The CJN Daily

Vancouver Holocaust survivor Adam Policzer, 87, is marking three major milestones this summer: the publication of his first English-language Holocaust autobiography in the form of a 60-page graphic novel, The House Across the Street; the premiere of a documentary about his life; and the 80th anniversary of his reunion with his father after the Second World War in July 1946. Eighty years ago, Policzer was reunited with his father, who had fled Hungary before the outbreak of the Second World War and found safety in Chile. But the child and his mother didn't get out in time before the Nazis invaded Hungary. So, Policzer's mother arranged to hide her young son with the Christian family living across the street in the city of Miskolc. She was later deported to Auschwitz, and eventually perished in a Nazi slave-labour camp in Poland. Policzer eventually moved from Chile to Vancouver, B.C. in the 1970s, where he worked as an architect. He and his wife wanted to leave a memoir for their grandchildren, so he drew his story as a graphic novel, published in Canada in June by Dirty Water Comics. Policzer believes he is one of the few child survivors who vividly remembers the Holocaust, and possibly one of the only survivors to tell his story as a graphic novel with his own drawings. The story has also inspired a new documentary about him which recently premiered at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival. On today's fresh episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Adam Policzer joins host Ellin Bessner to explain how drawing his images helped him deal with his Holocaust trauma, while paying tribute to the Christian family that repeatedly risked their lives to save his, but never qualified for recognition by Yad Vashem. Also joining are the filmmakers Jamie Michaels and Liam Karp, both from Winnipeg. Related stories Learn more and buy the book “The House Across the Street” by Adam Policzer, published by Dirty Water Comics, in Winnipeg. Watch the trailer for the new documentary about Adam Policzer, called “I draw them the Best I Can”, which had its world premiere at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival on June 8, 2026. Check out director Jamie Michael's 2019 graphic novel “Christie Pits” in The CJN , and also co-director Liam Karp's solo Holocaust short film called “Tattoo” (2023), which also screened at the TJFF in June. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

This episode originally aired on July 25, 2025. Ellin Bessner will return with new episodes next week. If you happen to be in the Laurentians one Friday afternoon this summer, near the Saint-Agathe, a resort area north of Montreal that's popular with Jewish families, you might hear clapping, singing and loud Jewish music blasting from a flotilla of boats tied together in the middle of a lake. The gatherings represent two concurrent pre-Shabbat get-togethers, where Jewish cottagers motor out, tie up in a circle and welcome in the Sabbath. Attendees have raved about the trend, praising it for bringing badly needed Jewish resilience and inspiration that lasts long after the boat owners set their feet on dry land. In fact, the idea has been such a success that it's multiplied. There are, in fact, two different spiritual celebrations each Friday, organized and operated by separate people. Both groups of boats listen to Jewish music alongside candles, challah, a rabbi and seafaring shmoozing, but don't mix them up—each organizer is quick to point out key differences in flavour and religious observance. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Howard Stotland, who runs the event from Ivry-sur-le-Lac, and Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach, who runs a different Pre-“Shabb'o'at” program out of the Congregation House of Israel in nearby Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) https://thecjn.ca/north Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN

This episode of Menschwarmers originally aired on July 9, 2026. Subscribe at thecjn.ca/menschwarmers. __ The recent FIFA World Cup match between Egypt and Argentina became a surprising battleground for—what else?—the Israel-Palestine debate. The Egyptian coach, who had been waving a Palestinian flag during the competition, grew frustrated when Argentinian fans began waving Israeli flags at him. It's the latest culmination of a longstanding anti-Zionist (and weirdly antisemitic) dislike of Argentinian star Lionel Messi, who has been accused of being a Jewish Zionist by Egyptian officials in the past. So is Messi an honorary Jew now? According to antisemites: yes he is. And you know what? Sure, we'll take him. Outside of the soccer pitch, a Jewish baseball newcomer Cole Carrigg is making noise in Colorado; veteran Alysha Clark is still making appearances on WNBA courts; and Max Homa is enjoying a mid-season comeback on the greens. Our Jewish sports podcasters explain it all on the latest episode of Menschwarmers. Plus: take a first listen to our brand new theme song by Kosha Dillz. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) https://thecjn.ca/north Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN

This episode originally aired on July 26, 2023, when this podcast was called The CJN Daily_. We will resume all-new stories next week._ There were whistles and angry shouts of “Go back to New York” and “Get lost” on July 19, 2023, 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. 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. Some threw red juice 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 says they can no longer be subjected to invasive special searches of their bags and purses for religious articles. However, the ruling stopped short of legalizing their requests to use Torahs. On this Tisha b'Av episode of The CJN Daily, producer Zac Kauffman took his recording gear into the crowd to bring us this special on-the-ground report. He talks to the women involved in the service, and to some protesters, including one with Canadian roots, who came to drown them out. What we talked about Learn more about the Canadian woman with the Women of the Wall, Rachel Cohen Yeshurun, working to expand egalitarian prayer services at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, on The CJN Daily . Read when Israel's government proposed to expand prayers for non-Orthodox at the Kotel, in 2017, in The CJN. Anat Hoffman, founder of Women of the Wall, bringing social change to Israel, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) https://thecjn.ca/north Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN

This episode originally aired on Not in Heaven on July 9, 2026. Subscribe to Not in Heaven here. How much does motive matter when it comes to hate crimes? In recent years, Canadian Jews have been rocked by a series of attacks on their community institutions, including late-night shootings at schools and synagogues, attempted arson, and smashing community centres' windows. Many Jews have met the situation with a profound sense of dislocation and disbelief; a feeling that the country they once thought they knew had radically shifted around them, that their non-Jewish neighbours were not who they thought they were. But last month, new information emerged about the alleged perpetrators of these crimes. According to reports in both Toronto and Montreal, some significant portion of these attacks were carried out by ‘gig-criminals', a kind of gun-for-hire network of young people getting paid thousands of dollars from anonymous clients to shoot at targets as varied as waste managment plants, the American embassy, tow truck companies—and Jewish instiutions. This prompted our rabbinic podcasters to ask: if the perpetrators of at least some of these shootings were motivated by financial gain, and not animus towards Jews in particular (as one arsonist has claimed in court as recently as this week), how does that change our community narrative? Will collective pressure on politicians to combat antisemitism actually help the situation, if the criminals are not motivated by antisemitism? And, on a deeper level, do you need to feel hate to commit a hate crime? Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

This episode originally aired Aug. 7, 2024. Sharon Chodirker and Chaim Bell consider themselves lucky: they were among the tens of thousands of tourists and residents in Jasper who were evacuated from the forest fires that devoured a third of the buildings in the iconic Rocky Mountain resort town on July 24. The Toronto couple, who were on a hiking trip, managed to escape Jasper while smoke and ash rained down on their rental car. When they reached a safe spot across the border in British Columbia, they slept in their vehicle and dined on kosher snacks they'd stored in their portable cooler. Two days after their frightening journey, flames up to 100 metres high swept right through where their hotel stood, destroying several buildings. Now they're sharing their survival story from the safety of their Toronto home, while the town of Jasper remains off-limits except for emergency crews—and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who visited on Aug. 5. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from the Toronto couple personally, as well as Rabbi Dovid Pinson of Canmore who runs the new Chabad community centre outside Banff and hosted the evacuees. We'll also hear from Heidi Coleman, the head of the Jewish community in Kamloops, B.C., who felt like she was starring in the musical Come From Away when she helped a busload of stranded Jasperites in her city. What we talked about When Rabbi Dovid Pinson ran the annual Hanukkah car menorah parade in Edmonton during COVID in 2021, in The CJN Learn more about Chabad in the Rockies   Hear how Heidi Coleman came from Montreal to Kamloops and became their Jewish leader, on the podcast Yehupetzville Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Ellin Bessner is off on a well-deserved summer vacation, so we're bringing back some favourite episodes from the archives. This episode originally ran on May 31, 2021. Has there ever been a better home for Jews than Canada? That's the bold question being asked in a new collection of essays, No Better Home?: Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging. The book's editor, David S. Koffman, joins to discuss the merits behind the argument: how Canada might be the most inviting, safe and tolerant country for Jews in the world. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

There's been a major new development in the controversy surrounding the Canadian Museum for Human Rights' new Nakba exhibit. Canada's Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, Mark Miller, toured the exhibit before the show opened last weekend, and has now publicly criticized some of what he saw. In an interview published Monday June 29 by The Canadian Press, Miller said some wording “should be rectified”, and suggested that the museum's board should have been shown the exhibit before it opened. He also said it was a “failure” that curators chose not to describe Hamas as a terrorist organization, or state that Jewish Israelis were targeted during the Oct. 7 attacks. The museum told The CJN it stands by its word choices, but has sent Miller's concerns to its curation team, which has a content revision process. Before the minister's comments became public, The CJN's Izzie Helenchilde travelled to Winnipeg as one of the journalists invited inside the exhibit Friday,June 26 for a media preview. On this episode of “North Star”, she joins host Ellin Bessner to describe exactly what she saw and whether the exhibit matched the controversy that's been surrounding it. You'll also hear from some of the people she interviewed: the Museum's CEO Isha Khan; Fouad Sahyoun, a Palestinian Canadian whose experience is one of the few video testimonials in the exhibit; Gail Asper, whose family founded the museum; and Rabbi Yosef Benarroch, just retired as spiritual leader of Winnipeg's Adas Yeshurun Herzlia synagogue. Related stories Minister responsible for Canada's museums says Nakba exhibit “should be rectified”, in The CJN. Nakba exhibit opens amidst protests and controversy, in The CJN. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights' only Jewish trustee explained why he quit, on The CJN's North Star podcast. **** Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

When people think of the Calgary Stampede, they probably picture rodeos, chuckwagon races, the famous parade, or perhaps deep-fried Mars bars on the midway. But how about kosher pancake breakfasts, Israeli tech entrepreneurs, and the Jewish businessman who created Calgary's iconic white cowboy hat in 1949? For more than a century, Calgary's Jewish community has woven its own traditions into Alberta's “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.” What began with Jewish homesteaders, ranchers and merchants has evolved into one of the busiest weeks on the Jewish community's calendar. Even before the 114th Calgary Stampede officially begins on July 3, the Jewish community has already hosted two kosher pancake breakfasts: the Calgary Jewish Academy's Mishpacha & Maple Syrup celebration June 14, while the House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel's annual community pancake breakfast held on June 27 attracted hundreds for flapjacks and pony rides. It's co sponsored by the Calgary Jewish Federation and the city's Paperny Family JCC. Still to come later this week are the annual “Spuds & Suds” gathering, co-hosted by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC), where Jewish leaders and elected officials mingle over kosher latkes; and the Israeli Embassy's ShukTech showcase at the Stampede is also set to highlight Israeli innovation and entrepreneurship. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner is joined by historian Saundra Lipton, president of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta, and by David Silver, president of the House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel synagogue, who moved to Calgary from Toronto nine years ago, to discuss how Jewish Calgarians have been part of one of Alberta's defining civic traditions for over a century. elated stories: Putting the “Oy” in cowboy: former CJN podcaster David Sklar investigated the Jewish roots of Alberta in 2022, on “Bonjour Chai”. Read more and buy the new book “Building Community: Historical Traces of Jewish Calgary”, by the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta. Why the separation referendum question is dividing Alberta's Jews, in The CJN . See photos of previous years' House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel synagogue's Kosher Pancake Breakfast. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Over the past school year, The Canadian Jewish News' Local Journalism Initiative reporter, Mitch Consky, who covers education, has introduced readers to some exceptional students through his "Chai Achievers" series. He has profiled young Jewish Canadians making a difference on their post-secondary campuses or high schools, with leadership and community service. As exams come to an end this week, Consky brought six such leaders together for a roundtable conversation about their actions and inspirations. They discuss how young Jews are responding to challenges on campus and at home, and why building connections, volunteering and creating opportunities for others is crucial to ensure a strong future for Jewish Canadians. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, reporter Mitch Consky takes over the hosting duties, to interview: Maya Fuerstenberg, a TanenbaumCHAT graduate, who founded the Dalhousie Jewish Society in Halifax Anastasia Zorchinsky, founder of the StartUp Nation club at Concordia, in Montreal Levi Moskovitz of Vancouver's King David High School, who recently completed his term as BBYO's international treasurer Toronto twins Ava and Ezra Freiheit, and their friend Emma Rovner, who also attend TanenbaumCHAT, who founded "Chains for Change" to raise funds for Special Olympics athletes in Ontario Related stories Read more about the students selected as The CJN Chai Achievers including: a trio who fundraises for Special Olympics ,  a CHAT graduate who built a Jewish club at Dalhousie University , a Vancouver leadership official with BBYO Internationa l, and the founder of the pro-Israel StartUp Nation club at Concordia University. Hear our interview with Levi Moskovitz on The CJN's “North Star” podcast from Dec. 2025 on how he raised nearly $1 million for BBYO. Meet Yair Shpiler, who built Jewnity Sports, a 2025 CJN Chai Achiever . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Mark Berlin initially supported the Canadian Museum for Human Rights creating a Nakba exhibit on the experiences of Palestinian Canadians displaced during the Israel War of Independence in 1948. But the Ottawa human rights lawyer and professor who served for years as the only Jewish member on the Winnipeg museum's board of trustees, resigned abruptly on Monday June 22. His letter was sent just days before the controversial exhibit is scheduled to open this weekend. Berlin says he spent months in a fruitless effort to push the museum from the inside to tell a more complete story. He alleges that the museum never showed the board any of the exhibit's content materials. He fears the Nakba exhibit, which opens June 27, will be a one-sided, anti-Israel “ideologically political-oriented story”, which he calls “curation by omission”. The museum website exhibit material blames the Israeli military for the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians, but doesn't give any wider context that five Arab countries invaded the fledgling Jewish State at the time. Museum officials tell The CJN that while the board was not given specific details of exhibit wording, photos and the like, trustees have been “regularly briefed” since 2021, “with a high-level overview of the schematic design and interpretive plan for the exhibit, as well as with reports on how the Museum was managing its relationships and risks. There were lengthy conversations on these matters.” Berlin also decried what he calls an “institutional anti-Zionism bias” at the museum, not just with this exhibit but he cites numerous examples including anti-Israel messages on public display inside the building, and on social media channels, and pro-Palestinian protesters permitted to do a die-in after Oct. 7 while Jewish groups were denied a chance to hold a similar event. Prominent Canadian Jewish community leaders and philanthropists were invited to the museum recently for a meeting to discuss the exhibit, but Berlin and a second source described what happened May 13 as “egregiously, outrageously dismissive of us”. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship podcast North Star, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Berlin for his first broadcast interview to hear what he's experienced these past two plus years that made him realize it was time to leave. They also talk about what he wants the federal Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture to do next. Related links Read Mark Berlin's letter of resignation to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture. Why Gail Asper, the daughter of the museum's founder, and law professor Bryan Schwartz, called for the Nakba exhibit to be paused and revised, on The CJN's North Star June 1, 2026. Criticism of the planned exhibit's storytelling and lack of transparency began back in November 2025 after the museum announced the show would go ahead, in The CJN. **** Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

A police officer and a Jewish civilian have been killed after a gunman opened fire in a deadly ambush that unfolded Monday mid-morning June 22 in one of Montreal's busiest Jewish districts. The shooting appears not to have targeted Jews, although many community members initially worried it was antisemitic terrorism. Nevertheless, the “nightmare” event, as police have called it, has left the Jewish community reeling because of the loss of life and because it happened in Snowdon, a community hub in Côte-des-Neiges where many Montreal Jews live, shop and gather. Media reports say the shooter was part of the “incel” community, and left behind a manifesto about how he hated women, but investigators have not confirmed this to The CJN. The chaotic day had residents and hotel guests either in lockdown or scrambling to safety in a nearby Jewish social services agency, MADA. Wide swaths of the city were shut down as hundreds of police tried to locate other possible suspects, although by day's end the chief said there was only one shooter and he was killed. As the investigation continues, the identities of the slain policeman and also the slain Jewish bystander have now been released. The CJN's Quebec correspondent, reporter Joel Ceausu, has been following developments since the first emergency alerts were issued. He knew of both of the victims. And like so many Jewish Montrealers, he also has a personal connection to the neighbourhood where this tragedy unfolded. Joel joins host Ellin Bessner on today's special breaking news edition of The CJN's North Star podcast to help us understand what happened, who the victims were, and how this devastating event has affected Montreal's Jewish community. Related links Read The CJN's continuing coverage of the June 22 Montreal ambush and shootings in the Jewish neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges, at thecjn.ca Watch what it was like for shoppers trapped inside the PA Supermarket as Montreal police stormed through searching for suspects, on The CJN's YouTube Channel. Learn more about Montreal's Jewish community from the latest Canadian census data, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde, (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

“I didn't know there was a need.” Two years ago, Dr. Irv Siegel, a past president of Beit Rayim Synagogue in Vaughan, Ont., heard about growing food insecurity in York Region, one of Canada's wealthiest suburbs, where one in five families faces food insecurity. He was surprised to learn that hundreds of public school kids in Thornhill and Richmond Hill often come to school without lunch. So for the past two years, volunteers from the synagogue have shown up every Thursday morning with fresh produce and bagels to feed students they will never met. Siegel's successful Feed the Children School Lunch program hit a milestone last week: it's now provided 7,000 nutritious lunches to students in four York Region public schools. They don't write a cheque: instead they bring all the food, wash and assemble all the lunch bags on site, and deliver the meals to the school office before the bell rings. School staff say these meals are sorely needed. The program doesn't operate anonymously. For organizer Irv Siegel, the Star of David on every lunch bag is intentional. He wanted students, families and educators in York Region's diverse public schools to know that a Jewish community was reaching beyond its own walls to help its neighbours. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner takes you inside this noteworthy response to childhood hunger. And full disclosure: she volunteers there, too. Related links Learn more about Beit Rayim synagogue's Feed the Children School Lunch program and how to donate or volunteer. Read how memorial and yahrzeit plaques have now moved into the digital sphere with a portable kiosk at Beit Rayim, in The CJN from 2023 . Discover how rising cost of groceries was impacting Jewish families in the Greater Toronto Area at Passover, in The CJN. **** Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (Director of Digital Content), Alicia Richler (Editorial Director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Last month, during a ceremony to award the Jerusalem Unity Prize, Israeli President Isaac Herzog greeted the audience with a warning about “a terrible process of brutalization” that has been threatening Israeli society. He singled out extremist Jewish Israelis living in the West Bank, who he called an “anarchist mob,” and whose ongoing attacks against Palestinians “defiled every moral, legal, and Jewish norm.” Herzog isn't alone in criticizing the current situation on the West Bank. Israel's military chief recently issued similar warnings, as did the Israeli defence minister. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it vigilantism. Earlier this month, Canada joined several European countries in announcing a fifth round of sanctions against extremist settlers, slapping financial and travel bans on two Israelis and five groups whom Canada says are enabling Jewish settler violence. Yet the violence continues. Last year, the Israeli Defence Forces reported 867 such attacks in the West Bank. Extremists have set fires to Palestinian homes and mosques, and also near Christian sites including a church. They've destroyed orchards, stolen livestock, drained water tanks, and beaten—and even killed—Palestinian civilians. Last year, on June 29, the extremists turned against their own army: an IDF battalion clashed with a group of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, who threw stones and beat the soldiers.   One Canadian wanted to take action. Ronit Yarosky is a Montreal-based peace activist who flew to the region this month, as part of a mission of volunteers who oppose the recent escalation in attacks. For a week, she stayed with Palestinian Bedouin families' homes on the outskirts of Taybeh, a mainly Christian village near Ramallah, in the hope that her presence—together with other Jewish and Israeli peace activists—might deter attackers from setting up new illegal Jewish outposts.  Yarosky joined The CJN's North Star podcast from Taybeh to share what she's seen. We also speak with Maytal Kowalski, the executive director of JSpace Canada, from Vancouver, who has done similar volunteer work herself. Related stories: Hear Ronit Yarosky on her struggle to hold on to her friendship with a Muslim man post-October 7 on The CJN's In Good Faith podcast, from Nov. 2025. Hear more from Maytal Kowalski of JSpace Canada, when she joined The CJN's North Star podcast in May 2025 to explain why Canada brought in its first round of sanctions on Israel, over the humanitarian aid situation in Gaza. Learn more about Torat Tzedek , the Israeli NGO supported by New Israel Fund, that is sending observers such as Ronit Yarosky to provide “protective presence” to Palestinians in the West Bank who are facing home demolitions, dispossession and Israeli settler violence. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

On June 17, the suspect caught and charged in connection with breaking a window, then setting fire to Montreal's Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, is scheduled to have his bail hearing. Court documents show the suspect, Steven Luu, 38, is from the Montreal borough of Saint-Leonard, about 20 kilometres away from the synagogue. He was caught on the scene by local Westmount public safety patrols. Subsequent security video showed the suspect in the back alley of the shul repeatedly throwing a rock to break the window, then tossing two explosive devices through. He's been in custody since the June 5 attack, while undergoing a court-ordered psychiatric assessment, which is now concluded, according to Quebec government officials. He's been charged with six counts, including arson, arson by negligence, using an explosive with the intention to damage or destroy the synagogue, possession of an explosive, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and wearing a disguise with the intent to commit a crime. But the target congregation's spiritual leader, Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, says she can't understand why there hasn't yet been a hate component attached, since it's obvious to her that this was no impulsive act. Local media reports suggest he had a walkie-talkie with him when he was picked up. “To me—not as a lawyer, not as a politician, but as a civilian and a Jewish community member and leader—this seems absolutely ridiculous, right? I will eat my kippah if it was totally random that this person chose to cross town into a neighbourhood that wasn't where he lived, in the middle of the night, and multiple times threw a rock at the window to try and open it, and then threw in an incendiary device—that it had nothing to do with it being a synagogue?” Rabbi Grushcow told The CJN's Ellin Bessner. Rabbi Grushcow joins today's episode of North Star to discuss the escalation of attacks on her shul since Oct. 7, beginning with a spray-painted swastika in February 2025. She reveals that this fire bomb damaged a storeroom attached to her own personal study and vows to proceed with the rituals of her congregation's Jewish life, in defiance of the hate. Related stories Learn more about why the suspect has been in custody since June 5, after being arrested at the site of the attack, in The CJN. Read or send a message of support online to Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom though their website, and see all the other comments from politicians, multi-faith leaders. See what The CJN reported in February 2025 when a swastika was spray painted on the synagogue. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As Jonathan Levy prepares to preside over his final Grade 12 graduation ceremony as head of school on Wednesday June 17, the outgoing leader of TanenbaumCHAT says the mission of Jewish education has never been clearer. "We need an incredibly strong ark so that we can go out and be among the people," Levy told teachers, students, parents and staff during a speech at a recent farewell tribute, reflecting on a 17-year tenure that ends in June. The American-born educator saw Canada's largest private Jewish high school navigate declining enrolment, mergers, then rapid growth, the COVID pandemic, and most recently, the challenges facing Jewish students after Oct. 7. But Levy says, throughout it all, his goal has always been the same: helping to build a new generation of Jewish leaders ready to engage confidently with the wider world. He is leaving Toronto for a new leadership role beginning July 1 running one of the most prominent Jewish private schools in the United States: the Charles E. Smith JDS in Rockville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It has a smaller enrolment and is spread on two campuses spanning Grades K-12. Levy, one of Canada's most influential Jewish educators, joins today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast with host Ellin Bessner to discuss what pluralistic Jewish education looks like now. Related stories Read The CJN's coverage from just after Oct. 7 2023 when CHAT was targeted by bomb threats and also when some students were even physically threatened, in The CJN Discover how TanenbaumCHAT added 14 new classrooms beginning in the summer of 2023 due to booming enrolment, in The CJN. Learn more about the Tribute event held for Jonathan Levy on May 25, 2026 at TanenbaumCHAT Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzy Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

It's a few days out from Toronto's 2026 Walk with Israel, and volunteers and walkers are still sharing their impressions and experiences of participating in the largest Jewish pride event in Canadian history, Sunday's Walk was noteworthy because it had a record turnout of 60,000 people. It required a massive police presence that successfully kept most of the anti-Israel protests farther away than previous editions, with six people arrested. Last year only one person was arrested and charged. Yet this year's Walk also took place just hours after two Canadian synagogues were targeted by hate crimes, and also a few days following Prime Minister Mark Carney's nationally-televised speech acknowledging that antisemitism in Canada has reached levels not seen since the Second World War. As a result, despite the walk being better protected than before, many participants told The CJN they feel less secure than ever living openly as Jews in Canada. Which is why wanted to come show their Jewish pride and solidarity, and also to express anger and frustration at some of Canada's political leaders. Neither Carney nor Toronto's Mayor Olivia Chow attended the walk in person, but activists from Jewish advocacy group Tafsik made sure the politicians' absence was front and centre: they supplied life-sized, cardboard cutouts of both leaders to carry along the parade route. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner shares the sights and sounds she encountered along the route. Related stories: This Sunday's Walk with Israel set attendance records, in The CJN . Why not everyone is comfortable with how Israel is central to large Jewish events and walks: Phoebe Maltz-Bovy opinion in The CJN . After another difficult year, Toronto prepared to walk for Israel again, with tightened police protection, on The CJN's North Star June 5, 2026. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As tens of thousands of people prepare for Sunday's 57th edition of the “Walk With Israel”, Toronto's Jewish community finds itself in a very different place than it was a year ago. The 251 hostages whose fate hung over last year's event have now all been returned, either alive or for burial. While the regional landscape has changed dramatically since last year's walk—as wars fought against Hamas, and Iran are now governed by fragile ceasefires that have replacing the heaviest fighting—but many of the conflicts and tensions that erupted after Oct. 7 remain unresolved. But Israelis and Jews remain vulnerable targets of extremist violence around the world, from Australia to Europe and North America. Canada has not been immune, as tensions remain acute thanks to unabated antisemitic attacks and shootings of synagogues and businesses, political campaigns aimed at financially crippling Jewish schools and summer camps, and effigies of Israeli Jewish politicians hung during anti-Israel street demonstrations. This is also the first Walk With Israel since federal and provincial governments dramatically increased funding for Jewish community security, while introducing new measures aimed at curbing hate crimes and protecting vulnerable institutions. Four days ago, the prime minister delivered his highly-anticipated speech saying the country's civil covenant has failed Jewish Canadians. Now there will be a federal advisory committee to study the causes of antisemitism and take a “whole of government” approach to tackling it. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner recalls how last year's “Walk for Israel” played out under heavy security along Bathurst Street, and explores why the annual march has become one of the most significant public expressions of Jewish pride and solidarity in Canada. Related links Read what happened at last year's 2025 Walk for Israel in Toronto, that attracted a record 56,000 marchers, in The CJN . Learn about the security measures which are in place for this one, and what to do should there be anti-Israel protesters. Hear what Toronto police have planned for security for the Walk, in The CJN . Sign up for free to receive home delivery of The CJN's Scribe Quarterly magazine, and enter the contest for a chance to win one of three cash prizes of $200. Eligibiilty: New subscribers only. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Prime Minister Mark Carney chose to deliver his highly anticipated speech to Canadians about “the scourge of antisemitism” from inside a storied Toronto synagogue, Holy Blossom. It's a spot where, for weeks this spring, heavily armed police SWAT teams were dispatched so worshippers could feel safe. Carney's speech — which was broadcast live nationally — follows years of increased violent attacks on Jewish institutions, including fire bombs, gunshots, physical altercations and graffiti. Carney acknowledged that antisemitism has reached levels not seen since the Second World War and announced his government will assemble a new team of experts who will study the causes and drivers of antisemitism right away. The new ministerial advisory council has only one Jewish member out of the seven. Rabbis, advocacy leaders and community figures said they appreciated the prime minister's speech, but questioned why it took him so long, why he didn't deliver it in the House of Commons, and — most glaringly — why he never mentioned Israel, Zionism, Hamas, Oct. 7 or Iran. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner reports from the event, and hears reaction from nearly a dozen community leaders: Rabbis Debra Landsberg, Sam Taylor and Joe Kanofsky; Noah Shack of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs; Simon Wolle of B'nai Brith Canada; Mark Sandler of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism; Rabbi Jen Gorman, the president of the Toronto Board of Rabbis; Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl for the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus; and his successor at Beth Tzedec, Rabbi Steven Wernick; and from host Rabbi Yael Splansky, who taped a pointed message for Carney but couldn't attend due to a family emergency. Related links Read or Watch Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech on antisemitism, delivered at Holy Blossom Temple June 1, 2026. Discover The CJN's Mitchell Consky's report on Carney's speech and some reaction by Jewish leaders, in The CJN. Compare Carney's promises with the 22 recommendations made in the recent Senate report on antisemitism, in The CJN's North Star from April 2026. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzy Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our showhttps://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

With less than a month until a controversial Nakba exhibit opens at Canada's national human rights museum in Winnipeg, some Jewish leaders are making a final push to have the contents reviewed first. Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present is scheduled to open on June 27 at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The federal museum was founded by the late media executive and philanthropist Israel Asper. His daughter and family raised millions to establish it in 2014. The exhibit website blames Israel and unnamed militia for what Palestinians call “The Catastrophe”: the forced displacement of 750,000 Palestinians during the Israel War of Independence in 1948. The text also refers to ongoing human rights violations of Palestinians today after Oct. 7. But while the museum insists it has consulted widely with scholars and curators, and has heard the concerns of Jewish leaders, mainstream Jewish groups say the consultations were with mainly anti-Zionist advocates and academics. Gail Asper is an honorary member on the museum's board of trustees. She fears the exhibit will lead to more antisemitism by giving anti-Israel narratives a national platform at the government museum. In her most extensive public comments to date on the exhibit controversy, Asper is calling for the exhibit to undergo an independent review before it opens. On this episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Gail Asper joins host Ellin Bessner along with constitutional law scholar Bryan Schwartz, co-author of a recent book criticizing both the exhibit's development process and its historical framing. They discuss their concerns over whether a national museum can present the story of the Palestinian Nakba without deepening existing divisions. Related links Read Bryan Schwartz and Rhonda Spivak's scholarly article calling the exhibit's process biased, and showing evidence that members of the exhibit's advisory board hold strong anti-Israel views and one even supported the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre. Discover the Canadian Museum for Human Rights' preview of “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present” exhibit, opening June 27 in Winnipeg. These mainstream Manitoba Jewish groups expressed concern about the content and impact of the forthcoming exhibit when it was announced last November 2025, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As Niagara Falls glowed blue against the night sky on Thursday May 20, it became the most visible symbol yet of a one-man, grassroots campaign to ensure that this year, Canadian Jewish Heritage Month was not completely forgotten. For the past seven days, from Halifax to Toronto and Montreal to Alberta, nearly a dozen iconic landmarks, bridges and legislatures across Canada agreed to illuminate in blue. And it was thanks to the efforts of Len Pearl, a Toronto documentary filmmaker, who spent months nudging government officials, universities and sports teams to recognize the month. Parliament officially proclaimed May as Jewish Heritage Month in 2018. But this past couple of years, with the spike in antisemitism since Oct. 7, Pearl believed Jewish Canadians need visible reminders that they remain an essential part of Canada's story. In this episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Pearl joins host Ellin Bessner to discuss the inspiration behind his “We Belong Here” campaign, and also reveal the obstacles he encountered, and his emotional reaction to seeing most, but not all the lights, finally switch on. Related links Learn more about Len Pearl's new film “Search out the Land” exploring the overlooked Jewish history of Canada, on The CJN's North Star podcast, from 2022. See the list of Canadian landmarks that lit up in yellow for Holocaust Remembrance Day Jan. 2025. Read about when Canada officially brought in Jewish Heritage Month in 2018, in The CJN. **** Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

The acclaimed off-Broadway production of “Fiddler on the Roof”—in Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles—opens in Canada this week, during Jewish Heritage Month. This is the stage musical's first international tour since its rousing success in New York under Oscar-winning actor and director Joel Grey. The dialogue showcases the original language in which Sholem Aleichem wrote his stories about the beloved fictional character Tevye the dairyman, whose family faces upheaval and antisemitic persecution in Czarist Russia in 1905. Toronto's Harold Green Jewish Theatre teamed up with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene to bring the show to Canada, with Broadway star Steven Skybell as Tevye, and a supporting cast of major Canadian performers including Theresa Tova, Jamie Elman and Gabi Epstein. The promoters say this production resonates so deeply after Oct. 7. as questions of identity, migration, continuity and Jewish belonging feel newly urgent. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, reporter Jonathan Rothman joins host Ellin Bessner to discuss why he set out to learn more about this version of the iconic show, and they talk tradition, rehearsals and why attending a performance later today will mark the first time he has actually ever seen any version of Fiddler. (Note: The Harold Green Jewish Theatre is advertising the play on The CJN's website, but they were not involved in this story or our coverage of the play in any way.) Related stories Learn more about the making of the show in The CJN's Jonathan Rothman's feature article in The CJN . Buy tickets for Fiddler's two-week run at The Elgin Theatre in Toronto. The CJN's David Matlow looked at the enduring appeal of Fiddler on the Roof for his “Treasure Trove” column, in 2024 . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As the official Toronto police Level 1 search for missing Toronto teen Esther (“Esti”) entered its second week, hundreds of community members ignored rainy weekend weather to help a Jewish safety patrol group spread updated posters across the city. The growing grassroots response behind the search effort now includes Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers who are spending hours canvassing bus stops, subway stations, shopping malls and downtown office towers. Many say they are deeply disturbed by evidence that some of the original posters have been torn down, as it reminds them of Oct. 7, and how anti-Israel protesters defaced and ripped posters of kidnapped Israeli hostages. The search effort has broadened beyond North York, where the family lives, including displaying Esther's image at major public events, starting with a series of concerts by pop star Bruno Mars this week, as volunteers insist on keeping her face visible across the city. On this episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner visits the Shomrim Toronto volunteer command post and retraces some of the key spots where search has been underway for more than a week. Related stories and links See the Toronto Police new website Find Esther , for the latest information and to submit tips, video or photos. Tipline: 647 355-4148 Read why community members came out on a rainy Sunday to help put up new posters of the missing teenager, after many of the posters have either been torn down on purpose, or damaged by rain, in The CJN.  Parents of missing teen pleaded for the public's help to check back yards and security cameras, in The CJN on May 19 Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Stephen Lewis, who once made Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people, was a humanitarian and ambassador who led Ontario's NDP before pushing the world to help millions of HIV/AIDS patients in Africa obtain life-saving medicine. His passing on Mar. 31 prompted an outpouring of tributes from global leaders and African grandmothers alike. Hours before Lewis died, at the age of 88, he was able to watch his son, Avi, continue the family's political legacy by being elected as the new federal NDP leader. Lewis is just one of several noteworthy Canadian Jews to have passed away recently. The CJN's obituary columnist, Heather Ringel, joins North Star host Ellin Bessner on today's episode to reveal how Lewis and this spring's four other featured “Honourable Menschen” gave back to their communities. The others include Wolf Bronet, the Auschwitz survivor who founded Montreal's “Wolf Pack” running club and helped raise funds for 14 ambulances for Israel through Magen David Adom; Sara Vered, who fought in Israel's War of Independence before helping bring Israeli and Jewish culture to Ottawa through education, the arts and philanthropy; Al Osten, the former singer who built a Weight Watchers empire in Western Canada and donated millions, alongside his late partner Buddy Victor; and Sondra Gotlieb, the Winnipeg-born journalist and author whose sharp observations made her one of the most recognizable Canadian voices in Washington diplomacy and media circles. Related stories Learn more about the late Calgary philanthropist Al Osten in The CJN. Why Sondra Gotleib's Washington home became a sought-after invitation while her husband was Canada's ambassador to the United States, in The CJN. Sara Vered fought in Israel's War of Independence then helped bring Israeli and Jewish culture to Ottawa, in The CJN . Wolf Bronet started running outdoors for his 40th birthday. Hundreds have followed his footsteps around Montreal. In The CJN. Stephen Lewis launched the Stephen Lewis Foundation n during his time helping to fight against HIV/AIDS and assist surviving orphans and grandmothers. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Anat Ishai, who was born in Israel but grew up in Canada, started baking braided Challah loaves in her Thornhill kitchen during the COVID pandemic to help her break out of the isolation of lockdown. She started posting social media videos of herself baking and dancing. Her moves, with snippets of Jewish pride and shots of her Orthodox Jewish lifestyle caught on. Today Ishai has a devoted following worldwide as “The Challah Mom”, with over 300,000 followers including on her Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Ishai is now based in Israel. She and her Canadian husband and their four children immigrated in 2023 just four weeks before Oct. 7. She's chosen to stay in the land of her birth, and rides out the conflict by keeping the war off her public platforms. Instead she channels faith and joy and ritual to help empower Jewish women. The CJN's North Star podcast host Ellin Bessner attended The Challah Mom's stop at Shaarei Tefillah synagogue in Toronto to learn the fascinating story of Ishai's personal journey: from a secular daughter of Russian Israeli immigrants to reconnecting with Orthodox Judaism and ultimately, teaching all kinds of women about the mitzvah of hafrashat challah. Related links Follow Anat Ishai at her website to get her challah recipe or on Instagram Anat Ishai appears in the new documentary “Sheitel” about why married Orthodox women choose to cover their hair with wigs, scarves, hats or a combination, on The CJN's North Star podcast. Anat Ishai sometimes wrote for the Times of Israel during the pandemic. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Jewish residents and organizations in Vancouver say a relentless anti-Israel campaign of “chalking”—writing hateful slogans with sidewalk chalk in public, accompanied by and waving a large Palestinian flag outside a hospital in their neighbourhood—has reshaped daily life in Vancouver's historically Jewish neighbourhood. For over two years, anti-Israel graffiti and stickers have appeared daily on sidewalks, bus stops, street signs and other public spaces along the Oak Street corridor, near major synagogues, in the Douglas Park area. Two Jewish residents of this neighbourhood began documenting the messages by the lone perpetrator, whose identity they know. They've amassed proof of at least 2,000 incidents and have asked him to stop. The duo have had real late-night runs-in with the activist, who they say lives and works near them, and who has, on social media, described his devotion to the Palestinian cause as living in “the belly of the beast”—a popular term in anti-Israel circles describing carrying out activism from within areas that support Israel and Western values. The two Jewish men bought cleaning gear to wash the tags away, if the rain doesn't do it first. But it's become a war of attrition. Vancouver police say they take hate speech and harassment seriously, but the one-man protest has not abated. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, we're joined by the two Jewish residents who are fighting back, Joshua and Steven, who have asked that their family names not be published for safety reasons. Related links British Columbia passed legislation on April 16 to establish safe “bubble zones” for synagogues, places of worship in order to curb harassing protests, in The CJN . Vancouver police arrested Samidoun's Canadian leader Charlotte Kates after she was accused of making hateful comments during an anti-Israel protest in 2024, in The CJN . Why a recently-elected city councillor in Vancouver has an anti-Israel problem, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

A little over two years ago, on April 15, 2024, David Sachs of Ottawa's Jewish Federation was leaving an interfaith iftar event near Parliament Hill. He was wearing a kippah. Outside the government building, anti-Israel protesters were waiting. In his victim impact statement earlier this week, Sachs told the court he feared for his life during those “absolutely horrific” moments when he was swarmed, hit on the head, screamed at with anti-Israel insults, then followed for four blocks as he tried to escape, all while a dangerously loud electronic whistle was blasted near his ears. Everyone in the crowd wore masks except well-known Ottawa protester Deana Sherif, who wore a keffiyeh and brandished the whistle. Ottawa police later arrested Sherif and charged her with eight offences, including resisting a police officer and two hate-motivated charges. Some stemmed from another confrontation that same day involving Conservative MP Brad Vis of British Columbia, who was trying to go the gym. Her trial ended in February. Sherif was convicted on two of the original charges. The Crown did not concentrate on the hate-motivated allegations at trial, even though the judge agreed some of the shouted insults were antisemitic, but found Sherif herself was not the person making them. On May 6, the judge sentenced her to the 17 months she had already spent in custody, plus one year probation, a peace bond, and a decade-long ban on using the loud whistle or possessing other weapons. On this episode of The CJN's “North Star” podcast, David Sachs explains why he believes the convictions were significant — but also why he feels the outcome fell short without hate-related findings. We also hear from University of Ottawa antisemitism adviser Jonathan Calof, who warns anti-Jewish hatred in Canada is no longer confined to street protests, but is becoming institutionalized. Related links How twice-convicted Ottawa protester Deana Sherif played a role in organizing and promoting the 2026 Al-Quds Day parade and rally in Toronto, in The CJN . Learn more about Prof. Jonathan Calof, the special advisor on antisemitism appointed by Ottawa University in early 2025, Read David Sachs' comments after an Ottawa man pleaded guilty in Feb. 2025 to sending hateful messages to local physician Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth in Feb. 2025, in The CJN. **** Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

The CJN's flagship news podcast, North Star, first aired five years ago this week, on May 3, 2021. Originally called The CJN Daily, it filled a gap in the COVID-era news ecosystem, airing new episodes uniquely focused on the Canadian Jewish community every morning from Monday to Friday. But from its very first episode, breaking news changed the plan. The Lag b'Omer stampede at Israel's Mount Meron, and a subsequent eleven-day war with Hamas, had the team scrambling to bring expert analysis and eyewitness testimony to The CJN's front page. Five years later, having published 800 episodes and interviewed at least 1,000 newsmakers, North Star has been heard, watched and downloaded more than 1.7 million times across all our platforms. It's been a journey of discovery into the Jewish community here, exploring how Canadian Jews are connected to global events that few could have imagined when the show launched. On this special anniversary episode, host Ellin Bessner and senior podcast producer Zachary Kauffman reflect on the lessons they've learned from helming the show. They discuss their most impactful stories and the ramifications they've had—even when those ramifications were controversial—and walk through how the show has evolved through a pandemic, personal grief, spiking antisemitism and a changing outlook for Jewish Canada. Related links: Hear the bite-sized episodes from the first week of The CJN's North Star podcast, from May 2021. Read and listen to The CJN's stories on JNF Canada's charitable status being revoked, from 2024. Learn more about The CJN's Benjamin's consumer complaint stories, from 2022. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Canada's Jewish community is growing—but also becoming more diverse, more intermarried and older. As the 2026 census gets underway this month, Canadian sociologist Rachel Margolis explains why filling it out—especially the long form questionnaire—matters, and what it will reveal about Jewish life in Canada today. The census gathers data on religion, ethnic origin, languages spoken at home and household composition—information researchers use to track key demographic shifts. According to Margolis, a sociology professor at Western University in London, the most recent census shows 83 per cent of Canadian Jews identify religiously as Jewish, down from 89 per cent two decades ago, while the share identifying as Jewish by ethnic origin only has risen to 17 per cent (from 11 per cent). She also finds that 50 per cent of couples in households with at least one Jewish partner are now interfaith—up from about 40 per cent 20 years ago. Margolis expects the next census to show an even more diverse community, shaped in part by recent immigration from Israel following Oct. 7, as well as from Ukraine and Latin America. On this episode of The CJN's flagship North Star podcast, Margolis joins to talk up the new census and reveal more of her fresh data about what Jewish life looks like now. Related links Learn more about Rachel Margolis' research into the Jewish demographics of her adopted home in London, Ont. The 2021 Census showed Jewish population growing slightly but costly housing prices were pushing young families out of Toronto, in The CJN. Robert Brym analyzed what he learned about Canada's Jewish community in the 2021 census, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzy Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Retired Toronto homicide inspector Hank Idsinga's new memoir about the systemic problems inside Canada's largest police force contains disturbing allegations about the force's persistent in-house discrimination and racism, including antisemitism. He also spells out for the first time his own family's Jewish and Holocaust roots – a history he's kept private for decades, while he oversaw some of the most high profile and gruesome murder cases in recent Canadian history. Idsinga insists he did speak up about his encounters with anti-Jewish bigots while he was still carrying a badge, long before he left the force in the fall of 2023, but to no avail. That's why despite Toronto's police chief and other officials now vowing to investigate his evidence, Idsinga holds out little hope of seeing changes anytime soon, be it about antisemitism, anti-Black racism or other problems. And despite recent public examples of the force's efforts to show solidarity with Jewish employees, including holding Hanukkah candle lighting ceremonies in the lobby of police headquarters, designing a regulation police kippah, appointing a new Jewish chaplain and a Jewish liaison committee, Idsinga calls all that “window dressing”. The veteran detective also draws a link between a unnamed senior staff member who he personally heard using antisemitic slurs, more than once, to the force's tepid response to the violence and hate crimes targeting Canada's largest Jewish community since Oct. 7, 2023. In today's wide-ranging interview with The CJN's North Star podcast host Ellin Bessner, Idsinga shares his own family's Holocaust trauma that saw his grandfather murdered in a gas chamber and his mother and her siblings hidden in convents. He reveals why he wanted to be a Nazi hunter before he decided to go into policing. Related stories Learn more about retired police inspector Hank Idsinga's book The High Road , published this week by Simon and Schuster Canada. Read Hank Idsinga's interviews about the 2017 Honey and Barry Sherman murders, in The CJN archives . Will the Sherman murders ever be solved? Watch our conversation from 2023 with reporter Kevin Donovan who wrote a book on the investigation which Idsinga's division was in charge of. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

A new documentary is challenging assumptions about one of the most visible—and most misunderstood—traditions in Orthodox Jewish life. Sheitel: Beauty in the Hidden, by Halifax-native director Lynda Medjuck Suissa, explores why many Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair after marriage—and why many say it reflects not oppression, but identity, faith and choice. (And, yes, also a more genuine relationship with their husbands in the bedroom.) Medjuck Suissa is Modern Orthodox herself. She snagged interviews with 30 well-known Orthodox women from Canada, the U.S. and Israel, including “The Challah Mom” Anat Ishai; rebbetizins Nechama Dubrawsky of Toronto's Yorkville Jewish Centre, Faygie Kaplan of Chabad of Flamingo, and Rivky Gansburg of Chabad on Bayview; Mindy Pollak, a former Montreal city councillor; and Toronto educator Adrienne Gold Davis of the organization Momentum. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, director Lynda Medjuck Suissa joins to explain why her late sister inspired the new film, and how she hopes it will lead to understanding and tolerance. Related stories Learn more about “Sheitel” the documentary and find upcoming screenings in Vancouver May 6, Manhattan May 11, Winnipeg May 15, and Toronto June 15 and 22. Read about Orthodox Jewish female singers performing “For Women Only” concerts, in The CJN. https://thecjn.ca/arts-culture/jessica-roda/ The CJN's Phoebe Maltz Body on Jewish Orthodox fashion dilemmas, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

During the Senate's year-long study on antisemitism, released a week ago on April 21, Senator David Arnot admits to becoming deeply upset when learning some Canadian Jews want to leave the country because they no longer feel safe. The study began in Dec. 2024. During the year, Arnot and his colleagues on the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights heard 44 witnesses over seven meetings. They also received 36 written briefs. It wasn't nearly as extensive a study as one done two years ago on Islamophobia, and the committee had until the end of 2026 to release its findings, but Arnot and his colleagues felt the “clear and present danger” of antisemitism was so serious, they wanted their recommendations for action to come out immediately. “We're not asking for the government to sort of dither around and think about it. There's nothing more to think about. There's a blueprint right now. Implement that blueprint with immediacy,” he says. Aside from asking Canada to restore the now-cancelled position of the special envoy on antisemitism, and create a federal task force on antisemitism, Arnot—a former provincial court judge and longtime Chief of Saskatchewan's Human Rights Commission—believes our education system has failed to produce informed citizens. As a result, he believes young people are more susceptible to misinformation they find online. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Arnot joins host Ellin Bessner to explain why he is convinced there's no more time to waste to fix “this black mark on Canadian society.” Related links Read the report's findings and get Canadian Jewish leaders' reactions, in The CJN . Watch the news conference where the Senators share their report's findings, on April 21. Hear why Senator Leo Housakos was unhappy that fringe anti-Israel and anti-Zionist groups and witnesses were permitted to testify during the hearings, on The CJN's “North Star” podcast from Jan. 2026. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As federal Liberals celebrate their newfound majority government—aided by floor crossings and three recent by-election victories—Canadian Jews are no so elated. On Monday, April 27, B'nai Brith Canada releases its annual audit of antisemitic incidents; community members expect the numbers will break new records, as they have in many recent years. Earlier this month, Jewish leaders asked for $100 million in federal support following a series of attacks on synagogues and institutions. This past weekend underscored the need, as a suspect attempted to enter a synagogue in Thornhill during services, and wound up assaulting a congregant on the sidewalk outside after being barred from the building. While police have made some arrests and some courts have handed down long sentences in hate crime cases, frequent protests—some moving through Jewish neighbourhoods—continue unimpeded. On the one year anniversary of Mark Carney's election win, the question remains: are Jewish Canadians any safer than they were before? On today's "North Star" episode, The CJN's political panel weighs in. We're joined by Dan Mader, a Toronto-based Conservative strategist with Loyalist Public Affairs; David Birnbaum, a former Liberal MNA in Quebec's national assembly for the Montreal area; and Noah Tepperman, a former NDP riding president in Windsor. Related links What our CJN Political insiders predicted for 2026, on The CJN's Jan 5 North Star edition. Why NDP leader elect Avi Lewis is bad for Canada's Jewish community, on The CJN's North Star with guest Noah Tepperman, NDP insider. Is Canada's new Bill C-9 Combatting Hate Act going to make things safer for the Jewish community? We break it down with MPs Roman Baber and Anthony Housefather in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

For about a dozen years, the City of Toronto has displayed Israel's flag each spring on a ceremonial courtesy pole to mark the Jewish State's Independence Day. The annual event drew little attention—until the Oct. 7 war reshaped the context and protests have spilled onto local streets ever since. Last fall, a Jewish advocacy group sought to block what would have been the first Palestinian flag raising at Toronto City Hall. The court challenge failed. But the escalating tensions prompted Toronto City Council, including Mayor Olivia Chow, to vote on March 26 to end all foreign flag raisings as of Dec. 1, in hopes of “lowering the temperature.” Chow had previously called the Israeli flag ceremony “divisive.” Toronto now joins other municipalities stepping back from the practice, including Calgary and Mississauga, where a sudden ban adopted on Passover cancelled the planned Israeli flag raising there this week. On this episode of The CJN's North Star, host Ellin Bessner went to what may be Toronto's final Israel flag ceremony—one marked by defiance and sadness, and a surprising absence because for the first time in two years there were no protesters. Related stories Opinion: Are Israeli flag raising in Canada good or bad for the Jewish community, on The CJN's Not In Heaven podcast. Tensions over Palestinian flag raising last November at Toronto City Hall, in The CJN . Check out the list of flags raised at the City of Toronto courtesy flagpole in 2026. Israel was the last one, so far. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

On Israel's 78th birthday, Israelis are marking that moment during a very different reality—two years after the October 7 attack, and in the wake of a ceasefire from a widening regional conflict that includes the U.S., Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 1948, the founders declared Israel's independence with a manually typed paper invitation to a secret, hurried ceremony in a secure basement, with a sense of both triumph and fear. Modern Israel has a powerful army, but the country continues to sacrifice its young defenders, while Israelis have spent countless hours in recent months sheltering in their secure basements and safe rooms to hide from incoming enemy rockets and drones. This Yom ha-Atzmaut, our guests say the Jewish State is both an idea fulfilled, and a story that is still unfolding. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner brings you her interviews with two guests who embody the story of Israel: Hadassa Kingstone, 89, who was an eye witness to the birth of her country, and David Matlow, The CJN's “Treasure Trove” columnist. Follow David Matlow's “Treasure Trove” columns about the history of Israel through his vast collection of Zionist and Herzl memorabilia, in The CJN . Our readers share their own memories of Israel on her recent 75th birthday, in The CJN from 2023 . Hear Israeli American writer Yossi Klein Halevi, who lives part time in British Columbia, speak for Israel's 76th birthday on why Israelis are "still an enormously powerful people” after Oct. 7, on The CJN Daily . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

In his new book, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, Matti Friedman sets out to uncover the short life of Holocaust heroine Hannah Senesh and several of her comrades. It is the second book of late to revisit the story of the Hungarian-born Zionist who became a British-trained parachutist sent from Mandatory Palestine into Nazi-occupied Europe. Friedman argues that after Senesh's capture and execution in 1944, the young State of Israel helped shape her into a national icon because of a broader need for stories of heroism to inspire the next generation. His book is dedicated to the memories of two modern-day symbols of Jewish bravery after Oct. 7 whom Friedman knew personally: slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the young Nova Festival captive and Yuval Shoham, his friend who was an IDF tank corpsman and went searching for Hersh while on duty in Gaza before he, too, lost his life. The book arrives ahead of Yom ha-Shoah, Yom ha-Zikaron—the memorial day for Israel's war dead including victims of terrorism, which begins tonight—and Yom ha-Atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day, which falls the day after. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Matti Friedman about why, tragically, heroism is still being asked of the descendants of Senesh's generation. Related links Learn more about Matti's Friedman and his new book “Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe” by McClelland and Stewart Canada . Watch the new rap song about Hannah Senesh by Kosha Dillz, on YouTube . Hear Canadian author Douglas Century explain why he resisted Hannah Senesh's life in his new book which came out in November 2025, called “Crash of the Heavens”, on The CJN's North Star podcast. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Forgiveness is often framed as a moral ideal. But what happens when the wound is still open? In his new book The Forgiveness Experiment, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath of Montreal makes the case that forgiveness is a form of self-liberation, not a gift to those who caused you harm. After Yom ha-Shoah but ahead of Yom ha-Zikaron on Monday April 20, that idea collides with a painful reality: for many Jews, October 7 is not history: it is still happening. As is the war with Iran and Hezbollah. Among the 30,000 soldiers and victims of terror being remembered is the name of Yotam Haim. The kidnapped Israeli hostage managed to escape his captors in Gaza but then was mistakenly killed by the IDF. His family has publicly forgiven the troops involved. That story of grace despite horrific pain is part of Rabbi Bernath's new book. Bernath is a relationship expert, leader with the Chabad community in N.D.G. and at Concordia University. He lays out his own personal path and tackles the question of how to move on from being a victim. On today's episode of The CJN's “North Star” podcast, Rabbi Bernath sits down with our producer Andrea Varsany to reveal how he did it. Related links Learn more about Rabbi Yisroel Bernath Find the book “ The Forgiveness Experiment” to read his lessons on forgiveness and on moving forward from trauma and pain to peace. Rabbi Bernath was one of The CJN's relationship columnists before the pandemic and now runs a Jewish matchmaking service. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Toronto entrepreneurs Daniel Carson and Daniel Schreiber have been revelling in the spotlight ever since the Artemis ll astronauts blasted off into space on April 1. That's because the best friends' Goldy's Superseed Strawberry Lavender breakfast cereal was along for the ride as part of the historic mission's menu. Their product is made in a KSA-certified kosher plant in Etobicoke. It was personally selected by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen to be among his home-grown pantry during the crew's 400,000 kilometre journey around the moon. It is the farthest distance any human, or cereal, has ever traveled from Earth. And while that floating jar of Nutella in the capsule garnered global attention, which was also made in Canada and is kosher, the two Daniels' all-natural, nut-free breakfast choice comes with a secret ingredient: Jewish pride. Carson has been deeply rooted in the Jewish community, working for Camp Robin Hood and also the Magen Boys, while his childhood pal Schreiber, who he met growing up in Thornhill, was born in Israel. On today's The CJN “North Star” podcast, they speak with host Ellin Bessner about how it all started and about their next-level ambitions to bring kosher cereal to infinity—and beyond. Related links Learn more about the two Daniels behind Goldy's kosher KSA-certified oatmeal and cereals. Read more about the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, killed when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry in 2003, in The CJN. Interview with Gregory Chamitoff, a Jewish astronaut who grew up in Chomedey, Que. and went to space on board Discovery, in The CJN from 2013. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As Yom HaShoah begins, award-winning Canadian children's author Kathy Kacer explains how 100,000 small brass plaques across Europe—known as stolpersteine—help pass Holocaust memory to the next generation. That's why after publishing over 30 kids books with Holocaust themes, her newest effort Last Known Address, dropped just before Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Kacer uses “stolpersteine”s or “stumbling stones” to connect her young readers with the lives lost or disrupted during the Holocaust. Kacer showcases the last homes where Anne Frank and 12 lesser-known victims of Nazi persecution lived. Most of the book focuses on Jews, but she also broadens her storytelling to include others targeted by Hitler's regime: a Roma couple, a gay German man and a mentally disabled brother. Several of her subjects survived, including the late Vera Katz Schiff of Toronto and Salman Schocken of Israel. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Kathy Kacer joins host Ellin Bessner to describe her voyage of discovery tracing the stumbling stones, and why she keeps speaking about the Holocaust to thousands of students at hundreds of schools. Related Links Learn more and buy Kathy Kacer 's latest book “Last Known Address ” through Second Story Press. Read more about Ellin's personal encounter with Stolpersteine in the small German Rhine River town of Bacharach in 2017, in The CJN. Search more about the Stolpersteine on artist Gunter Demnig's project site . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

For Marci Stepak, Toronto Public Library branches were never just about books—they were where she spent time with her mother. Eunice Stepak died of breast cancer on April 7, 2025, one day before what would have been her 88th birthday. This week, marking one year since her mother's death, Stepak set out on a 10-day, 300-kilometre walk to all 100 TPL branches. She's calling it Every Library TO and is raising funds for library outreach programs that supported her mother in her final months. In this episode of The CJN's "North Star" podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Stepak about grief, memory and finding a way forward. Related links Follow Marci Stepak 's memorial walk for her late mother to all of Toronto's 100 public libraries. Learn how to donate to her TPL fundraiser. Read more about Marcie Stepak's background in The CJN from 2010, about the show “Being Erica.” Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Two weeks after Toronto police's new rules of engagement were announced for the duelling anti– and pro-Israel weekly demonstrations at the intersection of Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave., a small core of marchers nevertheless spread out through the heavily Jewish area. That prompted renewed expressions of frustration on Sunday, April 5, from some local residents and Jewish leaders who believe that the protesters should not be permitted to expand their traditional protest zone at the intersection. But police say there's obviously some confusion, because they were never going to ban the anti-Israel protests entirely. Rather, they just want to keep marchers off residential side streets. So did the new rules improve safety at all? Or was the heavy police presence the key factor in keeping things a bit quieter this time? On today's episode of The CJN's "North Star" podcast, host Ellin Bessner brings you her on-the-ground report from the three-hour long duelling rally and march. You'll hear from several voices, including Toronto police Inspector Israel Bernardo, who explains why the new rules may have been misunderstood; James Pasternak, the local city councillor who says the protests are taking up valuable police resources for the sake of “glorified babysitting”; lawyer and activist Michael Teper, who describes his role in sparking a recent hate crime arrest; and one resident of the neighbourhood who feels the police's new protest zone rules actually allowed the anti-Israel demonstrations to escalate. Related stories Read more about how the new police protest rules were enforced at Bathurst and Sheppard on April 5, in The CJN. Why Toronto police announced March 22 that no protesters would be allowed to enter side streets, in The CJN. Hear legal experts denounce why so many antisemitic or anti-Israel protesters in Toronto are having their charges dropped, on The CJN's “North Star” podcast . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As extended families gather this week for their Passover seders, discussions are bound to get tense. That tension is taken to a whole other level in a new feature-length film by Toronto filmmaker and lawyer Joel Etienne, called Sisters of Fate. In the film, an Orthodox family gathers together for Passover, when long-buried allegations of abuse at the hands of an old rabbi teacher surface, forcing everyone to break years of uncomfortable silence. Etienne and many of his actors are themselves Orthodox. They worried about staging this controversial topic on the big screen, because of how reluctant their community has been to discuss the problem and deal with the predators. Joel Etienne and first-time actor Ahava Spillman, who plays Rebbetzin Rosen, join today's episode of North Star, just ahead of Passover. If you are in need of help Jewish Family & Child Service in the Greater Toronto Area runs a 24-hour phone hotline 1-800 404-1393. During business hours contact 416-638-7800 Related links Learn more about the film “Sisters of Fate” and the cast, and how to book screenings. Read The CJN's coverage of the Rabbi Mund tria l in Montreal in 2025. The elderly teacher was acquitted of two sex crime charges, after being arrested on Passover 2022. Why do sexual abuse cases go unpunished in the Orthodox community, in The CJN from 2022. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director), Yael Sher (graphic designer) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

At a time he calls a “national crisis of antisemitism,” Simon Wolle has stepped into one of the most visible advocacy roles in the country: CEO of B'nai Brith Canada. He took over in October, leading the 150-year-old Jewish human rights organization at a moment of growing concern for Jewish Canadians. He had little time to settle into the role before the security situation changed dramatically: Wolle calls it “seismic shifts". In recent months, Toronto police foiled an ISIS-linked terror plot; a boycott campaign targeted Jewish summer camps; and protests continue to spread through Jewish neighbourhoods, often without police intervention. Then, after Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran began again in late February, tensions escalated further. In the span of a single week, three Toronto-area synagogues and several Jewish-owned businesses were targeted in drive-by shootings. Elsewhere, hate charges were dropped against a Montreal café owner who had threatened Jews with “the Final Solution”; a long-standing Holocaust education event at Vanier College was cancelled; and political rhetoric around Israel drew renewed national attention ahead of Sunday's election of Avi Lewis, a Jewish anti-Zionist, as leader of the NDP. When Wolle started the job five months ago, his priorities included encouraging mainstream Jewish organizations to put aside “their egos” and work together more closely to fight antisemitism. He also hoped to persuade Canadian Jews not to abandon this country, but to stay and help improve the situation –even if this will take time. Wolle spoke with The CJN's North Star podcast host Ellin Bessner in an interview recorded in mid-February, right before the latest escalation between Israel and Iran. In that conversation, he laid out how he believes B'nai Brith's role must evolve — in ways that now feel even more urgent. Related stories: Hear Simon Wolle in his first interview with The CJN in February 2026 as B'nai Brith CEO push back on the disturbing campaign financially targeting Jewish summer camps, or watch it on The CJN's YouTube Channel. Simon Wolle made his national debut as CEO of B'nai Brith Canada at a press conference in Ottawa in January, among other things calling for a Royal Commission to be created on antisemitism, in The CJN . See what B'nai Brith Canada told the Quebec government about secularism and rising antisemitism, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director), Yael Sher (graphic designer) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

It took five years of DNA testing, forensic analysis and genealogical sleuthing to restore his name — and reveal a hidden past. Pte. Albert Henry Detmold, was the son of British Jews from London, and the nephew of Rufus Isaacs — better known as Lord Reading — who served as Britain's Chief Justice and later as Viceroy of India. It is the first time since Canada launched its missing war identification unit in 2007 that a Jewish soldier has been identified, although Detmold enlisted instead as Presbyterian. In this episode of The CJN's “North Star” podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with the historians and forensic experts who identified Detmold through DNA and traced his family. Sarah Lockyer, Alexandra McKinnon and Melissa Davidson of the Department of National Defence's Casualty Identification Unit describe how they uncovered both his identity — and a family history that had been largely forgotten. Related links Learn more about Pte. Albert Detmold , and also about the 100,000 Canadians who fought in the Battle for Hill 70 in August 1917 Read more about the 4,700 Jewish troops who wore a Canadian military uniform in the First World War, in The CJN from 2021 , and from 2016 , Register to help identify Canadian war dead with no known grave, for the Department of National Defence's Casualty Identification Program Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director), Yael Sher (marketing and communications coordinator) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Members of Canada's New Democratic Party are meeting this weekend to choose a new party leader, with a decision slated for Sunday. And for the first time since the 1970s, a Jewish candidate has a strong chance of being elected. Avi Lewis could follow in the footsteps of his late grandfather David Lewis, who led the NDP shortly after Avi was born. David Lewis remains the only Jewish Canadian in history to lead a national political party. But a lot has changed since his reign. The NDP was decimated in the 2025 election, winning only seven seats and losing official party status. As they hope to rebuild and expand their coalition, some party members are worried about the younger Lewis's criticism of Israel and his anti-Zionist beliefs; he is a member of the anti-Zionist organization Independent Jewish Voices Canada and his roster of prominent endorsers includes many activists with similar views. Lewis's closest rival is widely seen as Heather McPherson, the NDP MP for Edmonton Strathcona. She's not Jewish, but holds similar sentiments about Israel. She has supported seven petitions against the Israeli government, wore a Keffiyeh in the House of Commons during a vote on Palestinian statehood, and wants Canada to investigate anyone who ever served in the Israeli army. The CJN reached out multiple times to Lewis's camp for an interview, but they declined. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, NDP insider and The CJN Political Panelist Noah Tepperman joins host Ellin Bessner to explain why he believes both front-runners are problematic for the country—but why Avi Lewis is much worse for Jewish Canadians. Jewish former broadcaster Avi Lewis widely seen as the front-runner, but concerns are being raised about his strong anti-Zionist views. Tags: #Canada politics, #NDP, #Avi Lewis, #Heather McPherson, #Jewish Canadians, #Israel, #antisemitism, #cdnpoli Related links Read how the two leading NDP leadership candidates criticized the current U.S. and Israeli war with Iran, when the attack began Feb. 28, in The CJN . Learn more about the five candidates on the NDP's leadership convention's website. Hear The CJN's Political Panel's early prediction about the NDP leadership race, on “North Star” with Ellin Bessner , from Jan. 2026. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Will Bill C-9 make it safer for Canada's Jews? The federal government's Combating Hate Act is heading toward a final vote—after weeks of committee study. and a move recently to limit debate. The bill is being framed as as Canada's signture response to rising antisemitism after Oct. 7. But will it actually work? In this episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with two Jewish MPs from opposite sides of the aisle: • Anthony Housefather (Liberal, Mount Royal), who argues the bill gives police the tools they've been asking for and Roman Baber (Conservative, York Centre), who says the law won't make Jews safer and raises concerns about free speech Both were asked about the same issues. Their answers could not be more different. In this episode:• What Bill C-9 would change—and what it wouldn't• Why the government moved to cap debate• The argument over enforcement vs. new laws• Concerns about free speech and religious expression• Whether the bill will actually reduce antisemitic incidents Keywords: Bill C-9, Combating Hate Act, antisemitism Canada, hate crime laws Canada, free speech Canada, Anthony Housefather, Roman Baber, Canadian politics. Related stories Learn more about the Private Members' Bill that would have banned promotion of terrorism which Roman Baber, MP for York Centre, tried to have passed to strengthen Bill C-9, in The CJN , from November 2025. Why Canadian Jewish leaders supported Bill C-9 when it was at the Justice committee, in October 2025, in The CJN . Why the Canadian government said Bill C-9 is their response to growing antisemitism, in The CJN from Sept. 2025. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

The Liberal MP for Eglinton–Lawrence, Vince Gasparro, says his heart dropped when he heard a synagogue in his riding was recently targeted. Now he is calling for arrests, increased police support and expanded intelligence sharing, and hints there will be additional funding coming in the spring budget for Jewish security. The rookie MP represents the riding with third-largest concentration of Jews in Canada.  Gasparro was narrowly elected to Parliament last April 2025 on a platform to fight antisemitism and protect the Jewish community living in the area where he grew up. After discovering that no one had been hurt or killed, Gasparro's next thought was “We need to find these cowards who did this and we need to put them away.” As Canada's Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State for Combatting Crime, Gasparro has been at the forefront of the federal government's recent push to tighten bail, expand police investigative powers and crack down on hate crimes. But while those policy changes have moved through Parliament in recent weeks, Gasparro says the synagogue shootings mark a dangerous escalation—and require resources beyond local policing. On today's episode of The Canadian Jewish News's “North Star” podcast, Vince Gasparro sits down with host Ellin Bessner to discuss the incidents, the $10 million just granted for Jewish security and that there may be more coming. Related stories What Jewish leaders and local Toronto-area politicians including Vince Gasparro said after three March 2026 synagogue shootings, in The CJN. Terrorism charges dropped against Irish band Kneecap in 2025' MP Vince Gasparro had announced they were banned from performing in Canada, in The CJN. Vince Gasparro narrowly won the Toronto area Liberal riding of Eglinton-Lawrence in the April 2025 federal election, defeating Karen Stinz, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Two Israeli seniors were killed overnight when an Iranian cluster bomb hit their Ramat Gan apartment. The husband reportedly needed a walker to get around. When a missile warning sounds in Israel, people have only seconds to act — to get to a safe room or bomb shelter. But what if you can't get there in time? Nearly one in five Israelis lives with a disability. And for many, reaching safety isn't always possible. Some shelters can only be accessed by stairs. Others may not receive alerts in time — or at all — if they're deaf, blind, or unable to use smartphone apps. And for seniors or those without access to technology, those life-saving warnings can fall short. Canadian lawyer and disability rights advocate David Lepofsky says this is a hidden crisis — one that's been known for years, but still not fully addressed. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star, he joins me to explain how this war is exposing those gaps — and why they're now a matter of life and death. Israel, disability rights, accessibility, emergency alerts, public safety, war, human rights, bomb shelters, civil defense, Canada, CJN, North Star Podcast Related stories Learn more about the Israeli disability rights organization Bizchut Subscribe to David Lepofsky's new podcast called “Disability Rights and Wrongs: The David Lepodcast.” Hear Montrealer Neil Oberman's first-hand account of receiving alerts on the phone and running to a bomb shelter, on The CJN's ‘North Star' podcast from March 2. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

After three Toronto-area synagogues were shot at within the same week earlier this month, new questions are emerging about how the justice system handles antisemitic incidents. In this episode of The CJN's "North Star" podcast, Toronto lawyer Michael Teper and former Crown prosecutor Rochelle Direnfeld discuss why many protest-related charges tied to antisemitism in Toronto are later withdrawn, or diverted before reaching trial. Teper, who tracks police-reported hate crimes against the Jewish community, says nearly half of roughly 100 recent cases have been handled that way. He and Direnfeld explain how Crown prosecutors make those decisions — and why they warn the pattern risks sending a message of impunity to those who would commit crimes. Related stories: Read the ALCCA brief on the real problem behind the Toronto synagogue attacks. Learn why the National Post counted 94 of 154 Toronto protestors cases stayed, dropped or absolute discharges since Oct. 7, 2023. Read why B'nai Brith Canada thinks Ontario needs to start now to ban the 2027 Al-Quds Day rally, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Israel's deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel says Canada must take rising antisemitism seriously after three Toronto-area synagogues were targeted by gunfire. Born in Canada, Haskel tells The CJN's "North Star" podcast host Ellin Bessner why Israeli officials are watching closely, and why she believes the attacks are a warning of worse violence to come. Related stories They want to scare us: hear from one synagogue member after the BAYT attack, on The CJN's North Star podcast on YouTube. How Toronto synagogues ramped up security after the weekend gunfire targeting the BAYT and Shaarei Shomayim, in The CJN. Sharren Haskel is repeating her call made in 2024 on this show , for Diaspora Jews to move to Israel, in the light of revamped antisemitic attacks in Canada and France and elsewhere. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

When Laya Witty arrived for early morning Shabbat services at Beth Avraham Yoseph synagogue in Thornhill this past Saturday March 7, she noticed a police car parked at the entrance. Within moments, she learned why: overnight, gunfire had shattered the synagogue's glass front doors. Witty says she was relieved no one was hurt, and then she swung into action as a volunteer with the synagogue's security team–screening guests and looking for unfamiliar faces. Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, reached out personally on Monday to her synagogue's senior rabbi, Daniel Korobkin as well as to Rabbi Sam Taylor from the other targeted congregation, Shaarei Shomayim synagogue, and Rabbi Debra Landsberg of Temple Emanu-El, to express his concern and support. On today's episode of The Canadian Jewish News‘ “North Star” podcast, Laya Witty joins host Ellin Bessner to share how it felt when attackers hit her place of worship, and why she fears eventually someone will get killed. Related stories: Read The CJN's comprehensive coverage of the week of gunfire against Jewish businesses and synagogues: beginning with Temple Emanu-El and a restaurant and education academy shot at on March 2 . Hear what it sounded like on the ground last weekend at the BAYT and also at Shaarei Shomayim, on The CJN's North Star Podcast. Read what the politicians and the police promised on March 8, in The CJN. **** Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)