.
- Read more about the Fenster’s founding of Belle Neige
- Read the obituary of Saul Fenster in the Montreal Gazette
Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
In a relatively short time, Dan Illouz went from being a McGill University law student to sitting in Israel’s Knesset as a member of the ruling Likud government. The son of Moroccan immigrants to Montreal, Illouz moved to Israel 13 years ago. Since then, he has held political jobs and also served as a Jerusalem city councillor before taking his seat in the Knesset after Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud won the most recent election.Among his stances, Illouz supports the government’s current efforts to reform the power of the Israeli courts—which have prompted mass street protests in Israeli cities, evoked concern among many Jewish groups in the Diaspora and even brought stern warnings from political allies, including Canada.The rookie MK—who turns 37 on Tuesday, Feb. 21—views the protests more as a “disagreement” among friends, and condemns those who say the reforms will make Israel less democratic. Illouz joins The CJN Daily from his office in Jerusalem to explain.
What we talked about:
- Read more about Dan Illouz on the Knesset website
- Why Illouz campaigned for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper in 2015
- How Dan Illouz was deeply touched by a 2008 terrorist attack on a yeshiva in Israel
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Sketches on a restaurant napkin, a notebook draft of “Hallelujah”, black and white Polaroid snapshots of his naked chest: the late Canadian singer and poet Leonard Cohen kept it all for posterity. Now, a curator with the Art Gallery of Ontario has convinced the Cohen estate to dig into the icon’s personal treasures and stage a never-before-seen exhibit of the very personal collection.
Cohen’s two children did not cooperate—in fact, they are embroiled in legal proceedings with Cohen’s former manager over control of their late father’s $48-million (USD) estate and holdings.
The exhibit’s curator, Julian Cox, took The CJN Daily on a private tour of the exhibit, titled “Everybody Knows”, where host Ellin Bessner became surprisingly moved while seeing the intimate ephemera of the internationally renowned composer and troubadour.
What we talked about:.
- Learn more about the Leonard Cohen exhibit on the AGO website.
- Read The CJN’s review of the 2017 Montreal “A Crack in Everything” exhibit, still on until 2024, virtually.
- Why Michael Posner wrote three books about Cohen, on The CJN Daily.
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
It’s been seven months since the federal government was made aware that it had awarded a lucrative training contract to a known racist and antisemite, Laith Marouf. The story broke in July 2022, after several media watchers went public about offensive tweets which Marouf had posted about Jews, Blacks, Indigenous people and French Canadians.
While his contract was eventually cancelled and his training workshops for journalists halted, serious questions have been asked ever since about what government officials knew, when they knew, why it took so long for them to take action, and how Marouf could have slipped through the vetting process so easily.
On Monday, a high-ranking civil servant from the Department of Canadian Heritage appeared before a House of Commons committee hearing into the affair. What followed was a 90-minute grilling by the committee’s MPs, who remained unimpressed and even disappointed with the answers. On today’s The CJN Daily, we’ll take you to the hearings, and also get analysis from Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who has been critical of the government’s handling of the scandal.
What we talked about:
- Watch the full Standing Committee hearings on Canadian Heritage’s handling of the Laith Marouf scandal
- Meet the internet expert Mark Goldberg who outed Laith Marouf, on The CJN Daily
- Read why Twitter suspended Laith Marouf’s personal accounts, on The CJN.ca
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Philip Kuntz considers himself the first-ever customer of Aroma Espresso Bar’s first-ever Canadian coffee outlet. When the Aroma location opened in 2007 at 500 Bloor Street West in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, Kuntz drank the very first cuppa.
For a dozen years, the Ontario musician and artist made that Aroma outlet part of his daily routine–– holding court for hours at the now-closed store. (It was shuttered suddenly in October, 2019.)
Kuntz has been watching the Aroma brand’s venture in Canada unfold, including _The CJN’_s recent coverage of the outstanding $10 million dollar legal dispute between the original Canadian franchisor and head office in Israel.
He joins The CJN Daily to offer his thoughts about what’s gone wrong, and he even recites a limerick he composed in Aroma’s honour.
What we talked about:
- Hear Part 1 of The CJN’s investigation into the Aroma Espresso Bar multi-million- dollar lawsuit with the Canadian branch on The CJN Daily
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. tktk
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Credits
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More than five years have passed since the still-unsolved murders of philanthropists Barry and Honey Sherman in their Toronto home. Despite a $35-million reward for clues to solve their killing, the case remains a mystery.
Conspiracy theories abound over who did it and why, with fingers being pointed at the Clintons, Big Pharma, the Sherman children, a cousin or even the Mossad. Police haven’t released any clues in more than a year. But interest is about to heat up again as two major Canadian news outlets give the story the true-crime treatment, each releasing podcasts about the Shermans—this same month.
The two shows take very different approaches. One is hosted by Kevin Donovan, the Toronto Star reporter who broke most of the Sherman case and wrote a book about it; the other, produced by the CBC, is hosted by Jewish journalist Kathleen Goldhar. She has produced previous hit shows about a romance scammer and the cult that ensnared two Bronfman sisters.
Today, both podcasters join The CJN Daily to explain why they have been pursuing the case for years and whether either of their competing shows actually provide closure to the unsolved mystery.
What we talked about:
- Hear Kevin Donovan on The CJN Daily talk about his book “The Billionaire Murders” which the new podcast is based on
- Read about the philanthropic legacy of the Shermans in The CJN
- Learn why the Toronto police released this video of a person of interest in The CJN.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
The popular Israeli chain of Aroma Espresso coffee bars is tied up in a three-and-a-half year legal fight with the Toronto business partners who originally brought the brand to Canada in 2007.
Aroma’s foray here had been considered an international success story for the Israeli brand: at its peak, founder Earl Gorman and manager Anat Davidzon grew the branch to 45 franchise locations in and around Toronto. That was the most anywhere outside of Israel, where Aroma has about 160.
There were plans to open many more here, but by 2017 Aroma’s Canadian venture was in serious financial trouble. Two years later, Israel terminated the contract, and took over the operations, amidst a whole lot of bad feelings on both sides. And multimillion dollar losses.
Now, the whole dispute over who owes what, and to whom, is before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
And all of this story might have remained unknown, including an arbitrator’s ruling that the contract was ended “illegally” resulting in Aroma Israel owing the Canadians more than $10 million in damages, plus legal costs and interest. But now the Israelis have gone to court to set aside the results, so it’s a matter of public record.
On today’s The CJN Daily, we hear from some of the players about what went wrong.
What we talked about:.
- Read the arbitrator’s ruling on Aroma’s dispute.
- Read the Aroma Israel motion to set the award aside
- See Aroma Canada’s website
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Lev Goldfarb may not realize it, but getting his parents to throw him a birthday party in a Picton, Ont., grocery store was good for the Jews.
Not only did he spark a whole lot of goodwill in the tiny Lake Ontario resort town between Toronto and Kingston—now the Metro store manager has promised to start stocking somekosher food items for the Jewish community of about 100 people and counting in the area.
Lev's fascination with the grocery store prompted his mother, Hadas Brajtman, to approach the managers about the unlikely request to have his fourth birthday party there. The result was beyond the Israeli expatriate family's wildest dreams.
Brajtman joins The CJN Daily along with the Metro managers Murray Lupenette and Paul Jones, direct from the Metro staff room, to give us a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like.
What we talked about:
- Hear more about Jewish life in Prince Edward County on Yehupetzville
- Follow the Jewish Community in PEC on Facebook
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
As the annual Tu B’Shevat festival takes place Monday, Feb. 6, the yearly observance—which some consider the Jewish Earth Day—was marked over the weekend by environmental events across Canada: from vegan Shabbat dinners to walks through parks.But some synagogues and sites are embracing sustainable Judaism year-round: they’ve installed solar panels on the roof, put LED lights in the sanctuary, and stopped using disposable paper plates at Kiddush.And in Vancouver, over a dozen Jewish sites are really buying in, hoping to earn a “Seal of Sustainability.” On today’s The CJN Daily, Rabbi Shlomo Schachter of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue joins, along with Ariel Greene, head of the shul’s sustainability committee.
What we talked about:
- Read more about Jewish Vancouver’s Hazon sustainability initiative
- Read Temple Beth Ora of Edmonton’s Kashruth policy
- Why Canadian Jews are focusing on environmental issues in The CJN.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Hanina Hoffman originally didn’t want to accept the offer to write a Hollywood horror flick with a Jewish theme. But he changed his mind once he realized he could help change the way Hasidic Jews are so often portrayed on screens, big and small.
He wanted to create something more sympathetic, like “Shtisel, the horror movie”, instead of something in the vein of shows like My Unorthodox Life and Unorthodox, where oppressed ultra-religious women flee their confined lives.
The resulting big-budget film, his first, is called The Devil’s Offering, and is currently available for digital rental and purchase online.
To create the script, Hoffman channelled his upbringing in Toronto as the son of a former ritual director at Adath Israel Congregation, including a teenaged job as a shomer at Benjamin’s funeral home.
Hanina "Hank" Hoffman joins The CJN Daily to reveal all the subtle—and not-so-subtle—nods to Jewish mysticism, including the film’s ancient demon.
What we talked about:
- Watch the trailer for The Devil’s Offering movie.
- Read more about producer Hanina Hoffman's Canadian background on The CJN.ca
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Reena was born in 1973 because a handful of Jewish parents in Toronto wanted to keep their disabled children in the community—rather than putting them in an institution.Fifty years later, it’s the largest Jewish organization in Canada offering supportive housing for people with disabilities. But as we begin Jewish Disability, Awareness and Inclusion Month, held annually each February, officials at Reena are worried about finding enough housing and support for an aging clientele who are living longer.The CJN Daily attended the Jan. 18 anniversary party held at the new Lou Fruitman Reena Residence in Vaughan, Ont.In this episode, you’ll hear from some residents, parents and staff: Brenda Rothenberg, Anita Lipman, Sharon Magor and CEO Bryan Keshen join to talk about the impact Reena has had on their lives, and the challenges ahead.What we talked about:
- Learn more about Reena @ 50
- Read about Reena’s last milestone in The CJN.
- Ophira Calof wants theatre to make room for disability on the stage in The CJN Daily.
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Subscribe to the podcast by watching this short video.
The popular Montreal comedy duo YidLife Crisis is betting that their humour could have even greater worldwide appeal if what they’re saying was more widely understood. That’s why a 2015 episode explaining how some Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas Eve has been translated now... into Mandarin.The revamped episode was recently released on YouTube, and on a Chinese social media platform Bilibili. The pair is also hoping to expand their reach in Quebec—with French subtitles, via Radio-Canada’s streaming service, Tou.tv.But does the YidLife Crisis shtick really translate to other languages? Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion join The CJN Daily to explain their motivations in giving it a try.
What we talked about:
- Watch ‘Yingle Belz’ with Chinese subtitles on YidLife Crisis’ YouTube channel.
- Learn more about the translation of Yidlife’s materiel into other languages on The CJN.ca
- Watch the French version of the poutine episode on Radio-Canada.
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Subscribe to the podcast by watching this short video.Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
In the wake of the damning report by Dr. Ayelet Kuper about antisemitism at the University of Toronto’s Temerty medical school, the UofT’s anti-racism office hosted a “restorative circle” for Jewish students and staff.The unusual event on Jan. 23 saw Hillel’s UofT branch meet with about 25 people, via Zoom, where participants were asked to share their experiences with antisemitism, and then work on ways to get past it—and to find joy in being Jewish.It’s a small but important step, say both Hillel and the UofT, in the overall effort to take antisemitism as seriously as it takes other forms of racism.So what was it like? Did it help?To find out more, Hillel’s facilitator, Jacqueline Dressler, joins The CJN Daily, plus we speak to a student who attended: Alex Rose, who is also a former reporter for The CJN.
What we talked about:.
- Learn more about the UpfT Medical School report by Dr. Ayelet Cooper
- Read the UofT’s statement on antisemitism from January 2023
- Listen to the first The CJN Daily trailer from April 2021
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Winnipeg's Holocaust Education Centre is Canada's smallest, at 1,000 square feet. You could park about five cars in it, side by side.And since the pandemic, the Freeman Family Holocaust Education Centre—inside the Asper Jewish Campus—has undergone a major redesign. It now focuses on teaching the Holocaust in a more modern way: using artifacts and digital technology to tell the stories of the 1,050 survivors who would make Winnipeg their new home.The centre reopened to the public on Jan. 25, just ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. But The CJN Daily got an early sneak peek (via Zoom) with a private tour by the executive director, Belle Jarniewski. Listen to the podcast as she explain why the vision for the museum needed to change.
What we talked about:
- Read more about the museum’s redesign on The CJN.ca
- Visit the Freeman Family Foundation Winnipeg Holocaust Education Centre website
- Free download (until Feb. 3) of the five new audio book memoirs read by Canadian Holocaust survivors themselves
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
When he was 19 years old, a Slovakian Jewish teenaged slave labourer named Walter Rosenberg (later he changed his name to Rudolph Vrba) did what only five Jews ever managed to do: successfully escape from Auschwitz.
But his escape in April 1944 and subsequent testimony about the mass murder of Europes Jews at the Nazi death camp had an enormous impact: it reached the Allies, the Vatican and major press outlets.
Vrba is credited with saving the lives of 200,000 Hungarian Jews, who would have otherwise been deported to their deaths that summer. But the killing of more than a million victims at Auschwitz haunted him until his death in Vancouver in 2006.
A new book by British journalist Jonathan Freedland makes the case for Vrba being considered as one of the greatest, unknown Jewish Holocaust heroes of the time: right up there with Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel and Oskar Schindler. Freedland joins The CJN Daily from London, England to explore why that hasn’t happened, and why it should.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland.
- Read more about Rudolph Vrba on this website curated by Vancouver scholar Alan Twigg.**
- Watch the livestream from Ottawa of the National Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday Jan. 27.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
From one of the Jewish community's longest serving rabbis, Bernard Baskin of Hamilton–whose funeral was Sunday Jan. 22— to the musical composer Leon Dubinsky of Nova Scotia, who died at age 81, Canada has lost many prominent community leaders in recent weeks.
Many were Holocaust survivors, but others came to Canada as immigrants from Scotland and America: they were actors, judges, furniture magnates, and scholars.
In the latest edition of _The CJN Daily'_s "Honourable Menschen", regular contributor Ron Csillag joins host Ellin Bessner to share some personal tributes to Baskin, Albert Reichmann, Jules Kronis, Maximilien Polak, Gerda Frieberg, Saul Feldberg, Michael Marrus, Cantor David Aptowitzer and Leon Dubinsky.
What we talked about:
- Read our interview with the late Rabbi Bernard Baskin in The CJN from 2010.
- The eulogy for Albert Reichmann, 93, by his son David, in The CJN.
- Learn more about the late Gerda Frieberg,
- Maximilien Polak was once appointed honourary Dutch consul in Montreal.
- Historian Michael Marrus investigated the Holocaust.
- Read Tamara Kronis’ tribute to her late father, lawyer Jules Kronis.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Ronen Hoffman arrived in Ottawa to be Israel’s new ambassador to Canada in November 2021, full of big plans. But after just a year in office, Hoffman took to Twitter on Jan. 21 to announce he has handed in his resignation.
Was he pushed? Or did he time his announcement as a salvo to Canada’s Jewish community and to Israel to beware of the hard-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition and what they want Israel to look like?
On today’s The CJN Daily, Ellin digs into Hoffman’s very public gesture, with guests Vivian Bercovici, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, and Joe Roberts, the new chair of JSpaceCanada.
What we talked about:
- Read more about Ronen Hoffman in The CJN.ca
- Follow Vivian Bercovici’s news articles at The State of Tel Aviv
- Hear The CJN Daily‘s interview with the newly-arrived ambassador from January 2022.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Lisa Levitan founded the Jewish Educators Group to help Ottawa-Carleton District School Board staffers like herself cope with increasing hatred.The award-winning elementary school teacher says she receives “two or three calls or emails a day” about antisemitism directed at colleagues or students—which she immediately sends to the appropriate principal and to the school board’s team.But the responses seemed insufficient until this week, when the trustees passed a motion to hire a Jewish equity coach.It was partly the result of Levitan’s lobbying, which included collecting over 1,000 signatures on a petition.The CJN Daily takes you behind the scenes of the school board’s Jan. 17 committee hearing before Lisa Levitan joins to explain why she hopes it marked a turning point for Jews in Ottawa’s public school system.
What we talked about:
- Read more about the Jewish Equity Coach motion in this story in The CJN
- Hear what life is like for Jewish students in Ottawa’s public schools on The CJN Daily
- Learn why Jewish students were scared of a pro-Palestinian student rally in Ottawa in this story in The CJN
CreditsThe CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Funeral services were held Jan. 17 in Montreal for 96-year-old Joseph “Jerry” Gross, one of the last surviving Canadian veterans of Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. He served with the 52nd Battalion of the Givati Brigade, along with many other young volunteers.Gross regularly organized reunions of North American machalniks—the Hebrew short form for the nearly 5,000 “volunteers from abroad” who helped defend the rag-tag Israeli troops against a vastly superior Arab invasion force.Such contributions to the survival of a Jewish homeland could serve as an inspiration to the students of today, says to the Canadian producer of a documentary film about the machalniks, which is currently in production. Jeff M. Hoffman hopes his film, Unlikely Heroes, will get their story on big screens everywhere. He joins The CJN Daily to talk about it.
- Read a full obituary of Joseph “Jerry” Gross in The CJN
- Learn more about the “Unlikely Heroes” film in this 2016 story
- Machal veterans Dr. Bill Novick and Irving Mallow in this story from our archives
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Before it became the glamorous playground of rich celebrities—and before Lincoln Road Mall’s humble shops were replaced by designer boutiques—Miami Beach was a popular and affordable winter destination for low-income Jewish snowbirds, who flocked from Canada and the northern U.S. to escape the winter months to fill up the low-budget Art Deco hotels. It’s a world that’s long since disappeared.Toronto-based photographer Naomi Harris is now paying tribute to that time—and to a group of feisty seniors whose lives she documented while she lived among them in a hotel from 1999 to 2002. Haddon Hall is her new book, named for the South Beach lodgings where she snapped portraits of the Holocaust survivors, pensioners and widows.She joins The CJN Daily to explain why too many people overlook senior citizens because of ageism, and why her photos capture their joy.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Naomi Harris' new book Haddon Hall
- Read more about the lost world of Miami Beach in this article in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Subscribing to this podcast is easy: please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Nike may have issued the deciding word in the long standing debate about which city makes the best bagels in the world: the footwear company’s latest sneaker is out, and it’s an ode to the honey-dipped, dense, chewy bagel made in wood-burning ovens.The beige, low-rise sneaker was released on Jan. 13 in Montreal—before the rest of the world could buy one. As far as we know, this is the first time anyone has immortalized the city’s most Jewish culinary invention in a shoe, right down to the sesame seeds.The CJN’s resident sneakerhead Avi Finegold, from our sister show Bonjour Chai, braved the winter weather to see what all the excitement was about. He joins The CJN Daily to give a blessing to the next addition to his own shoe collection.
What we talked about:
- Read how Reebok goofed on designing a shoe in honour of Israel's birthday in The CJN.
- Read more about the Nike Montreal Bagel dunks shoe launch
- Melissa Lantsman also collects sneakers: Read what she wears on Parliament Hill in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Sidney Nemes hasn’t been able to take more than a long weekend off work in decades of running his family’s kosher meat business in Montreal.But this week, the owner of J&R Kosher Meat and Deli in Cavendish Mall, is relaxing in Florida for at least a month with his wife Susie, who worked alongside him at the store.The Nemeses are recovering from their decision to close the meat factory and retail store, which his late father Robert—a Holocaust survivor—founded in 1952. The news was a shock to the community. But after a goodbye Hanukkah party for customers, the premises in the heavily Jewish area of Cote Saint-Luc had to be vacated three days later, on Dec. 23.Nemes, 67, says he couldn’t keep the business afloat any longer for three reasons: unfavourable terms to renew his lease, a drop in business after the COVID lockdown, and a lack of support on pricing from Montreal’s rabbinical kosher agency.J&R may be gone, but Nemes isn’t going to abandon his customers. He joins The CJN Daily to discuss his plans for a comeback in the spring.
What we talked about:
- Follow J&R Kosher to find out when and where Sidney will reopen
- Hear why Montreal’s kosher meat is so expensive on Avi Finegold's heated interview with the head of MK: Montreal Kosher
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
A much-anticipated concert in London, England by singer Bracha Jaffe on Sunday, Jan. 15, has raised the ire of some of that city’s rabbis—even though it’s being billed for an audience exclusively made up of women and girls.Ticket-holders have been advised not to attend by some hardei girls’ schools and the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations umbrella group.The concert will go ahead, but it’s also drawing attention towhat Montreal scholar Jessica Roda has termed “Cyberfrumenism.”Her new research reveals the growing popularity of a generation of young haredi women performers—including some from Canada—using social media to showcase their voices and attract thousands of fans.Roda joins The CJN Daily to describe how this new wave of religiously devout celebrities are pushing against the taboo in the ultra-Orthodox world known as kol isha, where modest women aren’t supposed to sing in spaces where men might hear them.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Jessica Roda and her research on Orthodox women and technology
- Read two Canadian rabbis’ takes on kol isha in this The CJN story from 2018
- Zehavit Rosenbloom’s comedy on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
There’s something fishy about 21-year-old YouTube host Jeremy Urbach, who runs Gishmak Herring. It’s a YouTube channel dedicated to reviewing forage fish. (Gishmak means delicious in Yiddish.)It started as a joke during the pandemic. But now, two years later, the Torontonian’s funny takes on the Ashkenazi dish are reaching a new generation of fans of all flavours of Judaism and beyond.Urbach is a graduate of TanenbaumCHAT high school, who studied at a yeshiva in Israel before enrolling in a business program at Western University.His honest love comes from his South African grandparents’ recipes—eaten with the bow-tie cookies known as kichel—and also the monthly Herring and Scotch events attended by his father.He’s also taken his reviews on the road: to Crown Heights, New York, and all the way to Israel—where he says the herring is too salty. He joins The CJN Daily along with his videographer and longtime pal Avi Teich, to break down why eating herring is good for you, and why you should try new flavours like chipotle mayo or maple syrup.
What we talked about:
- Watch Gishmak Herring videos on YouTube and Instagram
- Learn more about the history of Jewish herring in The CJN story from 2018
- Listen to the Blue Moose Menorah episode on The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
Irvin Studin used to be a professional soccer player, and the policy expert, academic and think-tank head likes sporting terminology. Which means, in the aftermath of the pandemic, the nation needs to win the next game—or we risk losing Canada.That’s the premise of Studin’s new book, Canada Must Think for Itself: 10 Theses for Our Country’s Survival and Success in the 21st Century.The son of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union—who currently lives in Richmond Hill, Ont.—takes a look at COVID-19’s devastating impact on government, health care, the economy, education, national unity, media, information and social structures. His diagnosis is stark. He calls it a catastrophe.Studin offers 10 main prescriptions for how the country can survive—if Canadians are up to the challenge. He joins The CJN Daily to discuss the gloomy start of this year, and how long Canada has left to get things right.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Irvin Studin and The Institute for 21st Century Questions
- Learn more about Jews who were expelled from Arab lands in this episode from The CJN Daily
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.
When Canada went into COVID lockdown in March 2020, the weekly newspaper version of The Canadian Jewish News also stopped publishing, shortly afterwards. Advertising dried up, as community events were all cancelled. The CJN offices were shuttered. Staff was laid off—including editor-in-chief Yoni Goldstein.But within weeks, Goldstein realized he could not let the award-winning institution simply disappear after 60 years. The CJN would have to pivot and modernize. Plus find new and different ways of connecting with loyal readers, while reaching new audiences through social media, email newsletters and podcasts.Coming up to three years since those dark times, Goldstein joins The CJN Daily to reflect on why reviving the paper was personal, how far it’s come, and to announce some exciting developments for 2023—and where you come in.
What we talked about:
- How to donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt—for more information email support@thecjn.ca
- Donate any amount via our page at CanadaHelps
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Marie Levine started creating fused glass menorahs in Ottawa after discovering her synagogue’s gift shop stocked only the traditional pressed-metal designs that were made in China, or Pakistan and had been on the shelves for thirty years.Now her menorah designs, with bright colours and shapes, are on display at museums and gift shops around North America – including the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.Levine is inspired by storied artists including Kadinsky and Monet, and even by Bible stories such as Joseph’s coat of many colours.She’s featured in The CJN’s magazine this winter, and sits down with The CJN Daily to explain why people should show off their Hanukkah menorahs not just during the festival of lights.
What we talked about:
- Marie Levine's studio and website
- See The CJN Magazine feature about Marie Levine
- Follow the Edmonton scavenger hunt for Hanukkah
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
After an unsettling encounter with a Holocaust denier in 2021, the small, energetic Jewish community of Bowen Island, BC, decided they needed to become more visible. That meant, among other things, showcasing their culture and traditions to the rest of the island.
Matthew van der Giessen had an idea. Though he isn't an artist—he's a massage therapist—he began collecting pieces of driftwood off the beach to create a six-foot-tall hanukkiah. The makeshift menorah, completed in 2021, now stands among the island's annual display of Christmas trees and has received a lot of media coverage.
This week, despite needing a few touch-ups, the sculpture is back—and van der Giessen joins The CJN Daily to describe his creative process, his own journey to Judaism and how his piece speaks volumes about the unique spirit of his tight-knit island's community.
What we talked about:
- Hear more about Jewish life on Bowen Island on Yehupetzville(Dec 2021)
- Read more about the driftwood menorah at Neighbourhood Small Grants
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
If you follow The CJN on social media, or have our coffee table book, or are subscribed to our current magazine, you've probably seen this iconic blue moose menorah. Its antlers are candle holders and a little red bird sits on its back.
What you may not know is that the quirky design turned 20 this year—and in all that time, the artist who makes them has never lit a Hanukkah candle. While Hanukkiahs are a big part of Nancy Clarke's business—she also makes them in the shapes of elephants, alligators, cats, whales and giraffes, and sells them to Judaica stores across North America—Clarke herself is not Jewish.
Clarke joins The CJN Daily from London, Ont., to explain why it makes her happy that her art forms part of Jewish family traditions, and why she's carrying on a tradition of her own by making them in the first place.
What we talked about:
- See all of Clarke's work at acmeanimal.com
- Watch Hanukkah greetings from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This week, Israel’s incoming prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will announce the country’s cabinet ministers. It’s all but certain that this will comprise his coalition partners, including Bezalel Smotrich, an extreme right-wing politician who wants to take control of the entire West Bank and Gaza and opposes rights for LGBTQ people; Itamar Ben-Gvir, infamous for his anti-Arab political stances; and Aryeh Deri, who’s been convicted on separate counts of tax evasion and bribery—and spent almost two years in jail.Netanyahu insists these men will have to walk back some of their more extreme plans. But one law that could change is the Law of Return, restricting aliyah to only those born to a Jewish mother, in accordance with the Orthodox viewpoint. And how they handle the ongoing crisis with Palestinians is also up for debate—whether new laws will incite more violence and terror.To discuss all these issues and more, The CJN Daily assembled a panel of three Canadian Jewish leaders to share their concerns and make some predictions about what Israel will look like in the near future. Ben Murane is the executive director of the New Israel Fund of Canada; Miriam Pearlman is a past president of the Association of Reform Zionists of America Canada; and Shimon Koffler Fogel is the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
What we talked about:
- Read the NIFC's open letter warning about Israel new government
- See the reaction from the Reform Jewish Community of Canada
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Phyllis Taylor credits Oprah Winfrey with sending her to prison—in a manner of speaking. After 30 years working at a law firm in Toronto, Taylor, then in her early 60s, was let go. But she wasn't ready to retire. Her friends brought her to hear Oprah speak in Toronto in 2012; the show featured six female inmates. Taylor was inspired—and she hasn't looked back.
Since then, she's taught life skills to hundreds of Canadian prisoners, including drug dealers, prostitutes, rapists and pedophiles. Despite the risks, Taylor discovered a way to make a difference, combining her training as a teacher and motivational speaker with her ability to shower students with kindness.
Now she’s sharing her experiences in a new book called The Prison Lady, which recounts not just her years helping inmates, but also her life's journey: as a twice-divorced survivor of child abuse who grew up Jewish in postwar Toronto. Taylor gives a glimpse into her life and writing process on today's show.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about The Prison Lady
- Read about the Sar-El case in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This past year was as politically divisive as any in recent memory, and the Jewish community—both in Canada and internationally—was not exempted from the strife. So to round up the biggest political stories of 2022 and to make their predictions for the coming year, The CJN Daily has assembled its first-ever political panel and quiz game—and you're invited to play along.
Joining us are three guests representing all three major political parties, each of whom has been featured by The CJN before. David Birnbaum is a former Liberal Member of the National Assembly of Quebec; Emma Cunningham is a trustee with the Durham District School Board and a former Ontario NDP riding president; and Stephen Adler is a former Conservative strategist and currently is senior director of corporate and public affairs at National Public Relations.
So settle in, think back to the biggest news stories of the year (Jewish and not) and get ready to buzz in your answers—and let's see if you know the news as well as the pros.
What we talked about:
- Read about David Birnbaum's decision not to run for re-election in The CJN (Apr 2022)
- Listen to Emma Cunningham explain her confrontation with the Ontario NDP over antisemitism in The CJN Daily (Jan 2022)
- Hear Stephen Adler on The CJN Daily round up the stakes for Jewish Ontarians during ahead of this past fall's election
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
It's the fifth edition of Honourable Menschen, The CJN Daily's recurring segment reflecting on some of the noteworthy Jewish Canadians who've passed away in recent months. As always, retired CJN reporter Ron Csillag joins the program to walk us through their accomplishments and legacies.
Today, we're commemorating five remarkable lives: Cynthia Gasner, a community activist and longtime writer for The CJN; Mark Mendelson, one of Canada's most successful fundraisers for Israel-based institutions; John Daniels and Jack Diamond, a pair of architects who changed the landscape of Toronto; and Murray Waxman, an acclaimed basketball player who represented Canada on the global stage.
What we talked about:
- Read the obituaries for John Daniels and Jack Diamond
- Read Cynthia Gasner's obituary
- Read Mark Mendelson's obituary
- Read Jim Carr's obituary
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
"What Jews call antisemitism isn’t real." "Any Jew who calls them out [for antisemitism] is just racist and is lying in order to oppress Palestinians." "Anyone at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine who angers the Jews will have their career destroyed by the Jews.”
These are just some examples from the litany of antisemitic comments and insults which Dr. Ayelet Kuper has encountered during her time as a professor at the University of Toronto's medical school. She has now documented and published these and more, as a paper in the Canadian Medical Education Journal.
In it, she lays out how the school’s Jewish faculty and students are once again dealing with clear-cut antisemitism—the way their predecessors did during the decades of the Second World War and beyond—but now, they’re facing it particularly if they publicly support Israel. While she doesn’t name names, she writes that some of those behind it include Jewish faculty members themselves
In September, the faculty of medicine held an event to apologize for years of discrimination against Jewish students dating back to the postwar era, where quotas existed limiting Jewish enrolment and advancement.
Kuper isn't doing interviews right now, due to the volume of requests she's received since her paper came out last week. But, on today's The CJN Daily, we're joined by two of her colleagues with extensive knowledge of the situation,
Dr. Philip Berger and Dr. Steve Samuel. Both are members of the group Doctors Against Racism and Antisemtism, a.k.a. DARA, and they issued a statement on Dec. 9 demanding UofT's medical school protect Jewish staff and students.
What we talked about:
- Read Ayelet Kuper's paper
- Read "U of T professors unhappy with president’s response to anti-Semitism on campus" in The CJN archives (Feb 2020)
- Visit the DARA website at daradocs.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Irwin Cotler, the renowned human rights lawyer who is now Canada's special envoy on antisemitism, has appeared on The CJN Daily more than once. But this time, he's not commenting on the news—he is the news.
A new documentary about his life and work, First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler, is making its world debut this weekend in Montreal. It's not a biography—the film instead traces his four-decade career representing with the likes of the late Nelson Mandela, Natan Sharansky and Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger sentenced to a thousand lashes and 10 years in prison. Audiences will catch a glimpse of what it's like travelling the world to stand up to oppressive regimes as he collaborates with allies including the acclaimed human rights lawyer Amal Clooney in the United Kingdom.
Ellin speaks with one of the filmmakers, Irene Angelico (who produced and directed along with partner Abbey Neidik) to discuss the four years they spent following Cotler around with their cameras—and then Cotler himself joins Ellin to describe what it was like being in a big-screen spotlight.
What we talked about:
- Buy tickets to the world premiere in Montreal
- Learn more about the film
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
After a two-week conflict between Israel and Palestine in the summer of 2021 led to an unprecedented spike in antisemitism, Rabbi Philip Bregman knew he had to act. He began reaching out to other racialized groups who know what it's like to feel discrimination. Eventually, he assembled a sort of Justice League of seven community leaders, including himself: Tariq Tyab of the Muslim community, Terry Yung of the Asian Buddhist community, Inderjeet Singh of the South Asian community, Jahmira Kedesha Lovemore of the Black community, retired United Church minister Gary Gaudin, and Jody Wilson-Raybould, the Indigenous leader who rose to fame as the Attorney General of Canada.
The group, dubbed "The Other People", began offering their services to schools, so students could see how real people from different communities act and face challenges in person. They've visited about eight schools so far, speaking to more than 1,000 kids—mostly in Vancouver, but also as far as Salmon Arm, a five-hour drive northeast of the city. The reception hasn't always been smooth—Rabbi Bregman has faced Hitler salutes in this process—but, as he explains on today's show, it's all part of the mission of exposing biases and having open conversations.
Rabbi Bregman is joined by Tayeb and his colleague Yusef Siraj, who does tech support for the group.
What we talked about:
- Visit their website at theotherpeople.ca
- Hear their stories in person at Temple Sholom in Vancouver on Dec. 8
- Learn more about the Muslim members' initiative, foundation4ward.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
He scoured the St. Lawrence River to find clues to how Jews helped the British conquer New France. He battled a hurricane off the coast of France and scuba dived to find a shipwreck linked to the mysterious first Jewish woman to set foot in Canada 250 years ago. No, these aren't scenes from the newest Indiana Jones movie—they're moments from the life of Len Pearl, a documentary filmmaker from Toronto, who's currently putting the finishing touches on his new series about the history of Jews in Canada.
Search Out the Land ditches the typical educational-video treatment, instead focusing on bringing to life the characters and achievements of the Jews who helped found Canada. Pearl shot 100 scenes with 200 actors in period costumes to capture the most fascinating stories available: there are fur traders, politicians and spies.
The CJN Daily sat down with Pearl to discuss why Canada’s Jewish history is a bold, sweeping epic of adventure mixed with the struggle for inclusion and acceptance, and a story that could help combat the current worldwide spike in antisemitism.
What we talked about:
- Read about Esther Brandeau, the first known Jew to set foot in New France, in The CJN archives (2013)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Benjamin Dichter rose to fame as a spokesperson for the Freedom Convoy that swarmed Ottawa earlier this year. Since then, the Toronto resident and part-time trucker has become a known quantity in conservative and right-wing media circles, appearing on Tucker Carlson's Fox News program and Steven Crowder's YouTube show. He's even earned an endorsement from Jordan Peterson for his new self-published book, Honking for Freedom: The Trucker Convoy that Gave us Hope.
In the book, Dichter calls the protest a success because most provinces—and eventually the federal government—did lift their COVID vaccine mandates, and Ottawa got rid of the controversial ArriveCan app, albeit many months after the trucks left the capital.
But Dichter is still feeling the ramifications of his involvement with the convoy, including how the federal government unleashed the rarely used Emergencies Act to freeze his and other key protesters' bank accounts. Plus, there's a massive lawsuit launched against the convoy leaders by residents of downtown Ottawa.
Underlying his story is the fact that Dichter wasn't just the convoy spokesperson—he's also their biggest Jewish representative. In this extensive interview with The CJN Daily, Dichter explains his decision to reveal his Jewish identity publicly and how the convoy organizers felt about Nazi imagery in their protests.
What we talked about:
- Find Dichter's book
- Watch Dichter’s testimony before the Emergencies Act inquiry on Nov. 3, 2022 (starts at 2:32:05)
- Hear The CJN Daily's stories about the freedom convoy: Jews who supported the cause, locals who opposed it and the original outrage at the Nazi imagery within
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
One thing that unites all Jewish Canadians—from Victoria to Winnipeg to Halifax, across politics and religious denominations—is that we all came from somewhere else. Before there was here, there was there. And whether it’s a part of your recent or more distant memory, all of our families were once strangers in a strange land.
The idea of an organization to help Jewish immigrants from Europe began after the First World War, with many small groups volunteering in cities across Canada. On a summer’s day in 1922, all these groups came together to create Jewish Immigrant Aid Services, better known as JIAS.
This year marks the organization's 100th anniversary. To celebrate the milestone, JIAS hosted two special exhibits: the first, called Love the Stranger, was created with the Ontario Jewish Archives. It uses original documents and photos and oral histories to tell the story of JIAS and how Canada’s Jewish population arrived at our shores. The second is called the Refuge Canada Tent. Its a travelling exhibit created by the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, and it introduces viewers to Canada’s place in the global refugee crisis.
The CJN Daily producer Zac Kauffman visited both exhibits at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the JIAS exhibits, running until Nov. 28.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On Nov. 21, Rabbi Donniel Hartman spoke at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple in a frank conversation about the future of Israeli democracy with David Koffman, a professor of Jewish studies at York University.
In an extensive interview, Hartman sat down with Avi Finegold, host of The CJN's weekly current affairs podcast, Bonjour Chai, to expand on his ideas about the state of Israel religious and political landscape in the wake of Benjamin Netanyahu's return to power and describe Diaspora relations with the Zionist state.
With Ellin Bessner on vacation this week, we're bringing listeners of The CJN Daily an excerpt of that insightful conversation.
What we talked about:
- Listen to Rabbi Hartman's full interview on Bonjour Chai
- Learn more about the Shalom Hartman Institute at hartman.org.il
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Every weekday, Cst. Sean Shapiro slips on his headphones, flips on his microphone and goes live on his show, Ask a Traffic Cop, broadcasting from his studio inside Toronto's traffic unit headquarters. Shapiro answers questions about highway safety, speeding, cycling, U-turns and what qualifies as distracted driving—and then posts clips on his TikTok page, where he's amassed nearly 600,000 followers.
It all started after the 22-year veteran officer was hurt on duty. Instead of giving out tickets, he started giving out advice. It helps that he has the perfect voice for radio; in fact, he recently won third place in an international radio contest out of the United Kingdom.
He credits a lot of his recent success to his Jewish identity, including how his mother influenced his profession and how his upbringing instilled in him a strong sense of morality. The CJN Daily visited the “TikTok Traffic Cop” at his studio to learn the road he took to getting where he is.
What we talked about:
- Watch his videos on TikTok or his full-length videos on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Naomi Seidman's father, Hillel, was a descendant of a Hasidic dynasty. Despite her family heritage and religious schooling in New York, Seidman eventually left her home and community, forging a new relationship with Judaism and enjoying a successful career in academia. She now teaches at the University of Toronto.
She wants you to know that, while not often talked about, there is a sizeable community of people like her in Canada and the United States—formerly ultra-Orthodox Jews who went "off the derech," as they say. To share their stories, she teamed up with the Shalom Hartman Institute to product a podcast miniseries, Heretic in the House, which debuted today.
As she explains in the show, the true lives of these former Hasids are nothing like the depictions you see on Shtisel, Unorthodox, My Unorthodox Life or many other TV shows. These people can easily lose family, friends, spouses, children and careers—which can send them into deep depression, even suicide. Seidman joins The CJN Daily to discuss her life and new podcast.
What we talked about:
- Listen to the podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute
- Visit the Facebook group 'Off the Derech'
- See Naomi Seidman's U of T faculty profile
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This weekend, Jewish leaders from Canada and around the world will meet in Hamilton for a conference called #NoMoreAntisemitism. It's bringing together teachers and Holocaust experts including prominent speakers Elisha Wiesel and Dara Horn, author of the award-winning book People Love Dead Jews.
Horn says she’s attending even though she's convinced the conference will not eliminate antisemitism. She's hoping Jewish communities hear her blunt message, in which she explains that building multimillion-dollar Holocaust museums and advocating for governments to mandate Holocaust education in schools still won't make people stop hating Jews.
Instead, Horn is calling for a new more dignified approach: stop trying to define who Jews are by showing what the outside world did to them and instead, celebrate their vibrant religion and culture, along with everything Jews have contributed to Western civilization. Hear her pitch and her take on the recent rise of antisemitism, on today's episode of The CJN Daily.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Dara Horn at darahorn.com
- Learn about the History of the Jews in Quebec
- Read about Freeze Corleone's cancelled concert in Montreal in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
As winter approaches and flu season begins, Canadians—especially children—are facing a significant health crisis. Top doctors in Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba have all urged people to wear masks in public, mostly because children's hospitals are overwhelmed, cancelling surgeries and scrambling to open new ICUs for kids to handle the flood of young patients.
The triple threat is not just COVID-19, but also RSV and the flu. And because so many people have stayed socially distanced these past two years, the rush of infections is hitting earlier and harder than usual, cutting swaths through classrooms. Meanwhile, exasperated parents seeking pain medicine for their kids are finding empty shelves in their pharmacies, while doctors are reporting a shortage of children's antibiotics.
It's a perfect storm in an already overburdened health care system—and Dr. Kevin Schwartz is right in the thick of it. An infectious-diseases expert and a pediatrician, he works at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto and recently published a study showing how wearing a mask during the pandemic significantly cut down cases of airborne illnesses. Schwartz joins today to explain how masks and vaccines are badly needed, and how Canadian parents can get through this tough winter.
What we talked about:
- Follow Kevin Schwartz on Twitter @DrKevinSchwartz
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On Nov. 15, Manitoba's first Jewish lieutenant governor, Anita Neville, will find herself in the spotlight as she reads the government’s speech from the throne to mark the start of a new session of the province's legislature.
Neville admits she's facing a big learning curve as she figures out what's expected of her and how she can put her own stamp on the office—which includes installing a mezuzah when she moves into a century-old government mansion in Winnipeg.
Neville previously served as longtime Liberal MP and school board chair, along with being deeply involved in her synagogue and the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. At 80 years old, Neville wasn't expecting to get the prime minister's call offering her this latest position. But she wasn't about to let her age stop her.
Her appointment, coming as Manitoba adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, is "a signal of positive acceptance and integration" for the Jewish community in her province.
Today, we're airing an in-depth interview with Neville about why she took the job and what she hopes to accomplish.
What we talked about:
- Read about Anita Neville's appointment in The CJN (Aug. 2022)
- Read about Neville's clash with Stephen Harper's government over Israel in The CJN archives (Feb. 2010)
- Read about Neville's stance on Jewish refugees in The CJN archives (Mar. 2011)
- Read about Neville's stance on ageism in The CJN archives (2011).
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Ethan Schachter was born with a rare genetic disease, nemaline myopathy type 2—a type of muscular dystrophy—that disproportionately affects Ashkenazi Jews. It's not always fatal, but Ethan, at 20 months, needs round-the-clock care, including a machine to help him breathe and a tube for nutrition. He can't walk or talk because his muscles are too weak. Currently, there is no cure.
Doctors have only known about this form of the disease for about 15 years. And it's so rare—only one in 47,000 people have it—that couples trying to conceive aren't even screened for it in Canada, where Ethan is one of maybe four or five kids who live with the condition.
Ethan's mother, Toba Cooper, wants to change things. She recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise more than a million dollars to help researchers develop a made-in-Canada treatment for her son's condition. And she hopes to raise awareness so the condition could be added to the list of eligible tests. Cooper joins The CJN Daily today along with Jim Dowling, a doctor at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, who is one of the world's foremost experts on this rare disease.
What we talked about:
- Donate to Toba Cooper's crowdfunder
- Learn more about nemaline myopathy type 2
- Learn about Jewish genetic diseases awareness testing
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On Sept. 13, 2022, at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands, an early Remembrance Day memorial service was held to honour the more than 1,000 Canadian soldiers buried there. They fell in battle in the spring of 1945, shortly before the Second World War ended, liberating the area from Nazi occupation. Elliott and Jonathan Shiff were the only Jews on the trip. They were commemorating their great-uncle, Sgt. Harry Bockner, a former fur salesman from Toronto who was killed when his light anti-aircraft gun crew came under attack during a manoeuvre codenamed "Operation Cannonshot". More than 500 Canadians became casualties during that operation, including Bockner, a stocky redheaded sergeant who had already survived nearly 18 months on the front lines of Italy. The Shiff brothers join The CJN Daily today to discuss their great-uncle’s life and legacy, how they felt accepting an invitation to join a group of veterans’ children visiting the battlefields of Holland, and why they brought some earth all the way from Jerusalem and Toronto to place on his grave.
What we talked about:
- Watch this short clip about the Canadian Army in Operation Cannonshot from April 1945
- Read about Ontario making Holocaust education mandatory in public schools in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Robbie Waisman was the youngest of six children growing up in Poland, having just turned eight years old when the Nazis invaded. While his whole family was killed except for him and one sister, Waisman survived a ghetto, a slave labour camp, typhus and the Buchenwald concentration camp.
After moving to Canada to start a new life, Waisman kept quiet about his time in Europe until prominent Holocaust deniers began making headlines in the 1980s. He decided it was time to share his story and revisit his past. Fast-forward several decades and Waisman, now 91, is a well-known educator and public speaker—whose story is now a book for young adults. Boy From Buchenwald came out last spring, but just won an award at the Toronto International Festival of Authors.
To mark the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht—when, on Nov. 9, 1938, Nazis burned Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues across Germany and Austria—Waisman and his co-author, Susan McClelland, join The CJN Daily to describe the impact they hope his life's story will make on young readers.
What we talked about:
- Order a copy of The Boy From Buchenwald
- Learn about Waisman at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre
- Read about Waisman in The CJN archives (2016)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Today, Americans head to the polls in their midterm elections, choosing all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, plus one-third of all elected senators, various governors and other high-ranking state legislators.
Analysts are predicting high voter turnout given what's at stake. Americans are mad about the rising cost of living, rampant inflation and a troubled economy—but also climate change, abortion access and immigration. In a political world where conspiracy theories run amok and political divisions run deep, both Democrats and Republicans feel a lot is on the line. They may be right.
American democracy seems to be in turmoil, and historically speaking, when that's been true, it's rarely been good for the Jews. Canadian-born political commentator David Frum, who writes for The Atlantic and was formerly a speechwriter for George W. Bush, has penned 10 books on American politics. He says the country's democratic state is currently in a period of "regress" and joins The CJN Daily to explain what's at stake for Americans, Jews and even Canadians in today's elections.
What we talked about:
- Find David Frum's books at davidfrum.com
- Watch B'nai Brith Canada's Jewish Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11
- Listen to Gil Troy discuss the U.S. midterms on Bonjour Chai
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
At a recent Ottawa Redblacks football game, the team presented Suzi Shore Sauve with their "Wood Cookie" award. The distinction is given out at each home game to a community member making a difference; on this day, they honoured Shore Sauve for her multifaith volunteer initiative, From House to Home Ottawa.
It all started two summers ago, after her father, David Shore, died. To honour him, she came up with a charity project—she would collect gently used furniture from people who wanted to get rid of it, then donate it to refugees who recently found houses but couldn't afford to furnish them.
At first, she paid for this service entirely out of her own pocket, storing everything in her garage. But today, her charity stores all their donations in a giant warehouse, and Shore Sauve has hired staff to handle pick-ups and deliveries. To date, From House to Home Ottawa has helped 250 families, including 14 families in three days in just the last week. Shore Sauve joins to discuss her project and how they're planning to help some of the quarter-million refugees expected to arrive in Canada by 2026.
What we talked about:
- Read about From House to Home in The CJN archives (2021)
- Learn about the charity at house2homeottawa.ca
- Learn about Rise Up Ottawa
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Nearly 40 years ago, Hart Snider was a camper at Camp BB Riback in Pine Lake, Alta., the summer after Jim Keegstra, an infamous teacher from the nearby town of Eckville, got fired for brainwashing his high school students against Jews.
For years, Keegstra, who taught social sciences, told his teenagers that Jews were evil, Hitler was right and the Holocaust was fake. While he was later convicted of hate speech, that would be years later—in the interim, Alberta's local Jewish communities felt they had to try and help Keegstra's students deprogram their brains.
And so, as unbelievable as it may sound, some of Keegsta's students were invited to the camp for a picnic—and a basketball game. Snider, who was nine years old at the time, made a film of his experience called The Basketball Game, which has now become a new graphic novel—just in time for Holocaust Education Month. On today's show, Snider joins to explain the book's message and how it can help today's young people deal with rising antisemitism and other forms of prejudice.
What we talked about:
- Watch the short film on Hart Snider's website
- Read about Jim Keegstra's death in The CJN archives (2014)
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode with Dori Ekstein from May 2022
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Welcome to the fourth episode of The CJN Daily Dead Beat—which we're now calling the Honourable Mention, as we pay tribute to honourable menschen and women who passed away in recent months. As always, we're joined by The CJN's reporter emeritus Ron Csillag.
In today's edition, we're focusing on four high-profile Canadian women and their contribution to society: Corinne Bronfman, 74, an artist turned economist and philanthropist; Helen Wolfe, 69, a teacher and advocate for people with disabilities; Sheila Goldbloom, 96, an activist and social worker; and Holocaust survivor Nancy Kleinberg, 95. Plus a profile of Kurt Rothschild, a philanthropist dedicated to religious Zionist institutions in Canada and Israel, 101; Harvey Rosen, the first Jewish mayor of Kingston, Ont. and Charles Taylor, a renowned Ottawa grocery magnate.
What we talked about:
- Read The CJN's obituary of Sheila Goldbloom from July 2022
- Read David Weinberg's tribute to Kurt Rothschild in The CJN from July 2022
- Read The CJN's obituary of Helen Wolfe from Aug. 2022
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On Oct. 27, 2022, El Al flew its last direct flight from Canada for the foreseeable future. Leaving Toronto's Pearson airport at 7 p.m., the direct red-eye was packed with passengers both optimistic about their travel plans and sad about El Al's decision to cease operations in the Great White North. The milestone marked the end of nearly four decades of direct flights between the two countries on Israel's national carrier.
People flew with El Al for many reasons, but mostly because of its representation of the Jewish state. During the pandemic, a private American Jewish family bought a controlling interest in the airline after a massive government bailout. They got El Al back in the air—but not without chopping some longstanding routes.
The CJN Daily arrived at the terminal hours before takeoff to meet some of the passengers on this historic trip, including a young grandmother along with her daughter and two-week-old grandchild; an Israeli-Canadian couple heading to their native land to vote in the country's upcoming elections; and staffers handing out candy, chocolates and souvenirs.
What we talked about:
- Read The CJN's coverage of El Al's decision to cease Canadian operations from June 2022
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about the Jewish community's reaction to El Al's decision
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
As the world prepares to mark the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht on Nov. 9, a new play on Broadway, Leopoldstadt, is reminding audiences what can happen to Jews when nationalism and antisemitism turn into genocide.
The production is deemed by many to be possibly the last written by legendary British playwright Tom Stoppard, now 85. The script is loosely autobiographical, as Stoppard's family fled Europe before the onset of the Holocaust, and Stoppard himself grew up not knowing about his true Jewish heritage.
While the play debuted in London in 2020, it moved to Broadway in Sept. 2022. Acting in this New York stage version is Caissie Levy, who was born in Hamilton, Ont. She got her show business start singing Hebrew-language versions of Hair and Les Misérables at Camp Ramah in Muskoka.
Levy has been performing in musicals for much of her career, including roles in Rent, The Wiz and Caroline, or Change. She even originated the role of Elsa in the Broadway version of Frozen for more than two years. Leopoldstadt, in fact, marks her first major non-musical acting role—but, as she tells The CJN Daily, it may the role with which she identifies most deeply.
What we talked about:
- Read about Leopoldstadt
- Read about Caissie Levy in The CJN archives (2013)
- Read about the life of the late Rabbi Shmuel Rodal, formerly of Montreal
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
When The CJN Daily launched in May 2021, one of our first stories was about Jewish organizations urging community members to fill out their census forms. It was important, they said, because the 2016 census was so poorly designed that it didn't ask about religion—only ethnic origins—which left out Judaism, halving the number of Jews living in Canada.
The latest census was different. Having taken the advice of Jewish community advocates, the census organizers gave Canadians the option of marking "Jewish" as their religion and their ethnic identity. Experts hoped the data would align with perceived trends in the Canadian Jewish population—which it has.
The stats, released Oct 26, show that more than 335,00 people described themselves as Jews by religion—up nearly 6,000 from 10 years ago. And while it's only incremental growth, researchers like Morton Weinfeld, a sociologist and professor at McGill University, are optimistic about the key takeaways. Weinfeld joins the show to explain the meaning behind the numbers.
What we talked about:
- Listen to the episode of The CJN Daily covering the census issue from May 2021
- Look at the preliminary 2022 census numbers
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The book Hana's Suitcase by Canadian author Karen Levine has been translated into 40 languages, won over a dozen literary prizes, adapted into a stage play and been the subject of a documentary.
The book tells the story of how a wartime suitcase belonging to a Czech Holocaust victim, 13-year-old Hana Brady, wound up in a Japanese museum in 1999. The curator's search for Hana's identity would reveal more about how she lived in the Theresienstadt camp, before the Nazis murdered her in Auschwitz. But it also led the Japanese researcher to find Hana's surviving older brother, George Brady, who was still alive and living in Toronto.
The Canadian publisher, Second Story Press, has re-released the book in a special 20th anniversary edition.
Just ahead of a public event on Oct. 30 in Toronto marking the milestone anniversary, author Karen Levine and her publisher Margie Wolfe tell The CJN Daily why the message of the book is even more important to share today with a new generation of readers (and their parents.)
What we talked about:
- Find out more about Hana's Suitcase and where to buy it
- Discover the Brady family's website run by George Brady's daughter Lara Hana Brady
- Read the original CJN story from 2001
- Read George Brady's obituary in The CJN from 2019
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
For more than 40 years, Efrem "Eppy" Rappaport has run Omnitsky Kosher—first at the original deli and store in Winnipeg; then, for the past 25 years, in Vancouver. He also operates a meat processing plant that has become Western Canada's only fresh kosher meat supplier. But the Omnitsky's deli building on Oak Street is not long for this world. A massive redevelopment project in the area, near the expensive upcoming JWest campus, is forcing Omnitsky's to relocate. But Rappaport, at 65, would rather retire.
That leaves Omnitsky's future in jeopardy. If Rappaport can't find a buyer, he'll simply close up shop, shutting down a business with more than a century of history.
Rappaport bought an ad in the recent edition of The CJN Magazine, hoping to connect with a buyer for the store, factory, name and delivery trucks. Now he joins The CJN Daily to explain his decision and explain why he feels guilty for selling. If anyone wants to own one of Canada's most famous Kosher delis, now's your chance.
What we talked about:
- Read about Omnitsky's in The CJN archives (2016)
- Visit their website at omnitskykosher.com
- Read about Anita Neville, Manitoba's first Jewish lieutenant-governor
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Israelis are heading to the polls on Nov. 1 for the fifth time in four years. And while former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes this will mark his political comeback with a coalition comprising several far-right and extremist religious parties, his main opponent, Yair Lapid, is looking to capitalize on Netanyahu's criminal indictments and secure another term in office.
On Netanyahu's side is Danny Danon, a former member of Knesset sent to New York as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. And though Danon is not quiet about his ambition to run the Likud party—he ran to replace the long-serving prime minister and has since reiterated his desire to run as leader once Netanyahu exits the post—for now he's walking the party line, hoping to return to elected political life as an MK in the fall.
In the meantime, Danon was in Toronto recently to discuss Israeli politics, foreign policy and his new book, In the Lion's Den. He sat down with The CJN Daily for his only Canadian interview to talk about what's at stake for Israel in the next election.
What we talked about:
- Read about Danon's book, In the Lion's Den
- Learn about the Canadian Jewish Literary Awards
- Read a Q&A with Danon from The CJN archives (2017)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
With more than 6,000 candidates running for a council seat in 400 villages, cities and towns, plus 37 school boards, there’s a lot to keep tabs on with Ontario’s upcoming municipal election. But the challenge doesn’t daunt Michael Teper.
Teper calls himself an an enemy of antisemitism and a fan of open government. In his private life, he’s a tax expert with a big Toronto accounting firm. But in his spare time, he seeks out anti-Zionists and antisemites running for public office. He files numerous freedom of information requests to uncover what officials are writing in their emails and on social media, and when the story seems big enough, he goes public with it.
Teper sat down with The CJN Daily to explain why he does what he does, how Israel and Palestine figure into Ontario's school boards, and what happened during some of the higher-profile antisemitic incidents that inspired him to act.
What we talked about:
- Follow Michael Teper on Twitter @michaelteper1
- Read B'nai Brith's election primer for Toronto
- Read The CJN's coverage of a former Timmins Catholic school teacher whose licence was revoked over Holocaust denial
- Read Josh Lieblein's column featuring Michael Teper
- Read how Ukrainian Jews celebrated Sukkot in Montreal this year
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
In September, newly minted Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre appointed rookie MP Melissa Lantsman to his advisory board, naming her one of two deputy leaders of the party. It's a meteoric rise for a politician who's marking her one-year anniversary as an elected official this fall.
Lantsman represents Thornhill, a riding in Ontario with the highest percentage of Jewish voters in Canada. And while some Jews have been nervous about the Conservative leader's warm support for the trucker convoy, which harbored antisemitic symbols and proponents, Lantsman insists Poilievre is good for the Jews.
Today, she joins The CJN Daily to chat about her first year on the Hill, dive into the Laith Marouf scandal and recap her heated confrontation with the prime minister from February, in which he accused the Conservative Party of standing with swastikas.
What we talked about:
- Watch the House of Commons exchange from February between Melissa Lantsman and Justin Trudeau
- Read Josh Lieblein's Doorstep Postings column on the incident
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode from Fall 2021 on Lantsman and Ya'ara Saks heading to Parliament Hill
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Earlier this month, an estimated 50,000 people came out to a rally organized by Iranian Canadians in downtown Richmond Hill, Ont. The event was a show of support for the freedom protests currently going on across Iran being led by women and girls, a reaction to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who is largely believed to have been beaten to death by police for not covering enough hair with her hijab.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government has announced sanctions on Iran, banning 10,000 members of the Iranian goverment and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from entering the country and laundering money here.
Watching all this unfold has been Dyanoosh Youssefi, a Jewish lawyer and human rights activist living in Toronto. Born in Iran, she and her family lived through the Iranian Revolution and escaped in 1982, when Youssefi was 11, with just the clothes on their backs and some jewellery sewn into their coats. Youssefi joins The CJN Daily to break down the current situation and explain why it matters to Canadian Jews.
What we talked about:
- Visit Dyanoosh Youssefi's website, dyanooshyoussefi.ca
- Read Youssefi's 2014 essay on being mistaken for a Muslim woman in The CJN archives
- Visit Omnitsky Kosher's website at omnitskykosher.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Ontarians head to the polls on Oct. 24 to vote for their municipal governments. And while some storylines seems set—Toronto Mayor John Tory looks poised to win for a third time—races in Vaughan, Ottawa, Hamilton, Richmond Hill and Brampton are far less certain. The outcomes are even less predictable given how low voter turnout was in the province's 2018 municipal elections, when just 38 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots.
What does all this mean for Jewish voters? To analyze the issues, we're joined by Steve Adler, a lobbyist with the communications strategy firm NATIONAL. Adler previously worked around the Ontario legislature with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and has been watching the 2022 municipal elections closely, including what's going on with various district school boards, which have become frequent battlegrounds between Zionists and Palestinian activists.
What we talked about:
- Read NATIONAL's Ontario election primer
- Read Josh Lieblein's Doorstep Postings column on Toronto city council candidate Philip Davidovits
- Learn about the "For the Child" photographic exhibition happening at Ottawa City Hall
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Back in the 1990s, Martin Rutte earned his most prominent byline co-writing one of the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul books, which focused on incorporating spirituality into the workplace. Now residing in Charlottetown, PEI, Rutte is again working on a spiritual level—and the scale is far greater than just offices.
A sought-after speaker and consultant, Rutte's newest endeavour, Project Heaven on Earth,_ translates the concept of tikkun olam to the wider world, questioning why humans can't create greater peace with themselves and their communities. While the project launched years ago, his book of the same name (2018) is especially timely now, as Jews move on from Yom Kippur and begin thinking about how they can better themselves and the world in the coming year.
Rutte spoke with The CJN Daily earlier about his work, but also about how Jews in his home province struggled to keep high holiday services going during the recent post-tropical storm Fiona. Hear how he met a stranded American Jewish tourist on the island. All these struggles only underscore the importance of his messages of perseverence, altruism and faith.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Project Heaven on Earth
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
As the Jewish world prepares for Yom Kippur and Yizkor, The CJN Daily team has been thinking a lot about death and grieving—and how the pandemic upended many rituals familiar to Jews around the world.
Among those changes is how technology is changing the death business. One example has been Keeper, a company that puts QR codes on tombstones which link to virtual memorials for the deceased, somewhat like social media profiles pages for the dearly departed. It's a dedicated online space where loved ones can post photos, comments, memories and family trees.
The entrepreneur behind the app is Mandy Benoualid, a Montreal native and former assistant funeral director who moved to Hamilton, where her husband, Jeremy Cohen, is a professor at McMaster University. The couple also runs a popular educational website about death and dying called Talk Death, where they tackle touchy topics such as human composting, cremation and how a chevra kadisha works. Benoualid joins to discuss the latest trends in the funeral industry and what the future might look like.
What we talked about:
- Visit Keeper's website at mykeeper.com
- Visit Talk Death at talkdeath.com
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about Rabbi Avraham Plotkin, who wrote a book about bereavement
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Alan Schwarz was one of 10 Jewish boys in Oshawa who spent 1973 studying for their b'nai mitzvah. It was the biggest coming-of-age cohort the small Jewish community has ever seen. But in the subsequent 49 years, the Hebrew school pals, unsurprisingly, lost touch; many left the city to start careers and families elsewhere.
Schwarz, whose family members were seminal in Oshawa's Jewish community, wound up in the production industry. During the pandemic, he found himself with enough time to follow a project close to his heart: tracking down his nine childhood friends. He pitched a documentary series to Bell Fibe TV that would follow his investigation and tell the stories of these 10 boys, their hometown and the cultural bonds that held them together.
Tracking the Ten premiered this month. Joining The CJN Daily to tell their tale and describe the filmmaking process are two of the series' subjects—Evan Kalnitsky, a retired social services worker; and Dave Swartz, an emergency room doctor—as well as Schwarz himself.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the series on Bell Fibe TV
- Read about Leo Klag's Holocaust story
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
At 74, acclaimed cookbook author Bonnie Stern has just published her first new cookbook in more than a decade. Don't Worry, Just Cook compiles 125 recipes, many Jewish, marking the next step in Stern's nearly 50-year career.
Not only is this the first cookbook Stern has co-written with her daughter, Anna Rupert, 37, but it's also the first book published in the social media age. The food industry has changed dramatically, and it wasn't always obvious that Stern would be able to adapt. But with the help of her children—Anna and her brother, Mark Rupert, oversaw photography and social media—the latest edition of Stern's bibliography comes out just in time for the High Holidays and Canadian Thanksgiving.
Stern and her daughter join the episode to discuss their process and drive home the theme they learned through the last two years of pandemic life: that, as society re-emerges from pandemic and people can gather again, it's family that matters most—and nothing brings family together quite like a comforting meal.
What we talked about:
- Order the book on Penguin Random House
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode on JWest in Vancouver
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode on the Sherman murders
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This week, about 30 members of the Temple Sons of Israel Synagogue in Sydney, Nova Scotia, gathered for Rosh Hashanah services in a building that was cold, wet and lacked electricity. The building was one of many in the Maritimes battered by a post-tropical storm from Hurricane Fiona, pushing winds of up to 170 km/hr and dumping seven inches of rain across the region.
But since a rabbi had already arrived from Halifax and a cantor flown in from Israel, congregants decided to go ahead with the High Holiday services—although not every Atlantic Jewish community did. And while power outages forced at least one community member to throw away kosher food imported from Toronto, and cleaning up the downed power lines and fallen trees will take days, the community is in relatively good spirits, having found ways to celebrate the new year.
Shayna Strong, a community member in New Waterford, just northeast of Sydney, joins to discuss how the island's Jews are coping during these difficult times.
What we talked about:
- Read about the Sydney synagogue's centennial in The CJN archives
- Learn about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism
- Watch the press conference where Alberta Premier Jason Kenney discussed his government's actions on combatting antisemitism
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The Sons of Jacob Congregation, Belleville's only synagogue, has been servicing the town's tight-knit local Jewish community for nearly a century. During the Second World War, its numbers swelled due to the number of Jewish soliders stationed in the area; today, however, fewer than 30 paying members support the historic institution.
They managed to keep things going even during the pandemic, but this week, despite the best efforts of their long-serving president, they announced that they couldn't hold regular High Holiday services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur—because they couldn't find anyone qualified to lead them.
The shul can’t afford to pay what they call "Toronto prices" for someone who will—even if that person isn't a rabbi or a cantor. Norm Weddum, the congregation's president, joins to discuss the situation—and how it's hardly unique in the country.
What we talked about:
- Visit the Sons of Jacob website at sonsofjacobsynagogue.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Over the last few days, Canadian border officials blocked a shipment of lulavs bound for Montreal. Why? They believed, erroneously, that the Sukkot staple violated the country's agriculture laws, designed to prevent dangerous diseases or invasive bugs from entering the country.
The situation caused a panic among religious communities in Ontario and Quebec, as the fate of thousands of lulavs suddenly seemed uncertain. In group chats and across social media, Canadian Jews began freaking out, worried that a longstanding waiver for commercial imports of these products for Sukkot was no longer being granted.
To break down how it all happened, and what it was like at the apex of the tension, we're joined by Rabbi Leibele Rodal, an importer of lulavs and etrogs, who drove to New York on Sept. 20, 2022, in hopes of securing 1,000 lulavs. Plus, Shimon Koffler Fogel, head of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, will explain the diplomatic dealings that went on behind the scenes of the lulav limbo.
What we talked about:
- Read Ellin's print story, "How a Canadian rabbi’s shipment of lulavs for Sukkot got blocked at the border and caused a major day-long freak-out for Jews"
- Read the Canadian agricultural law that sparked the fiasco
- Visit Esrogino's Facebook page
- Read "Recycling Sukkot: Don’t wave goodbye to your lulav" from The CJN archives
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On Sept. 13, 2022, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board held a special meeting. They were finally set to discuss a brewing fiasco in which the board, last spring, disinvited Irwin Cotler, Canada’s special envoy on combatting antisemitism, from giving a speech to senior staff. In his stead, they invited a professor with a deep background in Palestinian human rights and anti-racism education.
The move angered the local Jewish community, sparking a new battleground in the ongoing war between pro- and anti-Israel activists, which is increasingly being played out in government departments, university campuses and public school boards just like this one.
Andrea Freedman, the president and CEO of Ottawa's Jewish Federation, sent scathing statements to the board, her community and Steven Lecce, Ontario's minister of education. She joins the show today to discuss the community's reaction and where she feels the board went wrong. After that, you'll hear from the board's director of education, Camille Williams-Taylor, and Deena Friedman, a high school student and young Jewish activist who explains what life is really like in the classrooms and hallways.
What we talked about:
- Watch the OCDSB meeting from Sept. 13, 2022
- Read The CJN's coverage of the initial incident
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Congregation Shaar Hashomayim is older than Canada itself. It was founded by Jews who came from England to what is now Quebec, wanting to create their own space apart from the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. Decades after the congregation's inception in 1846, a new building was built, in 1922, in Westmount. And in a cornerstone of that building, congregants placed a time capsule—a memento of a bygone era that only now, 100 years later, is being unearthed.
The synagogue's archivist, Hannah Srour-Zackon, watched as the capsule re-emerged for the first time in a century during the synagogue's weekend-long 100th-anniversary ceremony. She joins today to describe what they found, how the capsule reminds us of the rich history of the Shaar, and what its role has been in the Canadian Jewish community.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Shaar Hashomayim's archival work
- Read "Deep diving into Shaar Hashomayim’s hidden history of Montreal with archivist Hannah Srour"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This weekend, after spending 15 years as an arts writer for The Globe and Mail, Marsha Lederman is debuting her new opinion column for the paper. The shift comes just a few months after the debut of her book, Kiss the Red Stairs, which chronicled her parents' experiences in the Holocaust and how intergenerational trauma has affected her life.
Those themes have led to her having a strong reaction to Holocaust denial and antisemitism today. And while she won't reveal what she plans to write about in the paper, she knows readers will be anticipating her perspective as a Jewish Canadian with opinions about difficult subjects—including the conflict in the Middle East.
Lederman, who recently contributed to The CJN Magazine, joins Ellin for an in-depth discussion about her lengthy career, how her book is educating people about the Holocaust and what her aspirations are for her new national platform.
What we talked about:
- Visit her website at marshalederman.ca
- Read Lederman's piece in The CJN Magazine
- Subscribe the The CJN Circle
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
As Canadian Jews debate whether to head back to in-person synagogue services for the High Holidays, and parents may fret about their kids' safety at the onset of back-to-school season, security is top of mind for many. While security is not as big a concern as it is in the United States, where shooting and hostage situations in Jewish spaces have become distressingly common, for Canadian security professionals, the goal is to ensure Canada doesn't get any worse in the face of rising waves of antisemitism.
The new head of community security for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Gerry Almendrades—who served in the Canadian Armed Forces with time in Afghanistan—has been holding training sessions and conducting site visits of Jewish buildings in some parts of the country. He's teaching a new security protocol, called "Run Hide Defend", which is used by police forces to educate the public about how to act in an active-shooter situation.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Almendrades joins to discuss his advice for Canadian Jews. After that, you'll hear from Christopher Fernandes, a veteran police officer in the Toronto area: he's now the vice president of community security for the UJA in Toronto. He'll discuss what his reaction was to a protester who disrupted a major UJA fundraising event that featured speakers former U.S. President George W. Bush and former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.
What we talked about:
- Book security training for your organization or school
- Read about CIJA’s security policies
- Read The CJN’s story: “Public safety minister Marco Mendicino says Ottawa is considering expanded security measures for Jewish buildings”
- Watch video of the pro-Palestine protester at the UJA fundraiser
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The late David Shentow once vowed he would "crawl on his hands and knees to Auschwitz" to tell his Holocaust story, as a way to counter those who deny the Nazis murdered six million Jews during the Second World War. Over the years, until his death in 2017, Shentow spoke to hundreds of schoolchildren and adults about his experiences as a teenage slave labourer under the Nazis, and also as a prisoner at both Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps.
His family and supporters with March of the Living Canada hope new generations of young people can learn Shentow's message when they pass through a park in the west end of Ottawa that now bears his name. The rededication ceremony was held on Sept. 11, 2022.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from three people who knew Shentow best: his daughter Lorie Shentow in Toronto; Eli Rubenstein of Congregation Habonim in Toronto, who accompanied Shentow on multiple March of the Living trips to Poland; and Bram Bregman, an Ottawa Jewish volunteer who shepherded the park renaming campaign through City Hall.
What we talked about:
- Read about David Shentow in The CJN archives and also here
- Watch David Shentow in this film by Carleton University’s Jewish studies program, meeting with Grade 10 students at Carina Wilson Secondary School
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video.
As the official mourning period continues for Queen Elizabeth II – who died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96 – the Jewish community is, mostly, remembering her long reign with fondness and admiration. She supported Holocaust survivors and welcomed Israeli leaders, and connected with the Canadian Jewish community, too: in 1973, she laid a cornerstone for Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto; and in 2010, during her last royal tour of Canada, she met the late Rabbi Reuven Bulka and Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn in Ottawa. But despite her wide travels, the Queen never visited Israel, an unofficial boycott that still hurts. On today’s show, you’ll hear from Jews—on both sides of the pond—who reflect on their experiences with the late Queen. Brigit Grant, a British journalist with London’s _Jewish News, _discusses the Queen’s impact on her country’s Jewish community and also what kind of friend King Charles will be. Plus, in Halifax, Myra Freeman, who was the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia from 2000 to 2006, reflects on being the first Jewish woman to act as the Queen’s representative in Canada, and what her interactions with Elizabeth II were like, even mistakenly breaking Royal Protocol at Buckingham Palace.
What we talked about:
- Read "Rabbi Bulka blesses the Queen" in The CJN archives
- Read "Myra Freeman: the first female, and first Jewish, lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia" in The CJN archives
- Visit the Jewish News at jewishnews.co.uk
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
While RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki has been in the hot seat all summer, facing an inquiry into the mass shooting that struck Nova Scotia in 2020, she's also been quietly working on another project with a huge impact on Canadian Jews. For the first time in the history of the RCMP, Jewish members and cadets will be permitted to wear a kippah while on duty.
It began with a request—which was denied—from a Jewish officer in B.C. to wear the Jewish head covering. B'nai Brith's human rights arm got involved, snowballing into an official move by the federal police to match what they'd already done for turbans and hijabs: pay for the design and creation of a regulation RCMP kippah. While we won't see it for a while, in the interim, Jewish staff can bring their own.
Marvin Rotrand, the director of B'nai Brith Canada's League for Human Rights, joins to discuss what went on behind the scenes of this groundbreaking move for Canada's national police.
What we talked about:
- Read about how police forces in Ontario and Vancouver agreed to allow officers to wear kippot
- Read about Toronto's new antisemitism program
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
When Vancouver's current Jewish community centre opened in Oakridge in 1962, the local community numbered about 8,000. Today, Vancouver's Jewish community is the third largest in Canada and nearly twice as big as it was back then—about 14,000 people. But the JCC is used by more than just Jews, with about 40,000 regular visitors.
That's why the campus is undergoing one of the most expensive renovations for a Jewish building project Canada has ever seen. With two phases costing a total of $450 million over 10 years, the new site, dubbed JWest, will eventually be home to 20 Jewish agencies, a new Holocaust education centre, a library, a performing arts theatre, a daycare and 500 affordable rental units.
While various governments have so far contributed the bulk of the funds, organizers are turning to Vancouverites to pitch in the remainder, to the tune of $125 million for starters. To discuss the scope and hopes of this project, we're joined by Alex Cristall, head of the JWest campaign; Eldad Goldfarb, head of the current JCCGV; and Ezra Shanken, CEO of Vancouver's Federation.
What we talked about:
- Watch the video announcing JWest and visit their website
- Read The CJN's coverage from June 2022
- Join The CJN Circle
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
At 98, Alex Polowin, one of Canada's most prominent Second World War veterans, passed away at his home in Ottawa. He was the last surviving veteran of HMCS Huron, who, after the war, spoke regularly to thousands of people across Canada and Europe about his experience as a 17-year-old Jew fighting Nazis. He saw action on D-Day and served in the Soviet Union and Northern Scotland; he helped sink a German battleship; and he even charmed political leaders, including Queen Elizabeth, with his gentle humour and harmonica skills.
In his twilight years, he became good friends with The CJN Daily's own Ellin Bessner. The two forged a bond, particularly during the pandemic, which isolated Polowin, alone, in his home.
On today's episode, Ellin remembers Alex Polowin's life and accomplishments, and you'll hear from a few family members—as well as former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, who worked closely with Polowin, and spoke at his funeral in mid-August.
What we talked about:
- Watch Alex Polowin play “Lili Marleen” for the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society
- Read "Ottawa Jewish war veteran awarded Canada’s Sovereign Medal for Volunteers"
- Read "The Toronto Board of Rabbis calls on Benjamin’s funeral home owners to ‘uphold their sacred responsibilities’ after complaints"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This week, the families of the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics have finally earned a formal apology by the German president, also reaching an agreement over compensation. The deal comes after months of some victims' family members threatening to boycott the 50th anniversary event, being held on Sept. 5 in Munich.
The news is a relief for Francine Zuckerman, a Canadian filmmaker who spent years shooting a documentary about four women involved in the Munich massacre and its aftermath. Her film, After Munich, directly follows some of the women struggling to get exactly what the German government only now has offered: compensation and a formal apology.
After Munich debuted in 2019, but because of the pandemic, it never got a global release. Now, on the eve of the tragedy's 50th anniversary, Zuckerman has been touring the world giving talks and screenings. She joins our show to discuss her film and the important lessons still being learned today.
What we talked about:
- Watch _After Munich_ on CBC Gem
- Listen to _The CJN Daily_ episode about Laith Marouf
- Read The CJN's coverage of _After Munich_ from 2019
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Fifteen years ago, Alexandre Matte was working in finance, running a Francophone cultural centre. He admits he was pretty shy. Then he joined a Toastmasters club in Sudbury and began learning how to speak more confidently in public. He ended up quitting his job to make a living as a professional storyteller and speaking coach for kids and adults.
On top of this career shift, one of his goals has been to win the World Championship of Public Speaking, Toastmasters' international public-speaking contest. This month, he came as close as he's ever gotten, finishing second with a story about his grandmother's "no bake cake" and his family's traditions.
Matte joins the show from his home in Sudbury to tell us more about his Jewish and Francophone roots—and how he got the idea for his prize-winning speech.
What we talked about:
- Watch his winning speech
- Visit his website at alexandrematte.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
When 500 members of the Kuklya family got together in England a few years ago for their first-ever reunion, the story got a lot of international attention. They were all descendants of the same man, Aba Kukla, who lived in a tiny village in Lithuania in the late 1700s. He had nine sons and a few daughters, and each went on to produce huge families of their own, creating a sprawling family tree that, only now, with the advent of DNA testing, can be fully grasped.
Despite hundreds of their relatives being wiped out in the Holocaust, the Kuklyas believe they are now part of the largest documented Ashkenazi family in the world, with 75,000 relatives and counting—including some pretty famous cousins, such as Barbara Streisand, Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and Billy Crystal.
There are also Kuklya cousins in Canada, including Ralph Cilevitz in Toronto. At a recent family gathering in New York City, he was the only Canadian present, but knew he couldn't be the only Canadian relative. So he's since made it his mission to track them down—and look for others even farther abroad.
What we talked about:
- Watch the BBC documentary on the family
- Read the _Jewish Insider_ story
- Learn about Ashkenaz at ashkenaz.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
A few weeks ago, we brought you the story of Raziel and Jeanne Zisman, a Toronto family who lost their only child, Liam, in January. Before his funeral, the Zismans agreed to use the Benjamin Foundation, a charity arm of the Benjamin Group that collects memorial donations to later disperse among charities selected by the family. The Zismans discovered that the Foundation took 10 per cent of the donations for administrative fees. The family ended up taking the funeral home to provincial court, and they lodged a complaint with the Bereavement Authority of Ontario.
Since that episode aired, numerous other Benjamin's clients have come forth with similar stories. The CJN Daily also learned of a months-old case, settled in April 2022, in which Benjamin's was forced to repay 258 clients a total of more than $75,000 for "inappropriate" extra COVID fees and transfer costs during the pandemic.
Now, the BAO is giving Benjamin's an ultimatum.
The provincial licensing body wants Benjamin's to clean up its act, or risk sanctions—which could include suspension or even revoking the company’s license. David Brazeau, the BAO's communications manager, joins to discuss several years' worth of complaints lodged against Benjamin's. Plus, you'll hear from three Toronto families with their own stories—as well as what Michael Benjamin himself has to say.
What we talked about:
- Listen to the first episode of this investigation, "For nearly 40 years, Benjamin’s charity foundation has been keeping 10% of donations—until a family sued"
- Read Ellin's print story, "How this grieving Toronto family took on Canada’s largest Jewish funeral home and won"
- Read Ellin's follow-up story, "Benjamin’s charitable foundation ordered to refund ‘administration fees’ to potentially hundreds of clients"
- Read the BAO's decisions at thebao.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
In December 2021, at a Toronto District School Board meeting, Alexandra Lulka Rotman made a rare public statement after being accused by the TDSB of breaking their code of conduct. The story began in May, 2021, when a pro-Palestinian TDSB staff member sent out teaching materials that linked to sources supporting anti-Israel terrorist activities, including suicide bombings. Lulka Rotman subsequently spoke out against those materials—and wound up the subject of an internal TDSB report labelling her Islamophobic, and suggesting she be censured.
Since then, that TDSB meeting in December was the only time she spoke openly about the fiasco. The trustees voted in her favour, deciding not to censure her. But the ordeal has weighed heavily on her since then, to the point that she hasn't felt comfortable talking about it—until now.
In her first-ever media interview, Lulka Rotman joins The CJN Daily to describe what the last year has been like for her, how antisemitism is seeping into classrooms and why, despite all of this, she's decided to run for re-election.
What we talked about:
- Listen to _The CJN Daily_ episode on Lulka Rotman's case from December 2021
- Read "Montreal’s deteriorating YM-YWHA building gets pledged $7.9M in federal funding"
- How to subscribe to _The CJN Daily_
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
While summertime is usually quiet for news, The CJN's obit department (which is mostly veteran reporter Ron Csillag) has been busy at work covering some of the biggest losses in the Canadian Jewish community.
In the third part of our recurring segment, The CJN Daily Dead Beat, Ellin and Ron sit down to discuss the lives of six prominent Canadian Jews: Max Eisen, one of the country's most famous Holocaust survivors and educators; historian Irving Abella, whose seminal work, None is Too Many, defined Canada's disgraceful past attitudes towards Jews; Rabbi Dow Marmur, who spent 17 years as spiritual leader of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple; memoirist and survivor Leslie Vertes; Clayton Ruby, a lawyer who dedicated his career to social justice; and Mel Hoppenheim, known as "Mr. Hollywood North".
Read and listen to The CJN's original obituaries and tributes:
- ‘I must tell the world what happened’: Max Eisen, in his own words
- ‘A better Canada because of him’: Tributes pour in at the funeral for renowned historian Irving Abella
- Obituary: Rabbi Dow Marmur, 87, led Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple—and described himself as having lived six lives
- Obituary: Mel Hoppenheim, 84, was a Canadian film industry pioneer known as ‘Mr. Hollywood North’
- Eulogy: Clayton Ruby, 80, a lawyer who led a half-century battle for justice and equality
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The World Zionist Congress turns 125 this week. The international organization bills itself as a kind of global Jewish parliament, setting policies for major Israeli institutions and allocating more than a billion dollars a year to support them. Usually, the delegates meet every five years in Israel; this Sunday, August 28, however, they'll be meeting in Basel, Switzerland, where Theodor Herzl convened the very first iteration of the congress in 1897.
The World Zionist Organization is holding two days of events in Basel to mark what's being called the most significant Zionist gathering this decade, featuring leading speakers such as Israel's president and Canadians Gil Troy, Sylvan Adams and Danna Azrieli.
Given the weight of the event, it's no surprise that David Matlow, the world's leading collector of Herzl memorabilia and a regular CJN contributor, is heading to Basel to attend. Matlow joins the show to give a taste of what the first Congress was like and what challenges still face Zionists today.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the 125th anniversary
- See David Matlow's collection from the 1897 Zionist Congress
- Monday's episode on the Laith Marouf scandal
- How to subscribe to our podcast
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This year, Laith Marouf is touring Canada, instructing broadcasters on how to build anti-racism strategies. His organization received more than $130,000 from the federal government for this work. The problem? Marouf has a lengthy track record of virulent antisemitic and anti-Israel commentary, to the point that his previous Twitter account was suspended—and his new one has been blocked for promoting violence.
That violence tends to be directed at people he disregards as "Jewish white supremacists." In some of his most egregious tweets, he's written that "Jewish white supremacists" should have a "bullet to the head" and calls them "loud mouthed [sic] bags of human feces".
These tweets, among more than a hundred others, have been screenshotted and compiled by Mark Goldberg, a media consultant in Toronto. Goldberg has been following Marouf since 2016, and he joins The CJN Daily today to discuss his findings.
What we talked about:
- Read Mark Goldbergs's blog post on the subject
- Learn about the Community Media Advocacy Centre's anti-racism program
- Learn how to subscribe to The CJN Daily on your device
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Mar. 8, 2022.
On March 19, 2022, 12-year-old Naomi Hochman celebrated her bat mitzvah at Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek synagogue. And while she was the first girl in her family to have a bat mitzvah—her older brothers had theirs, and she just took for granted she would enjoy one too—bat mitzvahs are in fact a relatively new phenomenon.
Naomi's bat mitzvah actually took place on the 100-year anniversary of the very first bat mitzvah in North America. The daughter of an American reconstructionist rabbi, Judith Kaplan, earned that distinction on March 18, 1922.
In Canada, what is believed to be the first bat mitzvah wouldn't take place until decades later, in 1949. Miriam Lieff led a Friday night service at Agudath Israel Synagogue in Ottawa, paving the way for generations of Canadian girls to take a more egalitarian role in Jewish religious life. Now 86, Lieff joins to recall her experience during a time when girls weren't even allowed to stand on the bimah—and Naomi will talk about how she feels carrying that torch so many years later.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Feb. 17, 2022.
In March 2020, magicians Ben Train and Jonah Babins, like so many other performers, found their livelihoods put on indefinite pause. So they did what any young entrepreneurs would: they pivoted by taking their show to the Zoom circuit.
Two years in, it's gotten them noticed by the likes of Seth Rogan. They've recently returned from Las Vegas, where they met with some of their magician idols, David Copperfield and Mac King. And with COVID restrictions easing up, they're finally preparing for their first in-person show of 2022, held at Yuk Yuk's in downtown Toronto.
Train and Babins join The CJN Daily to discuss their Jewish roots and how they transformed their pandemic problems into a booming business model.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the The Toronto Magic Company at torontomagiccompany.com
- Get tickets for their Yuk Yuk's show, Hocus Jokus, at yukyuks.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Aug. 23, 2021.
KlezKanada and the Ashkenaz Festival are some of the largest Jewish and Yiddish arts celebrations in North America, and both are being held mostly virtually this year because of COVID-19. As the pandemic has upended cultural events around the country, so too has it forced these two renowned annual celebrations to figure out new ways to reach fans of Yiddish and Jewish culture.
Despite the hurdles, both events are gearing up for innovative programs this year, and organizers from KlezKanada have even said their audiences have grown in 2021, because technology has swung open their doors beyond geography.
On today's episode, we’ll hear from the artistic director of Ashkenaz and the executive director of KlezKanada about what to expect this year from both festivals. Plus, the host of Winnipeg’s Jewish radio hour joins to explain why she feels the pandemic may have actually saved Yiddish music.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about KlezKanada at klezkanada.org
- Learn more about the Ashkenaz Festival at ashkenaz.ca
- Listen to the Jewish Radio Hour at podomatic.com/podcasts/jewishradiohour
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired July 28, 2022. Update: Averbach has since finished his journey, arriving in Vancouver having trekked 1,000 kilometres across Western Canada.
Gary Averbach left Calgary on a mission. The 79-year-old real estate mogul, based in Vancouver, is currently trekking through 40-degree heat waves across the Rockies from Calgary to his home city to raise money for cancer research. He's about three-quarters of the way there—his goal is to arrive home by mid-August, just shy of his 80th birthday, and to have raised $500,000 in the process.
The project stemmed from a promise Averbach made last summer to his late cousin and business partner, Robert Golden, who passed away from bone cancer. After Averbach lost two more cousins and his housekeeper to cancer this spring, he decided to embark on the journey to raise money for a good cause, while also ticking off a bucket-list adventure.
Averbach spoke to The CJN Daily from Boston Bar, B.C., around 45 kilometres south of Lytton, where he stopped after completing another daily 24-km hike.
What we talked about:
- Follow Averbach's journey
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Jan. 6, 2022.
One of the most common new year's resolutions is losing weight. But it's also one of the most difficult—and the reason has less to do with willpower than with neurology.
Canadian journalist Mark Schatzker is the author of a new book, The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well. Schatzker travelled the world, talking to experts and reading scientific studies, to find out why people have a hard time with food cravings and keeping pounds off. The reason, he found, has to do with the way modern food is manufactured, packed with so many added sweeteners, vitamins and additives that our brains don't believe we're getting enough real calories and urge us to eat more.
Schatzker joins today to discuss his book and the important takeaways for anyone hoping to eat healthier in 2022.
What we talked about:
- Find the book at markschatzker.com
- Read "The list of Jewish community members named to the Order of Canada at the end of 2021" at thecjn.ca
- Read "Simkin Centre nursing home in Winnipeg slammed by COVID outbreak among staff" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Dec. 14, 2021.
This year, an unlikely Hanukkah party was held at the Canada Pavillion of Expo 2020 in Dubai. The emcee for the candlelighting and kosher dinner was Canada's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Marcy Grossman, a Montrealer who's spent the last three years in the Gulf state.
Grossman has found herself at the centre of Jewish life in the Arab country, embedding herself within a community of about 3,500 Jews—some of whom have literally come out of hiding, as the UAE fleshes out its new formal relationship with Israel, following the signing of the Abraham Accords.
Before she retires from her post in 2022, Grossman joins to discuss life in Dubai and how she feels feels more comfortable as a Jewish woman in the UAE than in many other parts of the world.
What we talked about:
- Read Marcy Grossman's bio at international.gc.ca
- Read her article, "Canada wishes the UAE well on its 50th anniversary", at thenationalnews.com
- Watch videos from the candlelighting ceremony on Instagram from @avivachernick and @marcygrossman
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Oct. 13, 2021.
With the Apple Watch, you can monitor your blood oxygen levels, send emails, wear it while swimming—and, thanks to a high school student in Toronto, you can also use it to help recite your daily Jewish prayers.
The new free app, called WatchSiddur, shows you which prayers to read each day and at what times, so you don't have to carry around a physical book all day. It was created by Eitan Steinfeld, a 14-year-old student at CHAT in Thornhill, Ont., who taught himself how to code during the pandemic. Inspired by the Apple Watch his grandmother gave him for his bar mitzvah, Steinfeld set out to create the world's first free daily siddur app for the platform.
Steinfeld joins today to discuss his project and what it took to build.
What we talked about:
- Download WatchSiddur from the Apple App Store
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so here's a rerun of one of our favourite episodes.
The impact of the Pope's recent visit to Canada—and his apology to Indigenous Canadians, especially on behalf of those who controlled residential schools—is still resonated among First Nation communities. To commemorate that visit, we're re-airing our interview with a Jewish-Indegnous couple about their interfaith relationship and the importance of Orange Shirt Day.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
One of the biggest stories in international relations this week erupted when Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. For a high-ranking American to visit the disputed country, unrecognized by the United Nations because of its conflict with China, was controversial—perhaps almost as much as when 27-year-old web developer Abe Train decided to include Taiwan in his web game, Globle.
Okay, so maybe the two aren't that comparable. But hundreds of thousands of people play Globle every day, putting real stress on Train to handle geopolitical issues from his apartment in downtown Toronto. Globle, which launched in January 2022, is one of many mimics of Wordle, the popular online word game bought by the New York Times for $1 million. Globle's spin is geography: players guess a country, and are informed by a colour code whether the country of the day is near or far. Players then keep guessing until they find the nation in question.
Train joins today to explain what drove him to quit his day job and focus on innovative web design full-time, and how he handles hate mail over international border definitions, such as Taiwan—or the Middle East.
What we talked about:
- Play Globle at globle-game.com
- Play Abe Train's new game at plurality.fun
- Read about the 2021 hate crime stats at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
It seems every Jew in Toronto has spotted Adam Sandler this summer—or knows someone who has. He’s in the area filming a new movie for Netflix, based on a coming-of-age book, called You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!
Sandler stars in the film with his wife and daughters, as well as Idina Menzel and Sarah Sherman, and a whole bunch of local teenagers (and some adults) paid $100 a day to be extras. The crew is filming at the Royal York Hotel, the Liberty Grand and midtown's own Beth Tzedec synagogue—so The CJN Daily visited to see if we could spy any celebs (we couldn't) and talk to some of the staff who are helping out. That includes Rabbi Steven Wernick and Daniel Silverman, who share what they did to help on set and how the shoot seems to be going.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the film adaptation of You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!
- Read Ellin's piece about the Zisman family and Benjamin's funeral home at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
When their only child, Liam, died in January 2022, Jeanne and Raziel Zisman of Toronto had to book a funeral quickly—Jewish law states a burial should happen as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours. Liam was 19. The Zismans, distraught and emotional, met virtually with a representative from Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, the country's biggest Jewish funeral home, to make arrangements. Among their services, Benjamin's offered them the use of the Benjamin Foundation, a charity arm of the company that collects donations in the name of the deceased and transfers the money later, to a charity of the family's choosing.
What's only in the fine print, however, is that Benjamin's Foundation keeps 10 per cent of the money for administrative purposes. It's been this way for nearly 40 years. In the past decade alone, Benjamin's has routed more than $3 million through this foundation to charities—and quietly deducted 10 per cent of that. That's a higher percentage than many other charities, particularly many Jewish ones.
When the Zismans found out, they set off on a lengthy legal battle. The case is still ongoing in provincial court, but on July 27, the Zismans won a small victory: the regulatory body that oversees funeral homes in Ontario sided with the grieving family, ordering Benjamin's to release all funds—including the 10 per cent fee—to the charities, and mandated the company to make their fee structure more transparent on their website and in contracts and in conversations with clients.
On today's CJN Daily, the Zismans joins to talk about their son and their legal struggles, and you'll also hear Benjamin's side of the story.
What we talked about:
- Read Liam Zisman's obituary
- See how Benjamin's describes The Benjamin Foundation on their website
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Gary Averbach left Calgary on a mission. The 79-year-old real estate mogul, based in Vancouver, is currently trekking through 40-degree heat waves across the Rockies from Calgary to his home city to raise money for cancer research. He's about three-quarters of the way there—his goal is to arrive home by mid-August, just shy of his 80th birthday, and to have raised $500,000 in the process.
The project stemmed from a promise Averbach made last summer to his late cousin and business partner, Robert Golden, who passed away from bone cancer. After Averbach lost two more cousins and his housekeeper to cancer this spring, he decided to embark on the journey to raise money for a good cause, while also ticking off a bucket-list adventure.
Averbach spoke to The CJN Daily from Boston Bar, B.C., around 45 kilometres south of Lytton, where he stopped after completing another daily 24-km hike.
What we talked about:
- Follow Averbach's journey
- Find Miriam Libicki's comics on her website, or read about her in The CJN (from 2017)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Last week, an international conservation body declared the monarch butterfly an endangered species. But that didn't surprise Carol Pasternak, who writes under the pseudonym "The Monarch Crusader". For years, she's used her garden in Toronto as a launching pad to teach Canadians about the importance and habits of monarchs, which—like many Canadian Jews—spend their winters flying thousands of kilometres south to warmer climes.
Yet between climate change and rampant real estate development, butterfly habitats have been decimated in recent decades, and the insect's population has decreased 75 percent, according to some estimates. That's why Pasternak has transformed her townhouse lawn into a monarch waystation, filled with milkweed and other pollen-packed flowers that help the creatures lay new eggs. The CJN Daily team had the chance to visit Pasternak at her home to better understand the crisis, the solutions and why the species' endangerment is a Jewish issue.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about The Monarch Crusader
- Join the Monarch Blitz
- Hear the CJN Daily episode with magician Ben Train
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
After the Edmonton Oilers lost four straight games in the conference finals to the Colorado Avalanche this past June, star player Zach Hyman returned to his hometown of Toronto with his family. There's plenty filling his busy schedule—including the birth of his second child any day now—but one keystone event was his annual celebrity golf tournament, which aimed to raise $350,000 for Jewish Federations in Edmonton and Toronto, as well as Sick Kids Hospital.
The CJN Daily visited the Oakdale golf club to catch the action and join the media scrum with Zach Hyman, who brought his NHL friends Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner, Jake Muzzin and Darnell Nurse. And while most of the reporters there wanted to talk hockey, we were able to speak to Hyman about his Jewish identity and what it means to give back to Edmonton's community.
Plus, we spoke with several Jewish attendees about what the event, and Hyman's involvement, means to them.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the Zach Hyman Celebrity Classic at hymanhelps.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The one-year anniversary of Canada's first National Summit on Antisemitism passed quietly on July 21. Last year, after violence resurged Israel and Hamas and Canadians saw a spike in antisemitic incidents, the government convened this emergency summit and appointed Irwin Cotler as its special envoy.
The summit lasted seven hours, during which time Cotler met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet ministers. Since then, Parliament has outlawed Holocaust denial and made progress toward an anti-hate-speech bill that would cover antisemitism, while Ottawa has earmarked $30 million in the last budget to help Jews feel safer, on top of millions pledged for new Holocaust museums across the country.
Yet with all these resources devoted to fighting Jew-hatred, has antisemitism actually quieted down? To give a sense of the progress that's been made so far, and what still needs to be done, The CJN Daily sat down with Cotler for a candid self-reflection and assessment.
What we talked about:
- Listen to our podcast about the National Summit on Antisemitism from July 22, 2021
- Read our coverage of the summit
- See the Canadian Heritage video about what has been accomplished in the last year
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Gordon "Gordy" Wiseman—better known as Gabriel Emanuel—wrote Mr. Begin, a one-man play about the life of renowned but controversial Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, nine years ago. But in May, Israel awarded it and him the prestigious Prime Minister's Prize for 2022, an award that only goes out every year to a select few artists. What's less common is for the award to go to a Canadian.
While Wiseman now lives in Israel, he's originally from Winnipeg, born into an artistic family. His three brothers all work in the arts: Ron is a musician, Howie is a filmmaker and Bob was a founding member of Blue Rodeo. Gordy, pushed by his parents to get a real job, became a lawyer. But the law couldn't contain his artistic impulses.
Mr. Begin delves into the lessons and legacy of the sixth Israeli prime minister's career, echos of which resonate deeply with the country's messy modern-day politics. Wiseman believes it isn't a coincidence that it took an outsider, a Canadian, to analyze and dive into the issues. Now, with this award under his belt, Wiseman joins The CJN Daily to explain why he hopes Canadian Jewish theatres will mount the play, which dives into uncomfortable issues surrounding Israeli politics, warfare and anti-terrorism measures, including Israel's involvement in the infamous Sabra and Shatila massacre.
What we talked about:
- Visit Gabriel Emanuel's website
- Watch a trailer for _Mr. Begin_
- Listen to Gabriel Emanuel's music
- Read about Israel's cycling team
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Nick Yudell was a gifted photographer. But at just 26 years old, Yudell, a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force fighting Nazis in the Second World War, was killed in action. He and his five crewmates were shot down by German forces over Tunisia.
After he was killed, he left behind a gray hand-painted box full of hundreds of film negatives. Yudell excelled at portraiture and street life, and his unpublished work depicted the everyday world of his hometown of Morden, Manitoba, as well as Winnipeg, where he attended high school.
His family saved that box ever since his death; and this year, thanks to one of his cousins, Celia Rabinovitch, the war hero has received his very own exhibit at the Manitoba Museum. The Lost Expressionist opened in February and runs until December, and today, Rabinovitch joins to explain how she kept a promise to her late father by doing something noteworthy with the family's treasure trove of art.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about The Lost Expressionist
- Watch Rabbi Dow Marmur's funeral
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about the man who was attacked for carrying a Israeli flag
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Eight years ago this week, Dan Markel was killed in his car as he was pulling into his driveway in Tallahassee, Florida. Markel, 41, was a well-regarded professor whose then-recent divorce lies at the centre of this whole saga: his ex-wife wanted to move their two sons to Miami, but the courts sided with Markel. Days after his murder, the children were moved.
A messy, complex series of arrests and court cases unfolded, in which the arrested murderers and conspirators confessed to receiving $100,000 to perform the job on behalf of Markel's former in-laws. Despite this, that family has always denied any involvement.
The process has been a brutal experience for Markel's parents, Ruth and Phil. The Toronto residents have struggled with the death of their son, a drawn-out legal battle and the inability to see their own grandchildren. But they haven't been sitting still. Later this year, Simon and Schuster will be publishing Ruth Markel's book, The Unveiling, which documents her struggle and grief, as well as her fights—both political and legal—to win some kind of justice for her son. Ruth joins today to discuss the last eight years and give a glimpse into her new book.
What we talked about:
- Read about Dan Markel's death in The CJN
- Pre-order The Unveiling
- Learn more about the "Justice For Dan" movement
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Rick Karp and his fellow Jewish Yukoners have spent the past week carefully monitoring the ongoing wildfires that are raging through their territory. There have been more than 240 forest fires in the Yukon this year, including 182 burning right now—the most in a generation, and five times more than last year—all because of lighting strikes and abnormally hot weather.
There were evacuation notices and even advisories from the government last week asking people not to travel in or to the Yukon. Major highways have been closed, which also means trucks can't deliver food on their usual schedules. It's a significant danger for those choosing to live in the North.
In that time, Karp, the longtime head of the Yukon's Jewish Cultural Society, has been working on community projects for the territory's 38 Jews. In addition to building a new website, one of his biggest challenges is getting Whitehorse to host the city's first-ever Jewish Heritage Month. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Karp joins to share his plans to make that happen—and what the future of the Yukon's small Jewish community looks like.
What we talked about:
- Visit the Jewish Cultural Society of Yukon at jcsy.org
- Watch the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games
- Learn more about Rick Karp at his website
- Read "The pioneering Jews who went north to find riches in the Klondike" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Closing arguments have recently begun for the trial of Gabriel Sohier Chaput, a 35-year-old neo-Nazi who's been charged in Montreal with willfully inciting hatred against Jews. But last week, the trial took an odd turn: the judge and lawyers began arguing over whether it was inherent to Nazi ideology to murder six million Jews.
The defence lawyer said that, in school, she was taught that Nazis only killed Jews with gas because it was cheaper than housing them in camps. The judge called that a step too far—but he nonetheles admonished the prosecutor for not bringing in experts to prove there was a clear link between Nazism and the defining genocide of modern history.
To discuss what's at stake, we're joined by Sam Goldstein, B'nai Brith's director of legal affairs, who breaks down the trial and why Jewish organizations are outraged at the direction of this case.
What we talked about:
- Read the full article, "The trial of this accused Jew-hater in Montreal has turned into a debate over the link between Nazism and the Holocaust"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Ruth Cooperstock had just turned 80 years old when she became the oldest Canadian woman to ever have a bat miztvah. The celebration wasn't common for girls in 1950s Winnipeg, where Cooperstock grew up; but this year, she was determined to make up for lost time.
Cooperstock first studied on her own, then with an adult b'nai mitzvah class class at Congregation Dorshei Emet, as part of the Reconstructionist movement’s program marking the 100th anniversary of the first bat mitzvah in North America. Despite losing her voice for four months and working with a speech therapist to get it back, not to mention the trials of living through the pandemic, Cooperstock is finally answering the call—68 years late. She joins to share her story of inspiration and perseverance.
What we talked about:
- Watch Ruth Cooperstock's bat mitzvah
- Learn about Dorshei Emet's adult b'nai mitzvah program
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about Holocaust denial being debated in Parliament
- Read about Mickey Heller in The CJN
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
One of Canada's most acclaimed Holocaust survivors, Max Eisen, died Thursday of cancer at the age of 93. A Holocaust educator and author, Eisen was a prolific speaker who appeared in documentaries and toured the country to spread messages of tolerance and confronting evil. He earned four honorary doctorate degrees, went on 18 March of the Living trips, was one of 25 survivors to be recorded for holographic posterity by the USC Shoah Foundation and, last year, was named to the Order of Canada.
Today you'll hear from Eisen himself, in a never-before-released clip he shot for the documentary The Accountant of Auschwitz, as well as from several of his colleagues and friends: Ziya Tong, who championed his book during the CBC's Canada Reads competition in 2019, and Ric Esther Bienstock, who produced The Accountant of Auschwitz.
What we talked about:
- Watch Max Eisen's funeral on YouTube
- Watch The Accountant of Auschwitz on CBC Gem (free)
- Hear Max Eisen discuss the effectiveness of mandatory Holocaust education on Bonjour Chai
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The Maccabiah Games—sometimes called the Jewish Olympics, since they also happen every four years—are due to start July 12 in Israel. Organizers estimate 10,000 Jewish athletes from around the world will travel to Israel to compete in arenas across Jerusalem, Haifa and Netanya.
Among that massive crowd will be a sizable delegation of 600 Canadians, competing in badminton and baseball, karate and cricket, and, yes, of course hockey.
Three flagbearers will march in the opening ceremony, all of whom join us today. Brothers Conaire and Nick Taub of Calgary are both playing on the under-18 men's volleyball team, and Molly Tissenbaum, a Toronto native now working in Boston, will be playing goalie for the women's ice hockey team—a sport that's making it's Maccabiah debut this year.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the Maccabiah Games and see the results at maccabiah.com
- See Team Canada's rosters at maccabicanada.com
- Listen to the Maccabiah theme song
- Watch Bell's Remembrance Day commercial from 2015 starring Norman Cash
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're taking a look at the life of Irving Abella, the acclaimed historian who died on July 3, 2022, at 82, after battling a long illness. His funeral was held two days later at Beth Tzedec synagogue in Toronto.
Abella was a history professor who taught for decades at York University, though he may best be remembered for co-authoring None Is Too Many with Harold Troper in 1983. In the book, they proved how Canada’s government during the Second World War deliberately turned away desperate Jews fleeing Nazi Germany—a narrative that was kept secret for decades afterward.
He later headed up the Canadian Jewish Congress during the 1990s. He pushed Canada to pursue and penalize Nazi war criminals, and his advocacy work led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue an apology to Canadian Jews for Canada turning away the hundreds of European refugees aboard the MS St. Louis in 1939.
Today you'll hear clips of Abella's funeral, including eulogies from his children Zachary and Jacob (JJ) and Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl, who share heartfelt, intimate, laudatory stories of a private man who ran things at home while his wife, Rosalie Abella, served for 17 years as the first Jewish woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
What we talked about:
- Watch the funeral for Irving Abella on YouTube
- Read The CJN's obituary
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
For decades, Jewish philanthropy has been sustained by wealthy donors who believed in supporting the community with their dollars. But some of those philanthropists worry their children and grandchildren won't feel the same commitment to supporting Jewish institutions—that's how American businessman Mike Leven felt, and it's the reason he started the Jewish Future Pledge in 2020.
The initiative, inspired by Bill Gates's and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, encourages wealthy Jews to commit to giving at least half the money designated for charities in their wills to Jewish causes. Thousands of Americans have signed on, and Leven expects as much as $600 billion could soon be promised to sustain American Jewish life.
But in Canada? The uptake hasn't been as swift. A small group of Canadian Jewish philanthropists recently introduced the Jewish Future Pledge north of the border, and so far, 500 people have signed on. That's no small number—but it's a far cry from organizers' expectations. They're hoping the Canadian Jewish community can pledge up to $10 billion to keep the lights on for Jewish communal institutions, ranging from Birthright trips to summer camps and Jewish advocacy.
Canadian philanthropists Wendy Switzer Myles and Warren Kimmel join to discuss their reasons for signing the pledge and why they're urging others to do the same.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the original Jewish Future Pledge
- Learn about the Canadian version of the Jewish Future Pledge
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Camp Kadimah was founded in the 1940s to give Jewish kids from small, disparate Maritime communities the chance to meet each other. Its creation resulted in many lifelong friendships and even a few marriages—including the Conters, who have just sent a fourth-generation family member to the camp.
On July 3, Karen Conter saw off her six-year-old grandson for his first summer at the historic Jewish summer camp. Conter attended in 1970s, even meeting her husband there; her mother and children attended as well. She believes they might be the only family in Kadimah's history to reach that milestone.
This summer's camp season is historic for another reason, too: it's the first time since 2019 that the camp opened, due to the pandemic. And even still, campers will show up to find numerous anomalies: no visiting day, for example, due to COVID, and more health and safety protocols around the dining room.
Members from all four generations of the Conter-Abramsky family join to talk about what the camp means to them, recall their favourite memories and explain how they feel sending Reuben off with the pandemic not quite behind us.
What we talked about:
- Visit Camp Kadimah's website at campkadimah.com
- Watch The Kadimah Movie at thekadimahmovie.com
- Read about the 70 toppled gravestones in Winnipeg
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
El Al customers received emails this week confirming what we reported earlier: Israel's flagship carrier is halting direct service between Tel Aviv and Toronto this fall. According to the airline, it's readjusting its schedule to handle demand after COVID-19 threw the entire travel industry into turmoil.
But this may not be the end of El Al in Canada. Fred Lazar is an aviation expert who teaches at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. He has some insight into why El Al made the decision, what it means for Israeli-bound ticket fares on Air Canada (spoiler: they'll likely go up 10 to 20%), and why he believes El Al's executives will realize their error—and return next spring.
None of that, however, helps those who relied on El Al for trips to the Holy Land. On today's episode, you'll also hear from affected travellers about why they preferred to fly with El Al and how this abrupt ending has thrown their travel plans into disarray.
What we talked about:
- Read The CJN's coverage of El Al closing shop in Canada
- See the full list of the Order of Canada
- Listen to our interview with the Canadian manager and players of Israel’s national women's hockey team
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
After two years of lockdowns, Canadians are starting to head back to movie theatres with increasing frequency. For Ellis Jacob, the CEO of Cineplex, Canada's largest theatre chain, that means coming up with new ways to lure audiences into his 170 brick-and-mortar cinemas around the country.
It's a challenge he's been tackling since he became president and CEO of Cineplex Galaxy back in 2003. But with streaming services now dominating the industry and some moviegoers wary of catching COVID, the battle is significantly harder. Cineplex lost $42 million in the first fiscal quarter of 2022—half of what it lost in Q1 2021, but still not ideal. To compensate, the corporation recently announced it would be adding a $1.50 surcharge to every ticket ordered online—but that caused a backlash, with many pointing out the irony that a digital ticket should cost more than a paper one.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Jacob joins to lay out his plan for survival—and even growth—during one of the most precarious points in Canadian moviegoing history.
What we talked about:
- Read The CJN's tribute to Frieda Wertman
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
In January 2021, Roman Baber—then a rookie Progressive Conservative MPP—was booted from caucus by Doug Ford after opposing his government's COVID-19 vaccine mandates and provincial lockdowns.
Fast-forward just over a year, and Baber, who continued to sit as an independent in Ontario's legislature after that ejection, announced he would seek the leadership of the federal Conservative party. He's something of a maverick candidate. He staunchly opposes vaccine mandates, supports the trucker convoy and is one of the few Conservative politicians speaking out against Canada's strict supply management of dairy products. If elected party leader—and ultimately prime minister—he would scrap the carbon tax; fire the chief public health officer, Theresa Tam; and be the first Jewish prime minister in the country's history.
In this wide-reaching interview, Baber discusses his concerns over Canada's economy, his immigrant journey moving from the former Soviet Union to Israel before settling in Canada, and whether he's afraid of suffering the same kind of antisemitism that brought down Green leader Annamie Paul.
What we talked about:
- Visit Roman Baber's website
- Read The CJN's coverage of Baber's Conservative leadership announcement
- Read the press release about Michael Levitt meeting the Pope
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Joseph Segal, a billionaire businessman and real estate magnate; Louise Glatt, an Ottawa-based musician and entrepreneur; Shirley Granovsky, a philanthropist in Toronto; broadcast veteran Arthur Weinthal; and Yehudi Lindeman, a Holocaust survivor who became a documentarian of his fellow survivors' stories in Montreal.
These are some of the most notable Canadian Jews to pass away in the last few months. And to explain their impact, we're joined by The CJN's reporter emeritus, Ron Csillag, who joins for the second edition of The CJN Daily Dead Beat, a roundup of honourable mentions to some honourable menschen and women whom our community recently lost.
Plus, Ron explains why the name "Dead Beat" isn't meant to be offensive—just a bit of journalistic jargon dating back decades in the industry.
What we talked about:
- Read Joseph Segal's obituary
- Read Shirley Granovsky's obituary
- Read Yehudi Lindeman's obituary
- Listen to the first edition of The CJN Daily Dead Beat
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Yesterday, The CJN confirmed that El Al, Israel's largest airline, will stop servicing Canada directly by the end of October 2022. The company will stop flying out of Toronto after the high holidays following a half-century of operations in the country.
Many in the Canadian Jewish community were stunned, shocked and saddened by the abrupt announcement. But one man isn't letting the airline go without a fight: Asaf Halperin, a financial advisor in Toronto who launched a petition to keep El Al in Canada. His petition has racked up more than 2,000 signatures quickly, with many supporters citing security protocols, kosher food options and support for Israel as main reasons for preferring El Al to Air Canada, the only other carrier that flies directly from Toronto to Tel Aviv.
Halperin joins to explain why he launched this petition and what the airline means to him personally. Plus, you'll hear from Gal Hana, the the Israeli diplomat in charge of promoting Israeli tourism in Canada, who says even he was surprised by El Al's decision.
What we talked about:
- Sign Halperin's petition, "Keep El Al in Canada"
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode from June 2021, "El Al is flying to Toronto again, but are Canadians ready to travel?"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Last Sunday, 115 teenagers in Ottawa celebrated their b’nai mitzvah—together—in a long-awaited, pent-up party after pandemic postponements. The celebrants got to enjoy all the trimmings a pre-COVID simcha would have had, including a DJ, glow sticks, a photo booth and swag.
The teens were part of a "COVID cohort" event put on by Kehillat Beth Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Ottawa, for Jewish kids from all across the city—not just their own members. The kids all had their individual coming-of-age ceremonies during the pandemic (either virtually or in virtually empty sanctuaries), making this past Sunday purely for the party.
To hear about how it all went down, we're joined by organizer Ruta Fluxgold; the shul's cantor, Jason Green; 14-year-old Alivia Greenberg and her mother, Melanie Itzkovitch; 13-year-old Ravi Wolfish; Michal Jacob and her daughter, Ella Fletcher; teen Jordan Secter; and synagogue board member David Lyman.
What we talked about:
- Visit Kehillat Beth Israel's website at kehillatbethisrael.com
- Watch Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to Canadian university students at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy's YouTube channel
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Four years ago, Harley Finkelstein, the president of Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify, along with his wife, Lindsay Taub, donated half a million dollars to help open a Chabad student centre in downtown Ottawa. The gift was in thanks to an energetic rabbi who helped Finkelstein when he was a poor law student studying at the University of Ottawa.
Since then, Finkelstein and his family have decided to up their pledge, adding another $1.5 million to expand and renovate the building—which now bears his name. The Finkelstein Chabad Jewish Centre is on Friel Street, just three minutes from where the city's old Jewish community centre stood for 50 years. That building closed in 1998, following the community's migration to the suburbs and away from the historic downtown.
Finkelstein joins The CJN Daily to explain why he believes it's important to bring a visible Jewish presence back downtown, where tourists and locals can see it nearby Parliament Hill, the ByWard Market and the popular university campus.
What we talked about:
- Read about Finkelstein's initial donation in 2018
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
For the past 20 years, Ari Sitnik has taken small acting gigs on the side in Toronto. But nothing compared to two weeks ago, when he got a call to show up at the Royal York Hotel for the top-secret filming of Drake’s new music video, “Falling Back”.
The video shows a lavish wedding featuring Drake getting married to 23 Instagram models. Sitnik, as the officiant, appears right at the beginning, clad in his ultra-Orthodox outfit, asking the betrothed if they will act "according to our values and traditions." He then pronounces them "man and wives."
Today on The CJN Daily, you'll meet the real Sitnik, the father of four who works as a computer specialist, who doesn't call himself "Rabbi Sitnik," who was born in Brazil before moving to Canada—and who isn't too worried about Jews criticizing his portrayal of our religion for what is currently the most popular (and controversial) music video on the internet.
What we talked about:
- Watch the video for "Falling Back"
- Watch Sitnik in the "Slammin for Shabbos" video
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Until July 3, a new exhibit is running in Calgary's Glenbow Museum featuring intimate black-and-white portraits and cross-generational shots of 161 Holocaust survivors who have ties to the city. The project took years to make, shooting during the pandemic and resulting in an accompanying coffee table book and documentary film.
The project is the brainchild of Marnie Bondar and Dahlia Libin, whose grandparents were all Holocaust survivors, and who co-chair the Calgary Jewish Federation's Holocaust programming. They say this art project was born out of love and awe of what their relatives went on to do after the war, and how they built new lives in Canada.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, you’ll meet one of the survivors profiled in the show—she’s 94 now—as well as Bondar and Libin, who will share stories of the behind-the-scenes process and what they hope visitors will take away.
What we talked about:
- Learn about "Here to Tell" at heretotell.com
- Watch Ira Gluskin’s speech to U of T graduates
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
There's one movie theatre in the city of Val-d'Or, Quebec—a city of about 32,000, about a five-hour drive north of Ottawa. The Capitol Theatre opened in 1937 with more than 600 seats, an orchestra pit and a snack bar. Its founder, Abe Kaplan, was one of the pioneering Jewish residents who set up businesses in the region to capitalize on the burgeoning gold rush of the time.
Kaplan and his wife raised two daughters and a son in an apartment right above the Capitol, and—despite being one of a handful of Jewish families in the mining town—managed to lead an observant Jewish life.
Now, 85 years after the theatre first opened its doors—and a few decades since the Kaplans sold it in 1986—the city of Val-d'Or held a commemorative ceremony to honour the multicultural families that helped build it, including the Kaplans. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, the Kaplan kids will explain what the honour means to them, and why they wanted to make sure their family’s contribution to Val-d'Or's history is not forgotten.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the history of Val d'Or
- Visit the "I grew up in Val d'Or" Facebook page
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Zane and Baden Colt got engaged in 2018, with a wedding planned for June 2020. But the world had other plans in 2020. So what was meant to be a two-year wait to get married turned into three, then four. With each passing trip around the sun, they optimistically scheduled another date, only to have to cancel yet again.
Now on their fifth try, the Colts—who got legally married in a civil ceremony while waiting to hold a party—are finally going to tie the knot on June 30, 2022. Unless something else comes up, of course.
The Colts are just one of many Jewish couples who've had to postpone or outright cancel their weddings in the last two years. The CJN's news editor, Lila Sarick, has been speaking to many for a feature story on this belated season of love. Sarick and the Colts all join The CJN Daily to talk about the extra layers of stress couples are facing for their big days, and how weddings are changing in a post-pandemic era.
What we talked about:
- Read about the Colts' journey to finding a surrogate in The CJN in 2021
- Buy tickets to the Chai Folk Ensemble's 50th anniversary concert at chai.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Rabbi Shlomo Leib Mund, formerly of Montreal, was arrested on April 13 at Toronto's Pearson airport while flying in from Israel to visit family for Passover. He was promptly charged with sexual assault, sexual interference with a victim under 16 years of age, and incest.
The reason behind the arrest was a warrant issued by Montreal's police force. The accusations against Mund, now 79, date back 25 years, to when he was a well-known rabbi and teacher in Montreal's ultra-Orthodox community. In the early 2000s, after Montreal's rabbinical court investigated him for a sex crime complaint—not the same one that would ultimately lead to his arrest, however—he was effectively exiled from the community and moved to Israel. That case never went to the police.
The identity of the individual whose complaint led to Rabbi Mund's arrest is under a court-ordered publication ban, since they were a minor when the crimes were committed. They spoke to The CJN Daily, but we've had to disguise their voice. You'll also hear from Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the executive director of Montreal's Jewish Community Council, about how the earlier complaints against Rabbi Mund were dealt with at the time.
What we talked about:
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about Lorie Wolf's sexual assault in the community
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about why so many sex crimes go unpunished
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
One year ago, on June 13, 2021, a new Israeli government was sworn in, ushering a new era of Israeli politics after more than a decade of Benjamin Netanyahu's rule, which culminated in four elections in three years. The new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, promised stability and change. But he's presiding over a fragile coalition government comprising eight different parties—and cracks are beginning to show.
This week, the coalition began facing its biggest crisis yet, as it struggled to corral votes on raising the minimum wage, extending Israeli law into the West Bank and other hot-button subjects. Some political observers fear the Israel government may not survive long past its one-year anniversary.
To discuss these issues, and to hear some predictions about the future of this Knesset, Ellin Bessner sat down with acclaimed veteran Israeli journalist Yaron Deckel, who was recently appointed to represent the Jewish Agency for Israel in Canada, as part of the first-ever live taping of The CJN Daily.
What we talked about:
- Hear Irwin Cotler discuss the outlook for Israel’s new government on The CJN Daily
- Read about Naftali Bennett’s Canadian roots in The CJN
- Register for the Anne Frank Writers Conference
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Many Jewish immigrants, when arriving in Canada, choose to settle in the Toronto area. But Toronto is prohibitively expensive for many people, and newcomers face even more hurdles involving work visas, new schools and social connections on top of the financial stress.
That's where the Welcome Home project comes in. The brainchild of three mid-sized Jewish communities in Ontario—Hamilton, London and Windsor—the project aims to lure immigrant Jewish families, or long-time Torontonians priced out of the housing market, to join their relatively-small-but-mighty communities down the Highway 401.
Local federations are pitching in, promising to make connections and help cover some of the moving costs. It's in their interest to see local numbers grow, since all three communities have been in decline for some time. To discuss the context and how Welcome Home could be the solution, we're joined by all three Federation CEOs: Gustavo Rymberg of Hamilton, Rob Nagus of London and Dan Brotman of Windsor.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Welcome Home at jwelcomehome.com
- Watch Jewish London's welcome video
- Learn about Jordan Berg at youvegottamakethis.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Just before Passover, Dori Ekstein was taking part in a webinar held by the March of the Living program. She heard a speech by a British/Israeli aid worker about the work his group is doing in Ukraine, helping the roughly 18 Righteous Among the Nations who were still alive. That news prompted Ekstein to bring up that her mother and grandparents had been hidden by a Ukrainian family in their barn in Dolyna for two years, and she had been searching for that barn for years.
What Ekstein didn't know was that a Ukrainian woman had been searching for her, too. Danute Protc's grandparents owned that farm in Ukraine, and she, too, had spent years trying to connect with descendants of the Jewish couple her own grandparents saved.
It was fate that the two should finally meet, albeit over Zoom. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, you’ll hear from both Protc and Ekstein, who was finally able to say thank you to the family that saved hers during the Holocaust—a family that is now, themselves, trapped in in a bloody war as well.
What we talked about:
- Read about Dori Ekstein’s mother’s experience
- Learn about From the Depths, an organization that helps Righteous Among the Nations in Ukraine and Poland
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On Wednesday, a plane carrying 180 eager Ethiopian Jews arrived at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport. For many, their immigration to the Holy Land has been a long time coming—some have been waiting decades to join their families, who already made aliyah.
The flight is part of Operation Tzur Israel, and marks a restart for the long-running operations that have already brought thousands of Ethiopian Jews into Israel since the 1980s. Those missions stopped over a year ago—partly because of COVID, and partly because of court challenges by domestic right-wing groups that questioned the legitimacy of the Africans' law of return.
Nonetheless, the planes are flying again, and Israel is once again accepting Jews in need. And because North American Jewish Federations contribute to the payment the these operations, a handful of Canadian Jewish leaders flew to Ethiopia this week to bear witness to the migration and meet the people whose lives they helped change. On today's episode, you'll hear from Ariella Rohringer and Sara Gottlieb of Toronto, who work with Federation and the United Israel Appeal; Candace Kwinter, chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver; and Bruce Leboff, who was waiting at Ben Gurion airport to greet the newcomers.
What we talked about:
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about the rarely told story of how a handful of Montreal Jews covertly rescued 300 Ethiopian refugees
- Watch the live stream of Joe Segal's funeral
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Premier Doug Ford is widely expected to win a strong minority, if not an outright majority, in Ontario's provincial election tomorrow. The CJN's political columnist, Josh Lieblein, agrees with the consensus—but there are still plenty of Jewish stories to watch.
Dianne Saxe, a high-profile Jewish candidate, will try and break ground for the Greens in downdown Toronto; parents of Jewish day school students may punish Ford's government for keeping schools closed for so long; and anyone concerned about the rising wave of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, on the streets and in public schools, must have questions for the government that's been in power over the last four years.
Lieblein, who has written more than 20 columns about Ontario's 43rd general election, makes his debut on The CJN Daily to explain what you should know heading into voting day, and what ridings are worth watching through a Jewish lens.
What we talked about:
- Read Lieblein's latest column at thecjn.ca
- Learn about The Rhapsody—and if you want a chance to win two free tickets to the world premiere on June 15 in Toronto, sign up for The CJN Circle at thecjn.ca/circle
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This year, a new coffee table book came out called Sephardi Voices, based on the long-running preservation project that collects stories of Sephardic Jews' accomplishments and survival worldwide. As part of the project, two Canadian researchers have spent the last few years collecting video testimonies from hundreds of survivors of the mass expulsion of nearly a million Jews from Arab lands after 1948.
This group, never formally regarded as refugees or given financial help—unlike the Palestinians, as the book frequently notes—struggled with displacement and the destruction of historic synagogues and cemeteries. After the Second World War and the founding of Israel, their homelands' rulers kicked them out or initiated pogroms, despite Sephardic Jews living in Arab countries for 2,000 years.
This week, two Canadian men involved in the project—Richard Stursberg and Henry Green, who co-authored the book—are set to donate 80 video testimonies, from survivors who moved to Canada, to Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, in conjunction with a Canadian book launch for Sephardi Voices happening Thursday night. Stursberg joins The CJN Daily to talk about how the explusion was a catastrophe, but also a story of Jewish resiliance.
What we talked about:
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode "Remembering the Farhud, 80 years later"
- Learn about Sephardi Voices at sephardivoices.com
- Learn about Am Shalom Synagogue at amshalom.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Last Tuesday, Quebec's legislature passed Bill 96, a new bill that forces small businesses to operate exclusively in French; caps enrollment at English-language CEGEPs; and allows language inspectors to raid businesses, without a warrant, to make sure employees are following the rules. It also compels new immigrants to learn French within six months and introduces other language-enforcement rules.
Two days after the bill passed, about 500 people in Montreal protested against the bill at Place du Canada. Montreal's English-language school board has vowed to challenge Bill 96 in court—as have a group of lawyers, including Julius Grey, who belives this case could make it all the way to the United Nations.
To explain why the million English-speaking Quebeckers are so anxious, and how this bill will affect minority and Jewish residents, The CJN Daily spoke with several Jewish community leaders in Quebec, including Marvin Rotrand, a former city councillor who now heads the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith, and Liberal MP Anthony Housefather.
What we talked about:
- Read "Quebec’s Bill 96 with its stricter French-language rules is deeply worrying to the Jewish community" at thecjn.ca
- Listen to the Bonjour Chai episode, "Quebec’s Bill 96 exposes a critical problem with homegrown Canadian rabbis: we barely have any" at thecjn.ca
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about Quebec's Bill 101
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Last week, Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, took a stroll through Ottawa’s Byward Market. They spent the day in the Canadian capital as part of a brief visit to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. And though Charles has been to Canada nearly 20 times before, this was the first time the future King of England had a Jewish butcher as his tour guide.
John Diener’s family has run Saslove’s Meat Market in the historic neighbourhood since 1954, when Charles himself was just a boy prince. Diener’s father worked there before he and his brother stepped in. When organizers from the royal visit mentioned to Diener that Charles wanted to see locals at work, the small-business owner found himself in the unique position of royal tour guide.
Diener joins to explain the planning that goes into an international visit like this, and whether he's even a fan of the monarchy in the first place.
What we talked about:
- Visit saslovesmeat.com for info about their store
- Read "The recent violence in Israel is not a Third Intifada, but it will take determined political attention to prevent it from escalating, says a former UN speechwriter" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Today, Canadian politicians, Israeli diplomats and the leaders of Canada's largest Jewish organizations are quietly convening in Ottawa to host an off-the-record conference called the "Canadian Summit of Israeli-Jewish Affairs". Set up by the Israeli embassy to Canada, the conference will include talks on bilateral relations, fostering positive narratives on social media, encouraging Jewish education, diversity within the community, campus anti-Zionism and antisemitism and other subjects pertinent to both countries.
Among the attendees are Israeli journalists, like Lahav Harkov of the Jerusalem Post; Canadian leaders, like Adam Minsky and Shimon Koffler-Fogel; and Israeli politicians, like Nachman Shai, the country's Minister of Diaspora Affairs.
This is Shai's first visit to Canada as Diaspora minister in the new Bennett goverment. Ahead of the main event, he spent some time with The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner in an exclusive interview. In their wide-ranging discussion, the two discuss how Israel is handling the fallout from the death of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Shai's frustrations with his government's stalling on egalitarianism at the Western Wall, and the possibility of new elections coming soon.
What we talked about:
- Read The CJN's previous coverage of Nachman Shai
- Follow Shai on Twitter to see his updates from the Ottawa conference
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Canada's usually festive long weekend was marred this year by a massive thunderstorm, which left at least 10 people dead, cut power to nearly one million homes and saw gusts of 131 km/h ravage communities across Ontario and Quebec.
Still today, days after the storm, more than 120,000 homes in Ottawa remain without power, while officials in Ottawa called the damage worse than during the tornadoes of 2018 or the ice storm of 1998. It's left Jewish facilities and families struggling to recover as whole swaths of Canada continue to deal with power outages, fallen trees and blocked roads.
The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner spoke with multiple people affected by the storm, including Brent Taylor, the co-chair of the Jewish Memorial Gardens in Ottawa, and Sarah Kula and Mathew Mendelsohn, who moved into their new home just a week ago—and now have a maple tree collapsed on their roof.
What we talked about:
- Read Ellin's print story at thecjn.ca
- Learn about Ottawa's Jewish cemetery at jewishmemorialgardens.org
- Register for Ohev Yisroel’s 20th anniversary gala
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
In the weeks since her second thriller novel came out, Samantha Bailey has embarked on a virtual tour to promote her new book, speaking with book clubs and online author events every week. It’s a long way from a decade ago, when she was pitching her debut novel—a chick-lit story—to a small crowd at her father's synagogue.
Things changed in 2019, when Simon & Schuster published Bailey's breakout novel, Woman on the Edge, confronting issues of maternal anxiety and postpartum depression. Now, she's following it up with Watch Out for Her, another suspense novel that dives into similar territory, focusing on a mother who fled her home after learning something shocking about her babysitter.
The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner had the chance to sit down with Bailey while emceeing the Virtual JCC's storyteller program. Listen to hear Bailey discuss the anxieties of Jewish motherhood and what it was like writing a novel during the pandemic.
What we talked about:
- Buy Bailey's book at samanthambailey.ca
- Read about Samantha Bailey's debut thriller in her 2019 interview with The CJN
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode, "Hidden for 1,000 days: How 8 members of this Canadian family survived the Holocaust"
- Watch the ceremony awarding Righteous Among the Nations to the rescuers of Toronto’s Veffer family
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Za’akah, an organization that helps survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community, recently posted on social media about the arrest of an elderly Quebec rabbi who was charged with sex crimes against a minor that date back 25 years. With a publication ban on the complainant's name, we can’t reveal too many details at this time, except to confirm that there was an arrest warrant issued two years ago and the man was picked up at around Passover 2022 in Toronto.
The announcement came just weeks before The CJN published an essay by Lorie Wolfe, a musician in Toronto who decided to go public accusing a doctor of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
In both cases, the accused men wound up not at a police station, but a beit din—the rabbinical court that handles matters in a quieter fashion. Wolfe's abuser paid a fine and continued to practise medicine for 15 years; the Quebec rabbi, who spent time as an educator in Montreal, was reportedly told to simply leave Canada for Israel—which he did, in fact, do.
To dissect the persistent problems facing the Orthodox community, and discuss the aftermath of the now-infamous Chaim Walder case, we're joined by Asher Lovy, the director of Za'akah, and Ariella Kay, a case manager for the organization and one of their social media producers.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Za'akah at zaakah.org
- Hear Lorie Wolfe on _The CJN Daily_
- Buy Sephardi Voices at sephardivoices.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Rachel Cohen Yeshurun grew up in Montreal, where she attended an Orthodox girls' school, which taught that women should never actually hold a Torah scroll. These days, however, after she moved to Israel 30 years ago, she's not only breaking that rule regularly, but teaching other women in Israel to read from the Torah as well.
Every month, she attends prayer sessions for Women of the Wall, an organization that advocates for women's right to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. She’s been arrested more than once by Israeli police, though the country's Supreme Court has ruled that the women are not breaking any laws or causing any harm. They are making incremental progress, having won the right to wear prayer shawls and tefillin, though the rabbi in charge of the Wall still prohibits them from using Torahs or bringing their own.
Still, each month, the Women of the Wall visit the holy site, only to be disrupted by ultra-Orthodox protestors who spit on, shove and whistle at the women. It's a scene that has been playing out for years—and now, after a particularly heated encounter on May 2, inflamed by the World Zionist Organization reportedly bussing in Haredi girls to protest, Cohen Yeshurun joins The CJN Daily to talk about what it's been like to fight for women's rights at one of the most sacred spots in Judaism.
What we talked about:
- Read about the legal struggles of the Women of the Wall
- Read an essay on the Women of the Wall by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein in The CJN archives
- Read about Bobbie Rosenfeld in The CJN archives
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
When Lorie Wolf was a student at TanenbaumCHAT high school, her doctor sexually assaulted her. She was 17; he was in his 50s. She visited his office alone one weekend to inquire about her acne problem, and she left with trauma, pain and a secret she would hold onto for years. Only after her parents read her secret diary, five years after the fact, did the family take action—but instead of going to the police, they went to an Orthodox Jewish rabbinical court. The doctor, Leon Herman, admitted to the crime, but got off with a fine. He kept practising medicine for another 15 years.
Only after years of therapy and the #MeToo movement did Wolf decide to speak out. She launched legal proceedings against Herman, but struggled to navigate the court system during a pandemic—and the case ended up withdrawn.
She has now decided to go fully public with the story, detailing the case and her experience in a deeply personal essay for The CJN. She joins The CJN Daily today to share her story, express frustration over how the Jewish community reacted and explain how she hopes her story can inspire other survivors of sexual assault to speak out.
What we talked about:
- Her Lorie Wolf's essay at thecjn.ca
- Read the CPSO's decision against Leon Herman
- Find details about Wolf's band's upcoming performance
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
You've probably heard "Skinnamarink", the classic children's song by Sharon, Lois & Bram. But you probably haven't heard it on TikTok, where Sharon Hampson, now 79, is putting out quick snippets of classics and new material with her newfound family band.
She's recruited her daughter, Randi, and grandsons Elijah and Ethan Ullmann, both full-time students at the University of Toronto. Although they grew up in a musical dynasty, it took an international lockdown for them to agree to help their Bubbe's resurgent Zoom-based career.
Now, they’re set to mount their first live indoor show since the pandemic began, at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa, Ont., on May 15. And despite Sharon's worry that her voice isn't as strong as it used to be, her relatives say she’s still got it. All four join to explain how they're trying to make music that stays relevant for a generation raised on the Frozen soundtrack and "Baby Shark".
What we talked about:
- Learn about the performance and others at sharonloisandbram.com/events
- Learn about the Brott Music Festival at brottmusic.com
- Listen to "Talk About Peace"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Eighty years ago this month, in May 1942, the Nazis forced all Jewish people in the Netherlands to wear a yellow star on their clothes to publicly identify themselves. This would lead to mass deportations and deaths, eliminating about 75 per cent of the Dutch Jewish population.
Now, Dutch researchers are trying to identify those persecuted Jews—and find out what happened to them. This year, the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies launched a project called "Behind the Star". They've published hundreds of black and white wartime photos of Jews wearing yellow stars, and are hoping to crowdsource the subjects' identities.
Because Canada has such a large population of Dutch Jewish survivors and their descendents, the researchers are hoping Canadians can help look through the photos and put names to the faces, creating a fuller picture what happened to the Netherlands' Jewish community.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the project, "Behind the Star"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Last week, Dan Goldstein called to his wife, Liat Lev Ary, to look out their office window in Montreal. They saw a Jewish man, carrying an Israeli flag from a Yom ha-Atzmaut celebration, attacked by two men in broad daylight. Goldstein then ran out of their office to yell at the attackers, who then ran away.
Local police haven't found the suspects, and there have been no developments since the incident occurred. They're looking to speak with a good Samaritan who intervened before Goldstein arrived, and who was also beaten before quickly leaving the scene.
It turns out, Lev Ary and Goldstein knew the victim. And while the victim didn't want to speak to us on advice of his legal counsel, the couple are keen to spread the word. As descendents of Holocaust survivors, they feel deeply disturbed by the sharp rise in anti-Israel sentiment in their own neighbourhood.
What we talked about:
- Watch a video of the attack on Facebook
- Listen to Eliane Goldstein's podcast, The Effect on Us
- Read about the Soloway Jewish Community Centre Greenberg Library’s Czech Holocaust Torah Scroll
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Starting today, Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, who was raised in Montreal, takes over as the first female full-time dean of North America’s flagship Conservative rabbinical school, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
But what should have been a moment of optimism for the rabbi has been tainted by the recently leaked U.S. Supreme Court ruling that indicates how down Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that says abortions are protected under the country's constitution, is likely to be struck down. Rabbi Cohen, who helped push the Conservative movement to permit same-sex marriages, has now become a leading American Jewish voice speaking out against anti-abortion activists and politicians.
What happens next in the fight for abortion rights? Rabbi Cohen joins to talk about Jewish activism, plans for the future and how abortion is kosher under Jewish law, which means banning it is a Jewish problem—not just an American one.
What we talked about:
- Read the "Abortion and Jewish Values Toolkit"
- Americans can urge their lawmakers to support the Women’s Health Protection Act here
- Learn more about the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
A few weeks ago, Melina Schein of Vernon, B.C., won the final challenge of a new competitive reality show called Wall of Bakers, earning $10,000 as the episode's best amateur baker. Her signature dish was a New York–style black and white cookie with an egg cream drink, harkening back to her childhood growing up in New York.
But Schein's Jewish roots go back further. Born in Argentina to the children of Holocaust survivors, she moved to New York to study opera at the Juilliard School before leaving for small-city British Columbia. It was in her Okanagan home that she took up baking as a pandemic pastime. That's when she donned the title of the Saucy Soprano, posting photos of her baked goods, videos of herself singing and near-nudes snapped behind slices of matzah and super-long challah loaves.
Schein joins to talk about her time on reality TV and where her career will take her next.
What we talked about:
- Visit her website, thesaucysoprano.com
- Watch Israel’s torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Julia Koschitzky, Malcolm Lester, Boris Brott, Rabbi Benjamin Friedberg, Alex Eisen, Marcia Koven: these are just some of the many prominent Jewish Canadians who passed away in the first few months of 2022.
As we kick off Jewish Heritage Month, we decided to introduce a new recurring segment: The CJN Daily Dead Beat, featuring CJN reporter emeritus Ron Csillag. Each episode, we'll give honourable mention to honourable menschen and women, many of whom Csillag has met personally long before being tasked with writing their obituaries.
Since it's hard to sum up a person’s life in 700 words, Csillag will occasionally join the show to share some rarely heard stories about these memorable men and women. We’ll discuss Boris Brott, a world-famous maestro without the ego; Julia Koschitzky, dubbed the foreign minister of Canada's Jewish community; Malcolm Lester, who detoured a rabbinic life for literary publishing; Rabbi Benjamin Friedberg, who brought both unity and division to Toronto's Beth Tzedec Congregation; and the tireless Alex Eisen and Marcia Koven, who founded the Shoah Scroll and the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum, respectively.
What we talked about:
- Marcia Koven's obituary
- Remembering Malcolm Lester
- Rabbi Benjamin Friedberg's obituary
- _The CJN Daily_ episode on Boris Brott
- The CJN Daily episode on Julia Koschitzky
- Alex Eisen's obituary
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Tonight begins Yom ha-Zikaron, Israel's Remembrance Day, in honour of the soldiers and underground fighters who have died helping to create and defend the State of Israel. But ask Zvi Kan-Tor, a retired Israeli general, and he'll tell you it's time his country broadened their remembrance to include the 1.5 million Jewish Allied soldiers who fought in the Second World War.
Kan-Tor has spent decades trying to fix this problem by creating a museum dedicated to that group of Diaspora fighters, which included 17,000 Canadians, as well as 35,000 soldiers from British Palestine that joined the British army. Now, after 20 years of political squabbles and funding issues, the Chaim Herzog Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II will finally open its doors to the public in Latrun, a hilltop battleground during Israel's 1948 War of Independence that sits between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Kan-Tor hopes tourists and locals will stop by his museum after visiting Yad Vashem, so they can gain a fuller picture of what Jews accomplished during that terrible time. He'll also discuss what earned the British, Soviet, American and South African Jewish military forces major exhibitions and their own separate wings—while the Canadian contribution got capped at a handful of noteworthy men.
What we talked about:
- See the museum's website
- Watch the trailer for the The Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II
- Watch the Yom ha-Zikaron ceremony in Toronto
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Early last year, The Times of Israel launched a daily news podcast called The Daily Briefing. It runs Sundays to Thursdays. Episodes rarely run past 20 minutes. Sound familiar?
Swap out the Israeli angle for a Canadian one, and you've got a pretty good summary of The CJN Daily. We launched this show one year ago this week. And with more than 270,000 listens and 200 episodes under our belts, we're celebrating by sitting down for a lengthy chat with our Israeli counterparts, Amanda Borschel-Dan and Jessica Steinberg, who host essentially a doppelganger version of this program for the Times of Israel.
In this special extra-long episode, we discuss the latest twists in Israeli politics, if it's safe to go to Israel now, and the two Israeli hosts' surprising connection to Canada.
What we talked about:
- Listen to the Times of Israel's podcast
- Listen to the first-ever episode of _The CJN Daily_, which aired May 3, 2021
- Learn how to support us by subscribing to this podcast
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
A historic debate took place in the House of Commons on Wednesday. With two nearly identical proposals tabled to ban Holocaust denial, members of Parliament tackled the one put forth first, by Conservative MP Kevin Waugh. They spent an hour debating it, though most of them agreed to support it, at least in principle.
It may all be moot—the bill may be thrown out if and when the federal budget gets passed, as the Liberals' version of the bill is nestled into that massive document. But until then, and on the eve of Yom ha-Shoah, Waugh's bill continues to go through the proper motions.
Today you'll hear from representatives of the four major parties who delivered speeches, including Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, NDP MP Blake Desjarlais and Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure.
What we talked about:
- Watch MP Kevin Waugh's full interview with _The CJN Daily_
- Watch MP Melissa Lantsman's speech in the House of Commons
- Listen to Tuesday's episode of The CJN Daily, "A Tory MP claims the Liberals ‘stole’ his Holocaust denial bill—and watered it down"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
It's highly unusual that eight family members would not only survive the Holocaust, but all end up living in Canada after the war. Yet that's what happened to the Veffers. The Dutch family withstood appendicitis, scurvy and Nazi raids while hiding for nearly three years, only to wind up moving to Canada after the only Veffer daughter married a Canadian Jewish soldier, who helped the whole family come to Toronto.
Now, 60 years later, the Veffers' story is being commemorated in a new children's book by a Jewish author and filmmaker who lives in Bussum, the Dutch town where the Veffers hid. Annet Betsalel wrote Where is Max? to portray the war through the eyes of one of the Veffer boys, Max, a soccer fanatic.
Betsalel and the son of one of the six Veffer children, Dr. Hartley Stern, join the show to talk about the book and the renewed attention brought to the hidden and those who hid them.
What we talked about:
- Order the book and read an excerpt
- Watch the _This is Your Life_ segment
- Watch the Yad Vashem ceremony
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
As Parliament resumed Monday after a two-week break, politicians jumped straight into debating the recently revealed annual budget. Tucked inside the Liberals' hefty document, on page 275, is a proposal that would ban Holocaust denial. This might normally be welcome news across the aisle, except that the Conservatives already presented a nearly identical bill back in February.
Kevin Waugh, the MP for Saskatoon–Grasswood, is now furious at the federal government, claiming they stole his idea in drafting their own legislation—except they made it weaker. Now, as Yom ha-Shoah approaches Thursday, the House of Commons finds itself in the unusual position of having to debate duelling bills targeting Holocaust denial.
Waugh joins to lay out his argument—and afterwards, we'll hear from Liberal MP Ya’ara Saks, who defends her party's decision because she believes it will be approved faster.
What we talked about:
- Listen: "Canada might ban Holocaust denial. Here’s why that probably won’t curtail antisemitism"
- Read: "A bill that would make Holocaust denial a crime was introduced in Parliament by Conservative MP Kevin Waugh"
- Read Waugh's bill online
- Read: "According to B’nai Brith’s audit, antisemitic incidents increased in Canada for the sixth straight year"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
For Robert Foxman, this photograph has become family lore. It's a shot of hockey legend Guy Lafleur sporting a kippah, draped in a tallit and holding a siddur, as if in prayer. Foxman snapped the shot in 1981, when he was a 19-year-old photography student. Foxman showed up to a Montreal Canadiens practice and asked Lafleur, who, incredibly, agreed to pose for this kid he'd never met.
Foxman has been reflecting on the encounter this week after Lafleur died from cancer at age 70. He considers the homegrown hockey hero and five-time Stanley Cup winner a true mensch—as do many other Canadian Jews, given the numerous Jewish fundraiser events Lafleur attended in Montreal to help the community.
Foxman joins to share the story behind Guy Lafeur's most Jewish photo and explain what he hopes the Lafleur family takes away from it.
What we talked about:
- Sign the digital guestbook to express condolences to the family of Guy Lafleur
- Read "‘Offensive’ photos taken at Canada’s National Holocaust Monument have been removed from Instagram: Ottawa photographer"
- Read how Lafleur helped raise money for Montreal's Jewish community in The CJN archives
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Four years ago, Rabbi Avraham Plotkin was writing a book about bereavement when, in a horrible coincidence, his own 14-year-old son died. Rather than let that derail his project, he pushed forward, drawing from 35 years of working funerals and shivas, and understanding what helped people move on after the shiva period ends. He says the advice in his book actually helped him move forward on a personal level.
His book came out in Nov. 2020, months into the COVID pandemic, after traditional bereavement rules and hospital visiting hours were completely upturned. Now, as Jews worldwide approach the first Yizkor of 2022 this weekend, having endured two full years of COVID, many are mourning more friends and family members than they expected.
Rabbi Plotkin joins from Thornhill, Ont., to share his take on some of the biggest questions and concerns about death, including how to manage our feelings toward the deceased and where souls actually go after we die.
What we talked about:
- Learn more Rabbi Plotkin's book, Seven Conversations with Jerry: A Book about the Human Soul, Bereavement and the Afterlife
- Read about the death of 14-year-old Zalmy Plotkin
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
The Green Party of Ontario has only one seat at Queen's Park right now, but Dianne Saxe is hoping to change that. The high-profile environmental lawyer, who was sacked by Premier Doug Ford shortly after his election in 2019—he in fact scrapped her entire office, dissolving the independent environmental commissioner role—has since decided to continue her crusade in the political fray.
Saxe has spent the last few years travelling the country, speaking out about environmental issues at town halls and launching a podcast. She was also elected the deputy leader Ontario's Green party, and she's running in University-Rosedale—a downtown riding that's a combination of the wealthy and socially conscious.
With six weeks to go before Ontario's election, Saxe is on the move, spreading her message of why the world needs to get rid of fossil fuels, especially in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Dianne Saxe at votefordianne.ca
- Read The CJN's profile of her
- Read the IHRA definition of antisemitism
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
When Sara Davis began exploring her Jewish roots, she decided to order a bunch of items from an online Judaica store based in Israel. She bought two shofars, two necklaces with a Star of David, a tallit and an Israeli flag.
Her package finally arrived in early March, but it felt lighter than it should have. When she tore the box open, she found the shofars were missing—replaced, instead, with a note by the Canadian government informing her that her items were being held at an Environment Canada facility in Quebec. The reason? The shofars were made of rams' horns, and government officials were looking for smuggled wildlife that violates Canada's treaty to protect endangered species.
Davis joins the show today to share her experience, from her rediscovery of Judaism to her brush-up with border control, and how the story of Passover played a pivotal role in letting the shofars go.
What we talked about:
- Find the shofars at ajudaica.com
- Learn more about the shofars here
- Read about the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Canada's most recent budget earmarks $70 million dollars for the Jewish community, with a specific focus on fighting antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Millions of dollars are designated for educational projects like Holocaust museums. But way down, on page 275, is a promise that essentially makes Holocaust denial outright illegal.
The move would see Canada join 17 other countries that have already banned Holocaust denial, including France, Belgium and, of course, Israel. But the arguments against criminalizing Holocaust denial are myriad. The United States and United Kingdom don’t for fears it would impinge on freedom of expression. Canadian columnists have argued singling out Jews for special treatment could have the opposite effect, sparking more antisemitic conspiracies. Meanwhile, in countries that have outlawed it—again, France and Belgium—antisemitism still runs rampant.
To break down its meaning, we're joined by Belle Jarniewski, executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada in Winnipeg and director of the Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre. She helps break down the bill and argues that any legislation is toothless without a core ingredient: Holocaust education.
What we talked about:
- Read Canada's 2022 budget
- Read "Role of Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism to be made permanent, Trudeau tells conference" at thecjn.ca
- Read "Liberals have decided to start from scratch on their bill to combat online hate" at thecjn.ca
- Participate in the survey about the National Action Plan on Combatting Hate
- Listen to the Bonjour Chai episode, "Holocaust denial could be criminalized in Canada with a new proposed bill. But would it work?", at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
We're taking a short break for Passover, and will be returning on Monday. In the meantime: we want to hear your stories. How did you handle the seder during the sixth wave of COVID? Were masks mandatory? Did you hand out rapid tests with a side of maror? Did you keep the door open all night, both for Elijah and air flow?
Send your stories, either video or audio, to Ellin at ebessner@thecjn.ca and you might get featured in some of our Passover coverage next week.
Until then, happy Passover!
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Historically, Canada's Reform movement has been most prominent in Toronto and Montreal. Head east of Quebec, for example, and all you'd find are Orthodox and Conservative shuls.
But that history isn't stopping Rabbi N. Siritsky from challenging the status quo. After working in Kentucky and holding virtual services for congregants in Florida, the Canadian-born rabbi has joined the thousands of home-seekers who flocked to Nova Scotia during the pandemic. Once there, they discovered many local Jews outside the traditional framework who were looking for ways to connect, including Russian newcomers, interfaith couples, LGBTQ Jews and those who simply don't identify with the Conservative or Orthodox movements.
That led them to spearhead a historic project to establish the first Reform congregation east of Montreal. Their kickoff event is a virtual seder, happening this Friday and open to all Jews in Atlantic Canada. So far, 25 families have asked to participate. Rabbi Siritsky joins to share why they're taking Reform Judaism out to where the people are, rather than starting with a bricks-and-mortar model.
What we talked about:
- Click here to register for the rabbi's virtual seder
- Learn about Seder Night in Canada at sedernightincanada.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On Wednesday, the student council at Simon Fraser University will vote to approve a motion entitled "Establishing an SFSS Issues Policy on Palestinian Liberation". The motion supports resisting "Israeli settler colonialism" and pushes for the end of "colonization of all Arab lands"—though it doesn't define what those lands are.
Regular listeners of this podcast can be forgiven for thinking they've heard this story before. Simon Fraser has become the latest in a recent string of student councils that have passed, or are on the verge of passing, pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel policies that support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. The four other schools have been the University of Toronto, McGill, Concordia and the University of British Columbia.
What exactly is behind this trend? Why is it happening now, and why should Jewish Canadians not simply dismiss the actors as a bunch of radical students passing toothless motions in a campus echo chamber? To answer these questions, we're joined by Gillie Cohen, a 22-year-old who works for Hillel in B.C., and Jonah Fried, a 21-year-old history student and activist at McGill, who are living through this battle in real-time.
What we talked about:
- Read the BDS motion put forward to the Simon Fraser Student Society
- Watch the Beth Tikvah event, "Antisemitism at University of Toronto: An Ongoing Concern"
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode, "Which Canadian campuses are safest for Jews? Anywhere outside Toronto"
- Read "McGill University vows unspecified ‘action’ after student union adopts anti-Israel policy" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
A few weeks ago, out of the blue, Harvey Engelberg received a letter from a farmer in Bassenville, in northern France. The writer was looking for information about a downed Second World War plane that had crashed into her fields on D-Day, back in 1944. She wondered if he knew anything about the event.
Reading the letter from his home in Montreal, Engelberg couldn't believe it. That plane carried his father, Cobby Engelberg, who was 24 and in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a wireless operator during Operation Tonga. On the night before D-Day, his father, along with two pilots and a navigator, took off with a load of 22 British paratroopers. The men were to drop behind German lines to destroy bridges and prevent Nazi forces from reaching the infamous Normandy beaches where, hours later, tens of thousands of Canadian and British soldiers would make a surpise landing, turning the tide of the war.
Engelberg’s plane, however, was hit and caught fire. The elder Engleberg barely survived the crash, and his life was saved by farmers in a nearby house.
On today's episode, Harvey Engelberg joins to discuss his trip to the farm, what it means to have stood on the grounds of his father's final mission, and what special gift he was given when he arrived in France.
What we talked about:
- Watch a French TV report on the event on Facebookj
- Read more about the Canadian Jews of the Second World War in Ellin's book, Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military, and World War II
- Watch a documentary about Faye Schulman, Holocaust photographer, on CBC Gem
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Boris Brott, who was killed this week at 78, was an iconic Canadian violinist, composer and conductor who tried to make people fall in love with classical music by making it accessible. He brought energy and levity to his performances like few of his contemporaries could.
The sudden news of Brott’s death has left his fans, colleagues and students in shock, while tributes and messages have been pouring from from around the world for the internationally acclaimed star who studied with Leonard Bernstein, founded several orchestras and played for two popes.
To commemorate Brott, we're joined by a few artistic collaborators who knew him well: Gideon Zelermyer is a classical tenor turned cantor in Montreal; Deborah Corber is the chair of the board of the Orchestre classique de Montréal; and violinist Janna Sailor, after working as Brott's apprentice, now leads an all-female orchestra in Vancouver.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Brott's planned tribute symphony to Ukraine
- Read Brott's obituary at thecjn.ca
- Learn more about Janna Sailor at jannasailor.com and Gideon Zelermyer at shaarhashomayim.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Last week, after a fiasco at the Academy Awards resulted in Will Smith assaulting Chris Rock with a slap heard around the world, Rabbi Joshua Corber prepared a special sermon for his congregation at Beit Rayim in Toronto. He revealed that he, like Jada Pinkett Smith and 147 million more people around the world, suffers from alopecia—the autoimmune disorder that causes missing patches of hair and often results in baldness.
Rabbi Corber ended up posting the text of his sermon to his Facebook page, where more than a hundred people have commented and reacted to his honesty. He says he didn't go public with this news for attention or sympathy, but rather to use it as a teaching moment, to discourage body shaming and direct Jews to passages in the Torah that deal with lashon hara, or malicious speech.
Rabbi Corber joins to unpack these thoughts and talk about his own experiences with alopecia.
What we talked about:
- Read Rabbi Corber's post on Facebook
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
This week, delivery trucks will be rolling out across Canada, driving thousands of boxes of kosher-for-Passover groceries, meals and seder items to people in need across the country.
In Montreal, the MADA Community Center is delivering 2,000 Passover food baskets and 8,000 ready-made meals; Jewish Family Service Calgary has prepared 55 packages; Vancouver is sending nearly 600 parcels, plus 400 seders-in-a-box; and in Toronto, at least 3,000 boxes are heading to Jews in need, thanks to the local Federation and the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada.
In every city, local agencies are seeing sharp rises in the number of food boxes required to keep up with demand. On average, since the pandemic, there's been a 20-percent increase in donations. How are these non-profits handling the surge? We're joined by Romy Pilarski, a volunteer in Toronto, and Shelly Feldman and Eva Karpati of the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada.
What we talked about:
- Donate to the MADA Passover food campaign in Montreal
- Learn more about the NCJWC's Toronto Passover Food Drive
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Every year, starting as early as February, Jeff Dobro calls supermarkets around Toronto for months leading up to Passover. His question? Whether or not they have a special kind of Coca-Cola in stock—the kind that's kosher for Passover.
While normal Coke is made with high-fructose corn syrup, Passover Coke is made with cane sugar, as many observant Jews are not allowed to consume corn-based products during the holiday. Many Coke drinkers—including non-Jews—prefer it, because it tastes sweeter, they say.
The Passover varietal also brings about a sense of nostalgia for the good old days, back when Coca-Cola was made with real sugar, before cheap corn lured the drink-maker to cut costs in the mid-1980s. On today's episode, we learn how Coca-Cola's bottling plant sanitizes its line to product the kosher product, what the origins are and how Jeff Dobro feels about this must-have addition to his seder table.
What we talked about:
- Find the Kosher Chef on Facebook
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
When Stacey Leavitt-Wright, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, booked a vacation to Israel, she had no idea she'd end up in the middle of the worst terror spree the country has seen since 2009. But that's exactly what happened.
In the last month, 11 Israelis have been killed in three separate attacks that occurred in Beersheba, Hadera and Bnei Brak. They struck just as Israel's government welcomed Arab foreign ministers to a milestone peace summit in the Negev desert—and also shortly before the start of Ramadan. Questions are now being asked about the efficacy of Israel's intelligence system and the connection some gunmen have to ISIS.
Now, as police and army patrols continue hunting down collaborators and restricting border crossings, Israeli streets are quieter than usual. To understand what life is like on the ground, we'll hear from two Canadians in the Holy Land: Stacey Leavitt-Wright and Adir Krafman, a former spokesperson for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, who has left the organization and moved to Israel.
What we talked about:
- Watch Stacey Leavitt-Wright's dispatches from Israel on Jewish Edmonton's Instagram page
- Read about the terror spree at the BBC
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
For legions of mahjong players, this is the most exciting time of year. In the next week or two, the new 2022 version of the official card rules will be arriving from the National Mah Jongg League headquarters in the United States.
For untold numbers of mahjong fans—including many Jewish Canadians—the new card poses new challenges, but also brings uncertainty. The COVID pandemic has severely impacted how people played the game these last two years —if they could play at all.
To chat about what mahjong lovers can expect, we're joined by Shirley Hanick, a majhong teacher and collector from Toronto; Carol Seidman, her friend and fellow collector; and Aviva Reinitz, who teaches the game in Montreal and Florida.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the National Mah Jongg League at nationalmahjonggleague.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Every night this week, Daniel Kollek hasn't been at the ER at his usual hospital in Burlington, Ont. Instead, he's been working in wartorn Ukraine, driving between two different clinics near the Polish border for 12-hour overnight shifts.
A member of the non-profit Canadian Medical Assistance Teams, the 64-year-old doctor is one of more than a dozen medical volunteers treating exhausted Ukrainian refugees, arriving by the busload after long journeys spent without medicine or access to proper health care. When the refugees arrive, they are met by a pop-up clinic the Canadians built from wooden fruit crates and a mattress on the floor.
Kollek joins today to describe what he’s seen, the parallels between the current crisis and Holocaust, and why he took the time to say some prayers at the Belzec death camp, where 600,000 Polish Jews were murdered.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Canadian Medical Assistance Teams at cmat.ca
- Click here to find out more about the campaign to find Bernie Grempel
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
It’s estimated that about 50 women currently play hockey in Israel—at any level. There are no professional women's leagues. But despite these challenges, last summer, Esther Silver decided to try to get a national women's team together. The Toronto native used to play goalie in amateur games before moving to the Holy Land. She organized tryouts, and the Canadian embassy came through with financial support for some of the equipment.
Last week, the fledgling national team arrived in Belgrade, Serbia, to lace up for a three-day tournament against other European countries. Israel scored just a single goal in the entire round robin, compared with 21 goals they allowed. But the team hopes their international debut will serve them well in their next challenge: competing in this summer's Maccabiah Games.
To talk about their struggles and successes, we're joined by manager Esther Silver, 16-year-old centre Pnina Basov and team captain Chen Kotler.
What we talked about:
- See the game schedule and results here on the IIHF website
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Julia Koschitzky was an internationally recognized philanthropist and community leader in Canada. She died of cancer on March 21 at the age of 78.
Koschitzky has been described as Jewish royalty, a giant of activism and philanthropy. She spent many years as a leader with Toronto’s United Israel Appeal, raising money in annual campaigns to pay for community services such as schools, summer camps, libraries and Meals on Wheels for Holocaust survivors. In the 1990s, she helped raise US$100 million dollars from Canadian donors alone to help fly hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews to new lives in Israel.
Messages of condolence and appreciation came flooding in after her passing, including from the president of Israel, Issac Herzog, and also Nachman Shai, Israel's minister of diaspora affairs. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, you'll hear stories of her life and accomplishments from six people who knew her well, including Gerald Sheff, a Toronto businessman and philanthropist; Daniel Held, a longtime executive director of The Julia and Henry Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Education; Linda Frum, a former senator and the board chair of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto; a grandson, Yaniv Koschitzky; and two of her four children, Jonathan and Sarena.
What we talked about:
- Read her obituary at thecjn.ca
- Watch her funeral on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Sonia Bazar, an artist and poet, is reaching out to any Jewish Canadians whose relatives are buried in the historic Back River Jewish cemetery in Montreal. She's looking for people whose fascinating stories were buried along with their bodies, in hopes that more Jews will visit the beautifully macabre landmark.
During the pandemic, in search of outdoor inspiration, Sonia Bazar decided to visit Montreal's Back River cemetery, a historic Jewish site in the city's east end. The souls resting in Back River date back 130 years, to the first waves of Jewish immigrants who arrived from Eastern Europe.
Bazar looked into some of the 6,000 Jewish people who are buried in the Back River site—including her own relatives, who endured hardships and tragedy Bazar had never heard about before. It is the final resting place for generations of Montreal families who escaped Russian pogroms and the First World War, who helped the city's Jewish community grow and flourish.
She transformed those stories into a new self-published book of poems and photos called Pathways, launching March 23 at a live event hosted by the Museum of Jewish Montreal. For a sneak preview and insight into her artistic process, Bazar joins The CJN Daily on the day of her book's debut.
What we talked about:
- You can reach Bazar with stories by visiting soniabazar.net
- Read the full obituary for Juila Koschitzsky at thecjn.ca
- Find out more about Sonia Bazar’s new book and the launch at the Jewish Museum of Montreal
- Buy Pathways at blurb.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Valentyna Agapova hid in a bomb shelter for four days before making her escape. The 67-year-old hairdresser and widow, trapped in Ukraine after Russia invaded, subsequently went on a 1,000-kilometre trek by bus, train and foot to reach the Polish border from her apartment in the Zaporizhzhia area. She didn't live far from Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, which came under attack early in the war.
Her ultimate destination was Winnipeg, where her son lives with his wife and children. They immigrated to Canada in 2017 as part of a Federation program called GrowWinnipeg, which has been bringing Jewish families to the city for more than 25 years. Now, with the help of a federal program that fast-tracks Ukrainian immigrants to stay in Canada for up to three years, Agapova is hopeful that she won't have to return to her war-torn country ever again, while she works on setting down roots in her new home.
Agapova, her daughter-in-law and a translator join to help share Agapova's remarkable story of survival and escape that finally brought her to Winnipeg just two weeks ago.
What we talked about:
- Read about Cantor Zelermyer’s first time singing the national anthem at the Bell Centre in 2010 at thecjn.ca
- Read about the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg's welcome to new immigrants on their Facebook page
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Only two Canadians joined a recent trip to Ukraine put together by the Jewish Federations of North America. Linda Frum, board chair of Toronto's Federation, and Adam Minsky, its president and CEO, travelled to the Polish-Ukrainian border to see firsthand where the millions of dollars raised by Canadians—including $4 million by Jewish Canadians alone—are going.
The United Nations now says 10 million Ukrainians have left their homes because of the war—a quarter of the entire country’s population. Money raised by Canadian Federations has so far mainly gone to help two groups doing work on the ground, the American Jewish Joint Distrubution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel. But what does that look like? What is the scene like on the ground, and how are Jewish NGOs helping?
Frum and Minsky join to share what they saw, what they learned and why they don't expect many Ukrainian refugees to arrive on Canadian soil.
What we talked about:
- Watch a video of their trip from the UJA Federation's YouTube channel
- Read the StatsCan report on Canadian hate crimes in 2020 at www150.statcan.gc.ca
- Read "The Jewish community in Canada has now raised $4 million for Ukraine—and it’s preparing for the imminent arrival of refugees" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Last week on The CJN Daily, we brought you an interview with Canadian writer Rosemary Sullivan. Her latest book, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation, details a team of historians and researchers that argue it was a Dutch Jewish notary who sold out the Franks to the Nazis. Sullivan defended her work and argued the Dutch need to face the fact that one-third of all Dutch Jews in hiding were betrayed, resulting in the death of 75 per cent of the country's Jewish population.
But the Dutch are angry at the book—especially one Dutchman, Ruben Vis. The CEO of a Dutch Jewish organization called NIK, who is also the son of Holocaust survivors who hid for their survival, Vis has since embarked on a PR campaign to force the book's publisher to stop printing copies. He also believes his research refutes several accusations from The Betrayal of Anne Frank, a book which he describes as a painful hit on Dutch Jews.
Vis joins from Amsterdam to explain what Sullivan's book got wrong and why his fight to stop the book is going to heat up even more next week.
What we talked about:
- Listen to Rosemary Sullivan discuss her book on The CJN Daily at thecjn.ca
- Watch Sullivan's full interview with The CJN on YouTube
- Learn about the event, "The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Refutation", in which local Dutch historians and family members go into details about their counter-findings, at spui25.nl
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
In 2021, a producer for the game show Family Feud Canada reached out to Rabbi Stephen Wise, hoping to boost the diversity pool of their show's contestants. When asked if he knew anyone from the community who might want to participate, Rabbi Wise didn’t need to look very far: his wife, Cheryl, and her whole family are game show fanatics.
That's how he joined his in-laws, the Kestelmans, on live TV in March 2022, winning three matches against three other families and walking away with about $2,500. Plus, they managed to teach host Gerry Dee a bit about Jewish life—an easy ask for a rabbi, the principal of TanenbaumCHAT and the director of a synagogue's afternoon school.
Renee Cohen, the school principal, gives a behind-the-scenes scoop on what it was like being on the show and how they felt representing Jewish Canadians on national TV.
What we talked about:
- Watch the Kestelmans' episode of Family Feud Canada on CBC Gem
- Hear The CJN Daily episode "TikTok star Josh Zilberberg dishes on his Canadian Jewish roots" on thecjn.ca
- Read "From hamantashen to art shows, Canadians find creative ways to help Ukraine" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
If you haven't heard, Toronto is getting a new Holocaust museum. The $27-million institution will be located in the new Prosserman Jewish Community Centre, and will do more than simply commemorate the past: it aims to make the Holocaust relevant to modern visitors, world events and Canadian life, using augmented reality, tablets and video of survivors to tell its stories.
But work began only recently, and it will take at least a year before its doors open to the general public. In the meantime, the city's old Holocaust museum has closed down and a rash of antisemitic incidents has been sweeping across Toronto's public schools.
How can the museum's organizers stay relevant at a time when their presence is arguably needed most? The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner took a tour of the construction site to get a sneak peek at the developments, and spoke with the museum's executive director, Dara Solomon, as well as fundraiser Glenys Lindenberg, to discuss.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the museum at holocaustcentre.com/revitalization-project
- Read "Why is every Holocaust museum in Canada undergoing a massive overhaul right now?" at thecjn.ca
- Watch a video about JRoots and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center partnering up to help Urkainian refugees in Poland on Vimeo
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
What do Seth Rogen, Dave Barrett and Cornelia Oberlander have in common? They're three of hundreds of notable people featured in a new coffee table book celebrating British Columbia's Jewish community.
Looking Back, Moving Forward: 160 Years of Jewish Life in BC comes out today. It was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, and recounts the fascinating history of Jews in the province, dating back to before Canada was a country. Home to the third-largest Jewish community in Canada, B.C. has been home to trailblazing Jewish politicians, influential artists and powerful business tycoons.
Michael Schwartz, the director of community engagement for the museum and the book's editor, joins to discuss how he hopes his organization's endeavour will mitigate the rising trend of antisemitism by showcasing Canadian Jews' myriad contributions to the country—and why why he thinks this story should be made into a miniseries.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the book Looking Back, Moving Forward: 160 Years of Jewish Life in BC at jewishmuseum.ca/looking-back-moving-forward
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode "Still demanding justice: 27 years since Argentina’s largest unsolved terror attack" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
For some Jews, just the thought of returning to Poland—let alone to help Ukrainians—stirs up complicated feelings, given the two countries' fraught Holocaust legacies. But this week, three Canadian rabbis did exactly that, confronting the past and engaging with the present emergency.
Rabbi Mark Fishman, Rabbi Adam Scheier and Rabbi Reuben Poukpo travelled to Poland on a mission to help Ukrainians who are fleeing Russia's war on their home country. The rabbis flew into Warsaw and made their way east, stopping to meet traumatized Ukrainian refugees in hostels and Jewish buildings. They distributed money and donated warm clothes, which they packed and brought in large suitcases.
They believe that modern Jews must put aside their memories of Europe's troubled past and focus on helping people in need today. And while their brief trip is one small effort in the larger humanitarian crisis, they knew they had to do something. Rabbi Fishman and Rabbi Poukpo spoke to The CJN Daily from the Warsaw airport to discuss what they saw, how they helped and what they're taking away from this life-changing experience.
What we talked about:
- Watch Rabbi Fishman's video from the border on Facebook
- Read about Rabbi Scheier's experience meeting Ukrainian Jews on Facebook
- Read "Rabbi Erwin Schild looks back on 95 years" at thecjn.ca
- Donate to Jewish Winnipeg's Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund at jewishwinnipeg.org/ukrainian-emergency-relief-fund
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
Rosemary Sullivan, the Canadian author of more than a dozen books, knew she'd get some pushback for her latest non-fiction endeavour, a book that casts the Anne Frank story in a troubling new light. But she never expected it to be this bad. The city of Amsterdam demanded 100,000 euros back from the subjects of Sullivan's story; Dutch newspapers issued bold retractions on their front pages; the book's Dutch publisher publicly apologized to readers for offending them.
At the root of the controversy is a startling revelation alleged in Sullivan's new book, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation. Sullivan details a team of Dutch and American investigators who discover that it was likely a Dutch Jewish man who betrayed the Franks, inviting a Nazi raid that ultimately led to many of the family members' deaths.
The story, and the resulting outcry, has made international headlines. In Canada, Indigo's CEO, Heather Reisman, called the book the "one thing you should read this year," and Sullivan herself stands by the investigators' findings—even if they're hard to stomach. She joins to discuss.
What we talked about:
- Buy The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation at harpercollins.ca
- Read "Chaim Katz’s six-year battle culminates in the University of Toronto withholding $10,918 earmarked for the BDS caucus in a graduate student union" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
On March 19, 12-year-old Naomi Hochman will celebrate her bat mitzvah at Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek synagogue. And while she's the first girl in her family to have a bat mitzvah—her older brothers had theirs, and she just took for granted she would enjoy one too—bat mitzvahs are in fact a relatively new phenomenon.
Naomi's bat mitzvah actually takes place on the 100-year anniversary of the very first bat mitzvah in North America. The daughter of an American reconstructionist rabbi, Judith Kaplan, earned that distinction on March 18, 1922.
In Canada, what is believed to be the first bat mitzvah wouldn't take place until decades later, in 1949. Miriam Lieff led a Friday night service at Agudath Israel Synagogue in Ottawa, paving the way for generations of Canadian girls to take a more egalitarian role in Jewish religious life. Now 86, Lieff joins to recall her experience during a time when girls weren't even allowed to stand on the bimah—and Naomi will talk about how she feels carrying that torch so many years later.
What we talked about:
- Submit your bat mitzvah story to the Jewish Women’s Archive at jwa.org/stories/batmitzvah-at-100
- Donate to the Jewish community of Mariupol at jewishwaterloo.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.
For weeks now, we here at The CJN have been reporting on a wave of antisemitic incidents being reported at public schools across Toronto. Mostly they involve Nazi salutes and swastikas, and the targets have been both students and teachers.
Three new incidents happened late last week—all on the same night. Earlier this year, students made Nazi salutes at two separate schools in Toronto; at a third school, a teacher was suspended for comparing vaccine passports to Nazi-era yellow stars.
It's gotten to the point that even mainstream media outlets are paying attention, while many parents, teachers and school board officials are wondering what is going on. Is it ignorance? Or something more sinister? Professor Barbara Perry, an expert in right-wing extremism who teaches at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, calls what's happening a "contagion" circulating in the ether. She joins to explain.
What we talked about:
- Read "A suspect is being sought after antisemitic graffiti was found at three Toronto high schools; the latest in a string of hateful incidents" at thecjn.ca
- Read the TDSB report, "Combatting Hate and Racism: Student Learning Strategy", at tdsb.on.ca
- See the full list of the Order of British Columbia at news.gov.bc.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In December 2021, baking entrepreneur Amy Rosen made a splash on the CBC reality show Dragons' Den. The pastry specialist and accomplished cookbook author pitched them a stake in her line of bake-at-home cinnamon buns. While the dragons loved her foods, she stumbled when asked about her sales figures.
Rosen calls that moment a national embarrassment—and also unfair. But she's moving on. She landed a spot on a new TV cooking show called Wall of Bakers, which debuts March 28 on Food Network Canada. And now that enough time has passed, she's ready to dish some dirt on what really happened during her time in the den.
Rosen joins to talk about her TV experiences, her Jewish cookbooks and what's next for Rosen's Cinnamon Buns.
What we talked about:
- Watch Amy's appearance on Dragons' Den at cbc.ca
- Read about her most recent cookbook at thecjn.ca
- Read Leila Paperman's obituary at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In late February, The CJN published a first-person essay by 17-year-old Talia Freedhoff about antisemitism and ignorance at her Ottawa public high school. It wasn't the first time she spoke out about these issues. She's done TV interviews and delivered speeches to school board trustees to try and open the public's eyes about the reality of Jewish student life.
She's had teachers schedule tests on important Jewish holidays and refuse to change the date, even after they were ordered to by the administration. She's heard stories from fellow Jewish students who've had coins thrown at them in hallways and swastikas drawn on their personal belongings. These incidents aren't unique within her circles, either: in 2022, numerous antisemitic incidents have been reported across public schools in Ontario, including in Jewish neighbourhoods in Toronto.
Freedhoff joins The CJN Daily to explain why school boards shouldn't have to wait for Jewish kids to speak out to teach them how to tackle antisemitism.
What we talked about:
- Read "Toronto’s Pleasant Public School is investigating an allegation of antisemitism—following two February incidents elsewhere" at thecjn.ca
- Read "The problem with antisemitism in education isn’t that no one is speaking up, it’s that schools aren’t listening, says Ottawa student Talia Freedhoff" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Of the 200 people protesting across the street from the Russian embassy in Ottawa on Sunday, most held up signs coloured yellow and blue, in solidarity with Ukraine. But there was one sign in black and white with a menorah on it and the words "Let Ukraine live. We are family. Canada's Jews."
Holding the sign was 77-year-old Alti Rodal, a historian and the daughter of Holocaust suvivors. She was born in Chernowitz, Ukraine, but has lived in Ottawa for many years. She and her husband founded a group called Ukrainian Jewish Encounter in 2007, wanting to bridge the longstanding distrust between Jews and Ukrainians that dates back to the Second World War, when Ukrainians were slapped with a reputation of being the worst Nazi collaborators in all of Europe.
All their hard work is in jeopardy now. As Russia wages its war in the country, it breaks Rodal's heart to know that all the museum exhibits, conferences, school tours and especially the restoration projects of Jewish cemeteries that she’s been leading in Ukraine are at risk—especially because, as she tells The CJN Daily, nearly every Ashkenazi Jew in the world originally came from Ukraine.
What we talked about:
- Learn about ukrainianjewishencounter.org
- Read Steve Arnold's death notice at uhmc.ca/arnold-stephen
- Read "Canadian Jews are opening their hearts (and their wallets) for Ukrainian Jews now facing war" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On Sunday, thousands of people in cities across Canada gathered in solidarity with Ukraine. The support may comfort Anatoliy Shengait—as the head of Kyiv’s Jewish community, he's spent the past week fielding worried WhatsApp calls, keeping tabs on the war and trying to communicate with his own family, including his brother, who's trapped with no electricity or running water outside the capital city.
Shengait's life and work is busy enough during peacetime. He coordinates events, liaises with the city's synagogues and Jewish schools and has been advocating for a better airport in Uman, where thousands of Hasidic Jews make an annual pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Russia's attacks have risked not only his life and the lives of his fellow Ukrainian Jews—about 200,000, by some estimates—but it's also created a humanitarian crisis that has led hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee the country.
Shengait spoke with The CJN Daily podcast from his home in besieged Kyiv on Sunday night. He spells out what he hopes the world understands about the situation and what he fears might happen next—that this war could lead to another massacre like what happened at Babi Yar against Ukrainian Jews during the Holocaust.
What we talked about:
- Read "Ukraine emergency appeals have been activated by Jewish federations across Canada" at thecjn.ca
- Read about Jewish Canada's partners at jewishcanada.org/home/partners
- Donate to Chabad's Ukraine Jewish Relief Fund at chabad.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Meet Primrose Madayag Knazan. She's the winner of the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competiton, and her new play, Precipice, is about a Filipino-Canadian woman who converts to Judaism—just like she did.
The Winnipeg resident’s play debuted in 2021 at the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre's So, Nu? Festival, beating nearly two dozen entries to claim the top prize.
Madayag Knazan calls Precipice a love letter to the symbolism and ceremony of Judaism. The former Catholic wanted to study the Jewish religion after meeting her husband-to-be’s rabbi, Alan Green, who had lived in the Philippines. Now the Knazans are raising their family in the Jewish tradition, with their sons enrolled in parochial school and one having recently celebrated his bar mitzvah.
Madayag Knazan joins The CJN Daily to discuss how her play, as well as her new novel Lessons in Fusion, provide a mirror for children like hers to face the challenges of being a visible minority within Canada's Jewish community.
What we talked about:
- Follow Primrose Madayag Knazan on Instagram
- Buy her novel Lessons in Fusion
- Watch the Compliments Challenge video for Kindness Week
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
If David Segal's name sounds familiar, it's because he put the "David" in DavidsTea, the popular chain of heavily curated loose leaf teas and cafes that sprang up across North America in the 2010s. Segal left the company in 2016, starting a salad-based restaurant chain called Mad Radish instead.
Now the Ottawa-based entrepreneur is getting back into the tea game alongside fellow Jewish Ottawan Harley Finkelstein, the president of Shopify. Segal is bringing the tea knowledge; Finkelstein is bringing the digital platform. Instead of launching hundreds of cafes and appearing on supermarket shelves, this new brand, called Firebelly Tea, will be digital-only, relying exclusively on its Shopify store for sales.
So why does Segal think his formula will work in the middle of a pandemic, in a market hit with rising inflation and consumers hesitant to indulge in nice-to-have luxuries like fancy tea? He joins to discuss.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Firebelly Tea at firebellytea.ca
- Read "Yet another ‘Heil Hitler’ salute—this time targeting a Jewish teacher—is reported at a Toronto middle school, in Flemingdon Park" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
How widespread is antisemitism and anti-Zionism on Canadian campuses? A new report, commissioned by the Abraham Global Peace Initiative, found nearly 100 reported instances last year. The authors—Neil Orlowsky from York University and Dana Fischman from Carleton University—looked at media articles, social media posts, student unions, faculty associations and hate crime reports from across the country to determine which campus was friendliest—and which was the most uncomfortable—for Jewish students.
The worst offenders: York and the University of Toronto. The report comes out in the wake of a recent U of T student union vote to support boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel—as well as, paradoxically, a pledge by the school's administration to crack down on antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Orlowsky calls the U of T's pledge nothing more than "virtue signalling". He joins to discuss the report's findings and what steps schools can take.
What we talked about:
- Read the report at agpiworld.com/campus
- Watch the video of the goldfish "driving" its tank at bgu.ac.il (and learn about the webinar on Facebook)
- Read "University of Toronto’s plan to tackle antisemitism gets a cool response from Jewish advocacy groups" at thecjn.ca
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode about the birth of the AGPI, "Why Avi Benlolo thinks Canada needs a new organization to fight antisemitism", at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In March 2020, magicians Ben Train and Jonah Babins, like so many other performers, found their livelihoods put on indefinite pause. So they did what any young entrepreneurs would: they pivoted by taking their show to the Zoom circuit.
Two years in, it's gotten them noticed by the likes of Seth Rogan. They've recently returned from Las Vegas, where they met with some of their magician idols, David Copperfield and Mac King. And with COVID restrictions easing up, they're finally preparing for their first in-person show of 2022, held at Yuk Yuk's in downtown Toronto.
Train and Babins join The CJN Daily to discuss their Jewish roots and how they transformed their pandemic problems into a booming business model.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the The Toronto Magic Company at torontomagiccompany.com
- Get tickets for their Yuk Yuk's show, Hocus Jokus, at yukyuks.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Maya Sinclair lives with an extremely rare genetic condition. At six months old, she was diagnosed with Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome, which stunted her growth, kept her teeth abnormally small and forced her to have multiple eye surgeries for glaucoma.
Despite these challenges, and being bullied for them at school, Sinclair has written two children's books, spoken publicly about her condition, danced competitively and starred in a recent documentary. And she's only 12.
On Feb. 16, she and her documentary costars are taking part in an event in Montreal for Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month. They’ll be talking about Sinclair's challenges and what it was like making the film. To give a sneak peak, she joins The CJN Daily with her mother and their rabbi to discuss what life has been like with this rare disorder.
What we talked about:
- To attend the Zoom interview on Feb. 16 with Maya, the rabbi and her mother, register at jlive.app/events/1540
- Watch all four episodes of Becoming Big on YouTube
- Find Maya on Facebook and Amazon
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Yesterday, Premier Doug Ford of Ontario announced he would join Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in speeding up a timeline for loosening COVID restrictions. That means the province would get rid of vaccine mandates, reopening restaurants and bars to full capacity, while keeping mandatory masks in place.
It was welcome news to Ontarians who support the truckers' protest that has spent two weeks occupying downtown Ottawa. Those supporters include at least two Jewish Canadians: a goalie coach from rural Ontario and a Chabad rabbi whose day job is in IT.
The two don't know each other. But after hearing Monday's episode of The CJN Daily, both the rabbi, and Launy Schwartz, the goalie coach, felt compelled to reach out and share their stories, including why they support the truckers, how they view the Nazi flags in Ottawa and how the pandemic's economic fallhout has decimated their careers.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Launy Schwartz's school, Stop the Puck Goaltending, at stpgoaltending.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Ariel Troster doesn't know who she is more mad at: the local police in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or the truck protesters clogging her city's streets, disrupting locals' lives while wrapping themselves in Canadian flags.
Troster was one of the Ottawans who took to the streets over the weekend to counter-protest the "freedom convoy" that's rolled across the country. in -22-degree weather (with the wind chill), she and her fellow protesters set up counter-blockades to prevent truckers from getting downtown, where 50,000 residents have become fed up with the constant noise, late-night honking, social disruption and sleep deprivation.
Troster is livid that this was allowed to happen in the first place, that her wife was threatened on the street and that her daughter, who goes to school in the neighbourhood, is now is afraid of people carrying Canadian flags. She joins to detail what life has been like in the mess that has taken over downtown Ottawa for over two weeks.
What we talked about:
- Watch Absolutely Canadian - Just As I Am: The Shira Choir on CBC Gem.
- Watch a video of the counter-protesters in Ottawa on Twitter
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Yesterday, we brought you a story on three antisemitic incidents that happened within days of each other at two different Toronto middle schools. (If you haven't listened yet, hear Part 1 of this series here.) Two of those incidents happened to one boy at Charles H. Best Junior Middle School. Today, he and his parents are speaking out publicly for the first time to offer their reaction to the incidents.
And their reaction isn't what you might expect.
After their son was targeted one kid who formed a swastika out of classroom blocks, and two others who separately gave the Nazi salute to him, parents Yaniv and Shirra Berliner felt compelled to report the incidents to the school. But after seeing the swift public condemnation, the Berliners are angry with how the school and the board handled it all without hearing their side of the story. The family is wrestling with complicated issues involved in the fight against antisemitism in schools, but they believe these incidents were just tomfoolery and ignorance by a bunch of teenagers who didn't grasp what they were doing—and they wish the whole controversy would just blow over already.
All three of them join The CJN Daily podcast for an exclusive interview.
What we talked about:
- Listen to Part 1 of this series, "Antisemitism in Toronto schools, Part 1: Why are we still seeing Nazi symbols in classrooms?" at thecjn.ca
- Read Ellin's print story on the incidents at thecjn.ca
- Read "Debunking the Amnesty Report" at agpiworld.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Recently, two separate Toronto-area middle schools have witnessed three antisemitic incidents. At Charles H. Best Junior Middle School, kids targeted a Jewish student with Nazi salutes and, separately, with a swastika made out of classroom blocks.
Meanwhile, at Ledbury Park Elementary and Middle School, a teacher has been removed for comparing vaccine passports to yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust.
Nearly identical letters were sent to parents at both schools this week outlining what had happened, expressing regret and promising to bring in Holocaust educators to teach about antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
Officials say the timing of these incidents is not surprising, as these symbols have been widely shared in the news and on social media—particularly now, with protests happening across Canada against vaccine mandates. Board spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz and Michael Levitt, president of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, join to discuss what the board's next steps are, after seeing a clear spike in antisemitism since the start of the school year.
What we talked about:
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode, "After the Alexandra Lulka fiasco, what’s next for Toronto’s school board?" at thecjn.ca
- Read the 2021 annual report by the Toronto District School Board's director at tdsb.on.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Pinchas Gutter has been one of Canada's most active Holocaust survivors. He's spent years educating Canadians about the genocide and what life was like for European Jews during the war. But these days, he's also on a different mission: raising awareness about the 1,200 poor Holocaust survivors living in the Toronto area who are, he says, in need of up to $12 million just to live out their final years in dignity and comfort.
There are approximately 10,000 survivors living in Canada; according to global statistics, about one in three lives in poverty. Despite receiving financial aid from the Claims Conference and other organizations, the survivors continue to struggle day to day.
Gutter now leads a committee for Jewish Family and Child Service that's dedicated to helping these survivors with emergency health needs, such as walkers, false teeth and hearing aids—all things Ontario's health care plan doesn't cover. He joins the show with Dori Eckstein, vice-president of the JF&CS committee, to discuss the initiative and a fundraising gala set for the spring.
What we talked about:
- To donate, visit jfandcs.com
- Read more about Pinchas Gutter at thecjn.ca
- Read about the Claims Conference programs in Canada at claimscon.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Ophira Calof is having a busy month. The 28-year-old Toronto-based actor, writer and curator will be judging entries for AccessCBC, the CBC’s new access project for filmmakers with disabilities; she's picking films and handling programming for the annual ReelAbilities film festival, screening at the Miles Nadal JCC; and she is, as always, advocating for the arts world to make room for creatives like her who have physical, mental or other disabilities.
To kick off Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month, Calof joins to discuss how Jewish institutions can become more aware of the realities faced by Jews who live with disabilities every day, and why she purposely chose to reclaim the word "crip" by naming her consulting company #CriptheScript.
What we talked about:
- To register for "An evening with Ophira Calof", visit kehillatbethisrael.com
- Watch Ophira Calof perform Me and My Wheelchair on YouTube
- Read about the CBC initiative at cbc.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Marc Grushcow has never waded into political protests before. But this year, ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Canadian retiree—and father of Rabbi Lisa Grushcow at Temple Emmanuel in Montreal —created a video aimed squarely at his country's athletes. He had hoped to convince them to not go to China, or at least forgo the opening ceremonies, in solidarity with the country's 12 million persecuted Muslim Uyghur people, including a million thought to be held in concentration camps.
But when he sent his video to the Athletes' Commission of the Canadian Olympic Committee, they declined to share it with the rest of Team Canada. They argued that athletes' attendance did not equate condoning genocide, boycotts aren't effective, in-person diplomacy is better, and speaking out may jeopardize the athletes' safety.
Grushcow's video is part of a growing protest movement organized, in part, by Jewish Canadians during the lead-up to the Beijing games. He and Phil Kretzmar, a friend and political activist in Ottawa, join The CJN Daily to discuss their mission and journey to raise awareness of the Uyghur genocide.
What we talked about:
- Watch "Message to Athletes - Don't Turn Your Backs On Us" on YouTube
- Watch Anthony Housefather's motion in Parliament on Facebook
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Just before Hitler rose to power, Isay Rottenberg, then living in Amsterdam, made an unusual move. Rather than flee the area, he moved to Germany, buying Europe's most modern cigar factory. In a move that branded him as a sort of reverse–Oskar Schindler, he employed 670 non-Jewish workers and grew his business profitably, refusing to move until the Nazi government forced him to sell his factory and threw him in prison.
Isay Rottenberg and his family survived the war, moving back to Amsterdam afterwards. But he never went public with his remarkable story. After he died, two of his granddaughters—both Dutch journalists—discovered the story and wrote a book about him.
Now, the book has finally been released in English in Canada, where some of his descendents now live. Robert Rotenberg, the author of a best-selling crime novel series, and his cousin Michael Levine, one of the country's most prominent book agents, have collaborated to bring the story of their relative’s cigar factory to the English-speaking world, and join The CJN Daily to talk about their journey.
What we talked about:
- Buy the book, The Cigar Factory of Isay Rottenberg: The Hidden History of a Jewish Entrepreneur in Nazi Germany, at wlupress.wlu.ca
- Find more work by Robert Rotenberg at robertrotenberg.com
- Join The CJN Circle at thecjn.ca/circle, and use promo code CJNDaily for $36 off
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Marci Surkes has been called the air traffic controller of the Prime Minister's Office. For the last two years, it's been her job to make sure all the cabinet ministers carried out their mandates and oversee which new laws got introduced to Parliament. She oversaw all major Liberal government policies, from the COVID-19 response to Truth and Reconciliation and everything related to Judaism and antisemitism.
That ended last week, after Marci Surkes stepped down as chief policy advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She had to, she says, for personal reasons—mostly because of demanding hours, pandemic stress and working six days a week. (She would take Shabbat off.)
Given her role in helping shape the prime minister's relationship with Canada's Jewish community, her departure will be felt in Ottawa and beyond. She joins The CJN Daily podcast to pull the curtain back on her time in the PMO, including her handiwork on last summer's antisemitism summit and how she handled Jewish organizations lobbying her on community issues.
What we talked about:
- Watch the prime minister's address in response to the truckers' protests on YouTube
- Read "Former Ajax mayor Steve Parish dropped as Ontario NDP candidate for defending a Nazi’s namesake street" at thecjn.ca
- Join The CJN circle at thecjn.ca/circle
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
This weekend, a convoy of protesters, including truckers and those opposed to mandatory vaccine passports, reached Ottawa after days of a cross-country tour from British Columbia to the capital. Parts of Canada's Jewish community agree with the protesters—however, their goodwill hit pause after scenes emerged of a swastika flag, among other racist emblems, waving from within the convoy.
The main spokesperson for the truckers is Benjamin Dichter, a Jewish activist from Toronto. When asked specifically about the swastika, he brushed the question off: "People troll, do stupid things, whatever. Who cares?"
Dichter couldn't be interviewed in time for this episode of The CJN Daily podcast—we hope to speak with him this week. Instead, today we'll hear from Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, who is sympathetic to the convoy's cause but livid about the displays of antisemitism, as well as Andrea Freedman, president of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.
What we talked about:
- Watch the trucker convoy's live stream on YouTube
- Watch the clip of the spokesperson's press conference on YouTube
- Learn more about the veteran Marvin Gord who walked miles for Baycrest at benjaminsparkmemorialchapel.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Emma Cunningham has been a volunteer with the New Democratic Party for several years, in several elections, at several levels. Even though she personally feels a little further left than the party at large, she knew she could find a home with the NDP as a progressive Jew. Until last week.
When the Ontario NDP nominated Steve Parish—the former mayor of Ajax, who lobbied to keep a local street named after a Nazi officer—to run in the upcoming provincial election, that was the last straw for Cunningham. Despite being the president of a neighbouring NDP riding association, she quit, taking to Twitter to call out the party for what she called "so many antisemitic incidents" she's encountered over the years.
While Parish has since apologized for offending Jewish people in Ontario and beyond, and Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath told The CJN she's working to stamp out antisemitism, that’s not good enough for Cunningham. She joins today to explain why.
What we talked about:
- Read "Ontario NDP under fire for nominating Steve Parish, the former Ajax mayor who supported naming a street after a Nazi officer" at thecjn.ca
- Watch the British Pathé video to learn more about Cpt. Hans Langsdorff on YouTube
- Watch the CBC Manitoba interview with Belle Jarniewski about the new Anne Frank book at cbc.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
A new national survey, released today, reveals troubling news about the state of Holocaust education in Canada. Conducted by Liberation75, the Canadian charity focused on Holocaust commemoration and education, the survey found that one in three Canadian kids think the Holocaust either didn't happen or was exaggerated, while nearly half don't know six million Jews were killed. And despite the wealth of free Holocaust education materials out there, many Canadian kids still learn about the Holocaust from social media, movies, TV, comics and video games.
That's why the authors are calling for provincial governments to make Holocaust education mandatory, trather than lumped in with world history and the Second World War.
Marilyn Sinclair, the founder of Liberation75, and Alexis Lerner, the survey's author, join to discuss their research and findings.
What we talked about:
- Read the full Liberation75 report at liberation75.org
- Watch The Tattooed Torah at iwitness.usc.edu/sites/tattooedtorah
- Sign the B'nai Brith petition to help figure out what happened to Raoul Wallenberg at bnaibrith.ca/justice-for-wallenberg
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Ashley Waxman Bakshi is an Israeli influencer with more than 300,000 followers on Instagram and another 200,000 on YouTube. Her fans typically subscribe for daily makeup tips, fashion advice and parenting stories of raising four kids. But lately, the Canadian-born social media star has been filling her feed with a different kind of content: pro-Israel videos.
Waxman Bakshi is part of a network of Israeli influencers selling more than beauty products and lifestyle aspirations. They're selling the State of Israel itself. She's part of a government-sponsored initiative known as 4IL, and its primary goal is to combat popular messaging they perceive as anti-Israel, especially related to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions community.
For Waxman Bakshi, that means adding pro-Israel and historical explainers to her usual mix of lifestyle vlogs. She believes that by banding together with other Israeli influencers, they can respond to public claims by, and media coverage of, loudly pro-Palestinian activist celebrities such as Bella Hadid and Emma Watson. She joins the show to explain.
What we talked about:
- Visit 4IL at 4il.org.il
- Follow Ashley Waxman Bakshi on Instagram @ashleywaxmanbakshi
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
When Louis Rasminsky was appointed to be governor of the Bank of Canada in 1961, he became the first Jew to hold such a high office in the history the Canadian public service—even though he’d previously been passed over for the job due to antisemitism, and wasn't even allowed to join Ottawa’s exclusive Rideau Club at the time, since it didn't accept Jews until 1964.
Canada's public service today is, of course, much more accepting of diversity. But there is still work to do. Antisemitic jokes are still made among colleagues in some departments, while Jews are not always invited to government-run anti-racism initiatives, such as one held by the Department of National Defence last fall.
These are the issues that preoccupy the Jewish Public Servants' Network, which recently held its first annual meeting on Zoom. The group boasts around 300 members, including Jonathon Greenberg of the CRTC; Kayla Estrin, a 30-year employee with Health Canada; and Artur Wilczynski, a former ambassador who now works at the Communications Security Establishment. All three join today to discuss their initiative and the intersection between Judaism and the public service.
What we talked about:
- Email the Jewish Public Servants' Network at jps.gc.fpj@gmail.com
- Read "A former Timmins Catholic school teacher’s licence was revoked due to his Holocaust denial and antisemitic lessons" at thecjn.ca
- Learn about #WeRemember at weremember.worldjewishcongress.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
January 23 is a big date for JSpaceCanada: with a large virtual conference, the progressive Jewish organization will mark its 10th anniversary, while also bidding goodbye to Karen Mock, who served as its president since 2016.
Mock, a veteran human rights campaigner and anti-racism educator, is now in her late 70s, and wanted to make way for younger blood to steer the ship—especially Jewish Canadians who love Israel and its values, but want to promote human rights on both sides of the conflict with Palestine. For JSpaceCanada, that means advocating for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank.
Mock joins today to discuss her legacy and her hopes for the future of the progressive Jewish movement.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about JSpaceCanada at jspacecanada.ca
- Watch The House of the Wannasee Conference on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Shortly after Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino learned about the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, his phone started buzzing with messages from Canadian Jewish community leaders. They wanted to make sure he saw what was happening—and also wanted to convey their concerns about copycat attacks at home.
In Canada, the Communities at Risk: Security Infrastructure Program (SIP) has existed for more than a decade, covering up to half the costs, to a maximum of $100,000, for security infrastructure upgrades to places of worship, community centres and religious schools. And while many synagogues have benefited from the program, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is pushing the Canadian government to refocus the program—or create new programs—for security personnel for the Jewish community.
While Mendicino didn't announce any new measures, he granted The CJN Daily an in-depth interview about how the government is responding to the American situation. That includes speeding up the process of getting funds into the hands of community leaders and considering expanding the program in the future.
What we talked about:
- Read "Outremont, Que., shuls receive federal security grant" at thecjn.ca
- Read CIJA's press release, "Hostages freed. Jewish community calls for more security", at cija.ca
- Learn about the U.K.'s Community Security Trust at cst.org.uk
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Six organizations representing Canadians rabbis across the country issued a strong statement condemning the United Church of Canada for its new proposal to adopt a harder stance against Israel.
The 23-page document, which took two years to draft, supports teaching about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and labels Israel and Palestine with the same settler-colonial framework applied to Indigenous Canadians and early British settlers. Plus, the church wants to not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
While this isn't the first time the United Church has upset Canadian Jewish leaders, it still caused outrage in the community. The mainstream Jewish organizations left it to rabbis to speak out this time, ahead of a vote in July that would see whether the church adopts the proposed policy.
We're joined by two rabbis—Reuven Poupko of Montreal and Baruch Frydman-Kohl of Toronto, who spearheaded the response letter—about why they were so upset about this proposal, and whether they think their reaction will do any good in this long-fractured relationship.
What we talked about:
- View the United Church's full proposal here (PDF)
- Read the rabbis' statement at torontoboardofrabbis.org
- Find Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's statement on Raoul Wallenberg Day at pm.gc.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Across Canada over the weekend, synagogues gatherered virtually to pray for the safety of the hostages at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. After an hours-long standoff between the FBI and an armed gunman, the situation ended with only the hostage-taker killed and all hostages safe.
Meanwhile, nervous Jewish community leaders across Canada got in touch with their local police forces, which promised to step up patrols around Jewish buildings for a while. And the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs says they want the federal government to give Canada’s Jewish communities more money to hire permanent security guards year-round, not just on the high holidays.
What impact does this latest attack on Jews have here in Canada? Will there be threats of copycats? Are our schools and shuls safe, as parents and administrators stay on high alert? Adam Cohen, a longtime security advisor in Montreal, joins to discuss.
What we talked about:
- Visit Adam Cohen's security firm at perceptage.com
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode "How safe are Canada’s Jewish institutions from attacks?" at thecjn.ca
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode "Canada’s Oldest Person: Cecile Klein marks 114 years" at thecjn.ca, and read Klein's obituary at paperman.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last August, Capt. Rabbi Arnold Noteh Glogauer made Canadian military history as the first Canadian Jewish chaplain to set sail with the Royal Canadian Navy. Aboard HMCS Winnipeg, he spent four months in and around the Pacific Ocean for manoeuvres off the Philippines, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Along the way, his patrol kept a lookout for ships smuggling fuel illegally to North Korea and provoked the wrath of the Chinese government by sailing through the disputed straits between China and Taiwan in support of Taipei's struggle against its powerhouse neighbour.
The Chabad rabbi has spent nearly five years as a military chaplain. Until last year, he exclusively served on land, but felt an urge to spend time at sea. He tried to minister to all 257 crew members, most of whom were Catholics and Protestants—though he did discover one sailor of Russian Jewish descent, and ended up coaching the man to study for a very belated bar mitzvah.
Now back on dry land with his family in Thornhill and celebrating his birthday, Rabbi Glogauer joins to share some seafaring stories and describe life on a navy warship.
What we talked about:
- Read "In the Navy: First Jewish chaplain aboard a warship seeks to build relationships" at thecjn.ca
- Watch the unveiling of a mosaic by the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, “Shine a Light on Antisemitism”, on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
As the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna plays a unique role. He isn't preaching much from the pulpit. Instead, he's more of a diplomat, building bridges with leaders in the United Arab Emirates and managing the country's sudden booming interest in Judaism.
After the Abraham Accords established peace between the UAE and Israel in 2020, Rabbi Sarna, who was born in Montreal and took over the volunteer position in the Arab state in 2019, emerged as a prominent figure. He's been involved in the country's Jewish community for more than a decade, visiting multiple times a year to help with a New York University campus in Abu Dhabi.
Rabbi Sarna joins today to discuss his work and why so many Western Jews are finding a warm welcome in the unlikely Muslim nation.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the film Amen Amen Amen at amenthefilm.com, or watch it at thirteen.org
- Read about the Abrahamic Family House at forhumanfraternity.org
- Listen to our past episode, "Meet the woman at the centre of Jewish life in Abu Dhabi: Canada’s ambassador", at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Two years ago, Israeli officials opened the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitors and Education Center—a building named after the former Canadian prime minister, who personally donated to and supported the centre. Funded in large part by Canadian philanthropists, the centre is the educational arm of a protected wetland area in the Upper Galilee and an important stopover for 500 million migratory birds.
But this year, a tragic outbreak has threatened the area's viability, forcing Israeli authorities to close the site for the foreseeable future. After what officials are calling the country's worst biodiversity event, an outbreak of avian flu has led to the deaths of up to 8,000 common cranes that usually winter in the park.
Israelis have been cleaning up the dead bird carcasses for study and incineration, hoping to better understand the risk and prevent another outbreak in the future. Yoav Perlman of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel joins to discuss the event and his group's plans for the future.
What we talked about:
- Follow the park's updates at facebook.com/AgamonKKL
- Read "The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel aims to revitalize wetlands" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last week, about 100 parents showed up at Yorkdale Mall to protest against the latest round of school closures imposed by the Ontario government. It might be the first time in Ontario, since the pandemic began, that many organized protesters are visibly observant Jews, including parents of students at Jewish day schools.
Ontario is unique in North America for keeping schools closed for so long—since the pandemic began, students have lost 27 weeks of in-person learning. Yet as virtual school continues, shopping malls such as Yorkdale have been allowed to continue operating, albeit with reduced capacity.
For some parents, this most recent shutdown was the last straw. Among those aggrieved parents is Aubrey Freedman, the organizer of the Yorkdale protests, who has young sons enrolled in Netivot HaTorah Day School. Freedman and her children join to discuss their motivations for protesting, their frustration with the province and what daily life is like in a house with four kids stuck at home.
What we talked about:
- Watch a clip of the Yorkdale protest on YouTube
- Learn about the back-to-school protests at backtoschoolontario.ca
- Read about the learn-in protest on Jan. 11 on Facebook
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
One of the most common new year's resolutions is losing weight. But it's also one of the most difficult—and the reason has less to do with willpower than with neurology.
Canadian journalist Mark Schatzker is the author of a new book, The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well. Schatzker travelled the world, talking to experts and reading scientific studies, to find out why people have a hard time with food cravings and keeping pounds off. The reason, he found, has to do with the way modern food is manufactured, packed with so many added sweeteners, vitamins and additives that our brains don't believe we're getting enough real calories and urge us to eat more.
Schatzker joins today to discuss his book and the important takeaways for anyone hoping to eat healthier in 2022.
What we talked about:
- Find the book at markschatzker.com
- Read "The list of Jewish community members named to the Order of Canada at the end of 2021" at thecjn.ca
- Read "Simkin Centre nursing home in Winnipeg slammed by COVID outbreak among staff" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last June, the American Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved aducanumab, marketed as Adulehm, to treat those suffering from early Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. It's the first drug in nearly 20 years to gain some kind of approval, even though other countries' health agencies, including Canada's, are still reviewing the data. There are concerns the drug causes brain bleeding and swelling, and may not be an effective treatment.
Nonetheless, it's a massive step forward for a disease that affects at least 44 million people worldwide, including 750,000 Canadians, with real patients taking the drug in clinical trials right now.
To mark January as Alzheimer's Awareness Month, we're joined by Sharon Cohen, a neurologist who runs Canada’s busiest memory clinic, in Toronto. Cohen's usually got more than a dozen research projects and clinical trials with different drugs and treatments on the go. She's hoping one of them—maybe aducanumab—will turn out to be the cure.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the Toronto Memory Program at torontomemoryprogram.com
- Register for Cohen's lecture on Jan. 26, 2022, here
- Read "Doctor provides hope to those who can’t remember" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
As Israel's new ambassador to Canada, Ronen Hoffman has only been in the country a few weeks. But his priority list is already long. He plans to fight antisemitism, counter the threat of global terrorism and forge new industrial and economic ties between Israel and Canada.
He steps into a post that's been vacant for two years. Partly because of the pandemic, and partly because of the chaos that has been Israeli politics for the past two years, Canada hasn't had an Israeli ambassador since Nimrod Barkan stepped down in 2019. Hoffman himself was appointed in the summer of 2021, but could only make it to Canada by Hanukkah.
Today, in an exclusive Canadian interview, Hoffman joins The CJN Daily from his office in Ottawa to discuss his goals and what makes him a perfect fit for his new job.
What we talked about:
- Read "Ronen Hoffman, the new ambassador of Israel, was welcomed to Canada alongside new U.S. ambassador David Cohen" at thecjn.ca
- Watch Hoffman's introductory video on Facebook
- See Hoffman's snowball-throwing form on Twitter
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Gary Kapelus is not a trained lyricist, but rather a retired speech-language pathologist and hospital administrator. But that hasn't stopped him from indulging in a pandemic passion project: writing COVID-themed parody songs since spring 2020.
He isn't a singer, so his music videos are simply popular musical tracks, often karaoke-style, with lyrics written atop a slideshow-style video. Sometimes he finds singers to record, like for "Mask Maker, Mask Maker" or "Breathing on a Jet Plane". But his most popular tracks are often politically barbed, even without vocals: "This Plan's Unsound," riffing on "Alberta Bound", digs into Premier Jason Kenney's government for its numerous failures during the pandemic.
Kapelus joins today to discuss his inspirations, goals and plans for the future, as well as his thoughts as Canada enters a new year—and a new wave of COVID cases.
What we talked about:
- Hear Kapelus's songs on his YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/Garyoct13, or follow him on Twitter @garykapelus
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode, "A rocket from Gaza hit his neighbours’ house. He ran inside to save them", at thecjn.ca
- Learn more about Robert Gasner's "Certificate of Appreciation" ceremony at kan-ashkelon.co.il
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In November, as Omicron emerged as the new dominant strain of COVID-19, York Region in Ontario appointed Dr. Barry Pakes as their new medical officer of health. The region covers nine urban centres and more than a million people, including Canada's densest Jewish community, in Thornhill. So the fact that Pakes is an Orthodox Jew who studied, in part, at a yeshiva, gives him a unique advantage to liaise with local Jewish institutions and organizations when discussing how to fight the pandemic.
While Hanukkah gatherings lead to outbreaks across the community, especially in schools that had to be closed, there are worries about large families that travelled over the holidays as skyrocketing statistics are defining Omicron's winter surge.
Pakes joins today to explain how the community can combat the virus, what to expect from the Omicron variant and what the new year looks like from a public health perspective.
What we talked about:
- Find a vaccination clinic in York Region at york.ca
- Read "COVID cases have kept rising at Jewish schools in York Region during November 2021" at thecjn.ca
- Listen to Barry Pakes discuss the pandemic in April 2021 on Bonjour Chai
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Quebec’s Bill 21, which bars public employees such as teachers and police officers from wearing religious symbols on the job, has been in place for more than two years already. But the recent reassignment of Fatemeh Anvari, the third-grade public school teacher who was removed from her post for wearing a hijab, escalated the issue to an entirely different level.
Until now, political leaders have equivocated on the issue for fear of angering Quebeckers ahead of the federal election. After Anvari's reassignment, that attitude has changed. Politicians from the prime minister to community and political leaders have, more loudly, spoken out against it for discriminating against Muslims, Sikhs and other minority groups—including religious Jews.
But the head of the Communauté sépharade unifiée du Québec—the province's association of Sephardic Jews—is worried about the impact all this newfound opposition from outsiders will have on Francophones, who largely support the bill. Jacques Saada, a former politician and cabinet minister in Paul Martin's government, joins to discuss why he personally opposes the bill, but believes the debate may fan the flames of separatism in Quebec.
What we talked about:
- Learn about CSUQ at csuq.org
- Watch the protests in support of Fatemeh Anvari on YouTube
- Read "Inside the uphill battle faced by opponents to Quebec’s Bill 21" on thecjn.ca
- Read CIJA's position at cija.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The term "lone soldier" refers to recruits in the Israel Defense Forces who have little or no family support systems in the Jewish state. Israel estimates there 6,000 lone soldiers currently active.
While it's impossible to say how many of those are Canadian, it's relatively common for Canadian high school graduates to head to the Holy Land for two years of military service, despite the known issues of occasional homesickness, language barriers, depression and even suicide. Elsewhere, some Canadian groups have argued that it's illegal for a foreign country to recruit soldiers on Canadian soil.
But none of that is preventing young Canadian Jews from signing up to defend the Jewish homeland. Today, we’ll hear from two veterans of the lone soldier program: Zach Brown, now working at an Israeli startup in Tel Aviv, and Rebecca Weiss, who finished her army duty a year ago, and is now studying at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
What we talked about:
- Read the Nefesh B'Nefesh brochure for parents of lone soldiers at nbn.org.il
- Read "How friendships and authentic Israel experiences shaped my Aliyah story" at thecjn.ca
- Read "Ambassador welcomes Canadian IDF Lone Soldiers" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In spring 2020, COVID-19 ripped though the Donald Berman Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal. The facility was understaffed and underprepared to begin with, and while it went into strict lockdown and the army was called in, 67 of its residents have since died from the pandemic.
The arrival of the vaccine, one year ago this month, was seen as a beacon of hope. This week, the centre hosted a party to celebrate that anniversary. Cards with the phrase "Celebrating our shot at a future without COVID-19" were on display. They brought out cookies and ballons, and a rabbi recited a memorial prayer for the dead. Camera crews were invited in to see how life at Maimonides is returning to normal as safely as possible.
But it's not clear they're prepared for the dangers Omicron could bring. Today, we're joined by Jennifer Clarke of Quebec's public health department and long-time patient advocate Beverly Spanier to discuss the realities facing long-term care homes coming into 2022.
What we talked about:
- Listen to the previous CJN Daily episode, "Counting the Jewish victims of COVID-19", at thecjn.ca
- Learn about the concert for flood relief at floodrelief.ca
- Read Jerry Kapelus's poetic funeral notice at steelesmemorialchapel.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Amazing Women of the Middle East is an 112-page illustrated children's book. It profiles 25 famous women, including historical figures such as Cleopatra and Nefertiti, and also modern-day heroines like human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.
What it doesn't include, however, is the State of Israel.
The book's colourful map of the Middle East removed any mention of the Jewish homeland, instead labelling the entire country as Palestine. The author is a Lebanese-born writer and translator who lives in England, and the is publisher is a Palestinian activist whose parents had a home in Jerusalem until 1948. Neither replied to The CJN's requests for comment by our podcast deadline.
After one Jewish family noticed the omission, which sparked outrage across social media, Canada's largest bookseller, Indigo, pulled the book from its shelves. Daniel Koren, the person who spotted the book and contacted Indigo directly, joins to discuss his impression and feelings about the issue.
What we talked about:
- Read Indigo's content policy at help.indigo.ca
- Watch the HMCS Winnipeg return at facebook.com/RoyalCanadianNavy
- Read "Indigo pulls pro-Hitler and Holocaust-denial books from virtual shelf" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
It's been a week since the Toronto District School Board held a meeting to vote on whether to censure Alexandra Lulka. The Jewish trustee spoke out about some teaching materials which she felt were antisemitic, and the board subsequently came down on her for failing to support other parts of those materials.
The board voted not to censure her, but there are still lingering questions about whether the experience of Jewish students, parents and trustees is understood at Canada's largest school board.
We're joined by two people who have been working behind the scenes with the TDSB to champion the Jewish side of the story and talk about next steps: Noah Shack, spokesperson for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and Michael Anthony, a Jewish teacher who's worked in the TDSB for 16 years.
What we talked about:
- Read about the TDSB's Student Equity Collective at tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Equity
- Read Alexandra Lulka's response to the attempted censure on Twitter
- Watch the Toronto Police's video of the suspect in the Sherman murders on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
This year, an unlikely Hanukkah party was held at the Canada Pavillion of Expo 2020 in Dubai. The emcee for the candlelighting and kosher dinner was Canada's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Marcy Grossman, a Montrealer who's spent the last three years in the Gulf state.
Grossman has found herself at the centre of Jewish life in the Arab country, embedding herself within a community of about 3,500 Jews—some of whom have literally come out of hiding, as the UAE fleshes out its new formal relationship with Israel, following the signing of the Abraham Accords.
Before she retires from her post in 2022, Grossman joins to discuss life in Dubai and how she feels feels more comfortable as a Jewish woman in the UAE than in many other parts of the world.
What we talked about:
- Read Marcy Grossman's bio at international.gc.ca
- Read her article, "Canada wishes the UAE well on its 50th anniversary", at thenationalnews.com
- Watch videos from the candlelighting ceremony on Instagram from @avivachernick and @marcygrossman
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman died on Saturday at the age of 88. Lastman made his fortune as a businessman before becoming mayor of North York for 25 years; after that, he was elected the first mayor of the amalgamated City of Toronto.
And while the colourful politician made headlines for some politically incorrect remarks while in office—and may have fathered two sons out of wedlock—Lastman's biggest legacy includes his staunch promotion of the city and his dedication to building up the suburban parts of the city.
Three colleagues and friends join to remember the former mayor. Journalist Sue-Ann Levy covered City Hall during Lastman's tenure; now-retired city councillor Norman Gardner was a close ally through their careers; and Rabbi Shmuel Spero is the rabbi at the Anshei Minsk synagogue in Kensington Market, where Lastman had his bar mitzvah.
What we talked about:
- Find Mel Lastman's funeral detals at benjaminsparkmemorialchapel.ca
- Read about the history of Lastman's Bad Boy, his furniture chain, at badboy.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On Wednesday evening, the Toronto District School Board held a lengthy meeting to take a vote over whether to censure trustee Alexandra Lulka. Lulka—who is Jewish—took to Twitter to voice her concerns over some teaching material being passed around by a pro-Palestinian teacher and activist. The materials linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government, and legitimized suicide bombings.
But while the TDSB staffer behind the inflammatory materials, Javier Dávila, was briefly suspended, Lulka's censure was more surprising—and caused widespread outrage across Toronto's Jewish community and provincial politicians.
The convoluted controversy came to a head at Wednesday's board meeting, where Lulka won the vote, other trustees criticized the debacle and one member asked aloud if the TDSB could get away with doing nothing at all.
What we talked about:
- Read the investigation report about Lulka here
- Read "Toronto school board trustee Alexandra Lulka criticized for calling out antisemitic teaching resources" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Ruth Wisse is the author of the new book, Free as a Jew: A Personal Memoir of National Self-Liberation. Its Canadian debut coincided with Jewish Book Month, hosted by the Jewish Public Library in Montreal. But the timing wasn't a coincidence.
Wisse, 85, has spent decades as a professor of Yiddish at Harvard, and pioneered the Jewish Studies graduate program at McGill. These days, her unabashed opinions, often conservative, target left-leaning Jews and what she believes is an over-emphasis on mourning the Holocaust, rather than celebrating Israel.
Wisse joins the show to discuss these topics and more in an expansive interview.
What we talked about:
- Watch Wisse's book launch on YouTube
- Find her book on simonandschuster.com
- Read "McGill celebrates 50 years of Jewish studies" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On Nov. 18, on a remote forest road in northern British Columbia, armed RCMP officers with police dogs and a chainsaw raided a cabin near the Coastal Gas Link pipeline project. They arrested about a dozen people, mostly members of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation who'd been blockading the main access road to the company's construction site.
But the police also arrested two journalists who were not members of the First Nation. One was Michael Toledano, a Canadian Jewish filmmaker who has been documenting the struggles of First Nations in B.C. for years. He was filming the Wet'suwet'en activists for a CBC documentary when the RCMP broke down the door.
Toledano's arrest made headlines across the country, and was condemned by the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Hot Docs film festival and other organizations and community leaders. He joins today to discuss his arrest, his family's legacy as partisans during the Second World War, and the role he believes Jewish Canadians have to play in the ongoing struggle for Indigenous people's land rights.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the Wet'suwet'en checkpoint at yintahaccess.com
- See Michael Toledano's work at michaeltoledano.net
- Read "Avery Seligman writes from the frontlines of the Fairy Creek blockade" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Nathalie Fortier is the postmistress of Disraeli, Quebec. She runs the only post office in town, which was named after Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister who was born Jewish, faced antisemitism and supported a homeland for Jews. As far as Fortier knows, there aren't any Jews living in Disraeli—and she had never heard of the namesake—until Canada Post approached her a couple of months ago, asking for Disraeli to become the first and only post office in the country with a special permanent Jewish postmark.
Released just in time for Hanukkah, the postmark shows four dreidels and a fully lit hanukkiah. And while it was only supposed to be available until the end of the holiday, like the miracle of oil that lasted longer than expected, the Disraeli postmaster loves the image so much, she's decided to continue and broaden the initiative.
Irv Osterer, an Ottawa-based graphic artist and stamp collector, designed the postmark, and joins today to share how he did it and what his hopes are for the future of this work.
What we talked about:
- Read about the postmark at canadianstampnews.com
- Learn how to receive a piece of mail with the postmark at canadapost-postescanada.ca (the address is Maitre de Poste, 210 rue St.- Joseph Est, Disraeli, Quebec, G0N 1E0)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
For years, "Hanukkah on the Hill" has been an annual in person event for Jewish Members of Parliament and politicians from all stripes, including the prime minister and leaders of the opposition. Hanukkiahs are lit, prayers are said, politics get set aside.
But things looked a little different this year. While some politicians got together in-person, including the organizers, Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and Ya'ara Saks, most others joined in virtually—including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, senators, judges, rabbis, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Irwin Cotler and well over 400 guests who lit their own hanukkiahs from the privacy of their homes.
If you missed it, you can hear highlights from the event on today's episode, including concerns over the growing threat of antisemitism nationwide and what Ottawa pledges to do about it in 2022.
What we talked about:
- Read about the "driftwood menorah" built on Bowen Island at bowenislandundercurrent.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last year, a combination of global lockdowns, uncertainty around COVID-19 and a lack of vaccines convinced many Canadian Jewish snowbirds not to take their annual trip south to Florida.
This year, it's a different story. With the vast majority of travellers double-vaccinated, and with Florida's per-capita case counts ranking among the lowest in the United States, it's being estimated that a majority of snowbirds are finally flocking back. Despite fears over the new Omicron variant, indoor events and holiday sales are luring people indoors, while eligible Canadians are already getting their booster shots to stay safe.
So what's life like for the sun-seekers? Is Florida safe again, or are these snowbirds ducking their heads in the sand? We speak with Sidney Margles, a Montrealer who's been coming to Florida for 21 years—but stayed away last year—who shares how he plans to stay safe this season.
What we talked about:
- Check out the Century Village East Reporter at cvereporter.com
- Watch a live-streamed video of what Deerfield Beach looks like at on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Prince Edward Island doesn't have a synagogue or rabbi. But now, exactly 120 years after Jews first began their continuous settlement on the island, the small but active Jewish community of a few dozen families celebrated their provinces's first-ever public Hanukkah ceremony in front of the provincial Legislative Assembly building in Charlottetown.
This is the building where the Fathers of Confederation first met to found Canada in 1864. In 2021, about 60 Jewish islanders showed up on the lawn to witness the historic lighting of a three-metre-tall hanukkiah and celebrate their culture.
Joseph Glass, one of the organizers of the event, joins to discuss how this came together and what makes his community unique. Plus, we hear a clip of Edmonton's candlelighting celebration, featuring NHL star and new Edmonton resident Zach Hyman.
What we talked about:
- Learn about PEI's Jewish community at theajc.ca
- Watch a video of Zach Hyman lighting Alberta's largest hannukiah on Twitter
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In the holiday aisle of certain supermarkets, next to the chocolate Maccabees and Star of David cookies, you can find a "Hanukkah house cookie kit". A Jewish cousin to the classic Christmas gingerbread house, the DIY craft-meets-treat trend has sprung up in recent years, seeming more prominent now than ever before.
And, it turns out, they're made in Canada. Their maker is Give & Go Prepared Foods, a pastry-producing corporation based in Ontario, whose CEO is Joel Flatt, son of the Canadian philanthropist couple Ab and Phyllis Flatt.
This holiday season, their cookie-cutter houses are being sold in the United States under different names for different outlets, including for Manischewitz. Is it another example of Hanukkah's descent into cheap commodification? Or a delightful way to feed holiday spirits and bellies? Ellin discusses with Blair Klayman, Give & Go's vice president of marketing and innovation.
What we talked about:
- Find Hanukkah houses at Publix in the U.S., and Manischewitz's version at manischewitz.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Michael Posner is known as the "King of Cohen". He spent $35,000 of his own money to travel the world researching Leonard Cohen, the Canadian Jewish poet legend—and only after the globetrotting and spending did a publisher agree to take Posner on.
Posner's biography of the late singer is coming out in three volumes. The first was released last November; the second, this month, almost five years to the day of his death in 2016. Posner has interviewed hundreds of people who knew and admired the troubadour in an effort to compile what is poised to be the definitive Cohen biography.
Posner joins today to discuss what he learned about Cohen, including the gritty details of Cohen's escapades, dalliances and inspirations.
What we talked about:
- Find the book at simonandschuster.com
- Visit Michael Posner's website at michaelposner.com
- Watch the performance of “Hallelujah” by Tamir Greenberg and Valerie Hamaty on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Aaron Levy was driving to Chiliwack, B.C., on a Saturday night when it started raining. Hard. There was so much water coming down, in fact, that he lost control of his car and had to call to get it towed.
Levy didn't realize at the time how the heavy rainfall he experienced was just a taste of the historic deluge that drowned out huge swaths of southern British Columbia, killing at least five people and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.
Although the situation has stabilized somewhat, the danger is not over. More heavy rain is forecast for B.C. later this week, and residents are still scrambling to recover their homes, stay safe and wrap their heads around the new normal climate. Levy is broadcasting as much critical information as he can from his radio station, CIVL, operating out of the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. He joins the show to describe what life has been like throughout this emergency.
What we talked about:
- Listen to CIVL at civl.ca
- Read the flood rescue sheet at the "fv flood help" Facebook group
- Learn the recipe for cheese latkes here
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Kurt Yaakov Tutter was born in Vienna in 1930. Eight years later, Nazi Germany annexed Austria. The Tutters escaped to Belgium, only for the Nazis to follow in 1940. Kurt's parents were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, while he and his five-year-old sister hid in an attic before being smuggled into an orphanage.
Austrians have long considered themselves Adolf Hitler's first victims, and it took the Austrian government 50 years to admit its complicity in rounding up, deporting and killing Austria’s Jews. Kurt Tutter played one small but critical role in that transition.
On Nov. 9, 2021—the anniversary of Kristallnacht—the country finally unveiled a new memorial to the country's Jewish Holocaust victims. The Wall of Names in Vienna features 64,440 names engraved on slabs of granite, and was spearheaded by an organization Tutter founded more than 20 years ago, in May 2000.
Having recently returned from the inauguration in Austria, Tutter—now 91—joins the show to discuss his years-long effort, the rise of antisemitism in Austria and his hopes and fears for the monument for which he spent more than two decades fighting.
What we talked about:
- Watch the full unveiling of the Wall of Names on YouTube
- Browse the Austrian Holocaust victims database at doew.at
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Canada’s 44th Parliament is set to resume Monday at 1 p.m. In it are eight Jewish MPs, including two relatively new faces—Ya'ara Saks, the Liberal representative for York Centre, elected in a 2020 byelection; and Melissa Lantsman, the rookie Conservative just elected by the voters of Thornhill.
Both will be sitting for the first time in the House of Commons—Saks has only Zoomed into meetings so far—and, while they sit on opposite ends of the aisle, both women are proudly Jewish, with similar plans for tackling antisemitism, addressing the nation's high cost of living and hanging a mezuzah on their office doors.
Saks and Lantsman join to give us an insight look at what's going to happen Monday afternoon, where they disagree and where they share common goals.
What we talked about:
- Visit Ya'ara Saks' website at yaarasaks.liberal.ca
- Visit Melissa Lantsman's website at melissalantsman.ca
- Learn about the flood relief plan by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver at jewishvancouver.com/bcflood
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Thanks to the Netflix action film The Red Sea Diving Resort, many people have heard of Operation Moses, when Israel rescued 30 planeloads of Ethiopian refugees, bringing them to the Holy Land. That covert operation launched almost exactly 37 years ago.
But even earlier, another secret mission took place to save several hundred Ethiopian Jews, which brought them not to the shores of the Mediterranean, but the banks of the St. Lawrence River.
In the early 1980s, a group of Montrealers decided to do what the Israel government had still only been planning. The group of lawyers, social workers and students teamed up with Quebec politicians, Brian Mulroney and Steven Lewis, arranging visas by forging fake university acceptance letters, made-up job offers and bogus wedding invitations. Ultimately, they helped between 200 and 300 Ethiopians reach Canadian soil.
Now, more than 40 years later, an American museum is sharing this story more widely. It tells the story from the perspective of one of the main operatives, Mark Zarecki, who joins us today to discuss the rescue mission that deserves its own Hollywood movie—but never got one.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the museum exhibit featuring Mark Zarecki at pritzkermilitary.org
- Read about Operation Moses at mfa.gov.il
- Watch "Sterlin Castle: The Story behind RCR Lt. Mitch Sterlin's Gallantry in Italy in WWll by Ellin Bessner" on YouTube on Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. EST
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
After years of relative stability and the election of a prime minister who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, Ethiopia has been mired in domestic warfare since November 2020. Sparked by postponed elections and the COVID-19 pandemic, the war sees the Ethiopian government facing off against rural militias, separatist groups and a paramilitary organization slowly advancing across the entire country.
This leaves the nation's remaining Jews trapped and scared. So advocates are looking to Israel for help evacuating the country's Jewish populace, echoing Operation Moses from the 1980s and Operation Solomon from 1991, which brought thousands of Ethiopian Jews to the Holy Land.
One of those advocates is Yaffa Tegegne. The Montreal-based lawyer is the daughter of Baruch Tegegne, the famous activist who spearheaded the campaign to save Ethiopia's Jews. Tegegne joins to discuss her parents' legacy, the people he saved and what Canadians need to know about the Ethiopian Jews trapped in the current conflict.
What we talked about:
- Visit Tegegne's website at yaffategegne.com, and read her short biography of her father at yaffategegne.com/baruch-tegegne
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode, "At 13, he got an Apple Watch. At 14, he built a daily prayer app for it" at thecjn.ca/kid-genius.
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The debut NHL season for the Seattle Kraken has not been kind. They've won just four games so far, losing 10 and tying one. They rank last in their division, and have slunk near the bottom of the entire league. One of the few bright moments, however, came at the expense of the Montreal Canadiens—the Kraken beat the Habs 5-1 in their first-ever franchise victory.
It was a bittersweet moment for Mitch Garber, who watched the historic game from the owners' box in Seattle. Garber—a lawyer, businessman, investor and respected philanthropist in his native Montreal—is a minority owner of the upstart hockey squad, and now finds himself making monthly trips to the West Coast to support his new team.
Garber joins to discuss his involvement with the Kraken, the connection between Judaism and hockey, and how he torn feels when his new Kraken kids face off against his beloved Canadiens.
What we talked about:
- Visit Mitch Garber's website at mitchgarberinvestments.com
- Read "This graffiti was found outside the Elgin Street courthouse in Ottawa" at thecjn.ca
- To hear the full interview, subscribe to Menschwarmers at thecjn.ca/menschwarmers
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The major international climate conference COP26 wrapped up this weekend. Canadians, now accustomed to seeing headlines about B.C.'s heat dome, wildfires in Northern Ontario and Alberta, melting Arctic ice and irregular farming seasons across the country, have much at stake in the conversation about climate change.
The conference produced some worthwhile promises, but the question remains: Will they be enough? Will Canadians' actions matter on a global scale? And how can the country transition out of fossil fuels when those industries are still pivotal to our economy?
To discuss these issues and more, we're joined by Seth Klein, an analyst, professor and the head of the climate emergency unit of the David Suzuki Foundation. Like his sister, Naomi Klein, he's also a published author, with his book, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, published Sept. 2020.
What we talked about:
- Visit Seth Klein's webiste at sethklein.ca and find his book at ecwpress.com
- See the new menorah created by Ari Harel for Halifax’s Shaar Shalom Synagogue on Facebook
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Jules Freedman, Max Sucharov and Archie Adelman have a few things in common. All three served in the Canadian military; all three were killed in 1944; all three were Jews. But history would bind them together in a different way, too: for decades, on each of their gravestones in the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery in Normandy, France, was not a Jewish Star of David, but a Christian cross.
It took six months and several emails and calls flying between The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Martin Sugarman, the archivist for the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, in London, England—but, eventually, the error was corrected. Today, all three tombstones bear the proper Star of David, cementing their legacy as Canadian Jewish war heroes.
Sugarman joins the show to discuss how the mistake was made and how it was resolved. Sugarman has made it his personal mission to find incorrect or missing Jewish soldiers' graves around the world and fix any errors. He's helped 200 fallen soldiers over 30 years so far—and is still working on more.
What we talked about:
- Watch the WW2TV episode with Ellin leading a virtual tour of Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery on YouTube
- Read "Britain to replace crosses for 3 Jewish Canadians killed in WWII" at ellinbessner.com
- Watch the ceremony of Lawrence MacAulay awarding the Veterans Affairs Canada Commendation medal to the late Rabbi Reuven Bulka of Ottawa on YouTube
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
After 9/11, Canada sent 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. One of those was Tamar Freeman. She spent 25 years in the military, including a deployment in 2006 to the Central Asian country, where she treated Canadian troops and Afghan women and children who suffered burns and abuse.
When she arrived, insurgents were setting off roadside bombs; while Taliban rockets were routinely killing Western soliders. She lost friends and colleagues in the half-year she spent there, and endured strange looks from Afghan nationals who were surprised to see a short, blonde-haired female soldier—and they didn't even know she was Jewish.
Coming up, to help mark Remembrance Day, Freeman joins to recall her experiences as a Jewish soldier in Canada’s last war, how she marked the Jewish holidays in Afghanistan and why watching the Taliban retake the country has been so sad and frustrating.
What we talked about:
- Listen to "Shalom chaverim" played on Parliament Hill Nov. 11, beginning 11:45 a.m. EST, at ourcommons.ca
- Learn about the film featuring Tamar Freeman, Sisters in Arms, at sistersinarms.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On this week 73 years ago, Israel officially enacted a law recognizing its new national flag: the classic blue-and-white Star of David we recognize today.
Ever since, the Israeli flag has evoked pride and a sense of belonging for Israelis and most Jews in the diaspora. But it has also, increasingly in recent years, become a geopolitical lightning rod, burned by opponents of Israel in the Middle East and smeared by anti-Zionist protesters around the world.
How would the flag's designers react to this controversy today? Did they know how powerful the symbol would become? And why did they choose that final design to symbolize the State of Israel?
To help answer these questions, we're joined by historian and collector David Matlow, who pens the recurring Treasure Trove column for The CJN.
What we talked about:
- Be one of the first 50 people to email David Matlow through his website, herzlcollection.com, to receive a special envelope with the first day cover stamp
- Listen to "Meet the family doctor personally vaccinating hundreds of Ottawans" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
As the Canada-U.S. land border reopens today, officials are expecting it will be busy. Canadian snowbirds will begin their annual migration south to places like Florida and Arizona, but government restrictions and social distancing regulations will inevitably slow things down, and traveller hesitance will prevent numbers from reaching pre-pandemic levels for some time.
Add the cost of travel insurance and expensive COVID-19 tests required by the Canadian government to return, plus the tests your destination country needs—not just for vaccinated adults, but unvaccinated children as well. It adds up.
To discuss these issues and more, we're joined by three Jewish travel agents: Dinah Reich-Kuttner, from El Al's Canadian office; Jay Mandelker, a senior travel advisor with YYZ Travel; and Neal Chark, a senior travel advisor and sports tourism expert with Uniglobe Carefree Travel Group in Vancouver.
What we talked about:
- Visit the agents' websites at yyztravel.com, uniglobecarefreetravel.com and elal.com/en/Canada
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Saul Rubinek has had a prolific career dating back to the 1960s. He's acted at the highest echelons of Canadian theatre, enjoyed stints on popular sitcoms like Warehouse 13 and Frasier, and played supporting roles in classic films such as Unforgiven, True Romance and The Trotsky.
Coming off some of his most visibly Jewish roles—a main character in Amazon's Hunters, about Nazi hunters in the 1970s, and guest spots on Jewish shows Schitt's Creek and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel—the veteran actor, now in his 70s, is taking on a more personal project. He's diving into his family history with a new play he wrote, called All in the Telling, which dissects how the Holocaust affected his family—starting with his parents, who are both Polish survivors.
Until he can get it produced in a theatre after the pandemic fades away, Rubinek is previewing parts of it himself, for Canadians for the first time, at a virtual Kristallnacht memorial event being put on by the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship in Ottawa. He joins today to discuss his inspiration and process in telling this delicate story for the first time.
What we talked about:
- Register for the Ottawa event, "All in the Telling," at chesatottawa.ca
- Buy So Many Miracles on Amazon and watch the documentary on Vimeo
- Learn more about Time For My Story at timeformystory.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
At age 17, Doris Grinspun moved to Israel, where she enrolled in nursing school in Jerusalem. When the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973, even though she was still a student, Grinspun was thrown into action anyway, caring for wounded Israeli soldiers in the burn unit. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor who fled to Chile during the war—where she was born and raised—Grinspun was no stranger to generational trauma.
Now, she's working on the frontlines of a different war: against COVID-19 and anti-vax misinformation, and alongside thousands of nurses whose industry has reached a breaking point.
As head of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, a lobby group representing Ontario's 45,000 nurses, Grinspun advises Premier Doug Ford frequently and has handled, by her count, more than 8,000 media requests about the pandemic.
She joins today to share a glimpse into the dire situation facing Ontario's health care system, including an exodus of nurses fleeing to the United States for higher wages and what she fears is a too-fast economic reopening.
What we talked about:
- Visit the RNAO website at rnao.ca
- Read Grinspun's blog at doris-blog.rnao.ca
- See the obituary notice for Rabbi Mordechai Glick at dignitymemorial.com
- Learn more about Time For My Story at timeformystory.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Steven Levitt isn't the first Jew to compete in CBC TV's reality competition, The Great Canadian Baking Show. But he is the only one this season. And so far, he's proven to be a pretty smart cookie, surviving the show's first three weeks. That he won a couple competitions along the way is just the icing on the cake.
Not that he's been able to to brag about it—until now. He and his rivals were whisked off to a secret location this past summer for eight weeks of filming, where judges separated the wheat from the chaff and voted off the least-deserving muffin makers.
But now that the show is airing, the tattooed, motorcycle-riding Jewish dad is free to break bread with The CJN Daily. How did he transform his pie-in-the-sky dream of pro baking into sweet reality? He gives us the straight answers—no sugarcoating.
What we talked about:
- Watch the show at cbc.ca/life/greatcanadianbakingshow
- Learn Steven's recipe for chai pound cake at cbc.ca
- Donate to Sam Tenebaum's marathon fundraiser at fundraisers.hakuapp.com/sam-tenenbaum
- Get your free consultation from www.timeformystory.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Today marks The CJN Daily's 100th episode: a significant milestone for any podcast, but especially one exclusively covering Canadian Jewish issues on a daily basis.
We’ve reported on Canada's Wacky Mac shortage, the 2021 war between Israel and Hamas, the anniversary of the MS St. Louis, Canada's first summit on antisemitism and dozens more topics that matter to Canadian Jews.
The CJN Daily really is what Jewish Canada sounds like.
On this special anniversary episode, we've invited other hosts from The CJN Podcast Network for a podcast party bonanza. Join the voices behind Bonjour Chai, Yehupetzville, Menschwarmers and Rivkush—together for the first time—to discuss what it's like being storytellers with Canada's biggest Jewish podcast community.
What we talked about:
- Listen to all The CJN's podcasts at thecjn.ca/podcasts
- Learn more about Time For My Story at timeformystory.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
If horror films ever have religious themes, they’re almost always Christian ones: good and evil, exorcisms, crosses and vampires, satanic cults. But as Halloween approaches, a Jewish horror-aficionado power couple is arguing that should change.
Canadian horror writer Ariel Fisher and her husband, Jonathan Barkan, believe Jews have been reluctant to mine their real-life horrific experiences for artistic expression in the horror genre. In reality, Jews have suffered centuries of trauma that could well fuel its own subgenre.
Fisher, who was born in Thornhill and now lives with her American-born husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan, join today to explore why Jewish horror stories have been so rare—and how they think it could change.
What we talked about:
- Learn about Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary, an upcoming film by Jonathan Barkan, at mentalhealthhorrordoc.com
- Follow Ariel Fisher, managing editor of the horror magazine Fangoria, on Twitter @Afis8
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In the spring of 1944, Eva Olsson's family—along with the rest of her town’s Jewish population—was deported to Auschwitz. Her parents were killed, along with her brothers and all but one sister.
A year later, after being moved to Bergen-Belsen, Olsson wound up liberated as the war ended, and subsequently moved to Sweden, where she met and married a Swedish man. The family ended up moving to Canada after that, where Olsson stayed silent about her wartime experience for 50 years—until a grandchild asked her to speak at their school.
That was 25 years ago. Today, Olsson estimates she's shared her life story with nearly two million students, as she's become one of Canada's most recognizable and vocal survivors. She’s written a memoir, been the subject of a short documentary and has received an honorary doctorate.
And this week, Olsson had to fit a special event into her busy speaking calendar. On Oct. 28, 2021—her 97th birthday—she's being honoured in an online event arranged by her neighbours in Bracebridge, Ont., together with Yad Vashem’s in Jerusalem.
Olsson joins today to share her story and offer advice on how to combat rising hate, Holocaust denial and antisemitism.
What we talked about:
- Watch a short documentary about Eva Olsson, "Stronger Than Fire", on YouTube
- Read "Karina Gould’s new role comes with her new status as the only Jewish minister in Canada’s new federal cabinet" at thecjn.ca
- Read "Yad Vashem marks the birthday of prolific Holocaust speaker Eva Olsson, who lives in Muskoka at age 97" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Tova Moradi is in her late 70s. After the Taliban came to power and threatened to stone her, one of the last remaining Jews in Afghanistan, she knew she had to leave the country.
Weeks ago, a joint Canadian-Israeli rescue mission snuck Moradi and some of her extended family out of the country. But even though it happened weeks ago, details are only now being released, since Moradi and her family have landed safely in a Middle Eastern country on Oct. 25. That means four of Moradi's children, who live in Canada, can sleep a little easier.
But the story doesn't end there. The rescue mission got them out, but the next step remains a mystery: Where will they end up? Moradi and other family members are hoping it will be Canada, but that's not a sure bet.
On today's episode, we're joined by Joseph Friedberg, the man at the centre of the rescue operation, as well as Moradi's daughter Korsheid.
What we talked about:
- Read "Another plane load of women from Afghanistan now safe after second Canadian-Israeli rescue" at thecjn.ca
- To learn more about the Box Jump Challenge for Stevie Schwartzberg, visit familialdysautonomia.org
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Back in the 1990s, after directing Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg kickstarted a global effort to film the testimony of as many Holocuast survivors as possible. Teams of interviewers were sent out to film survivors in the U.S., Israel, Canada and beyond.
Today, more than 50,000 videos sit in the archives of Spielberg's Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California. It has become the world's largest collection of Holocaust and genocide survivor testimonies, all freely accessible to schools and researchers.
In 2018, years after the project wrapped up, the foundation's organizers renewed their efforts to speak with people who didn't participate the first time—not just survivors of the European concentration camps, but also Russians, North Africans, hidden children, children from displaced-person camps, war veterans and others. It's called the Last Chance Testimony Collection.
It's taken time to track down people to speak with, and organizers now have a waitlist of hundreds of people. The Canadian branch just launched yesterday, with officials from the California-based institution joining members of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and Liberation75 for an online event.
We're joined today by Marilyn Sinclair, herself the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, who's running the Last Chance Collection in Canada.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the Last Chance Collection in Canada at liberation75.org/testimony
- Watch Pinchas Gutter's testiomony for the USC Shoah Foundation on YouTube
- Browse the USC Shoah Foundation's existing Canadian testimonials online at iwitness.usc.edu/register
- Register for "The Cattle Car: Stepping In and Out of Darkness at Trinity Bellwoods Park" at eventbrite.ca
- Read "Holocaust survivors’ testimonies get digitally preserved" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The Atlantic Jewish Council is unique in North America, as the only federation that deals with Jews who live in different cities—even across provincial borders. The organization represents an estimated 4,000 Jews who live in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
And this month, its executive director, Naomi Rosenfeld, is leaving her post after five years in the job. She and her husband are expecting their first child in November, and the couple has decided to leave Halifax and move back to their native Toronto, so they can be close to their extended families.
Rosenfeld joins today to explain her reasoning, how she feels about the move, her legacy, and the future of Atlantic Canada's Jewish community.
What we talked about:
- Read the letter announcing Rosenfeld's departure
- View the job posting at theajc.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
When hostilities broke out in May between Israel and Hamas, 13 Israelis were killed and more than 300 others were wounded. Staff from OneFamily, an Israeli charity with strong Canadian roots, which offers support to terror victims in Israel, swung into action, visiting hospitals and figuring out what resources were needed.
It’s been this way for 20 years, over which time their annual hike across Israel—happening this week, spearheaded by the charity's Canadian branch—has become a signature event. This year, hikers are hoping to raise $300,000 as they trek the hills of the Ein Gedi nature reserve with some victims of terrorism and their families.
It’s a smaller group than usual, with just 29 Canadians and a couple of Americans, due to the pandemic. However, as usual, the hike still brings the charity's volunteers face-to-face with the Israeli families supported by their efforts and donations. They tackle the terrain together—even if some of the hikers are in wheelchairs.
OneFamily supporters Bruce Cowley and Robyn Mirsky join today, along with the organization's executive director, Toby Rosner.
What we talked about:
- Read more about Lt. Daniel Mandel at daniel-mandel.co.il
- Learn about the OneFamily Fund at onefamilyfund.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On Oct. 17, at the Canadian Jewish Literary Awards, Montrealer Sigal Samuel won an award for her new children’s book, Osnat and Her Dove: The True Story of the World's First Female Rabbi. It tells the real-life story Osnat Barzani, a Kurdish-Jewish scholar who lived about 400 years ago in Mosul—and had an unconventional upbringing.
Barzani's father ran a yeshiva, but didn’t have sons to share his knowledge with. Instead of forcing his daughter to do chores and get married young, he taught her Torah, the Talmud, midrash, Kabbalah and Hebrew, leading Barzani to eventually become the head of her father’s yeshiva.
Sigal Samuel could empathize with Barzani's story: her Orthodox father also taught her Jewish studies, although despite her training, she didn't become a rabbi. The author and journalist's first novel The Mystics of Mile End also won a Canadian Jewish Literary Award in 2016.
Samuel joins today with Rabbi Lila Kagedan, the first-ever Canadian born Orthodox female rabbi, to discuss Barzani's life and its implications for women rabbis centuries later.
What we talked about:
- Buy Osnat and Her Dove at levinequerido.com/osnat-and-her-dove
- Read: "Canadian Yeshivat Maharat graduate hired by Orthodox synagogue" (thecjn.ca, 2016)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Over the past few weeks, Canadian grocery stores in Jewish neighbourhoods have been ravaged by a bizarre calamity: they're all out of Wacky Mac. From Kosher Quality in Montreal to Savours in Toronto to the Sobeys on Taylor in Winnipeg, Wacky Mac—a kosher staple for families craving macaroni and cheese—has completely disappeared from store shelves.
The cheese-powder drought has led Jewish Canadians to social media, where eager shoppers are hunting down the country's few remaining boxes, while others sit clueless as to where all the funny-shaped pastas have vanished.
On today's episode, we’ll hear from one Canadian woman who's been trying to get to the bottom of the Wacky Mac shortage, as well as a few kosher grocers who are going to extraordinary lengths to get their hands on as much of the cheddar treat as possible.
What we talked about:
- Visit the Wacky Mac website at wackymac.com
- Find Wacky Mac in Toronto at savoursonline.ca
- See the winners of the 2021 Canadian Jewish Literary Awards at cjlawards.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On Oct. 2, a plane of Afghan refugees touched down in Albania after a five-day journey. The group included 120 women—police officers, judges, cyclists and others.
It's the second effort coordinated by Israel's largest relief agency, IsraAID, along with Canadian-Israeli businessman Sylvan Adams and a few friendly Arab countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, to rescue Afghan refugees from the Taliban's recent takeover.
Today, Adams is flying to Albania to meet with the refugees, who are being kept in a local hotel as they await a decision by the Canadian government over whether or not they can make it onto Canadian soil. And that's become a sticking point in this whole operation: rescuers, including the people at IsraAID, are growing increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of Canadian immigration bureaucracy—which they say is preventing them from saving even more Afghans.
Yotam Polizer, the CEO of IsraAID, joins today to discuss his concern with the Canadian government and tell the inside story of how they got this latest group out of the fragile Central Asian country.
What we talked about:
- Listen: "How billionaire Sylvan Adams helped rescue Afghanistan’s women cyclists" (thecjn.ca)
- Read: "Canadian Jewish community eager to help Afghan refugees; private sponsorships are on hold for now" (thecjn.ca)
- Watch: "How Jews and Arabs worked together to pull off an impossible rescue mission" (cnn.com)
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The latest Apple Watch is being released worldwide this week. With it, you can monitor your blood oxygen levels, send emails, wear it while swimming—and, thanks to a high school student in Toronto, you can also use it to help recite your daily Jewish prayers.
The new free app, called WatchSiddur, shows you which prayers to read each day and at what times, so you don't have to carry around a physical book all day. It was created by Eitan Steinfeld, a 14-year-old student at CHAT in Thornhill, Ont., who taught himself how to code during the pandemic. Inspired by the Apple Watch his grandmother gave him for his bar mitzvah, Steinfeld set out to create the world's first free daily siddur app for the platform.
Steinfeld joins today to discuss his project and what it took to build.
What we talked about:
- Download WatchSiddur from the Apple App Store
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In the recent election, David Freiheit stood out as arguably the most popular candidate running for the People's Party of Canada—apart from its leader, Maxime Bernier. The Montreal-based lawyer spends most of his days recording YouTube videos for his more than 400,000 fans across YouTube, Twitter and other social platforms, who know him as "Viva Frei".
These days, in his videos, when Freiheit isn't commenting on prominent legal cases in his videos, he's arguing against vaccine mandates, lockdowns and elected politicians. He’s called Ontario Premier Doug Ford a fascist and despises Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On his show, he hosts controversial right-wing speakers such as Robert Barnes and notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Offline, Canadians might recognize Freiheit from his purple campaign signs erected around Montreal’s Westmount and NDG areas this past fall. He was the PPC candidate for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, a riding long held by Liberal cabinet minister Marc Garneau.
Today, Freiheit joins to discuss why he decided to jump into politics, how he feels about winning around 1,500 votes and what he sees as the future of the PPC, which drew more than 800,000 votes nationwide.
What we talked about:
- Watch Viva Frei's videos at youtube.com/c/VivaFrei
- Register for Leonard Cohen’s 5th yahrzeit lecture with Rabbi Aubrey Glazer here
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On Oct. 6, in a downtown park in Toronto, a ceremony was held to unveil a new plaque commemorating the Phillips garment factory fire of 1950.
The plaque was installed near the site where 9 people were killed more than 70 years ago. Among the victims was the factory’s owner, Phillip Chikofsky. His 18-year-old son, Sidney, managed to escape—but ran back inside to help, and ended up dying as well, along with 7 other workers, including recent Jewish immigrants who had survived the Holocaust.
The recent public ceremony was meant to help bring some closure to the families, but it also brought out the long-held private anguish, which both the workers' families and the owner's family carry with them to this day.
What we talked about:
- Donate to Threads of Life at threadsoflife.ca
- Read "City of Toronto to memorialize Phillips garment factory fire of 1950" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last week, Israel's prime minister, Naftali Bennett, made his debut on the world stage at the United Nations General Assembly. Bennett has just passed the 100-day mark of his administration, after his coalition came together in June.
How has Bennett's government fared in those hundred-odd days? Canada's former ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, would give the new team an A if she were writing their report card.
Bercovici was a lawyer in Toronto when Stephen Harper appointed her as Canada's ambassador to Tel Aviv in 2014. She was let go just over two years later, after Justin Trudeau took office. (Her lawsuit against the Liberal government over her termination was settled earlier this year, but a non-disclosure agreement prevents her from speaking about it.)
Despite losing that job, Bercovici remained in Israel, where she continues to work as a business consultant, public speaker and writer. She joins today to discuss her thoughts about Canada’s relationship with Israel, the ongoing controversy over the U.S. funding the Iron Dome, how Israel has handled the pandemic and more.
What we talked about:
- Follow Vivian Bercovici on Twitter at @VivianBercovici
- Read: "Bercovici seeks to add PMO chief of staff to lawsuit" (thecjn.ca)
- Watch the short documentary Periphery on Vimeo
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Canada's estimated 9,000 Jewish post-secondary students have been back at school for barely more than a month—and while things are quieter so far, the culture of rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment has not gone away.
Just this summer, a student living in a residence dorm at the University of British Columbia had her mezuzah damaged twice, resulting in the police getting called in. A Muslim students' club at the University of Western Ontario demanded the school ban all pro-Israel clubs and Zionist rhetoric from campus. And just last week, members of York University's student union arranged for a training workshop on antisemitism—but scheduled it on a Jewish holiday, conducted by a pro-BDS organization.
So what kind of reality are Jewish students facing these days? To understand what life is like on the ground, we're joined by two graduate students and activists, Chaim Katz of Calgary and Rachel Dadouch of Toronto,m who are organizing events and fighting for Jewish pride on campus.
What we talked about:
- Read: "York University’s student union had a pro-BDS group talk to them about antisemitism" (thecjn.ca)
- Read: "Pavilions of Promise: Israel and the Zionist Movement at World’s Fairs—watch it Wednesday" (thecjn.ca)
- Find Hillel Ontario's "Joint Statement of Solidarity with Jewish Students"
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The Abraham Global Peace Initiative is a new human rights think tank founded by Avi Benlolo. And If Benlolo’s name sounds familiar, it may be because he’s a prolific writer and commentator about Israel and Jewish issues, including antisemitism and the Holocaust. Benlolo spent two decades as head of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, until his sudden departure in the summer of 2020.
His latest venture is the AGPI, and his supporters include prominent Canadian leaders, including Ed Sonshine, Paul Godfrey, Jerry Grafstein, Holocaust suvivor Max Eisen and politicians Bill Blair and Stockwell Day.
This week, Benlolo plans to bring his venture to the United Nations, where he’s launching his think tank on the international scene and handing out an award in human rights to Canada’s Ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae.
While Benlolo says that, in the fight against antisemitism, existing Canadian Jewish groups—including his former employer—have a role to play, he feels their approaches aren’t working. He believes it's time to try a new method to tackle the scary state of the world.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the Abraham Global Peace Initiative at agpi.ca
- Read about the second Canadian-Israeli Afghanistan rescue story at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Bradley Okrant grew up in the heavily Jewish community of Thornhill, Ont. Ten years ago, after graduating high school, he was accepted to college in Thunder Bay. Within weeks of arriving, he met Danelle Clark, a First Nations woman. At first, she didn’t know he was Jewish—and he thought she was Asian.
Nonetheless, they've been together ever since. The Okrants live in Danelle's hometown of Beardmore, a community in Northern Ontario of 250 people, two hours north of Thunder Bay. It's not always easy being the only Jew in town, but Bradley makes it work.
Today, for Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the couple joins to discuss their lives, what they've learned about each other's cultures and why they'll be wearing orange shirts for Orange Shirt Day.
We want to acknowledge that this podcast is made on the traditional territories of the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe peoples, whose presence here continues to this day. I also would like to acknowledge the land I make this podcast on is at the meeting place of two treaties, the lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit and those of the First Nations of the Williams Treaty. We thank them and other Indigenous peoples for sharing this land with us.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at canada.ca
- Learn about the meaning behind Orange Shirt Day at orangeshirtday.org
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode featuring Carol Wylie, who paints survivors of the Holocaust and residential school system, at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
You might remember the fanfare back in the fall of 2017, when Canada’s Holocaust memorial opened in Ottawa, just west of Parliament Hill. Until then, Canada was the only Allied country without a national monument to victims of the Holocaust. The government paid $4 million for the Daniel Libeskind–designed project, while Canada's Jewish community raised the other $4.5 million.
Later that year, a Hanukkah celebration was held at the newly minted site. But after that, only one other event was staged, in April 2019 to remember the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The monument has since been somewhat forgotten. And while the pandemic can be partly blamed for that, it doesn't tell the whole story.
That longstanding vacancy ended on Sept. 14, 2021, when two men organized a memorial for the victims of the Babi Yar massacre, which happened 80 years ago this week. During the two-day slaughter, Nazi soldiers shot and murdered more than 33,000 Jews in a ravine near Kiev, Ukraine, marking the first and largest mass murder of Jews in the the Holocaust.
We're joined today by the two men who organized the event, Joel Diener and Lawrence Greenspon, who explain why they did it and how they hope their event will serve as a wake-up call for the Jewish community to take advantage of the Ottawa monument more often.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Canada's National Holocaust Monument at ncc-ccn.gc.ca
- Learn about the Babi Yar massacre at yadvashem.org
- Read an essay by Laura Grosman about spearheading Canada's Holocaust memorial at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Helmut Oberlander came to Canada in 1954. He was married, raised a family and became a successful real estate developer in Waterloo, Ont. But in 1986, a secret spilled out into public, when a retired Quebec judge, Jules Deschênes, held an inquiry into Nazis secretly living in Canada. Deschênes named Oberlander among those who were.
Years of legal battles ensued, in which the federal government stripped Oberlander of his citizenship four times for lying about his wartime past. The case languished in legal purgatory for decades—until this week.
On Sept. 20, 2021, Oberlander died in his home, surrounded by family. That he was allowed to pass away peacefully, without serving any jail time, is now being called a black mark on Canada's judiciary system.
One critic is Steven Rambam, a private detective and Nazi hunter based in New York, who was intimately involved in tracking down war criminals in Canada. Rambam joins today to point out where, and how, the Canadian government and the Jewish community failed to bring Oberlander to justice.
What we talked about:
- Read The CJN's coverage of Oberlander's death at thecjn.ca/news/helmut-oberlander-obit
- Learn more about Steven Rambam's investigative agency at pallorium.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
It sounds like it could be a movie—and maybe, one day, it could become one.
In late August, just before the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, an effort began to save some of the athletes on the Afghan women’s national cycling team from the impending Taliban takeover.
This mission was partly spearheaded by Sylvan Adams, a Canadian-Israeli billionaire with a passion for cycling. After moving to Israel in 2015, Adams helped found the country's first professional cycling team, called "Israel Start-Up Nation", which has competed globally. Adams personally paid for the rescue of the Afghan cyclists, who will make their way to Canada as refugees.
Adams joins to share the details and origins of this nerve-wracking rescue.
What we talked about:
- Read "The secret rescue of the Afghanistan women’s cycling team: helped by Canada’s Jewish community" at thecjn.ca
- Learn about Israel Start-Up Nation at israelcyclingacademy.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Ahead of today's election, the People's Party of Canada is polling at around 10 per cent nationally. Much of their rise can be attributed to leader Maxime Bernier, whose presence at large-scale anti-lockdown rallies across Canada has sparked a grassroots populist movement grounded in distrust of governments, health care systems and public institutions.
But working within that same movement have been infamous Canadian antisemites, white supremacists and Holocaust deniers. Figures such as Chris Sky, Brian Ruhe and Paul Fromm have been driving across the country to attend anti-lockdown rallies and events, where they can easily and quickly spread their dangerous messages. The People's Party, with its stated intent to scrap laws that party members believe hamper free speech, has proven to be fertile ground for this kind of hateful agenda.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily podcast, Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, joins to discuss his group's findings and the connections between this far-right network.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the Canadian Anti-Hate Network at antihate.ca
- Read why The CJN won't be reporting on the election until Thursday at thecjn.ca/news/election-out-of-office/
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The 44th Canadian election is happening Monday. Up for grabs are 14 ridings that are notable for Jewish voters, either because of their large Jewish populations or high-profile Jewish candidates. Sporting some of the highest profiles are Annamie Paul and Avi Lewis, who will try and make their marks by winning difficult seats; elsewhere, traditional battlegrounds in the Toronto area are proving to be tight races that could swing either to the Liberals or Conservatives.
On today's special weekend edition of The CJN Daily, longtime CJN reporter Ron Csillag joins to walk us through the 14 ridings to watch for Jewish Canadians.
What we talked about:
- Read "Canada Votes: A forshpeiz..." at thecjn.ca
- Read "Artist Charlotte Salomon comes to life in this new Canadian animated film" at thecjn.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In July 2021, the Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair attended an event at a Chabad Lubavitch centre in Markham, Ont., where he announced the government would spend $8 million to help non-profit faith community groups update their buildings' security. The money is meant to go towards projects like fortifying doors, installing cameras, erecting fences, training security guards and improving lighting. Recipients can include places of worship, private schools and community centres—anywhere that might be the target of a hate crime.
In the last week, the ministry in charge of dispensing these funds extended the deadline for a new round of grants, and issued a reminder to organizations to submit their applications by Oct. 6.
Vancouver's Jewish community has been taking advantage of the funding over the years, including for the JCC of Greater Vancouver, which is undergoing a multimillion-dollar rebuilding campaign. Blair visited the site in August to see firsthand how the money was being used.
One of the men accompanying Blair was Bernard Pinsky, a lawyer and longtime volunteer who heads up the security advisory committee for Jewish Vancouver. He joins to give some advice about security plans and strategies, and what fears keep him up at night.
What we talked about:
- Read: "Toronto is getting pop-up sites to help report antisemitic incidents during High Holidays" (thecjn.ca)
- Watch Bill Blair's announcement for a new round of security grants at the Chabad center in Markham on Public Safety Canada's Twitter page
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last night, The CJN and CIJA hosted an election debate on issues that matter to the Jewish community. Our participants were Marco Mendicino, the Liberal minister of immigration; Michael Chong, the Conservative shadow critic for foreign affairs; and Hal Berman, a doctor and NDP candidate in Toronto.
The subjects ranged beyond Israel and combatting antisemitism. There are Jewish connections to climate change, Indigenous reconciliation and Canadian foreign policy beyond the Middle East.
We asked hard questions to each candidate: Could Berman clarify the NDP's stance on the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement? How can the Conservatives reconcile a credible climate strategy with support for the oil and gas industry? And why do the Liberals continue to fund UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, despite its evident flaws?
In today's episode, we've packaged the highlights from the evening, plus key takeaways from our post-show political panel as well.
What we talked about:
- Watch the full debate at thecjn.ca/news/canada/2021-debate
- Learn more about CIJA's federal election guide at cija.ca/election
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Tonight, The CJN and CIJA are hosting a federal election debate featuring candidates from the three major parties: Liberal Marco Mendicino, Conservative Michael Chong and New Democrat Hal Berman. The candidates will debate issues relating to the safety of Canada's Jewish community and the country's relationship with Israel.
To get a better sense of what those issues are, four Jewish volunteers from across the political spectrum discuss their views on the election and how it will impact the community.
We're joined by Green members Corey Shefman, a lawyer running the campaign for party leader Annamie Paul; Anthony Koch, a Conservative strategist who worked on Erin O'Toole's leadership campaign; Carolyn Svonkin, a student at Queen's volunteering for the Liberals; and Sophie Hershfield, from Winnipeg, who volunteers with the NDP.
What we talked about:
- Reserve a spot for our virtual debate at Eventbrite
- Submit a video question at thecjn.ca/debate
- Join The CJN Circle at thecjn.ca/circle
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11, when al-Qaeda suicide attackers flew four planes into American landmarks, resulting in 2,977 deaths, including 24 Canadians. The planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
Rabbi Leivi Sudak didn't know any of this when his flight to New York from London, U.K., was ordered to land in Gander, Newfoundland. Rabbi Sudak was flying to New York to pray at the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson on 9/11. It was right before Rosh Hashanah—he planned to make the trip there and back in one long day.
Instead, Rabbi Sudak's flight was one of 38 planes diverted and forced to land in Gander. after North American airspace was shut down.
What happened to him there—the warm reception he received from Canadian locals, and how they accommodated his religious needs—was commemorated in the hit Tony-winning musical Come From Away.
On today's episode, Rabbi Sudak joins to remember that life-changing day and recall his role in the story that changed the world.
What we talked about:
- Register to attend The CJN's political debate on Sept. 13 at eventbrite.ca, and submit a question at thecjn.ca/debate
- Watch the trailer for _Come From Away_, streaming on Apple TV+ starting Sept. 10
- Learn more about Rabbi Leivi Sudak's work at lubavitchofedgware.com
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Canada’s Jewish community is a little larger this high holiday season. In July, 11 adults and two young children officially converted—and all of them live in Kelowna, B.C., with a Jewish population of about 500.
Well, about 513 now.
This was a unique conversion process for many reasons. Being virtual, of course, classes were led by rabbis from across the country over Zoom. Since Kelowna doesn't have a mikvah, the converts took a dip on the beach in Lake Okanagan.
And the converts' individual reasons for joining Judaism are myriad. None are for the usual reasons, like getting married or joining the Israel army. Somehow, they all found each other in their tight-knit community and came to the same spiritual realization.
Today, two of the women join the show, along with the rabbi who led the conversion, to discuss their reasons for converting, what the process was like during a pandemic and how they feel going into their first-ever high holiday season.
What we talked about:
- Visit the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre at ojcc.ca
- Listen to members of Kelowna's community on Yehupetzville, our podcast about small-town Canadian Jews, at thecjn.ca/yehupetzville
- Read about how Canadianscan help Afghan refugees at canada.ca
- Learn about B'nai Brith Canada's emergency Afghan refugee relief campaign at bnaibrith.ca
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Soon after COVID-19 vaccines began rolling out, clashes erupted between authorities and the Hasidic community in Montreal. Police officers raided a synagogue that violated the lockdown curfew in January 2021; court battles ensued; more illegal gatherings took place in March, blowing past attendance limits.
But there has been a shift in tone this summer, especially since vaccine passports became mandatory across Quebec this week. Other provinces announced similar plans to restrict movement for the willingly unvaccinated.
The Quebec Council of Hasidic Jews is urging its members to get vaccinated. To that end, they've been holding vaccine clinics in the heart of their communities, handing out pamphlets in Yiddish and setting up help lines for people who don't use the internet or have smartphones.
The latest clinic was held recently, just before Rosh Hashanah. Avi Finegold, host of The CJN's weekly current affairs podcast Bonjour Chai, attended the clinic to talk to the attendees and give an on-the-ground report.
What we talked about:
- Watch the video from January of police raiding a Hasidic synagogue in Montreal on Twitter
- Read about Montreal's vaccination drives at thecjn.ca
- Learn about the Abraham Global Peace Initiative Campus Petition at agpi.ca/campus-declaration-1
Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Since she was nine years old, Hannah Alper has been blogging and speaking all over the world about climate change, clean drinking water, education, homelessness and discrimination against Black and Indigenous communities. She's interviewed Malala Yousafzai, travelled to Africa three times, written a book and been the subject of a documentary in 2020, CitizenKid: Earth Comes First.
Now 18, Alper will soon be facing a new challenge: university.
This month, she starts school at the University of Western Ontario, where she’s expecting to face antisemitism on campus, including calls to boycott Israel, and pro-BDS resolutions by some student groups.
But she's coming to campus prepared. On today's episode, Alper explains how she spent the summer developing skills to bring her Jewish pride and positivity to the tense world of Middle Eastern campus politics.
What we talked about:
- See Alper's website, callmehannah.ca
- Catch the virtual candlelighting event on Sept. 3 on Hillel Ontario's Facebook page, facebook.com/HillelOntario
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Walk down the craft beer section of your local liquor store, and you'll be met by a wall of beautiful designs and bright colours. But if you spot a Shillow beer, something might catch your eye: the certified logo of the Kosher Council of Canada. Being kosher-certified is an extra expense, but it was a necessary one for Ben and Jamie Shillow, the modern Orthodox couple behind Shillow Beer.
This month, they opened their first retail store on Cyrville Road in Ottawa, in a new brewery built during the pandemic. It's not open on Shabbat, of course, but their product is sold in LCBOs across Ontario, the Shillows deliver cases personally, and Jewish organizations and communities across the province are taking notice—and placing orders.
The Shillows join today to discuss their journey, brewing process and how the community has responded.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Shillow Beer at shillowbeer.com
- See a full list of their kosher-certified brews at cor.ca
- Visit the One Family Fund website at onefamilyfund.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
This year, first prize for photographic storytelling at the prestigious World Press Photo awards went to an Italian photojournalist named Antonio Faccilongo. Faccilongo's winning photo essay, titled "Habibi"—which means "my love" in Arabic"—documents the families of jailed Palestinians prisoners serving sentences in Israel. Over the years, many of these men have smuggled their semen out via test tubes or ballpoint pens hidden in chocolate bars, and their wives use this sperm to artificially inseminate themselves to bear more children. Faccilongo's images portray these women and the children born under these circumstances, but avoid referencing the crimes for which the men have been imprisoned—which include terrorism and murder.
"Habibi" is part of a larger travelling photo show put on by the World Press Photo Foundation. This year, from July 22 to Aug. 15, the exhibit set up at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, a crown corporation funded in part by government money.
Upon discovering this exhibit had come to Canada, some Jewish organizations launched protests. One such group was Honest Reporting Canada. Their executive director, Mike Fegelman, joins today to discuss his group's reaction to the images and why the Jewish community should be outraged.
What we talked about:
- View the images from "Habibi" at worldpressphoto.org
- Read the Honest Reporting Canada press release about the exhibit at honestreporting.ca
- Learn about Shofar on the Corner at shofaronthecorner.com
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
One year after the separatist Parti Quebecois government won Quebec's 1976 election, they passed Bill 101—better known as the Charter of the French Language—which cemented French as Quebec's only official language and restricted the use of English in private businesses and public schools. A mass exodus of Jews from the province ensued, with as many as 40,000 Jewish Quebeckers leaving the province for good.
Robert Libman was a teenager then, but ended up staying in Quebec. In 1988, after graduating with a degree in architecture from McGill, he entered politics as the founder of the Equality Party, pushing for anglophone rights. Along with a few other party members, Libman won his seat in Quebec's National Assembly in 1989.
Now 60, Libman is a columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and joins The CJN Daily to reflect on the 44th anniversary of the bill's passing, and why he's rallying against the "troubling" proposed new Bill 96 amendments that he says should concern everyone.
What we talked about:
- Read Libman's column, "This summer is no time for Quebec anglos to relax," at montrealgazette.com
- Listen to the episode of Bonjour Chai about Jews and Quebec nationalism at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The Museum of Jewish Montreal started out as a digital idea about 10 years ago. When Zev Moses started plotting historic sites of old Jewish Montreal, putting little stories about theses buildings and people on a website, he wanted to showcase the origins of what was, for 200 years, Canada’s largest Jewish community.
That concept morphed into a physical museum in 2016, right on Saint Laurent Boulevard. It hosted well-known walks, fascinating exhibitions, in-person classes, klezmer brunches and foodie events. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a halt to most of that.
A new landlord bought the museum's physical building and issued an eviction notice. Staff scrambled to put everything in storage, pivot to online programming and plan for an uncertain future.
Now, thanks to some financial help from an investor and government funding, the museum has a new site—and it's even closer to one of the most iconic landmarks of Canadian Jewish history. The founder of the museum joins to discuss the museum's troubled year and what the future has in store.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the Museum of Jewish Montreal at imjm.ca
- Sign up for the Red Light Walking Tour at museemontrealjuif.ca
- Read more: "Famed food writer Ruth Reichl lends support to Museum of Jewish Montreal" (the cjn.ca)
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Jeffrey Freedman was working for a Toronto tile company when the pandemic hit. The office was deemed an essential service, so Freedman kept going into work. His wife's daycare business was shut down due to the pandemic and money got tight, so he kept going in until he took ill. He started having trouble breathing and was rushed to North York General Hospital near the end of Passover. On April 15, he was taken into the ICU, where he spent more than a month living on a ventilator.
Miraculously, Freedman survived. But he hasn't been the same since his recovery. His voice is different after being intubated, his left arm has weakened and he suffers from other medical issues that have left him unable to drive or work. That makes Freedman one Canada’s "COVID long-haulers"—those who survived the disease but continue to suffer from ongoing health problems.
One small upside has been the response he got from the Toronto Blue Jays, a team he's rooted for his whole life. the organization invited him to throw the first pitch at the opening game in July—their first in Toronto in two years. Today, Freedman joins the show to share his story.
What we talked about:
- Watch the Jays' home opener pregame ceremony on YouTube
- Watch Jeffrey accept more than $600,000 from the Jays Care Foundation at mlb.com/bluejays
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
KlezKanada and the Ashkenaz Festival are some of the largest Jewish and Yiddish arts celebrations in North America, and both are being held mostly virtually this year because of COVID-19. As the pandemic has upended cultural events around the country, so too has it forced these two renowned annual celebrations to figure out new ways to reach fans of Yiddish and Jewish culture.
Despite the hurdles, both events are gearing up for innovative programs this year, and organizers from KlezKanada have even said their audiences have grown in 2021, because technology has swung open their doors beyond geography.
On today's episode, we’ll hear from the artistic director of Ashkenaz and the executive director of KlezKanada about what to expect this year from both festivals. Plus, the host of Winnipeg’s Jewish radio hour joins to explain why she feels the pandemic may have actually saved Yiddish music.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about KlezKanada at klezkanada.org
- Learn more about the Ashkenaz Festival at ashkenaz.ca
- Listen to the Jewish Radio Hour at podomatic.com/podcasts/jewishradiohour
- Sign up for KlezKanada's digital Backwards March at Eventbrite
- Check out the in-person and live-streamed after-party for both festivals at ashkenaz.ca/event/klezkanada-after-party
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
As The CJN Daily continues its brief summer hiatus, we're bringing subscribers another compilation of some of our favourite stories.
Today, two episodes in one: Canadians remember the Iraqi Farhud, a pogrom in 1941, as well as Argentina's AMIA bombing in 1994, which remains the country's biggest unsolved terror attack.
What we talked about:
- Learn about the museum in Israel dedicated to the history of Iraqi Jews at bjhcenglish.com
- Find Joseph Samuels's book, Beyond the Rivers of Babylon, on Amazon
- Listen to our original broadcast about the AMIA bombing and the Farhud at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The worst race riot in Canadian history happened on a Toronto baseball field exactly 88 years ago today. Just a few months after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, in the midst of a global depression, the dictator's ideas were already taking hold in some parts of Canada. By the summer, pro-Nazi agitators showed up to a baseball game where a Jewish team was facing off against a Protestant team. Agitators unfurled a big banner with a swastika on it, and citywide violence ensued: within hours, an estimated 10,000 people were slugging it out, both in the park itself and in nearby neighborhoods across Toronto.
To mark this anniversary, we're joined by Eli Yarhi of Historica Canada, which recently published a short video about the event, and Jamie Michaels, the author of a graphic novel about the riot.
Plus: There's a federal election happening on Sept. 20. That's 36 days away—double chai. Will this be an auspicious election for Jewish Canadians? Hear what The CJN Daily has planned for the next month of coverage.
What we talked about:
- Watch the Historica Canada video on YouTube
- Find the graphic novel Christie Pits, by Jamie Michaels and Doug Fedrau, at dirtywatercomics.com/christie-pits
- Find the graphic novel The Good Fight by Ted Staunton at Indigo.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
While The CJN Daily is on a week-long summer vacation, we're bringing you some of our favourite stories from the past few months.
Today, enjoy a compilation of our coverage of Indigenous issues and how the Jewish community can help.
Episodes referenced:
- Mourning in Kamloops: How has the local Jewish community reacted? (June 2, 2021)
- Meet the Jewish artist painting Holocaust and residential school survivors (June 21, 2021)
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The CJN Daily will be taking a brief summer vacation for the next week, returning on Aug. 23.
In the meantime, we have a semi-new episode: here's a re-airing of an episode we ran in May 2021, "The life and legacy of partisan photographer Faye Schulman". We'll have more favourites coming to you during our break.
Plus, we have an update on the first Canadian Birthright trip to Israel since March 2020. It happened on Aug. 9, and brought a small busload of 18 university students from across the country. A second Canadian group was supposed to fly out on Sunday—but that's been postponed.
What we talked about:
- Read "Canada successfully sent one Birthright Israel trip in summer 2021. The next was cancelled" at thecjn.ca/birthright-israel-canada-2021
- Read "Wartime photographer Faye Schulman captured lives of the partisan resistance" at thecjn.ca/faye-schulman-partisan-photographer
- Learn more about Judy Batalion and find her books at judybatalion.com
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, better known as UNRWA, provides health care and education for more than five million displaced Palestinians in the Middle East. But UNRWA has been in the news a lot in the last few years, as several of its employees and teachers have been accused of sharing violent or disturbing antisemitic and anti-Israel content online.
This week, UN Watch, an organization based in Geneva, released a new report alleging 22 UNRWA teachers, principals and staff members have posted content on Facebook that glorifies terrorism, quotes Hitler or erases Israel from maps. UN Watch has released several similar reports in the past, finding more than 100 such cases since 2015.
Despite these claims, Canada is still on track to donate more than $90 million to UNRWA over the next three years.
Hillel Neuer, the Canadian-born executive director of UN Watch, joins to discuss his organization's latest report and what he expects from the Canadian government.
What we talked about:
- Read the 60-page report, Beyond the Textbooks, at unwatch.org
- See examples of the antisemitic content UN Watch found at their Facebook page, facebook.com/unwatch
- Learn more about UNWRA at unrwa.org
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On Aug. 8, 2021, officials in Edmonton unveiled the first sculpture of Anne Frank anywhere in Canada. The world’s newest memorial to her—a life-sized bronze sculpture gifted by a Dutch-Canadian group based in Alberta—now sits in a park in Edmonton. It's is a replica of one that stands in Utrecht, Netherlands.
The unveiling marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Holland in the Second World War, and gives thanks to the Canadian soldiers who freed their country from Nazi Germany in 1945. But there's a second meaning behind the timing—and it's a strange coincidence. On this weekend, 77 years ago, Nazis raided the secret annex in Amsterdam where Frank and her family had been hiding for nearly two years and arrested them. A few days later, they were sent to the Westerbork transit camp, and later they would be shipped to Auschwitz.
Today, we’ll hear from the people who pushed for the statue and raised $75,000 to create and erect it, and we're joined by Gillian Horwitz, who runs Holocaust programming for the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, and Steve Shafir, the federation's president, who were at the unveiling ceremony in person.
What we talked about:
- Watch the full statue unveiling on YouTube
- Read about the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Site at Earl Bales Park at yadvashem.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Eighty years ago this summer, in July 1941, Nate and Susan Bluman stepped off a boat in Vancouver's port. It had been a perilous journey for the young Jewish couple, who'd escaped from German-occupied Poland to Lithuania, which was then occupied by the Russians.
From there, they received transit visas thanks to a Japanese diplomat named Chiune Sugihara.
Sugihara is often referred to as the "Japanese Schindler." He helped more than 2,000 Jews escape Europe, via Vladivostok and Japan, during the early years of the Second World War. In doing so, Sugihara, who was helped by his wife, disobeyed orders from Tokyo—and he never spoke publicly about his actions until the 1980s.
Since then, the Sugiharas have been celebrated by the global Jewish community and regarded as righteous gentiles by Yad Vashem. He's been the focus of films, books, commemorative gardens and statues. This week, the Japanese department store Takashimaya is mounting a special travelling exhibit to showcase Sugihara and the descendents of those he saved.
One of those descendents is George Bluman, son of Nate and Susan. George joins today to share his family's story, explain why he lent his father's visa to the new exhibit and argue why Sugihara's name should be better known than it is.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the Takashimaya exhibit at chiune-sugihara.jp/en
- Browse the full list of those saved by Sugihara at secure.math.ubc.ca
- Watch "A Decision of One Saves Thousands: The Courage of Chiune Sugihara" by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies on YouTube
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
For 25 years, Nicholas D. Lowry has been one of the experts on the PBS program Antiques Roadshow, where everyday folks bring old furniture, trinkets or artifacts to see if they're worth anything. Lowry is the one with the curly mustache and plaid suits.
You wouldn't think he has a connection to the Canadian Jewish community. But this week, Lowry's family business, Swann Auction Galleries in New York City, is auctioning off a rare piece of Canadian Jewish history that he expects to sell for a record price: a poster that was used to encourage men to sign up for the only exclusively Jewish military unit in Canadian history, the Jewish Reinforcement Draft Company.
Lowry, who is also Jewish, joins today to explain why the poster is so rare, what the story behind it is and who might end up the lucky bidder of the night.
What we talked about:
- See the poster on Swann's website, catalogue.swanngalleries.com
- Look at a group portrait of the Jewish Reinforcement Draft Company in 1917 cjhn.ca
- Read "Beloved Yiddish actor Pinchas Blitt is toasted on his 90th birthday (and memoir launch)" at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last year, the Edmonton Heritage Festival, one of the city's biggest celebrations, was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year, organizers decided to go ahead—though at half capacity—and invited the Jewish Federation of Edmonton to join with their annual pavilion for Israel.
The pavilion could mark the only Israel-themed public gathering in Canada this summer, as many other large-scale events remained on hiatus or have gone virtual. The Edmonton pavilion featured Israeli folk dancers, selfie photo ops against a backdrop of the Dead Sea, a display wedding and, of course, Israeli food, from falafel to frozen mint lemonade.
Beyond the pavilion borders, however, Edmonton's police their tent was not far away. Indeed, the event's organizers worried about taking part in the festival this year—not just because of COVID, but also the summer of spiking antisemitic attacks that have surged across Canada since the violence between Gaza and Israel flared up in May.
Stacey Leavitt-Wright, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, joins the show to discuss her organization's thought process and offer an audio tour of what they put together.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the Edmonton Heritage Festival at heritagefest.ca
- Learn more about the Jewish Federation of Edmonton at jewishedmonton.org
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last week, a local modern Orthodox Jewish man in Toronto, Sam Brody, recorded a video that he posted to Facebook. In it, he described being assaulted near Yonge and Eglinton, where he lives, specifically for being Jewish. Brody says a stranger bodychecked him into a wooden fence and yelled, “F— you, you Jew! You will never take Israel. Free Palestine!”
Brody wears a light-blue knitted kippah and a star of David necklace, which was visible at the time. He was walking his dog before heading to work at Magen Meats, a popular kosher butcher, where he works as a manager.
The brief attack left Brody with a bruised shoulder and rattled state of mind. Now his anxiety is running high, he's missed a few days at work—and he’s decided to dress less visibly Jewish when he goes outside.
Brody joins us today to discuss the attack, how it changed him and the reaction he's gotten since going public.
What we talked about:
- Watch Sam Brody's original video on his Facebook page
- Read on thecjn.ca: "After an antisemitic attack in Toronto, Sam Brody says he’s hiding his Jewish identity"
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Of the 5,000 Jewish residents in Hong Kong, Canadian chef Matt Abergel is pretty recognizable. You might spot him riding his skateboard while hanging off a bus driving down the street, or you could find him wearing a T-shirt with the stark black-and-white logo of his famous restaurant, Yardbird.
He's the expat whose path started at the Calgary Jewish Academy, spending summers at Jewish sleepaway camp. He channelled his bubbe's chicken recipe when he started out as a professional chef, moving to Vancouver and New York before landing in Hong Kong, where he opened his first restaurant, Yardbird, in 2011.
Yardbird is located in the hip Sheung Wan district, near the ferry to Macao. Since it opened, the New York Times, Vogue and Time have all given it rave reviews. This year, as Yardbird celebrates 10 years, it's been awarded its first Michelin star. But between the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, China's increasing clampdown on individual freedoms and the COVID-19 pandemic, life as a restaurateur in Hong Kong has not been easy.
Abergel joins today to discuss these milestones and trials during arguably the most difficult year for restraurants on his island.
What we talked about:
- See Yardbird's entry in the Michelin guide at guide.michelin.com
- Learn more about Yardbird at yardbirdhongkong.com
- Find Abergel's cookbook, Chicken and Charcoal, on Amazon
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Becca Ignace's family homestead burned down two weeks ago. It's where she was raised after her parents moved from Montreal to British Columbia a half-century ago. Mendel and Paula Rubinson built that homestead, raised Becca and her two brothers and still continue to run a popular organic vegetable farm west of Kamloops. Ignace, meanwhile, married an Indigenous man and moved onto his reserve, where the couple now lives with their two youngest kids.
But when wildfires began ravaging British Columbia, Ignace and her family were forced to evacuate their home right after Canada Day. More than 100 firefighters are working tirelessly on the Sparks Lake fire to keep it from destroying any buildings in her community; others, including Ignace's two brothers, Saul and Eli Rubinson, are helping on the frontlines. As if the fires themselves weren't dangerous enough, life has been completely upended for everyone in the region.
Ignace joins today to discuss what the scene is like on the ground, and how her family is coping with the struggle.
What we talked about:
- Keep up to date with B.C.'s wildfires at governmentofbc.maps.arcgis.com
- Learn about the Skeetchestn Indian Band at skeetchestn.ca
- Hear an interview with fencer Eli Schenkel on _Menschwarmers_, The CJN's Jewish sports podcast
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In May, Sheikh Jarrah became famous as the central neighbourhood in a land dispute in East Jerusalem. The Israeli government recently allowed Jewish settlers to build homes in the area, which has deep significance for religious Jews. But their settlement meant evicting Palestinians whose families have been living in there for generations. Jewish settlers say those homes actually belonged to Jews before that, while many critics and international governments consider the whole area illegally occupied.
Two Israeli courts already ruled that four Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah would have to leave their homes—but these families appealed, and a final decision was supposed to be handed down this past May. But protests led to violence across the country, and soon rallies were held around the world, while Israel's attorney general requested a postponement of the court's decision until hostilities calmed down.
The decision is now set to be announced next week, on Aug. 2.
In Canada, progressive and left-learning Jewish groups are watching the situation closely. Young members of several organizations—including JSpaceCanada, Canadian Friends of Peace Now and the New Israel Fund of Canada—have joined forces to call on the leaders of Canada’s five main political parties to pressure Israel into stopping the evictions and prevent further violent protests.
But will the letter have an effect? What are the writers' expectations? On today's episode, Ellin Bessner with Kevin Keystone, a spokesperson for the coalition of young Jews behind the letter.
What we talked about:
- Read the joint letter at nifcan.org/joint-letter-sheikh-jarrah
- Learn about the upcoming event staged by Canadian Friends of Peace Now at peacenowcanada.org
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
For Canadians who took a chance this past winter and ventured south to the southern United States, winter may not have felt so bad. Many had the opportunity to get vaccinated sooner than if they'd stayed in Canada; they got to enjoy beautiful weather, as usual; and they may have appreciated local governors refusing to lock down their economies, as was the case in Florida.
Of course, the downsides were significant: more than 2.3 million people in Florida contracted COVID-19, and more than 37,000 of them died.
Nonetheless, a new survey of Canadian snowbirds shows 91 per cent of respondents plan to travel south this coming winter, despite lingering uncertainty over border controls, America's stagnating vaccination numbers and an impending fourth wave of the deadly virus. Even if these snowbirds are vaccinated, travel won't be business as usual.
On today's episode, we're joined by Evan Rachkovsky, director of communications for the Canadian Snowbird Association, a lobby group of about 100,000 travellers. Rachkovsky addresses common questions about COVID positivity rates in Florida, estimates of border openings and how to register vaccines received stateside with Canadian health authorities.
What we talked about:
- Visit the Canadian Snowbird Association's website at snowbirds.org
- Read about the proposed U.S. Senate bill that could allow Canadian snowbirds to stay south for longer at thestar.com
- Find details about Rabbi Bulka's Shloshim tribute at eventbrite.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The government's much-touted day-long National Summit on Antisemitism took place virtually on July 21, 2021. Among the attendees were members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, Jewish Liberal MPs, municipal leaders and representatives from the country's main Jewish organizations. They spoke at length about concrete strategies to combat antisemitism and heard firsthand accounts of how antisemitism seeps into Canadian society.
Irwin Cotler, who helped put the event together, gave the keynote address, and joins today to discuss the government's promises. Plus, we speak with community leaders Shimon Koffler Fogel and Michael Mostyn to learn where the summit succeded—and where it fell short.
What we talked about:
- Read the full transcript of Trudeau's opening remarks at thecjn.ca, or watch the full opening on Facebook
- Watch the full afternoon panel on community security initiatives on Facebook
- Read the government's pledge to earmark $6 million for upgrading security at 150 national buildings, including Jewish institutions, at canada.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
For the past year, Laura Whitney Sniderman, armed with a Master's degree in psychology, has been helping people find and make new friends during the pandemic. She started a new community-driven company, Kinnd, which connects people online with a forthcoming app and a Facebook group of more than 10,000 people.
During the pandemic, Kinnd also held several virtual meet-ups over Zoom, where members paid $10 to be matched with others who they might get along with.
But with the world opening up again, the attraction of virtual friendships could disappear. Is this a problem for Kinnd? Or has society turned a corner in embacing and fostering online friendships? To answer these questions, Laura Whitney Sniderman joins to discuss.
What we talked about:
- Visit Kinnd's website at kinnd.io
- Join the group on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/Kinnd
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Naomi Krajden didn't go to medical school to become a front-line health care worker, even though many of her family members work in the field. Her father and brother are doctors; her mother is a nurse. So it wasn't surprising that the Toronto-born Jewish artist gravitated toward the medical world.
Krajden—a trained theatre actor, singer and dancer—is the only Jewish pro therapeutic clown in Canada. If you've seen the movie Patch Adams, it's similar to what she does. Now living in Montreal, her in-person therapeutic clown visits, which took her to hospitals and nursing homes around the city, ground to a halt when the pandemic hit. She pivoted to virtual visits, but it wasn’t the same.
Now, after 16 months of Zoom visits, Krajden and her troupe are slowly being allowed back to resume the work she loves. She joins us today to talk about her journey, how she channels her Jewish roots in her work, and the effect her efforts have on her patients.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about therapeutic clowns at fondationdrclown.ca
- Read about Annamie Paul's press conference at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On July 18, 1994, a car bomb blew up the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, levelling the city's main Jewish federation building. Now referred to as the AMIA bombing, the terrorist attack killed 85 Jewish people and injured 300 more. It was the worst terrorist attack in the history of Argentina and the worst attack against Jews outside Israel since the Holocaust.
What's more troubling is that the perpetrators have never been confirmed. Investigators and the public blame operatives from Iran and Hezbollah, but no suspects have been brought to justice.
Combined with the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which happened two years prior, many Jewish families from Argentina took this as a cue to leave. Some moved to Canada, where they are still dealing with the trauma—and seeking justice.
Hernan Popper is one of those Argentinian Jews. He now lives in Winnipeg, but he lived through the AMIA bombing; on today's show, he joins to describe what it was like hearing the explosion and how he remembers those who died that day.
What we talked about:
- Learn about B'nai Brith Canada's event, "Remembering AMIA," at bnaibrith.ca
- Visit Hernan Popper's cybersecurity company, POPP3R
- Watch Nisman, the docuseries about Alberto Nisman, the investigator of the AMIA attack, on Netflix
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
July 14 was a hectic day for Jews looking for ways to combat anti-Semitism: there were at least three large-scale events held on the subject within 24 hours of each other.
One was a virtual town hall organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which aimed to gather input from Jewish leaders and ordinary people on the current rise of anti-Semitism.
Another happened in Jerusalem, where different Jewish leaders met with mayors from across the world to hear about different programs being launched, what's working and what isn't.
The third event was a meeting of federal parliamentarians from various countries—including Canada, the U.S., Britain, Australia and Israel—who issued an interim plan on how to fight anti-Semitism online.
Today, we're devoting the entire episode to rounding up the highlights from these events: who spoke, what they said and what the Jewish community can do to move forward in combatting Jew hatred.
What we talked about:
- Read the interim report by the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism at wassermanschultz.house.gov
- Check out the international panel, "Eradicating Antisemitism from our Streets", at combatantisemitism.org
- Listen to The CJN Daily episode with Irwin Cotler discussing Canada's upcoming national emergency summit on anti-Semitism at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
If you haven’t heard of Josh Zilberberg, you're clearly not one of his nearly 2 million followers on TikTok, nor one of his 438,000 Instagram followers. Certainly Zilberberg himself never expected this when he started posting videos about life as a 27-year-old living with his parents during the pandemic.
Yet Zilberberg has quickly ascended to social media stardom. He burst onto the scene from his bedroom in his parents' house in Markham last year by posting hilarious, fast-paced, bite-sized videos in which he deadpans a 10-second, rapid-fire monologue joke that invariably ends with what's become his tagline: "Thank yew." On his feed, you'll hear him unload self-deprecating one-liners about his dancing skills, body image, dating troubles and being gay.
But one thing he’s never talked about publicly—until now—has been his Canadian Jewish roots. Zilberberg joins today to discuss his rise to internet stardom, his new job as an influencer and how he hopes to fight anti-Semitism online.
What we talked about:
- Follow Josh on TikTok @josh.zilberberg and find his merch at fanjoy.co
- View the government's readout of Justin Trudeau's conversation with Yair Lapid at pm.gc.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In 1947 and '48, thousands of foreign military personnel—including 300 from Canada—flew to the emerging State of Israel to fight for its survival against hostile Arab forces. Most volunteers were experienced Jewish veterans of the Second World War. Their vital military skills helped reinforce existing troops in prewar Palestine, then later the State of Israel; in the case of the air force, they actually helped create it. These fighters were known as the Machal, a name derived from Hebrew, meaning "volunteers from abroad".
Decades passed before Israel officially recognized the Machal's contribution. Today, very few of them are still alive. But two of the last surviving Canadian Machal veterans are marking an important milestone this week: it’s the anniversary of their arrival in Israel, in July 1948, right in the middle of the country's War of Independence.
Bill Novick is 97; Irving Matlow is a couple years younger. Both veterans join us to share stories from the war, explain why they went and discuss how it changed their lives.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about the Machal's contributions at machal.org.il
- Buy Irving Matlow's book, At the Family Table, on Amazon
- Sign up for the 7th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism at combatantisemitism.org
- Learn about Bernie Grempel at findbernard.com
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Israel's national airline, El Al, halted flights to Canada when the pandemic broke out globally in March 2020. But more than a year later, on June 28, 2021, El Al quietly started service up again on the Toronto–Tel Aviv route. On the first planeload, they handed out teddy bears to kids. There were nearly 100 empty seats.
The next flight is scheduled to depart from Toronto today—Monday, July 12—but with Israel’s travel rules still in flux, and the Canadian border still closed to international tourists, it will be a while before we see the four full El Al flights per week that used to run from Toronto in the summers before COVID-19.
Nonetheless, news that El Al flights have resumed is a big deal. On today's episode, Dinah Kutner, the general manager of El Al in Toronto, joins to explain what the resumption of service is looking like and what the future holds for Israeli travel.
What we talked about:
- Find flights between Israel and Canada at elal.com
- Learn about Birthright resuming trips this August at israelforfree.com
- Register for CIJA's town hall at fightit.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Max Shoham has been making movies since he was a little boy growing up in Toronto. This month, the 18-year-old's most ambitious project—an animated short called Sophie and Jacob—debuts on CBC Gem, after screening at numerous international film festivals.
The short is based on the true story of his great-grandparents' escape from Romania in 1939 and their perilous voyage to Palestine. Shoham started making the film while he was in Grade 11. He drew every frame, and coloured, shot and edited the whole picture. His goal is to bring attention to the plight of refugees today—Jewish or not—while also telling a personal story about his great-grandparents, since he never got the chance to speak with them about their journey before they passed away.
On today's episode, Shoham joins to talk about how his great-grandparents endured their odyssey and what he hopes this film can teach us about the refugee crisis today.
What we talked about:
- Watch Sophie and Jacob on Vimeo
- Learn more about the backstory at fofs.ca
- Find details for the Hatzoloh Toronto vaccination clinic at hatzolohtoronto.org
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Few Canadians know the name Morris Saxe. He was a Jewish dairy farmer who lived in Georgetown, Ontario, having moved to Canada in 1902. He was a hard worker and one of the founders of Beth Tzedec Congregation in Toronto, but his greatest accomplishment came in the 1920s. He convinced the Canadian government, still quite anti-Semitic at the time, to open its doors to 79 Jewish teens from one particular orphanage in Poland. But there was one catch: all the orphans had to train to become farmers.
Saxe's story is so inspiring that one author just recently published a young-adult book inspired by the man, who now is sometimes called "Canada's Schindler." That book, Jacob and the Mandolin Adventure, by Anne Dublin, tells the story of a 13-year-old Polish Jew who's promised a new life on a Canadian farm.
On today's episode, Ellin is joined by Dublin and David Fleishman, Saxe's grandson, to discuss Saxe's story and legacy.
What we talked about:
- Buy Jacob and the Mandolin Adventure at secondstorypress.ca
- Watch A Man of Conscience on YouTube
- Learn more about Morris Saxe at the Ontario Jewish Archives
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marc Garneau, became the first foreign minister to visit Israel since Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government was sworn on June 13. Garneau arrived on Canada Day and spent the weekend meeting Bennett and Israel's foreign minister, Yair Lapid, among others.
Garneau's main goal was to lower "the temperature" regarding the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and to reiterate Canada’s positions on peace, settlements and the controversial forced evictions happening in East Jerusalem. He also announced more funding for research and development projects between the two countries.
So what are the key takeaways from this significant visit? While Canada still supports the two-state solution, that’s really on the backburner right now. Instead, Canada's focus is on dealing with Gaza's immediate humanitarian issues and making sure the ceasefire holds. To that end, Canada is hoping Israel will stop building new settlements in the Palestinian territories and cease the controversial forced evictions of Palestinians from neighbourhoods like Sheikh Jarrah.
The CJN's Ron Csillag joins the show to break down what Garneau accomplished on his trip, what he said that was new and how much Canadian opinion matters to the Israel government.
What we talked about:
- Read: "Lowering ‘temperature’ was priority for Foreign Minister Garneau’s Mideast trip; urges PA to conduct elections" (thecjn.ca)
- Find the Canadian government's press release about Garneau's visit at Global Affairs Canada
- Visit Hand in Hand at handinhandk12.org
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Once upon a time, when the Montreal Canadiens still played at the Forum, their unofficial team mascot was a trumpet-blowing super fan known as Kid Mercury. The trumpeter was a fixture in Montreal, and his siren's call could be heard blaring during the Habs' last two Stanley Cup victories, in 1986 and 1993.
Kid Mercury has been retired for a few years... until a couple of weeks ago, when he got thrust back into the public spotlight. His hometown NHL team, on the road to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since that 1993 victory, invited him back to perform at the Bell Centre during the teams' three home games against the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Now that they've beaten Vegas and are vying for the championship itself, Kid Mercury's 15 minutes of fame have once again been extended into overtime.
But underneath Kid Mercury's trademark cape—and his lightning bolt–studded cap—is a nice Jewish boy from Côte Saint-Luc whose parents got him his first trumpet as a bar mitzvah present. In fact, not only does he play the trumpet, but he blows a mean shofar, too.
As the Canadiens now struggle against Tampa Bay in the NHL finals—their dreams may be dashed as soon as this evening, if they lose Game 4—Kid Mercury says that, no matter what happens, the surprising success of the Habs this season has brought hope back to Montrealers from all walks of life after their city was devastated by COVID-19.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Kid Mercury and get in touch with him at kidmercury.com
- Watch Ellin's full interview with Kid Mercury on The CJN's YouTube channel
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Etel Ergun Avimelek hasn't been able to meet very many people in Winnipeg yet. They arrived just last summer from Turkey, hoping to escape rising anti-Semitism there, but getting settled hasn't been easy. First they had to quarantine, then find a house, then get the kids settled in their new school—a Jewish high school in Winnipeg, Gray Academy—all while working new jobs and navigating pandemic life.
Ergun Avimelek, her husband and their teenage kids moved to Canada in August 2020 as part of the local Jewish federation's GrowWinnipeg program. The idea behind it is to staunch the decline of the city's Jewish population by actively recruiting new Jewish immigrants. Since the program started 20 years ago, 6,000 new residents have arrived.
Ergun Avimelek and her family are among the latest newcomers. But their story comes with a few twists. On top of pandemic problems, the family has found themselves celebrating their first Canada Day in the midst of a national reckoning with the country's residential school program. Understanding this horrific legacy was not on their radar when they moved here, but it is now.
On today's episode, Ergun Avimelek describes her perspective as a newcomer to Canada, why she chose this country as her home and how she sees the struggles of Indigenous Canadians.
What we talked about:
- Visit GrowWinnipeg's Facebook page at facebook.com/GrowWinnipeg
- See the company Ergun Avimelek's husband, Moris Avimelek, started at upperwear.ca
- Learn more about Jewish immigration to Winnipeg at jewishwinnipeg.org/immigration-to-winnipeg
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
It’s not every day that the Israel Philharmonic performs private birthday concerts from the stage of the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv. But if you happen to be Charles Bronfman—and it's your 90th birthday, which it was on June 27, 2021—and you’ve got your name on the building because you were the main donor when the cultural centre was renovated—then you get Schubert, Brahms, balloons and surprise video greetings from Zubin Mehta, Itzhak Perlman and the new incoming president of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog.
Bronfman is a Canadian billionaire, philanthropist and recipient of the Order of Canada, among numerous other accolades. If don't know his name, you might at least know of Birthright, the international program that offers free trips to Israel for young Jews. He's the co-founder.
Although Bronfman's goals have long been to help young Jews fall in love with Israel and embrace their Judaism, he sees a rise in anti-Semitism that makes it hard for young Jews to do that. The current conflict in the Middle East isn't helping matters.
On today's episode, Bronfman joins for an in-depth interview about his new venture, called the Jewish Peoplehood Alliance, as well as his views on Israeli politics, Donald Trump, the Montreal Canadiens' odds at winning the Stanley Cup and how negotiations are going to bring a baseball team back to Montreal.
What we talked about:
- Watch the Israel Philharmonic's "Concert in Denim", honouring Charles Bronfman’s 90th birthday, on YouTube
- Read: "Charles Bronfman warns of 'rift' between diaspora and Israel" (cjnews.com)
- Learn about Bronfman's work at thecharlesbronfmanprize.org
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
As many have now heard, Rabbi Reuven Bulka died on June 27, 2021. Rabbi Bulka was a beloved public figure in Ottawa, once called "Canada's Rabbi" by former prime minister Stephen Harper. He was being treated in a New York State hospital for terminal pancreatic and liver cancer. He had just turned 77 on June 6.
His funeral, held on June 27, was a massive event. As many as 800 people attended in-person at the Long Island funeral home, while officials told us it was the largest gathering online for a funeral they had ever seen: more than 4,200 people tuned in to watch the live broadcast.
As the tributes came pouring in from politicians and Jewish organizations, The CJN Daily reached out to two leaders in Ottawa's Jewish community, who share how Rabbi Bulka inspired them. Andrea Freedman is the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, and Ian Sherman is the federation's chair.
What we talked about:
- Read Rabbi Bulka's obituary at thecjn.ca
- Learn about his Kindness Project at rabbibulka.ca
- Watch his funeral at The CJN's YouTube channel
- Listen to The CJN Daily's episode on Kindness Week at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On June 24, a 12-storey beachfront condo building collapsed in Surfside, a suburb of Miami, with more than 150 people still missing as rescue operations continue days later. At least three dozen of those missing people are reportedly Jewish—Surfside is actually considered to be the most heavily Jewish district in the Miama area—and the Canadian government believes there were four Canadians in the building, since the area is a hotspot for Canadian snowbirds.
But there are deeper connections to Canada, as well. Canadian synagogues are responding to the tragedy with prayers and donation drives, Surfside's Chabad rabbi grew up in Ontario, and the company that built the condo complex in 1981 was, in fact, run by a Canadian Jewish real estate developer and lawyer.
On today's episode, Jacob Solomon, the head of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, joins to provide an on-the-ground update.
What we talked about:
- Read about the local Federation's response at jewishmiami.org
- Learn about the local Chabad's donation drive at theshul.org
- Find emergency numbers via the Canadian consulate in Miami at international.gc.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The graduating class of TanenbaumCHAT, a Jewish high school in Toronto, comprises 196 students who haven't actually set foot in their school building for most of the school year. Contrast their experience with those of Grade 12 students at Vancouver's King David High School: there, 58 British Columbians have been attending in-person classes all year, albeit with masks on.
The COVID pandemic has upended high school students' final years, no matter what part of the country you look at. Yet their experiences have still varied wildly. From grad ceremonies to prom, yearbooks to final exams, grad students in 2021 had an unforgettable year—for all the wrong reasons.
On today's episode, we invite groups of students from both schools to reflect on the tumultuous year that was, compare lockdown life between Ontario and B.C., and predict how the pandemic will change their futures.
What we talked about:
- Visit TanenbaumCHAT's website at tanenbaumchat.org
- Visit King David High School's website at kdhs.org
- Learn about Holocaust Survivor Day at holocaustsurvivorday.com
- Read: "Marc Garneau to visit Israel, West Bank to further peace" (thecjn.ca)
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
This past Monday, just in time for Pride Week, Canadian Blood Services quietly posted an update on their website, recommending the elimination of Canada's "blood ban". The ban forbids gay, bisexual and other queer men from donating blood if they've had sex with men in the last three months. The rule used to require five years of celibacy, before getting truncated down to one year; only in 2019 did Canadian Blood Services change the criteria, lowering it to three months.
Canadian Blood Services says they're still worried about the risk of contaminating Canada’s blood supply—their data suggests gay men account for 40 per cent of all HIV cases. Nonetheless, they say they will send a report to Ottawa by the end of the year, urging Health Canada to let them scrap the blood ban and replace it with a questionnaire that asks all donors, regardless of sexual orientation, about their sexually risky behaviour.
On today's episode, we hear from Moshe Appel, an activist who's tweeted at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over 1,000 times in the last six years, in hopes the leader will keep an old campaign promise and nix the blood ban altogether.
What we talked about:
- Follow Moshe Appel on Twitter @MosheBAppel
- Read Canadian Blood Services' recent post, "Evolving eligibility criteria for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men," at blood.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
How does someone live to celebrate their 114th birthday? On today's episode, Ellin poses the question to Cecile Klein, Canada's oldest person. She tells us her secret to longevity: staying active, doing things for yourself, eating steaks (because you still have all your own teeth) and hopping on a cruise to Mexico at the young age of 103.
Klein lived on her own, in her own house in Montreal’s Snowdon area, until she was 110, in 2017. Unfortunately, she suffered a fall that year, which landed her in Montreal’s main Jewish nursing home, the Donald Berman Maimonides Geriatric Centre, where she's lived ever since.
The pandemic has been particularly hard for the nursing home: at least 60 residents died and the government called in the Armed Forces to help. Klein was lucky not to get sick, but she remained isolated for much of 2020. When she celebrated her 114th birthday last week, while her fellow residents could gather outside with her, only four family members were allowed to visit in her room.
Klein joins us today right after her birthday party, along with her 85-year-old daughter; her grandson, Arthur Nussbam; and Arthur's sister, Elaine Nussbaum.
What we talked about:
- Watch video of Klein's birthday party on The CJN's YouTube page
- See photos from the event on Côte-Saint-Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein's Facebook page
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Robbie Waisman is a well-known speaker on Holocaust education. When he was 11, he was forced to worked in a munitions factory in Poland; by 14 he was sent to Buchenwald, where he was grouped in the same cohort of teenagers as Elie Weisel. His parents and four brothers were killed in the Holocaust.
Eugene Arcand, meanwhile, is now an official with Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and also speaks widely about his experiences as a forced Indian residential school student in Saskatchewan for 11 years.
For a few years now, Waisman and Arcand have been joining forces to speak together at schools and various events. They both took part in a new art show that exhibits 18 portraits of survivors: nine from the Holocaust, nine from Indian residential schools. The artist who painted them, Carol Wylie, is Jewish herself—she got the idea after hearing a survivor in Toronto, Nate Leipciger, speak five years ago at her synagogue in Saskatoon.
Now she hopes people who see her show will be moved to learn more about both genocides, while also inspiring Jewish people to help residential school survivors heal. To commemorate National Indigenous Peoples Day, Wylie joins Ellin Bessner on The CJN Daily to discuss her project and the stories she heard.
What we talked about:
- See Carol's website at carolwylie.ca
- View the project at carolwylie.ca/they-didnt-know-we-were-seeds
- Read about National Indigenous Peoples Day on rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
In the past year, an unusual number of Canadian rabbis have changed jobs, even while COVID restrictions make job interviews difficult. Rabbis across the country have left their synagogues, either to change things up or for personal reasons. Some came as a surprise, like Matthew Leibl in Winnipeg, who announced his resignation in April; others left to pursue other projects, like Yossi Sapirman of Toronto.
What is it like for a rabbi to change positions? How easy is it for them to move? In today's episode, Rabbi Lionel Moses, a veteran Canadian rabbi who ran the matching system between rabbis and synagogues for the Conservative Jewish community in North America, says it’s a lot like dating—and mourning. And this year hasn't made it any easier.
What we talked about:
- "'Rabbi Yossi' now heads outreach group he founded" (thecjn.ca)
- "Leaving one home for another" (about Rabbi Don Pacht, at jewishindependent.ca)
- "Rabbi Chaim Strauchler To Take the Helm at Rinat" at jewishlink.news
- "Meet Rabbi Aubrey Glazer" (mauijews.org)
- "Rabbi Matthew Leibl leaving position" (szwinnipeg.ca)
- Sign up for The CJN's newsletter at mailchi.mp/thecjn/newsletter
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
This week, Israel got its first new prime minister in over a decade: Naftali Bennett, an Orthodox right-wing politician, formed an unlikely governing coalition with centrist and left-wing parties, as well as the United Arab List.
Bennett, who spent some formative years living in Montreal as a young child, has staunch positions on controversial domestic issues. He supports settlements in the West Bank, rejects the prospect of a nuclear deal with Iran and opposes a two-state solution with Palestine.
Keeping an eye on all this movement, from his home in Jerusalem, is Canadian professor Irwin Cotler. On today's episode, the former Liberal MP and human rights lawyer describes Israel's current political climate, and what Bennett's election could mean for Canada.
What we talked about:
- Read: "How attending preschool in Montreal helped define Naftali Bennett" (thecjn.ca)
- See Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's statement on Bennett's election at the government of Canada's website
- Watch Ellin's full interview with Irwin Cotler on YouTube
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, died on June 13, 1994. Each year, to commemorate his death, his Chabad followers visit Scheerson’s gravesite outside New York—it's known as the Ohel—where they leave letters and prayer notes for him. This year, a large celebration features guest speaker Elie Wiesel’s son, Elisha, and a musical performance by Itzhak Perlman.
One prominent Canadian Chabad leader yearned to go. But due to COVID restrictions, Rabbi Mendel Kaplan of the Thornhill Flamingo congregation spent the day on this side of the border, teaching and spreading his beloved rebbe’s wisdom—virtually, on YouTube.
Rabbi Kaplan joins today to talk about how the myriad ways the pandemic has affected him and his congregants, including how he and his family caught COVID last year, and how he turns to the Rebbe's words for inspiration in what will soon be a post-pandemic world.
What we talked about:
- Watch a live stream of the Chabad event at chabad.org
- Visit Rabbi Kaplan's congregation at chabadflamingo.com
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Canadian Jewish groups have been pushing the federal government for weeks to create a national emergency summit on anti-Semitism. The calls follow spikes in angry anti-Israel protests around the country in the wake of the latest violent flare-ups in the Middle East, as well as an outpouring of online hatred that extends beyond anti-Zionism and into anti-Semitism.
Late last Friday afternoon, Bardish Chagger, Canada’s Minister of Diversity and Inclusion, confirmed that Canada will in fact hold a national summit on hatred against Jews. At the helm will be Irwin Cotler, the distinguished Canadian Jewish human rights lawyer and advocate, who says he has been working for some time on what such a summit might look like.
Now his project has been greenlit. What comes next? What subjects will it tackle? And who will attend?
To answer these questions, Cotler joins The CJN Daily in part one of an exclusive two-part interview. Our second episode, in which Cotler discusses the new Israeli government and its implications for Canada, will air later this week.
What we talked about:
- Read: "Canada to hold an emergency summit on anti-Semitism" (thecjn.ca)
- CIJA's press release: "CIJA welcomes Government of Canada decision to host Emergency Summit on Antisemitism" (cija.ca)
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
If Anne Frank had survived the Holocaust, she would have been celebrating her 92nd birthday on June 12.
Elly Bollegraaf can empathize with Frank's experience. When Bollegraaf speaks to students in Ottawa about her experiences being a hidden child during the Holocaust in the Netherlands, she usually gets asked whether she knew the famous diary writer. Each time, she disappoints the crowd by informing them she did not.
In reality, Bollegraaf was just two years old when the Germans began deporting Holland’s Jews to their deaths. While Anne Frank was already a teenager—and living in another part of the country, in Amsterdam—Bollegraf remained hidden for two years. She was only free after the war ended, in 1945.
On today's episode, Bollegraaf shares her incredible story of survival, and what she thinks when people say they feel like Anne Frank while living under lockdown during the pandemic.
What we talked about:
- Watch a hypothetical video diary series of Anne Frank, created by the Anne Frank House, on YouTube
- Listen to Elly Bollegraaf's video testimony given to Carleton University at carleton.ca
- The hotel where Bollegraaf was hidden is now a bed and breakfast run by the Wetzels descendents, which you can view at bloeiendeberg.nl
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
This year, June 10 marks is the 54th anniversary of the end of Israel's Six Day War, which claimed the lives of nearly 800 Israeli soldiers. It was hardly the only war that led to sacrifices by Israeli men and women. According to official estimates, about 25,000 Israelis have died for their country, spanning from the years before, during and in the aftermath of the establishment of the State of Israel.
However, not all of the deceased have had their stories properly told. As many as 861 Israelis gave their lives and remain unknown. That's where Giving a Face to the Fallen comes in. It's a non-profit, volunteer-run Israeli group that memorializes those who have fallen in military operations around the time of Israel's independence in 1948.
Today, Ellin speaks with Toronto-born Stephen Glazer, a social worker and the only Canadian currently volunteering with Giving a Face to the Fallen. Glazer is working to track down the identities of these unknown soldiers and seek out any living relatives.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Giving a Face to the Fallen at their website, latetpanim.org.il/en
- Watch an Israel news broadcast about Bella Papierowicz, 21, who was a member of the Haganah, and Lechi, who was killed in 1947 in Jerusalem, at YouTube
- Browse the official list of known fallen Israeli soldiers at izkor.gov.il/en
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last night, a public vigil was held at the London Muslim Mosque in London, Ont., for the victims of what is being described as a murderous hate crime. Five members of a Pakistani Canadian immigrant family, out for a Sunday evening stroll, were deliberately mowed down by a hit-and-run driver. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other federal and provincial leaders showed up to the vigil in person, along with several of London's Jewish community's leaders. In this episode, Ellin speaks to Eric Robinson, the program director at London Jewish Federation, about the impact the tragedy has had on the community.
Plus: Listen to a stunning speech by one imam, Munir El-Kassem, that is worrying Canadian Jews. El-Kassem used his platform to denounce Israeli actions against Gaza and East Jerusalem, capping off two hours of speeches with the proclamation that "whatever is happening in Jerusalem and Gaza is related to whatever happened in London, Ontario—period."
What we talked about:
- Watch a livestream of the vigil and read the statement by Jewish community at Jewish London Ontario's Facebook page
- Contrinute to the Go Fund Me set up for the family at gofundme.com/f/salman-family-accident-relief
- Read more about the national Canadian Jewish response to the tragedy at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last month brought two tragic reminders to Canadians' attention. One was the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder, and the second was the discovery of the remains of 215 children in a Kamloops residential school. While Canadians may finally have woken up to their country's history of racism against Indigenous people, it bears asking: how have things changed for Canada’s Jews of colour in the year since George Floyd was murdered?
One of the movement’s leaders says things have actually gotten better. In a new talk, Rivka Campbell—a new CJN podcast host for the show Rivkush—reflects on her year of work to make space for Canada’s BIPOC Jews at schools, shuls and organizations.
What we talked about:
- Visit the "Jews of Colour" website at jewsofcolour.ca
- Read JOC's statements on the deaths of George Floyd and Regis Korchinski-Paquet and the 215 Kamloops Indigenous children
- Visit the website for "No Silence on Race" at nosilenceonrace.ca
- Watch Rivka's talk, "An Evening of Deep Listening", on YouTube
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
June 6 was the anniversary of D-Day, commemorating the fateful amphibious invasion by the Allies on Normandy, France, in the Second World War. Part of that history were 17,000 Canadian troops of Jewish faith who were part of their country's war effort—including, for the first time, women. This year, a new art exhibit from the University of Calgary is highlighting the role of these women in uniform, who've never received the recognition they deserve. Historian Saundra Lipton oversaw the research into these women, and joins the show to discuss what she found.
What we talked about:
- View "She Also Serves" at the University of Calgary website
- Learn about "She Also Serves" at ucalgary.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On June 5, 1832—189 years ago this weekend—the Canadian legislative assembly in Lower Canada granted full civil rights to people of the Jewish faith. The move was hugely important because it granted emancipation to Canada’s Jews well before most other parts of the British Empire followed suit.
It's not a very popular anniversary, but it's one worth remembering. Today, Ellin chats with the newest Jewish member of Parliament, Ya'ara Saks of Toronto, about how far Canadian Jews have come and the current challenges the community faces.
What we talked about:
- Read "Toronto mayor condemns anti-Semitism, makes it focus of public education campaign" at thecjn.ca
- Watch the Heritage Minute on Ezekiel Hart and Papineau on YouTube
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The late Ruth Goldbloom helped found the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, which has been a national historic site as the gateway to Canada for more than a million immigrants, including tens of thousands of Jews in the 20th century. When Goldbloom died in Halifax nine years ago, more than 1,500 people came to her funeral. A street has been named after her and the museum at Pier 21 named a boardroom in her honour.
But the woman herself still isn't very well known to the public. A new initiative is hoping to change that. Goldbloom's cousins in Halifax, Howard Conter and his wife, Karen Conter, are working to have a permanent sculpture of the prominent philanthropist built and placed outside her beloved museum—so visitors can sit beside her and appreciate what she helped build. They're raising $250,000 for a campaign they call "Honouring Ruth", which will pay for the sculpture and contribute to a bursury in her name. On today's show, the Conters join Ellin to discuss their efforts.
What we talked about:
- Learn more about Honouring Ruth at the Atlantic Jewish Council
- View the website for Canada's immigration museum at pier21.ca
- Watch a video of Goldbloom tap dancing at age 88 on YouTube
- Read Goldbloom's obituary from 2012 at The CJN
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Last week, news broke that the remains of 215 children were found at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Local and national Indigenous communities have been mourning this tragedy for days since the revelation, while also commemorating the lives of these innocent kids, who were taken from their homes under longstanding Canadian government policy. The school operated for nearly 80 years, from 1893 to 1977, mostly under the eye of the Catholic Church.
The news has put Kamloops in the international spotlight. Across Canada, people have built shrines of children's shoes. Governments and schools have lowered flags. Teddy bears have been piled on the steps of Parliament Hill and city halls.
Members of Kamloops' Jewish community, just 60 people strong, were able to visit and mourn with their grieving Indigenous neighbours and friends. Nine local Jewish residents attended the nightly healing and drumming circles in person. On today's episode, one of those residents—the president of the Kamloops Jewish community, Heidi Coleman—shares her experiences with us.
What we talked about:
- Visit the website for the museum that has been created out of the former residential school: tkemlups.ca
- Heidi Coleman is the CEO of the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation in Kamloops. Learn more at rihfoundation.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
The Farhud was a two-day pogrom against the Jewish community of Iraq in the spring of 1941. Pro-Nazi rioters killed hundreds of Jews in Baghdad and destroyed 900 Jewish homes and businesses. The tragedy marked a turning point in the fate of the Iraq’s 2,000-year-old Jewish community: Zionism was later declared a crime and Jews were turfed from government jobs.
Several hundred thousand Farhud survivors eventually moved to Israel, and about 500 families later made their way to Canada. Today, on the 80th anniversary of the Farhud, we hear from two of them: Joe Samuels was born in 1930, in the Taht El Takia neighbourhood of Baghdad, and recalls his family barricading themselves in their house all night; and Sami Sourani survived the Farhud as a young child, though several of his relatives did not. Now, Sourani is on a mission to document the actual number of victims of the infamous pogrom.
What we talked about:
- Buy Joe Samuels's book on Amazon: Beyond the Rivers of Babylon: My Journey of Optimism and Resilience in a Turbulent Century
- Read about the Canadian government's 2014 decision to recognize Jewish refugees from Arab nations at The CJN
- Check out the museum in Israel devoted to the history of the Jews of Iraq, the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Has there ever been a better home for Jews than Canada? That's the bold question being asked in a new collection of essays, No Better Home?: Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging. The book's editor, David S. Koffman, joins to discuss the merits behind the argument: how Canada might be the most inviting, safe and tolerant country for Jews in the world.
Plus: Liberal MP Ya'ara Saks joins to discuss her government's recent decision to send an additional $25 million to help Gazans in need. Where is the money going? And what role does Canada play in helping to bring peace to the Middle East?
What we talked about:
- Buy the book, No Better Home?: Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging, at https://utorontopress.com
- Read: "Canada announces $25m for Palestinians, with some earmarked for UNRWA" (thecjn.ca)
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
On the night of May 28, Saskatoon’s Congregation Agudas Israel will host a graduation ceremony for its Hebrew school students—online, of course, because of COVID-19. The three graduates and the rest of the students will take part in evening prayers to welcome Shabbat and celebrate a milestone in the local Jewish community.
If it wasn’t for COVID, they could all have been congregating in Agudas Israel’s newly renovated synagogue building. The multimillion-dollar legacy project just finished—but no one’s been able to use it yet, because of lockdowns.
Matthew Taras, a Calgary native who moved to Saskatoon, is one of the few people who have seen the space firsthand. It inspired him to write a column in the synagogue bulletin about how the new building brings him hope for the community's future, as well as the future of his own wife and son. He joins the show to discuss the state of Saskatoon's Jews.
What we talked about:
- Read Matthew Taras's column at agudasisrael.org
- Watch MNA David Birnbaum's motion condemning anti-Semitic attacks at his Facebook page
- Watch Saskatoon Hebrew School's 100-year anniversary video on YouTube
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Faye Schulman lost most of her family in the Holocaust—her parents, aunts, uncles, two brothers and two sisters. But Schulman herself was spared because she was a photographer and had worked in her brother’s studio. She ended up living a life worthy of a Hollywood film, joining and living with a band of Russian partisan fighters in the woods. Schulman died at the end of April in Toronto at the age of 101. This week, her children are marking the traditional 30-day anniversary of her death, called shloshim.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from two writers about Schulman's life and legacy. Ron Csillag, a reporter for The CJN, wrote her obituary and had met her briefly years ago; and Judy Batalion is a Montreal-born writer whose latest book, The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos, features Schulman among many other courageous women.
What we talked about:
- Wartime photographer Faye Schulman captured lives of the partisan resistance (thecjn.ca)
- Learn more about Judy Batalion and find her books at judybatalion.com
- Judy Batalion is speaking on the evening of May 27 via Zoom to the Congregation Dorshei Emet synagogue congregation in Montreal. Get the access code at dorsheiemet.com
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Dr. Nili Kaplan Myrth, a family doctor in Ottawa, has 1,400 patients and 13,000 followers on Twitter. She’s been outspoken in her efforts to make sure marginalized people—like frontline workers, single parents and refugees or those who have trouble accessing transportation—get vaccines. She’s already organized two mass vaccination clinics in Ottawa, called Jabapaloozas, where she gave out more than 800 shots—not only to her own patients, but also to hundreds of others.
She has another Jabapalooza coming up in June... but only if she can get enough vaccines to pull it off. Meanwhile, her own patients between the ages of 12 and 17 won’t be able to get vaccinated in her office. She joins The CJN Daily to talk about these problems and other issues with Ontario's, and Canada's, vaccine rollout.
What we talked about:
- Read about Jabapalooza in the Ottawa Citizen
- Find Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth on Twitter @nilikm
- See her website, rxadvocacy.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Three and a half years have passed since the bodies of Barry and Honey Sherman were found dead in their Toronto home. They'd been posed in a macabre position and tied to the railing of their basement swimming pool. The mysterious deaths of the Canadian Jewish billionaire couple shocked the country—and especially the Jewish community, where they had been influential fundraisers and donated millions over the years.
Kevin Donovan, a reporter with the Star, joins to speak about his ongoing investigation into the unsolved murders.
What we talked about:
- "Rabbi charged with vandalizing Israeli consulate" (thecjn.ca)
- Who Really Killed This Billionaire? (Bloomberg/YouTube)
- Drake's son appears with him on stage at the Billboard Music Awards (ctvnews.ca)
- The Billionaire Murders: The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman (Penguin Random House Canada)
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
It was a relief to hear news of yesterday's ceasefire between Israel and Gaza. But for many Canadian Jewish students, the 11-day-long conflict has been particularly hard to handle.
At Wilfred Laurier University, two pro-Palestinian students shot a distressing video in which they lit a makeshift Israeli flag on fire and made stabbing gestures with Palestinian and Israeli flag emojis. At Queen's University, the campus newspaper came out in support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. In Calgary, the local Hillel joined the city's Jewish federation to host an online meetup earlier this week, so students could share their feelings and plan how to defend themselves against anti-Semitism.
On today's episode, Ellin is joined by Rafi Matchen and Yos Tarshish from Queen's University, as well as Danielle Braitman from Calgary Jewish Federation and LeeAnn Grisaru, president of the Hillel at the University of Calgary.
What we talked about:
- Read: "Laurier responds to offensive TikTok video posted by student" (thecord.ca)
- See the Queen's Journal retract their BDS support at Avi Benlolo's website
- Read: "West Island shop owner remains defiant in face of new language law" (montrealgazette.com)
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
While plenty of cities and schools around the world take part in "Kindness Days" or promote random acts of kindness, Canada recently became the first country to formally enshrine a "Kindness Week" into law. On May 14, all five parties voted unanimously to pass Bill S-223, An Act respecting Kindness Week, in the House of Commons.
Kindness Week was inspired by Rabbi Reuven Bulka of Ottawa. Rabbi Bulka made it his life’s work to promote kindness—he even founded a national organization dedicated to it. Now his dream of formalizing it into law has come true, even as the 76-year-old rabbi battles late-stage cancer.
Senator Jim Munson joins to discuss the long road to getting Kindness Week off the ground, his relationship with Rabbi Bulka, and where we go from here.
What we talked about:
- Kind Canada's website: kindcanada.org
- Rabbi Bulka's website: rabbibulka.ca
- Read the Hansard transcript of the House speeches regarding Bill S-223
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
You may have heard of Jenna Lewinsky, who brought her flock of Canadian Jacobs sheep to Israel back in 2016. Today, the former resident of Abbotsford, B.C., lives in Efrat—a disputed Jewish settlement on the West Bank near Bethlehem.
Despite the economic hit she's taken from the COVID-19 pandemic, and being urged by Israeli police to move because they couldn't ensure her safety during the current conflict, Lewinsky is staying put. On today's show, we hear how the sheep and their Canadian keeper are riding out the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Gaza, thanks in large part to her friendly Arab neighbours.
What we talked about:
- Watch Adam Zepp's video on YouTube
- Learn about Lewinsky's sheep at the CBC
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Robert Gasner is a Canadian who recently moved to Ashkelon, Israel, about 10 km north of the Gaza Strip. When a rocket hit his neighbour's house, the 63-year-old ran into the burning building to save a mother and her children, who were trapped inside.
In this exclusive Canadian interview, Gasner recalls the event on The CJN Daily, from the moment the bomb dropped to his recovery in the hospital. Thankfully, the family survived, and Gasner escaped with only scorched hands, a bloody head wound, a very sore throat—and an incredible story.
Relevant links:
- Catch Gasner's interview on Fox News on his Facebook page
- Watch The CJN's short documentary about the current conflict, shot on the streets of Lod, at thecjn.ca
- Read a first-person essay on life in a war zone at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
David Ben Gurion announced Israel’s independence on May 14, 1948—73 years ago today. (Although this year the event was marked in April, according to the Hebrew calendar.) The anniversary comes as Israel is in an eerily familiar situation, heading into another weekend with Arab fighters launching a barrage of rockets from Gaza. Meanwhile, violence between Jews, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs has broken out across Jerusalem, Acco, Lod and Ramla and elsewhere. While Canadian Jews prepare to observe the religious festival of Shavuout on Monday, which marks the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai, Israelis are seeking shelter in safe rooms and bunkers.
In this episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by David Matlow, a Canadian who has amassed the world’s largest collection of Theodor Herzl memorabilia and Zionism artifacts. Matlow shares stories from Israel's creation, including why Ben Gurion decided to hurry up and declare the State of Israel in a secret ceremony in the basement of a Tel Aviv building—and why they almost called Israel by a different name.
What we talked about:
- Visit David Matlow's website at herzlcollection.com
- Browse some of David Matlow's collection in The CJN's Treasure Trove feature on Instagram at instagram.com/thecjn
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Today marks the 82nd anniversary of the ill-fated voyage of the MS St. Louis, which carried more than 900 Jewish refugees across the Atlantic, from Europe to North America. After being denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, the ship returned to European soil, where at least 200 passengers would later be killed by invading Nazi forces. Gilda Spitz, whose husband's father, aunt and grandmother were on the ship, joins to discuss the event's legacy and how her in-laws survived the saga.
Plus, we hear from Steve Epstein in Ashkelon, Israel, about what life is like with rockets flying overhead. A rocket hit a house across the street from him—one of 14 rockets fired from gaza to hit targets in Ashkelon, including an empty school. Steve explains what it was like running to a nearby shelter with ambulance sirens blaring throughout the neighbourhood.
What we talked about:
- Read about Canada's sole survivor from the MS St. Louis at the old CJN website
- Read the full text of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's apology to victims of the MS St. Louis
- Learn more about Canada's reaction to the MS St. Louis at the Pier 21 website
- Read how the "Iron Dome" is saving lives in Israel at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Camp BB Riback sits on the shores of Pine Lake, Alberta, about halfway between Edmonton and Calgary. This summer was supposed to mark the camp’s 65th anniversary. But with Alberta having the highest active-case rate of COVID-19 per capita of all provinces and territories in Canada—and as the camp itself faced ambiguity from the provincial government about whether or not they could legally open—BB Riback made the hard decision to cancel camp, lay off staff and hope some parents roll over their fees to next year. Camp director Stacy Shaikin joins to discuss how the camp is navigating this uncertain summer.
In the second half of today's episode, Ellin asks: How did hundreds of TanenbaumCHAT high school families hike the length of the famous Israel National Trail in lockdown? For five months, they've been doing the Tigers Trekking Israel challenge. Participants danced, walked, did yoga and jogged—but they did it here in Canada, accumulating enough kilometers to complete the 1,000-km hike. The challenge ended Monday, on Jerusalem Day, with a grand prize of two tickets to Israel. Students Rena Zevy and Stacey Goldberg and athletics director Adam Chaim join to talk about how the idea got started.
What we talked about:
- Visit the Camp BB Riback website at campbb.com
- Read: "Jewish Summer Camps: Ready to Go, Waiting for Directions" at thecjn.ca
- Learn more about CHAT's trekking initiative at their website
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
According to the 2016 census, Canada's Jewish population dropped by half. This year, Jewish groups want to fix the problem by making sure Jewish Canadians know how to correctly fill out the long-form census. Questions 23 and 30 are at the centre of that campaign: one asks what religion you are; the other, your ethnicity.
On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Morton Weinfeld, a professor at McGill University, joins to explain what was wrong with the last census—and how this new one is supposed to be better. After that, Simon Granat, a senior manager of policy and communitations with CIJA, talks about the impact the census has on Jews across the country.
What we talked about:
- Find Weinfeld's book, Like Everyone Else but Different: The Paradoxical Success of Canadian Jews, on Amazon
- Read British Columbia's press release about new child care and housing projects
- Read CIJA's take on the census at thecjn.ca
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
It's Yom Yerushalayim, a day to celebrate Israel's holiest city. But the holiday is being marred by the threat of ongoing violence between Palestinian protesters and ultra-nationalist Israeli extremists. The situation grew so dire that Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Marc Garneau, issued a statement over the weekend calling for "immediate de-escalation of tensions."
Meanwhile, the Israeli high court has postponed a hearing, slated for Monday, on a controversial case over evictions from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheik Jarrah. That postponement was due to fears that the hearing would further inflame the clashes.
For an on-the-ground perspective, today's guest is Igal Hecht, an Israeli-born Canadian documentary filmmaker and producer, currently shooting a new production about Israeli elections.
What we talked about:
- View the statement by Global Affairs Canada: "Canada concerned by escalation of tensions in Jerusalem"
- Watch the trailer for Igal Hecht's new movie, My Election, on YouTube
- Read about the protests in Jerusalem at CBC News
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
Clean Speech Ottawa is a movement backed by more than 25 Jewish organizations. Their goal: encourage people to be mindful of the ways in which their flippant, offensive, condescending or insulting language can hurt other people. Their goal is to spread peace across communities "one word at a time." One of the founders, Rabbi Zischa Shaps, joins the show to talk about the birth of the movement and why it matters so much in 2021.
What we talked about:
- Read the Senate bill that could bring Kindness Week to Canada
- Follow Clean Speech Ottawa on Facebook at facebook.com/CleanSpeechOttawa
- Learn about Rabbi Shaps's organization, JET, at jetottawa.com
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.
While no one knows the number of Canadian Jews who died from the COVID-19 pandemic, the editorial team at Maclean's is casting a wider net. They've teamed up with journalism schools across the country to write an obituary of every Canadian who died from the virus for a massive collection called They Were Loved. Dafna Izenberg, the managing editor of special projects at Maclean's, talks about a few prominent Jewish stories that stuck out to her. Plus, listen to clips from the Liberation75 festival that's commemorating the end of the Holocaust.
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia.
With so many Jewish cultural events happening in May—film festivals, literary celebrations and the Walk with Israel, not to mention the Israeli holidays of Independence Day and Yom HaShoah—it’s no accident that the Canadian government, in 2018, announced May would be Canadian Jewish Heritage Month. On the show today, Conservative senator Linda Frum and former Liberal MP Michael Levitt join to discuss how they helped usher this official designation into law.
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner, who you can follow on Twitter at @ebessner. Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia.
Welcome to the first episode of The CJN Daily. Today, host Ellin Bessner focuses on the tragedy that killed 45 people and injured more than 150 others during what was supposed to be a celebration for Lag b'Omer on Mount Meron. Ellin talks with Dr. Oded Oron, a visiting scholar with the Israel Institute, who explains what the event is supposed to be—and how it all went wrong. After that, Dr. Ira Robinson, director of the Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, talks about the anti-Zionist Toldos Aharon Hasidic sect, which played a central role in the lethal events.
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner, who you can follow on Twitter at @ebessner. Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia.