The CJN Daily
The CJN Podcast Network
Subscribe
A daily bite-sized newscast from The Canadian Jewish News, hosted by veteran broadcaster, writer and journalist Ellin Bessner. Airs Monday to Thursday.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
21 hours ago
E1 Will Canada finally release top-secret papers on suspected Nazi war criminals who moved to the country?
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 Deschêne_s_ 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.
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
playlist_add
5 days ago
The consequences of Parliament’s ‘mind-boggling’ ovation for former Nazi
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.
playlist_add
6 days ago
Israel’s pro-democracy protest leaders come looking for support in Canada
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.
playlist_add
Sep 19, 2023
Will masking return this winter COVID season? A doctor in Ottawa is fighting for it
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.
playlist_add
Sep 18, 2023
May their memory never buffer: Synagogue yahrzeit memorials are going digital
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.
playlist_add
Sep 14, 2023
New year, new hurricane: Atlantic Canada once again on alert as Hurricane Lee threatens Rosh Hashanah celebrations
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.
playlist_add
Sep 13, 2023
We asked a 104-year-old 'super senior' the secret to living a long life. Here's what she said
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.
playlist_add
Sep 12, 2023
This Jewish entrepreneur is offering an unorthodox solution to Canada's housing crisis
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.
playlist_add
Sep 11, 2023
On the ground of Morocco’s earthquake, a Canadian survives—while Montreal’s community mobilizes
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.
playlist_add
Sep 7, 2023
How are Canadian Jewish leaders preparing for Israel's continued political crisis this fall?
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.
playlist_add
Sep 6, 2023
As the 'Freedom Convoy' trial begins, reflections on the Canadian Jews who supported the movement
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.
playlist_add
Sep 5, 2023
Ukrainian refugee stories are being forgotten. This Canadian writer is on a mission to tell them
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.
playlist_add
Aug 31, 2023
This year has been the worst on record for Canadian wildfires. What can be done?
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 B…
playlist_add
Aug 30, 2023
Summer of strikes: What's the Jewish role in modern Canadian labour unions?
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.
Credi…
playlist_add
Aug 29, 2023
Reasonable doubts: Jewish Canadians react to Israel's judicial reforms
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 h…
playlist_add
Aug 28, 2023
Ontario becomes the first province to mandate grade-school Holocaust education: What can parents expect?
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 titl…
playlist_add
Aug 24, 2023
Back to school is upon us. But do Jewish day schools actually work?
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 Mo…
playlist_add
Aug 23, 2023
Hear this Canadian filmmaker discuss the true story behind Netflix's 'The Swimmers'
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…
playlist_add
Aug 22, 2023
Klezmer fans and Deadheads: How Ashkenaz Festival is merging musical styles this summer
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…
playlist_add
Aug 21, 2023
How Montrealer Josh Sokol won North America’s biggest Scrabble tournament
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.
playlist_add
Jul 31, 2023
A message from The CJN Daily team
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.
playlist_add
Jul 26, 2023
Despite a victorious court ruling, women are still second-class citizens at the Western Wall
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…
playlist_add
Jul 25, 2023
Monte Kwinter, record-breaking politician who ‘championed’ the Jewish community, dies at 92
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 C…
playlist_add
Jul 24, 2023
France’s Chief Rabbi on visit to Canada downplays threats to Jewish life in his country
On July 24, Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia of France wraps up his hectic weeklong tour of Ontario and Quebec. But it wasn't his first time in the country, or specifically Montreal—he came over 30 years ago for a family wedding. In an interview with The CJN Daily, Rabbi 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 and 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 a myriad of Jewish organizations, Sephardic synagogues and communal agencies operating in Montreal—a network that left him deeply impres…
playlist_add
Jul 20, 2023
Preserving the vanished Jewish history of Rouyn-Noranda, a small Quebec town
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 n…
playlist_add
Jul 19, 2023
Louis Slotin, a little-known Canadian, helped build the real-life atomic bombs portrayed in ‘Oppenheimer’
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 Winni…
playlist_add
Jul 18, 2023
A Canadian Anglican archbishop explains his church’s new policy on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians
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 Is…
playlist_add
Jul 17, 2023
Canada’s Anglican church removes prayer about converting Jews, but takes one-sided stance on Israel-Palestine issue
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…
playlist_add
Jul 13, 2023
Netflix’s Canadian ‘Jewish Matchmaking’ star Cindy Seni is engaged—but not to anyone from the show
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 Jerus…
playlist_add
Jul 12, 2023
Mass protests in Israel: Hear from The CJN on the ground for the “Day of Disruption” in Jerusalem
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 Veronik…
playlist_add
Jul 11, 2023
Mira Koschitzky, Gladys Rose and 3 Holocaust survivors: The CJN Daily’s ‘Honourable Menschen’ returns
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 Mir…
playlist_add
Jul 10, 2023
Andrew Cristall goes to Washington (Capitals): The only Jew from the 2023 NHL draft is from Vancouver
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…
playlist_add
Jul 6, 2023
A bet on the future: why Saskatoon's Jewish community rebuilt its historic shul and community centre
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 multi…
playlist_add
Jul 5, 2023
Google, Facebook vow to block Canadian news after Bill C-18: What it means for The CJN and you
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 cha…
playlist_add
Jul 4, 2023
Jewish summer camps are adding mental health support to campers’ daily routines
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 f…
playlist_add
Jun 29, 2023
Honey and Barry Sherman’s son builds a hockey arena in their memory for Toronto’s Jewish community
Construction has begun at the site of the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community campus in Vaughan, Ont. for the Honey and Barry Sherman 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 the…
playlist_add
Jun 27, 2023
A DNA test revealed this actor wasn’t who he thought he was—so he wrote a musical about it
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…
playlist_add
Jun 26, 2023
The owners of this Zionist hub in Toronto are facing lawsuits and criticism over its ‘disgusting’ state of disrepair
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…
playlist_add
Jun 22, 2023
From catwalks to cancer, Jeanne Beker says she's living her best life
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.…
playlist_add
Jun 21, 2023
Can Toronto’s next mayor fix transit and housing—and make the city safer for Jews? The CJN Daily’s expert panel ponders it all
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 pu…
playlist_add
Jun 20, 2023
Yad Vashem chair Dani Dayan has high praise for Canada’s Holocaust education efforts—and harsh criticism for Ukraine, Poland and Russia
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 Holocau…
playlist_add
Jun 19, 2023
Dr. Bob Libman, the brother of Pittsburgh victim Joyce Fienberg, reflects on the guilty verdict for the Tree of Life synagogue shooter
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
* Hea…
playlist_add
Jun 15, 2023
How Mitchell Consky found joy amidst the grief of caregiving for his dying father: a special live Father’s Day episode of The CJN Daily
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…
playlist_add
Jun 14, 2023
5,000 high schoolers watched a new play about the 1933 Christie Pits Riot: what did they learn?
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…
playlist_add
Jun 13, 2023
Quebec's French-language restrictions spark another legal challenge—and some cheek from Côte Saint-Luc
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…
playlist_add
Jun 12, 2023
The chilling new Toronto Holocaust museum is ready for a post-survivor world
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…
playlist_add
Jun 8, 2023
War of the words: The CJN Daily goes inside Toronto’s Jewish day school debate tournament
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 th…
playlist_add
Jun 7, 2023
Court martial of Canadian soldier for ‘disgusting’ antisemitic comments a milestone, says retired Jewish senior officer
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 ran…
playlist_add
Jun 6, 2023
Saul Rubinek talks about returning to his mother tongue of Yiddish for a new role
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…
playlist_add
Jun 5, 2023
Israel's Diaspora minister visited Canada for the first time to meet lawmakers, Jewish leaders—and evangelical Christians
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 sociall…
playlist_add
Jun 1, 2023
Denis Brott has recovered from severe COVID—but not from his brother's sudden death
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…
playlist_add
May 31, 2023
Where heaven meets Earth: Vancouver’s Jewish community now grows fresh fruit and veggies on the rooftop
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…
playlist_add
May 30, 2023
This historic painting, looted by Nazis from acclaimed Montreal art dealer the late Max Stern, will forever remain in Germany
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 Unive…
playlist_add
May 29, 2023
A Bathurst Manor reunion kicks off a new exhibit showcasing the postwar mostly-Jewish suburban neighbourhood of north Toronto
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…
playlist_add
May 25, 2023
Hartley Garshowitz went to England to honour his uncle, the lone Canadian Jew killed in the audacious Dambusters Raid
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…
playlist_add
May 24, 2023
What are the Jewish themes on the ballot in Alberta’s election?
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 stil…
playlist_add
May 23, 2023
Linda Frum on fighting back (and winning) a defamation lawsuit the judge said was designed to gag her from criticizing an Arabic-language newspaper
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…
playlist_add
May 18, 2023
Will this week’s vote on Parliament Hill change Canada’s relationship with Israel?
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…
playlist_add
May 16, 2023
A new faculty network has formed to help protect Jewish professors from campus antisemitism
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…
playlist_add
May 11, 2023
Meet the Canadian starring in Netflix’s new Jewish matchmaking reality show
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 h…
playlist_add
May 10, 2023
Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner says antisemitic rhetoric by an NDP MPP is ‘toxic to our democracy’
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 legisl…
playlist_add
May 9, 2023
Newfoundland and Labrador is now the 7th province to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism: Does it matter?
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 a…
playlist_add
May 8, 2023
How two Canadian Jewish politicians navigated King Charles’s coronation
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 t…
playlist_add
May 4, 2023
Wayne and Shuster’s kids are helping to bring their parents’ classic comedy skits to a new generation
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 U…
playlist_add
May 3, 2023
Rosalie Abella gets the big-screen treatment spotlighting a life dedicated to justice
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…
playlist_add
May 2, 2023
Could Israeli-born teen singer, Maya Gamzu, win "Canada’s Got Talent"?
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 cham…
playlist_add
May 1, 2023
Antisemitic incidents seem disproportionately high in Canada. How is this possible?
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 communi…
playlist_add
Apr 27, 2023
86-year-old Hadassa Kingstone's epic life tells the story of the State of Israel
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 T…
playlist_add
Apr 26, 2023
Take our “Israel at 75” quiz
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
Cre…
playlist_add
Apr 25, 2023
Decorated pilot Dr. Bill Novick fought for Israel in 1948, and other ‘Honourable Menschen’ for Yom Ha-Zikaron
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.…
playlist_add
Apr 24, 2023
Israel’s rookie Aliyah minister visits Canada to promote immigration—while avoiding protesters
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…
playlist_add
Apr 20, 2023
Ahead of Earth Day, a new Canadian kids book tackles climate anxiety—with a dose of Jewish soul
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 Enriquez 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…
playlist_add
Apr 19, 2023
Making a game about the Holocaust? Yes, says this Canadian designer of ‘Rosenstrasse’
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…
playlist_add
Apr 18, 2023
This wrinkled tallit tells the story of a Montrealer who became Auschwitz’s only Canadian Holocaust victim
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…
playlist_add
Apr 17, 2023
The Wikipedia fight over Poland’s role in the Holocaust sparks death threats against an Ottawa professor
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 lat…
playlist_add
Apr 11, 2023
Why this cemetery researcher is preserving the history of 80,000 Jews buried in Quebec
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 br…
playlist_add
Apr 10, 2023
Bonjour Chai's second annual Great Canadian Seder episode
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 Twitte…
playlist_add
Apr 5, 2023
Is it OK if your seder plate is made in China?
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,…
playlist_add
Apr 4, 2023
He’s Jewish. She’s agnostic and part-Indigenous. Here are their tips for a successful interfaith seder
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, who is from Manitoba’s Peguis First Nation, join The CJN Daily, along with Rabbi Aaron Levy of the Makom synagogue in Toronto where they do interfaith Sabbaths…
playlist_add
Apr 3, 2023
Why did 300 Canadian Jewish leaders sign their names to an open letter published in newspapers?
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…
playlist_add
Mar 30, 2023
Matzah emergency in Halifax as local Jews scramble to find crucial Passover staple
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 ea…
playlist_add
Mar 29, 2023
Does your Passover haggadah need an update? This author thinks so
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…
playlist_add
Mar 27, 2023
On the ground of Israel’s historic protests as judicial reforms paused:'This is our 1948 all over again’
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…
playlist_add
Mar 27, 2023
Jewish agencies delivering thousands of Passover food boxes to Canada’s needy amid rising inflation
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.
O…
playlist_add
Mar 23, 2023
Can modern archeology prove Jews’ historic ties to Israel?
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 peop…
playlist_add
Mar 22, 2023
This young Ukrainian family is marking 1 year in Canada—thanks to the Jewish community
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 makin…
playlist_add
Mar 21, 2023
'Bittersweet' win as King David Lions become the first Jewish senior boys basketball champions in B.C. history
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…
playlist_add
Mar 20, 2023
Jewish populations are growing in every major Canadian city—except Toronto
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…
playlist_add
Mar 16, 2023
The CJN’s Honourable Menschen returns to honour Jewish Canadians we recently lost from the world of arts
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 co…
playlist_add
Mar 15, 2023
What’s so great about Montreal winters? Ezra Soiferman’s new film captures the beauty of Snowbec
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
*…
playlist_add
Mar 14, 2023
This Toronto rabbi says Canadian Jews must support Israel and stop criticizing her politics in public
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 sp…
playlist_add
Mar 13, 2023
Lenka Lichtenberg just won a Juno with her grandmother’s Holocaust poems
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 ri…
playlist_add
Mar 9, 2023
A conversation with Canada’s oldest Conservative rabbi, Erwin Schild, on the occasion of his 103rd birthday
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…
playlist_add
Mar 8, 2023
Why this doctor wants women to go for breast cancer screening at age 40, not wait 'til 50
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 sav…
playlist_add
Mar 7, 2023
Why this Oshawa man is calling out the three Conservative MPs who met with far-right German politician
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’…
playlist_add
Mar 6, 2023
After hamantashen, the only kosher bakery on Vancouver Island is making its mark—with a challah-donut
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…
playlist_add
Mar 2, 2023
Meet the Canadian who just won Israel’s top science prize for his diabetes-treatment breakthrough
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 explai…
playlist_add
Mar 1, 2023
The only Mikvah between Vancouver and Calgary opens in Kelowna, B.C.
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 Cha…
playlist_add
Feb 28, 2023
Canadian snowbirds are shaken after an alligator killed an 85-year-old woman in their Florida community
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 no…
playlist_add
Feb 27, 2023
‘The Zionist enterprise is in danger’: Why Charles Bronfman signed an open letter pushing back against Netanyahu
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…
playlist_add
Feb 23, 2023
Stephen Kaplan’s last motorcycle trip nearly killed him. Here’s how he survived with his wife’s help
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 a…
playlist_add
Feb 22, 2023
A new chairlift on a Canadian ski hill is being named The Fenster for two Holocaust survivors who founded Belle Neige
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…
playlist_add
Feb 21, 2023
It’s ‘false’ to say Israeli democracy is under attack, according to the Knesset’s new Canadian member
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…
playlist_add
Feb 16, 2023
The museum curator behind the new Leonard Cohen exhibit at The AGO gives The CJN a private tour
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 Montr…
playlist_add
Feb 15, 2023
‘Apologies without accountability’ as MPs grill government official over the Laith Marouf scandal
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…
playlist_add
Feb 14, 2023
An insider’s look at Aroma Espresso Bar’s troubles in Toronto
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 Th…
playlist_add
Feb 13, 2023
The murders of Barry and Honey Sherman get the true crime treatment
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 jo…
playlist_add
Feb 8, 2023
Why Israel’s Aroma Espresso Bar owes $10 million to their original Canadian franchisor—but they’re not paying (yet)
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” r…
playlist_add
Feb 7, 2023
This 4-year-old got his dream birthday party—at a Metro grocery store in Picton, Ont.
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 CJ…
playlist_add
Feb 6, 2023
‘This is the direction we want Judaism to move’: a Canadian Orthodox rabbi’s Tu B’Shevat call to save the environment
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…
playlist_add
Feb 2, 2023
A spiritual conversation with the young Hollywood horror movie writer who used to watch Jewish bodies before they were buried in Toronto
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…
playlist_add
Feb 1, 2023
Toronto’s Reena agency turns 50 facing middle-aged challenges of caring for older residents with disabilities
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…
playlist_add
Jan 31, 2023
YidLife Crisis explain why they translated their very Jewish humour into Chinese (and French, too!)
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.
Credits The CJN Dail…
playlist_add
Jan 30, 2023
University of Toronto held a private event to help Jews heal from antisemitism. Two attendees reveal what happens in a ‘restorative circle’
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…
playlist_add
Jan 26, 2023
Take our 15-minute audio tour of Winnipeg’s redesigned Holocaust Education Centre
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 b…
playlist_add
Jan 25, 2023
Shining a new light on Rudolf Vrba, the Canadian who escaped from Auschwitz
When he was 19 years old, a Slovakian Jewish teenaged slave labourer named Walter Rosenberg (later he changed his name to Rudolf 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.
Wh…
playlist_add
Jan 24, 2023
Remembering the late Rabbi Bernard Baskin, 102, and other 'Honourable Menschen'
From one of the Jewish community's longest serving rabbis, Bernard Baskin of Hamilton–whose funeral was Sunday, he 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 honourar…
playlist_add
Jan 23, 2023
Why is Israel's ambassador to Canada quitting his job?
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 Saturday night (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…
playlist_add
Jan 19, 2023
Hear how Ottawa’s public school board decided to finally take formal action against antisemitism
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…
playlist_add
Jan 18, 2023
Remembering war veteran Jerry Gross, 96, who served with Machal in Israel’s first struggle for survival
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 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
* Mac…
playlist_add
Jan 17, 2023
'Early bird' dinners and bathing caps: Miami Beach's previous generation of Jewish snowbirds remembered
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…
playlist_add
Jan 16, 2023
A swoosh and a schmear: Nike launches Montreal bagel-inspired sneakers
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 wea…
playlist_add
Jan 12, 2023
Montreal kosher meat store J&R abruptly closed after 70 years. The reasons why were complicated
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. 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…
playlist_add
Jan 11, 2023
Cyberfrumenism: Why these ultra-Orthodox women singers are going viral—against the wishes of some rabbis
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 J…
playlist_add
Jan 10, 2023
How a plate of herring is the secret to Jewish unity
There’s something fishy about 21-year-old 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 the 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 herring is good for you, and why you shoul…
playlist_add
Jan 9, 2023
10 ideas to save a broken Canada—from the Jewish policy expert who says 2023 will be ‘brutish and nasty’
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 Ins…
playlist_add
Dec 25, 2022
The CJN: Where we’ve been and where we’re heading next—and how you can help in 2023
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…
playlist_add
Dec 22, 2022
Why this Ottawa artist turns her broken glass menorahs into grave-marker stones
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 E…
playlist_add
Dec 21, 2022
On Bowen Island, a community rallies against Holocaust denial—behind a giant driftwood menorah
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 meno…
playlist_add
Dec 20, 2022
Recognize this blue moose menorah? The artist has never lit Hanukkah candles
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 Pi…
playlist_add
Dec 19, 2022
'This is a hair-on-fire moment': Why Canadian Jewish leaders are worried about Israel’s new government
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 l…
playlist_add
Dec 15, 2022
After losing her job, Phyllis Taylor went behind bars—and became The Prison Lady
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 t…
playlist_add
Dec 14, 2022
How well do you remember the 2022 news cycle? Take The CJN Daily’s political pop quiz
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…
playlist_add
Dec 13, 2022
From architects to Olympians: A winter roundup of the recently deceased
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…
playlist_add
Dec 12, 2022
Is antisemitism really that bad at the University of Toronto’s medical school? These doctors say ‘yes’
"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 m…
playlist_add
Dec 8, 2022
Here’s why Irwin Cotler says his political prisoner clients are the real heroes
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…
playlist_add
Dec 7, 2022
'We cannot fix this alone': How a Vancouver rabbi assembled a team of diverse leaders to tackle racism
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-hou…
playlist_add
Dec 6, 2022
How a filmmaker turned Canada's Jewish history into an Indiana Jones adventure
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 accept…
playlist_add
Dec 5, 2022
Freedom Convoy spokesman Benjamin Dichter takes us behind the scenes of the three weeks that paralyzed Ottawa
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…
playlist_add
Nov 24, 2022
A century of welcoming Jewish immigrants: JIAS marks its 100th anniversary
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…
playlist_add
Nov 23, 2022
'All in this together' or 'Every man for himself'? Donniel Hartman on the future of Diaspora-Israeli relations
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 D…
playlist_add
Nov 22, 2022
How Sean Shapiro became known as the TikTok Traffic Cop—and went viral with video tips to avoid getting tickets
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 abou…
playlist_add
Nov 21, 2022
This new Canadian podcast examines why Hasidic Jews leave their communities to go 'off the derech'
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 Th…
playlist_add
Nov 17, 2022
Author Dara Horn on the rise in antisemitism, and why Holocaust museums and Holocaust education won’t stop it
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…
playlist_add
Nov 16, 2022
Canadian kids are getting sick at record levels. This expert isn't sure when it will end
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…
playlist_add
Nov 15, 2022
Anita Neville, Canada’s only Jewish lieutenant governor, won't forget her community—or those she represents
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…
playlist_add
Nov 14, 2022
Ethan Schachter was born with a rare genetic disease. Now his mom is raising $1 million to find a cure
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 Da…
playlist_add
Nov 10, 2022
These brothers retraced the steps of their great-uncle, a Jewish Canadian soldier who ‘died a hero’
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 th…
playlist_add
Nov 9, 2022
Holocaust survivor Robbie Waisman's life story is now an award-winning YA book
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…
playlist_add
Nov 8, 2022
'Republicans will take the House': David Frum predicts the U.S. midterms and lays out the stakes for American Jews
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…
playlist_add
Nov 7, 2022
Canada’s expecting 76,000 refugees in 2023. Meet the woman furnishing hundreds of their homes for free
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 proj…
playlist_add
Nov 3, 2022
What happened when Jewish summer campers faced Holocaust denier Jim Keegstra’s students on the basketball court? A new graphic novel tells the tale
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…
playlist_add
Nov 2, 2022
The CJN Daily Dead Beat is back, with a new name: The Honourable Menschen
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 202…
playlist_add
Nov 1, 2022
Scenes from El Al's last flight out of Canada
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 la…
playlist_add
Oct 31, 2022
Go backstage on Tom Stoppard's gripping new Holocaust play, 'Leopoldstadt', with Canadian Broadway star Caissie Levy
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 mo…
playlist_add
Oct 27, 2022
Canada's 2021 census numbers are in—and they're good news for Jews
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 ex…
playlist_add
Oct 26, 2022
'Hana's Suitcase' marks 20 years of teaching young readers about the Holocaust
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 reader…
playlist_add
Oct 25, 2022
Want to run a deli? The owner of Vancouver's storied Omnitsky Kosher is looking to sell—or close shop
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…
playlist_add
Oct 24, 2022
Former UN ambassador Danny Danon explains the stakes of Israel's 5th election in 4 years
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 i…
playlist_add
Oct 20, 2022
Meet the man who digs for dirt on anti-Zionists and antisemites running for public office in Ontario
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'n…
playlist_add
Oct 19, 2022
A deep dive with new Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman, one year after her first election
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'…
playlist_add
Oct 13, 2022
'Our hearts hurt—and are filled with hope': Why Iran's ongoing protests matter to the Jewish community
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…
playlist_add
Oct 12, 2022
Ontario election watch: Political strategist Steve Adler on the top races and Jewish issues this fall
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…
playlist_add
Oct 6, 2022
After Yom Kippur, one author is asking: Can we actually make Heaven on Earth?
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 Am…
playlist_add
Oct 4, 2022
QR codes on tombstones? For Yom Kippur we look at the future trends in the death business including tech
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 tr…
playlist_add
Oct 3, 2022
In 1973, a record 10 boys celebrated their b'nai mitzvah in Oshawa. Now a docuseries has tracked them down to share their stories
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…
playlist_add
Sep 29, 2022
Get a taste of Bonnie Stern's first cookbook in over a decade
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 togeth…
playlist_add
Sep 28, 2022
High Holiday Hurricane: How Maritime Jews celebrated Rosh Hashanah after post-tropical storm Fiona
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 tim…
playlist_add
Sep 22, 2022
For the first time in nearly 100 years, Belleville's synagogue can't offer High Holiday services—because no one will lead them
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 wr…
playlist_add
Sep 21, 2022
Saving Sukkot: Hear why the Canadian government almost accidentally banned importing lulavs
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 lul…
playlist_add
Sep 20, 2022
Ottawa’s Jewish community has a message for their school board: 'Nothing about us, without us'
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 educ…
playlist_add
Sep 19, 2022
Canada's oldest Ashkenazi congregation just recovered a 100-year-old time capsule on their milestone anniversary weekend
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…
playlist_add
Sep 15, 2022
Marsha Lederman’s mother would have been proud of her new high-profile Globe and Mail column beginning this weekend: will she be the voice for Jewish Canadians?
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'…
playlist_add
Sep 14, 2022
Run, hide, defend: This is the new approach to keep Canadian Jews safe over the High Holidays and beyond
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, Alm…
playlist_add
Sep 13, 2022
Beloved March of the Living survivor David Shentow has city park in Ottawa named in his memory
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 volu…
playlist_add
Sep 12, 2022
Queen Elizabeth II was 'good for the Jews' even though she never visited Israel: tributes from Canada and Britain on her death
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 Sc…
playlist_add
Sep 8, 2022
For the first time ever, Jewish RCMP officers can now wear kippot on duty
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 ho…
playlist_add
Sep 7, 2022
How Vancouver's Jews are fundraising one of the most expensive Jewish building projects in Canadian history
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 campaig…
playlist_add
Sep 6, 2022
Alex Polowin, who lied about his age to fight Nazis in Europe, dedicated his life to peace and education
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 Al…
playlist_add
Sep 1, 2022
50 years after the Munich Olympics, Germany will finally apologize to victims' families—and a Canadian filmmaker has been sharing their story
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…
playlist_add
Aug 31, 2022
How Alexandre Matte channelled his Jewish roots to come second in Toastmasters' global public-speaking contest
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). Zac…
playlist_add
Aug 30, 2022
He thought his family was wiped out in the Holocaust. Then he discovered 75,000 distant relatives—including Bob Dylan and Bette Midler
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 si…
playlist_add
Aug 29, 2022
Industry watchdog urges Benjamin's funeral home 'do the right thing for grieving families'—or risk losing their license
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 cl…
playlist_add
Aug 25, 2022
'I was gaslit continuously': Alexandra Lulka Rotman speaks out about her antisemitism battle with Toronto's school board
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 class…
playlist_add
Aug 24, 2022
Death doesn’t take a holiday: Remembering some significant deaths in Jewish Canada from summer 2022
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…
playlist_add
Aug 23, 2022
Thousands of Jews are flying to Switzerland to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the first Zionist Congress
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 fa…
playlist_add
Aug 22, 2022
Mark Goldberg spent years tracking Laith Marouf's hateful tweets. Now, the Canadian government is taking action
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…
playlist_add
Aug 18, 2022
Greatest Hits: Meet the oldest bat mitzvah celebrant in Canada—and one of the youngest
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 r…
playlist_add
Aug 17, 2022
Greatest Hits: Pulling a rabbit out of their virtual hats, these magicians transformed a pandemic into financial success
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 Jok…
playlist_add
Aug 16, 2022
Greatest Hits: How Zoom is helping to revive Jewish folk music in Canada
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 pandemi…
playlist_add
Aug 15, 2022
Greatest Hits: At nearly 80 years old, Gary Averbach is trekking 1,000km across Canada for cancer research
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…
playlist_add
Aug 11, 2022
Greatest Hits: Modern diets are making us fat: A Canadian author explains food cravings
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…
playlist_add
Aug 10, 2022
Greatest Hits: Meet the woman at the centre of Jewish life in Abu Dhabi: Canada's ambassador
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 wi…
playlist_add
Aug 9, 2022
Greatest Hits: At 13, he got an Apple Watch. At 14, he built a daily prayer app for it
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 Bessn…
playlist_add
Aug 8, 2022
Greatest Hits: A Jewish-Indigenous family explains the importance of truth and reconciliation
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 resonating 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.
playlist_add
Aug 3, 2022
Meet the Canadian behind Globle, the web's hot new geography game
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 foc…
playlist_add
Aug 3, 2022
We visited the set of Adam Sandler’s bat mitzvah movie being filmed in Toronto
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) were 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…
playlist_add
Aug 2, 2022
For nearly 40 years, Benjamin’s funeral home foundation has been keeping 10% of charity donations—until a family sued
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 charit…
playlist_add
Jul 28, 2022
At nearly 80 years old, Gary Averbach is trekking 1,000km across Canada for cancer research
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 webs…
playlist_add
Jul 27, 2022
The butterfly effect: Why the endangered monarch is a Jewish issue
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:…
playlist_add
Jul 26, 2022
Go behind the scenes of Zach Hyman's very Jewish charity golf tournament
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 Ce…
playlist_add
Jul 25, 2022
It’s been a year since Canada’s national antisemitism summit. What has been accomplished?
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 talke…
playlist_add
Jul 20, 2022
Meet the Canadian lawyer whose one-act play just won a top Israeli prize
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…
playlist_add
Jul 19, 2022
80 years after his death, a Canadian war hero's art finally finds an audience
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 Express…
playlist_add
Jul 18, 2022
Hitmen murdered her son. Eight years later, she's written a tell-all of her grief and survival
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 a…
playlist_add
Jul 14, 2022
How Yukon’s tiny Jewish community is surviving the worst wildfires in a generation
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,…
playlist_add
Jul 13, 2022
Jewish organizations are outraged over 'bizarre' Montreal court case putting the Holocaust on trial
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 deba…
playlist_add
Jul 12, 2022
This 80-year-old Montrealer just celebrated her bat mitzvah for the first time
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…
playlist_add
Jul 11, 2022
'I must tell the world what happened': Max Eisen, in his own words
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 effectiv…
playlist_add
Jul 7, 2022
Meet the flagbearers leading Canada’s team of 600 into the 21st Maccabiah Games
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 Re…
playlist_add
Jul 6, 2022
'A better Canada because of him': Tributes pour in at the funeral for renowned historian Irving Abella
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…
playlist_add
Jul 5, 2022
A new philanthropic initiative asks wealthy Canadians to donate half their posthumous charitable givings to Jewish causes—but the uptake is slow
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' expectatio…
playlist_add
Jul 4, 2022
Camp Kadimah just reopened for its 79th year. Meet the family who's been there for 77 of them
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…
playlist_add
Jun 30, 2022
Despite shattered goodwill, El Al could return to Toronto next spring, expert predicts
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:
*…
playlist_add
Jun 29, 2022
Ellis Jacob, CEO of Cineplex, is banking on blockbusters to recover from COVID and inflation
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 on…
playlist_add
Jun 28, 2022
Roman Baber is the Jewish political maverick hoping to lead the Conservative party—and all of Canada
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…
playlist_add
Jun 27, 2022
The CJN Daily Dead Beat, Part Deux
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…
playlist_add
Jun 23, 2022
Canadian Jewish community stunned by El Al's decision to cease its Toronto route
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 s…
playlist_add
Jun 22, 2022
After 2 years of lockdowns, Ottawa’s Jewish community threw one giant party for 115 b’nai mitzvah
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…
playlist_add
Jun 21, 2022
Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein wants to bring Jewish life back to downtown Ottawa
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 uni…
playlist_add
Jun 20, 2022
Meet the real rabbi who starred in Drake’s controversial new music 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 S…
playlist_add
Jun 16, 2022
This gripping new photo exhibit showcases 161 Holocaust survivors with links to Calgary
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…
playlist_add
Jun 15, 2022
How Jews brought the movies to Val-d'Or, Que.—and how the city is celebrating them today
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 V…
playlist_add
Jun 14, 2022
Cancelled by COVID 4 times, this couple's wedding party is finally happening
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' jou…
playlist_add
Jun 13, 2022
'I don’t know if justice will ever be served for him': Survivor speaks out against 79-year-old rabbi accused of sex crimes
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 v…
playlist_add
Jun 9, 2022
Will Israel's government collapse after just one year?
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…
playlist_add
Jun 8, 2022
Go west, young Jew: Hamilton, London and Windsor are growing their numbers with people priced out of Toronto
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 o…
playlist_add
Jun 7, 2022
It took a war in Ukraine for this woman to finally find the family that saved her grandparents' lives
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…
playlist_add
Jun 2, 2022
Israel just airlifted in 180 Ethiopian Jews. Meet the Canadians who helped make it happen
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 f…
playlist_add
Jun 1, 2022
What Ontario's Jews need to know heading into election-day polls
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
* Lear…
playlist_add
May 30, 2022
Decades after expulsion from Arab lands, Sephardi survivors' stories are being preserved
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, t…
playlist_add
May 30, 2022
A new Jewish exodus from Quebec? Access to health care, education and court services at risk under Bill 96
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 Hum…
playlist_add
May 26, 2022