Podcasts about cjn

For more than half a century, the Rose family—headed by Rabbi Neal Rose and his wife, Carol—have been prominent leaders in Winnipeg's Jewish community. He has taught Judaic studies at university, they've led religious services and offered family programming, and mental health counselling. The Roses' famous alternative High Holiday services launched in the basement of the Etz Chayim synagogue attracted hundreds of congregants over the years. But after their four sons grew up and became rabbis far away from Winnipeg—and their daughter, who is married to a rabbi, also left—eventually the elder Roses left Canada, too. For a decade, they've been living in St. Louis, MO, where their oldest son, Rabbi Carnie Rose, held his last pulpit position. But last week, the senior Roses pulled up stakes south of the border and moved back to Winnipeg, where they will now have to do some shuffling to decide where to attend High Holiday services: at Shaarey Zedek, where Rabbi Carnie Rose was hired three months ago? Or will they go to Etz Chayim, where their middle son, Rabbi Kliel Rose, has been the spiritual leader since he came home in 2018? On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, we're joined from Winnipeg by Rabbi Carnie Rose; his brother, Rabbi Kliel Rose; and by their father, Rabbi Neal Rose, to hear how family ties are playing out across the city this High Holiday season. Related links Learn more about Rabbi Kliel Rose returning to Winnipeg in 2018 in The CJN and about his brother Rabbi Carnie Rose returning July 1 this summer. Rabbi Neal and Carol Rose's departure from Winnipeg in 2017 after 45 years left a void, in The CJN. Why Winnipeg's largest remaining North End synagogue, Etz Chayim moved to the city's south in 2023, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Even for the least religiously involved Jews, the High Holidays are a high point—and sometimes the only point—of organized Jewish engagement. For many families, it may be the only time in a year they step inside a synagogue or participate in a prayer service. A time for re-upping their membership in the Jewish collective, returning to the same well of tradition: the same tunes, buildings and prayer books that they remember from sitting with their parents and their parents' parents. But, ironically, for the people most passionate about Jewish spiritual life—those who have devoted their careers to it—Rosh Hashanah can look very different. Two of our hosts' spirtual needs are bringing them to prayer services apart from their partners. Another fears they've been seeing Rosh Hashanah as a job for so long, they're not sure if they've ever had, or could have, an "authentic" Rosh Hashanah experience. Plus, rabbis Avi, Matthew and Yedida discuss their advice for boredom in shul services, asking for forgiveness, and what to do with a yearning for someone to ask forgiveness from you, and using the High Holidays as a time not only to think about what you've done to other, but to let go of the slights others have done to you. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

In the riverside border town of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Jewish community leaders are stepping up to run programming for the 35 member families of Congregation Beth Jacob. The synagogue—gearing up to celebrate its 80th anniversary next year—can no longer afford to hire clergy to conduct High Holiday services. Instead, over the next month, the prayers will be all DIY, led by local congregant Tova Arbus, who's filling the shoes of her father, Jeff Arbus, a former union activist. But while the younger Arbus prepares to take the reins, she recognizes that even her father only led the High Holidays prayers once, last year. For decades, he led everything else, including Shabbat services. This year, Jeff is facing sudden medical issues. Another of the shul's former presidents, 80-year-old U.S. Army veteran Gil Cymbalist, died on Sept. 8, after battling ALS. With the older generation passing the baton, Arbus is determined to help revitalize Jewish life in her hometown. She's helping to prep pre-teens for their bar mitzvahs; she's holding family Jewish education classes; she's even working with the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. to mount a new exhibit on Jewish life, in honour of Beth Jacob's upcoming 80th anniversary in 2026. Tova Arbus joins host Ellin Bessner on today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast to discuss her efforts to sustain the Jewish community's future ahead of a hectic High Holiday season. Related links Learn more about Beth Jacob Synagogue in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont, and how to lend artifacts for the exhibit. Read more about Sault Ste. Marie's famous novelist, author and lawyer Morley Torgov, profiled in The CJN archives. Watch the 1973 National Film Board documentary on small Jewish communities in Northern Ontario and how they survive.  Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

A Florida court convicted Dan Markel's former mother-in-law of first degree murder on Sept. 4 for the 2014 contract hit on the Canadian law professor. Markel, 41, was fatally shot in the head outside his Florida home by Latin gang members who his ex-wife's family had hired to execute him, while the couple was locked in a bitter custody battle over where their two sons should live. With Donna Adelson's guilty verdict, the American courts have now put five people associated with the murder behind bars, most of them locked away for life: Adelson, 75, the matriarch; Charles Adelson, her son, a dentist, convicted in 2023; also Adelson's former girlfriend, and the two killers. Markel's ex-wife Wendi has never been charged, and denies any involvement in the plot. Her parents were arrested two years ago at the Miami airport attempting to flee the United States to Vietnam, which has no extradition treaty. After their former in-law's three week trial ended, Markel's parents delivered victim impact statements, including wishing her a Jewish blessing that she should live to 120, alone in her jail cell. Ruth Markel joins host Ellin Bessner on today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast to recount the family's latest trial ordeal, and why she hopes her two teenaged grandsons will come to Canada. Related links Watch the Sept. 4 verdict and the victim impact statements given by Dan Markel's family to the Florida court. Read Ruth Markel's book which she penned about her grief and her family's journey as murder survivors following the killing of her son Dan in 2014, Hear Ellin's first interview in 2022 with Ruth Markel on The CJN Daily Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Canadians who've never before heard of the Davis Cup, a men's team tennis tournament, grew outraged when they discovered Canada was hosting Israel in a match on Sept. 12 and 13. Anti-Israel activists demanded a ban on the Israeli athletes over their country's war in Gaza; pro-Israel advocates insisted the sport remain free of political interference. In the end, nobody won: Tennis Canada announced they would not permit any fans to enter the venue this weekend, refunding anyone who bought a ticket. What will likely ensue is a relatively uneventful match between two lower-seeded tennis teams, accompanied by some everyday protests outside. But while Tennis Canada cited security concerns for their decision, our sports podcasters ask: is that really the reason? The venue holds 5,000 people, and only 1,500 people were expected to attend. Of that, a small handful of anti-Israel protesters—in the realm of a dozen people—said they bought tickets with the explicit intention of disrupting the event. Team Israel has significant security resources, and has said nothing that indicates they were worried for their players' safety. So was this really a security concern, or is Tennis Canada more concerned with a clean product for television and to encourage the opportunity of hosting international events in the future? Was this a political move, or simply a bureaucratic one? The hosts dig into all this, plus what happened with Israeli teams in European cycling and soccer. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, "Organ Grinder Swing") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here)

The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, a new documentary, debuted to a sold-out audience of nearly 2,000 ticket-holders at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10. The 95-minute film depicts the true story of how a retired Israeli army general raced south through the country to save his children and grandchildren from Hamas terrorists in the closest kibbutz to the Gaza border. TIFF initially barred the Canadian-produced film from screening at the prestigious film festival, citing copyright issues over the use of some graphic video taken by the attackers on Oct. 7. There were also safety concerns about disruptions to the festival by large crowds of anti-Israel protestors. TIFF reversed its decision in mid-August, following international public outrage, including lobbying by Canadian Jewish leaders and festival donors. The Wednesday afternoon screening attracted just a few dozen anti-Israel demonstrators outside. Meanwhile, a question and answer session inside drew “boos” from the largely Jewish audience as journalist Lisa LaFlamme asked the film's protagonists whether Israel's continuing military campaign is, as the Tibon family have suggested, “revenge” for the Israeli army's humiliation on Oct. 7. But the filmmaker, Barry Avrich, insists his documentary is not meant to be political—he interprets it as a human story of family and courage. Cineplex Odeon theatres will show the film in select cities in Canada and the U.S. starting on Oct. 3. On today's episode of the North Star podcast, The CJN's news editor, Lila Sarick, shares what it was like attending the hotly anticipated premiere, and what the film itself was like. Related links Watch the trailer for the Oct. 7 film “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue”. Read about how the Jewish community responded, including donors from the Reitman family, when TIFF originally announced the Oct. 7 film could not play, in The CJN. Learn more about why, after receiving 60,000 emails of protest, TIFF officials agreed to screen the film, in The CJN Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Jews may joke about the High Holidays being a time for binge eating—overflowing tables of multiple meats, several courses, soups, sides and desserts—but for anyone suffering from an eating disorder, it's a dangerous time of year. That's how Ilana Zackon, a performer and writer, remembers coming home for the holidays in her early 20s. Privately, she had a binge-eating disorder; when faced with mountains of brisket, chicken, potatoes and pies, nobody thought twice about her eating for two straight hours. Zackon wound up recovering from her disorder. And now, more than a decade later, she's reimagined that experience into a short film, Grain, that recently won an award for best 2D short film at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. In the movie, the main character binges to the point of transforming into a horrific creature that rampages through her city. Ahead of the High Holidays, Zackon joins the rabbi podcasters of Not in Heaven to analyze the role of food in Jewish culture—and how we approach eating, cooking and encouraging others to dig in. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

As a new academic year starts on Canadian post-secondary campuses, headlines and social media posts are already revealing a familiarly troubling atmsphere for Jewish students. At Concordia University in Montreal, the official student handbook seems to glorify anti-Israel protests. At Toronto Metropolitan University, masked students accosted the provost at an orientation session, calling her a coward and demanding she denounce the genocide in Gaza. On Sept. 3, a study from the Aristotle Foundation, a Calgary-based conservative think tank, has found Jewish university students “four times more likely than the average student to be ‘very reluctant' to speak up and share their views on religion during class discussions,” for fear of being penalized by their professor or experiencing hostility from other students. According to the study, 15 percent of the Jewish students surveyed reported daily abuse on campus for being Jewish, while 84 percent reported being the target of antisemitism on campus at least once a year. Is there any cause for Jewish students to be optimistic? Are there examples of Jewish students or faculty pushing back against the overwhelming anti-Israel atmosphere on Canadian campuses? On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, we've found a bit of good news—and some bad news, too. Host Ellin Bessner is joined by Daphne Wornovitzky, a recent graduate from the University of Calgary's social work faculty; Melanie Trossman, a social worker in Calgary; and also Gdalit Neuman, a PhD candidate at York University's dance faculty. Related links Read  Gdalit Neuman's recent article about antisemitism and anti-Israel activism taking place on York University campus, and also as part of international academic associations. Learn more about the pervasive antisemitism found in Canadian university and college social work programs, and also read the scholarly research by social worker Annette Poizner, published in 2023. What happened when pro-Israel speaker Eylon Levy was trapped in a University of Calgary classroom last fall, in The CJN.  Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

The United Nations General Assembly gets to work this week, beginning its 80th anniversary session on Sept. 9. And as the ambassadors gather in New York, there will be a new pair of Canadian eyes keeping tabs on how the world's parliament lives up to its mandate of equitably improving human rights, especially on the Israel-Palestine file. Former senator Linda Frum has been appointed the new chair of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization that has, for decades, exposed an alleged anti-Israel bias on the global stage. In the last few years, UN Watch has directed its lens in particular toward the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, which employed at least nine staffers who were possibly involved with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel—and who were subsequently fired in the summer of 2024. Frum steps onto the stage at what could be a pivotal moment in Middle Eastern history. The UN will bring world leaders together in a few weeks for a summit wherein many countries, including Canada, have signalled they will formally recognize Palestinian statehood. It's a move Frum feels is “very dangerous” for the Jewish community here, as it will raise temperatures at home and put “a target on the back of every Jewish Canadian citizen.” On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner is joined by both Linda Frum and UN Watch's executive director, Hillel Neuer, a Canadian lawyer, to take a look ahead at the UN's fall agenda and what's at stake. Related links Read the United Nations Watch announcement of former Canadian Senator Linda Frum as the new chair of its board. Follow UN Watch's latest research on keeping the UN accountable. Hear two views of Canada's plan to recognize Palestine as a state, 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) 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)

Diaspora Jews have spent nearly two full years seeing posters of Israeli hostages ripped down in public, hearing chants of “Go back to Poland” in the streets, and seeing Zionists banned from progressive organizations and events. After all that, Diaspora Jews could be suffering from a condition called “traumatic invalidation”. The diagnosis is contained in a research paper published this year by two Jewish Harvard University–affiliated psychologists who specialize in trauma. The symptoms include anxiety, depression, shame and, in extreme cases, post-traumatic stress disorder. The authors found that Jewish patients reported their pain and trauma after Oct. 7 has been not only widely ignored, but in many cases denied—or even weaponized against them. Since their study was published by The Journal of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment in May 2025, it has struck a chord among the Canadian Jewish community. That's why a coalition of Canadian synagogues, Jewish medical professionals and trauma organizations have brought one of the authors to this country this week for a series of public talks. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern, a Boston-based clinical psychologist and Harvard lecturer, who is wrapping up her speaking tour in Toronto. She explains why she decided to investigate this subject and offers some tools to help people heal. Related links Read Dr. Bar-Halpern and her colleague's scholarly article, about Oct. 7 and traumatic invalidation, in The Journal of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment (22 pages). Learn more about Dr. Bar-Halperin, through her website. Attend the workshop Friday Sept. 5 in Toronto designed for mental health professionals to train them how to better support Jewish patients suffering from traumatic invalidation because of antisemitism. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

School has returned—and with it, the annual anxiety of Jewish parents fretting over the cost, and results, of Jewish day school. What good is Hebrew knowledge if most Israelis speak English? What are the benchmarks for a successful Jewish education? Is it just about surrounding our kids with other Jewish kids, or is there something deeper in the biblical knowledge? Different parents will give different answers. For their part, our rabbi podcast panel of Not in Heaven, back from a quasi-summer break, have children of all ages with varying degrees of formal Jewish education. In this back-to-school special, the hosts debates the merits and strategies of Jewish schooling, including why sending your kids to a modern Orthodox school, even if you're more liberal in your home, might be the right choice. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

The suspect charged in the stabbing of a Jewish Ottawa woman at the city's main kosher Loblaws grocery store last week is still in custody, and is going through a series of court appearances this week. But there has not yet been a bail hearing for Joe Rooke, who appeared by video in an Ottawa court on Sept. 2. Ottawa police arrested the suspect on Aug. 27, shortly after the attack. The man was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon. Later, when police investigated the suspect's antisemitic social media posts, the case was classified as a hate-motivated crime. News of the attack has shocked the capital's Jewish community, especially because it happened at a grocery store that stocks the largest selection of kosher products in Ottawa. And while it's prompted an outpouring of support and condemnation from political leaders—including a statement signed by 32 Liberal Members of Parliament calling for action to combat rising antisemitism in Canada— some members of the Jewish community say it's merely lip service, adding that social media posts aren't enough to counter the sense of fear and anger that they feel after the stabbing. Police say the victim was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but has since been released and is recovering at home. While she and her family are keeping her name private for the time being, they have asked for prayers, and hope the community prays for peace. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Jewish community leader Cantor Jason Green of the Kehillat Beth Israel synagogue, where the victim used to sing in his choir, and also with David Roytenberg, an editor at the Canadian Zionist Forum, who was shopping in that Loblaws store when the attack occurred. Related links Learn more about how Ottawa's Jewish leaders reacted to the stabbing in The CJN's coverage from last week. Watch Cantor Jason Green's “emergency” sermon from Saturday Aug. 30 at Kehillat Beth Israel synagogue in Ottawa. Read the Ottawa Police's news release classifying the stabbing as a hate-crime Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Ellin Bessner will return next week. Today, we're bringing you the latest episode of Menschwarmers, The CJN's Jewish sports podcast. Subscribe to Menschwarmers here. In July, the New York Yankees drafted a Canadian shortstop from Wyoming, Ont., named Core Jackson. They did so despite knowing that Jackson, as a 17-year-old freshman at the University of Nebraska, had drawn a swastika on a Jewish student's dorm room while he was, he later told The Athletic, "blackout drunk." But this isn't a run-of-the-mill case of antisemitism. By all accounts, according to the Yankees' ground scouts and the recent investigation by The Athletic that ran Aug. 20, Jackson was, simply, acting like an ignorant drunk teenager, and was forthright about the incident with teams before the draft. The team did significant due diligence, engaging with New York's Jewish community and sending scouts to learn about Jackson's family and personality. The resulting story is less about the insipid rise of casual antisemitism, and more about the power of forgiveness when people—especially teenagers—make mistakes and try to do better. Keith Law, a longtime baseball journalist and former front office worker with the Toronto Blue Jays, broke this story for The Athletic. He joins us to share his impressions of Core Jackson and how the Yankees are viewing this opportunity. After that, podcast hosts Gabe and Jamie run through this year's hottest Jewish sports movies, from Happy Gilmore 2 to both Safdie brothers' award-season offerings, The Smashing Machine and Marty Supreme. Then they give a quick NFL preview and recap Zach Hyman's ceremonial opening of the new ice hockey rink at the Schwartz/Reisman Jewish Community Centre in Vaughan. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, "Organ Grinder Swing") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here)

In July, the New York Yankees drafted a Canadian shortstop from Wyoming, Ont., named Core Jackson. They did so despite knowing that Jackson, as a 17-year-old freshman at the University of Nebraska, had drawn a swastika on a Jewish student's dorm room while he was, he later told The Athletic, "blackout drunk." But this isn't a run-of-the-mill case of antisemitism. By all accounts, according to the Yankees' ground scouts and the recent investigation by The Athletic that ran Aug. 20, Jackson was, simply, acting like an ignorant drunk teenager, and was forthright about the incident with teams before the draft. The team did significant due diligence, engaging with New York's Jewish community and sending scouts to learn about Jackson's family and personality. The resulting story is less about the insipid rise of casual antisemitism, and more about the power of forgiveness when people—especially teenagers—make mistakes and try to do better. Keith Law, a longtime baseball journalist and former front office worker with the Toronto Blue Jays, broke this story for The Athletic. He joins us to share his impressions of Core Jackson and how the Yankees are viewing this opportunity. After that, podcast hosts Gabe and Jamie run through this year's hottest Jewish sports movies, from Happy Gilmore 2 to both Safdie brothers' award-season offerings, The Smashing Machine and Marty Supreme. Then they give a quick NFL preview and recap Zach Hyman's ceremonial opening of the new ice hockey rink at the Schwartz/Reisman Jewish Community Centre in Vaughan. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, "Organ Grinder Swing") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here)

Buckle up, sports fans, it's synagogue pre-season—a.k.a. Elul, the Hebrew month of spiritual preparation directly before the High Holidays. It's somehow both a marathon and a sprint for observant Jews and their leaders: synagogue staff, rabbis and cantors prepare to go into overdrive writing sermons, leading prayers, facilitating spiritual experiences, and essentially running the year's most important programming back-to-back-to-back for a month. How can you community members support their leaders, prevent burnout and help empower rabbis to take on the enormous tasks ahead? Avi and Matthew share their thoughts, while also sharing their own routines—what they do logistically and spiritually to prepare for a time when they won't have bandwith for self-reflection. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

North Star is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired August 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, 2024. 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, 2024. On this 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) Original Music: Dov Beck-Levine 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)

North Star is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired May 4th, 2023 Canadians of a certain age will remember listening to the comedy duo of Wayne and Shuster on the radio—and, later, watching them on television from the 1950s well into the 1980s. The duo met in high school in Toronto's prewar Jewish neighbourhood around Harbord Collegiate, where they began writing and performing sketch comedy. After returning from entertaining the troops overseas during the Second World War, they joined the television era, with specials pulling in audiences of millions and worldwide syndication. Since their fathers' deaths, Wayne and Shuster's children have been campaigning to convince the CBC—which owns the broadcast rights to much of their parents' material—to air it for the first time in years for a new generation of Canadians to enjoy. These efforts have not been successful, so the families are taking a new strategy. They teamed up with Bygone Theatre, a theatre company in Toronto, to mount a live Wayne and Shuster stage show that opened at the University of Toronto's Hart House Theatre in May 25, 2023. It went on a national tour, too. Audiences got to see high-profile Canadian actors perform such classic W and S skits as “Rinse the Blood Off My Toga” and “A Shakespearean Baseball Game”. Michael and Brian Wayne joined The CJN Daily, along with Rosie Shuster and the producers of the play, Emily Dix and Conor Fitzgerald. **What we talked about
** When the City of Toronto named a lane after Wayne and Shuster, in The CJN
 For Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017, The CJN ran this profile of Wayne and Shuster
 Watch “Rinse the Blood off my Toga” on YouTube

 Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
 Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
 Original Music: Dov Beck-Levine
 Current 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)

North Star is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired March 8, 2022. On March 19, 2022, 12-year-old Naomi Hochman will celebrate her bat mitzvah at Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek synagogue. And while she's the first girl in her family to have a bat mitzvah—her older brothers had theirs, and she just took for granted she would enjoy one too—bat mitzvahs are in fact a relatively new phenomenon. Naomi's bat mitzvah actually takes place on the 100-year anniversary of the very first bat mitzvah in North America. The daughter of an American reconstructionist rabbi, Judith Kaplan, earned that distinction on March 18, 1922. In Canada, what is believed to be the first bat mitzvah wouldn't take place until decades later, in 1949. Miriam Lieff led a Friday night service at Agudath Israel Synagogue in Ottawa, paving the way for generations of Canadian girls to take a more egalitarian role in Jewish religious life. Now 89, Lieff joins to recall her experience during a time when girls weren't even allowed to stand on the bimah—and Naomi will talk about how she feels carrying that torch so many years later. What we talked about: Submit your bat mitzvah story to the Jewish Women's Archive Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Original production team: Victoria Redden (producer) Current Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Original Music: Dov Beck-Levine Current 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)

North Star is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired May 12, 2022. You've probably heard "Skinnamarink", the classic children's song by Sharon, Lois & Bram. But you probably haven't heard it on TikTok, where Sharon Hampson, now 82, is putting out quick snippets of classics and new material with her newfound family band. She's recruited her daughter, Randi, and grandsons Elijah and Ethan Ullmann, both full-time students at the University of Toronto. Although they grew up in a musical dynasty, it took an international lockdown for them to agree to help their Bubbe's resurgent Zoom-based career. At the time of recording, they were preparing to mount their first live indoor show since the pandemic began, at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa, Ont., back in May 2022. And despite Sharon's worry that her voice isn't as strong as it used to be, her relatives say she's still got it. All four join to explain how they're trying to make music that stays relevant for a generation raised on the Frozen soundtrack and "Baby Shark". What we talked about Learn about the performance and others at sharonloisandbram.com/events Learn about the Brott Music Festival at brottmusic.com Listen to "Talk About Peace" Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Original Production team: Victoria Redden (producer) Current Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Original Music: Dov Beck-Levine Current 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)

In the months following Oct. 7, Vancouver native Kai Balin learned wanted to dig deeper into his Judaism, but learned that, despite his strong Jewish upbringing, his family actually isn't considered Jewish by some in the Orthodox community. The discovery shocked him to his core—not only is Balin the grandson of Holocaust survivors, but he always felt destined to become a rabbi, right from his early childhood. The rejection of his family's Jewish identity sent Balin on a years-long quest to find out what being Jewish meant to him. He took his cameras along the way as he traced his family's heritage across four generations on three continents. The Canadian did most of the filming—and all of the financing on his own, interviewing family members and learning, once the film wrapped, that his story had an unexpected twist ending. The result is an hour-long documentary, Son of a Seeker, premiering in Toronto on Aug. 20 at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre. It debuted in Vancouver earlier this summer. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Kai Balin to learn about the roots of this project and where his faith has taken him. Related links Learn more about Son of a Seeker and get tickets to see the film in Toronto on Aug. 20. Read about the filmmaker's sister, who co-produced his documentary, once winning _Chopped Canada'_s teen cooking contest in 2017, in The CJN archives. Watch the trailer of "Son of a Seeker". Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Depending on which side of the political spectrum you're on, and which media outlets you trust, you perspective of what's happening in Israel and Gaza will be extremely different. And chances are, regardless of which stance you take, you're missing critical pieces of information. For our rabbi podcasters, who have dedicated their lives to knowledge-gathering and understanding different perspectives, that's a problem. They ask: how can anyone be certain of anything right now? How can anyone have a well-informed opinion when media outlets are fallible, propaganda is insidious and facts are obscured? It reminds one host of Donald Rumsfeld's famous line about "unknown unknowns"—we don't know what we don't know. Reconvening after a brief summer break, our rabbi podcasters are back to discuss these issues and dive into this week's parsha from Devarim. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

Under a new Israeli plan, announced Aug. 7 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about a million Palestinian residents of Gaza City would be forced to evacuate the area over the next two months, culminating on Oct. 7, 2025. After that, Netanyahu's plan calls for the Israel Defense Forces to move in and capture the capital city, along with one other area: the remaining 25 percent of the strip that Israel doesn't yet control. The forthcoming escalation, after 22 months of fighting, has touched off international condemnation, including from the Canadian government, over fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis. However, the plan is also sparking deep divisions within Israel. Families of the remaining hostages call it a death sentence for their loved ones; some reservists and haredi groups have vowed not to answer their call-ups to the armed forces. Other right-wing politicians and settlers support the move, as they have long called for the government to annex the Gaza Strip and re-establish Jewish settlements that stood there until 2005. Negotiating expert John Shulman, based in Nova Scotia, has been watching the developments this week—and they've given him déjà vu. Twenty years ago, Shulman, a lawyer, was sent to the region with a Harvard University negotiation program to help facilitate dialogue between Israeli politicians just before Ariel Sharon's government (which Netanyahu was part of) moved to unilaterally withdraw more than 8,000 Jewish residents and soldiers from Gaza and the West Bank, beginning on Aug. 15, 2005. Shulman says that historic withdrawal, known as “The Disengagement”, had costly consequences—not only because Hamas quickly took over Gaza in 2007, but also because its scars are still playing out inside Israel today, ahead of the planned recapture of Gaza. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Shulman joins host Ellin Bessner to discuss what's at stake by not following the rules of successful conflict resolution. Related links Learn more about how the Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiations had a front row seat during the 2005 Gaza Disengagement. Read more about our guest, negotiation expert John Shulman of Alignor. Why some Israelis want to return to live in the Gaza Strip, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

“Let's get the patrols put in place, let's have it happen! Do something that's going to address the situation. Do something that will make the community feel safer!” That's the message from Rabbi Saul Emanuel, executive director of Montreal's Jewish Community Council, in the wake of a “heinous” attack on a haredi man on Aug. 8 in a public park. The incident, which was captured by a bystander on video, shows what Jewish leaders have called a “stark and painful illustration of the vulnerability Jewish Montrealers face today.” Officials told The CJN the visibly Jewish victim, 32, was with his three young daughters in the Park Extension area of the city when he had an encounter with a lone man carrying a red grocery bag. Water was splashed on one or both of the men, although it remains unclear what prompted the interaction. The video shows the suspect punching the man five or six times, on the ground, with terrified children clinging to their father's arms. The suspect then left the park. Montreal police are searching for the suspect. The victim, who lives with his family in the area, suffered a broken nose and bruises to the face, and is reportedly traumatized, as are the young girls. He was treated in hospital and is now recovering at home. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner hears more about the attack from Mayer Feig, of the Quebec Council of Hasidic Jews, who knows the victim and first posted the video to social media; and also from Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the executive director of Montreal's Jewish Community Council, which represents at least 80 haredi congregations and schools. Related links Learn why the Israel-Hamas conflict since 2023 has contributed to hundreds of protests and 577 hate crimes or hate incidents in Montreal, in The CJN. Read more about reaction to Friday's attack on a Montreal Haredi man with his daughters, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Jake Retzlaff has earned a spot as one of America's top college football quarterbacks, rising with the Brigham Young University Cougars as the first Jewish quarterback to ever play at the Mormon university. But it's precisely that religious juxtaposition that got Retzlaff in trouble with the BYU Cougars, after a brief legal action in May 2025 saw an anonymous accusation of sexual assault lobbied against the college athlete. Even though the case was dismissed with prejudice on June 30, Retzlaff conceded that he had sexual relations with the woman, which is against BYU's religious rules. Instead of facing a lengthy suspension, Retzlaff applied for a transfer. BYU's loss turned into Tulane University's gain, as Retzlaff will now vie for the starting QB spot on the Tulane Green Wave, repping a university that proudly stands as one of the first in the American South to allow Jews—and now has, according to some estimates, a Jewish student population as high as 40 percent. How will Retlaff perform at "Jewlane" University? What are the expectations? We ask Isaac Popper, an insider with the Green Wave and sports reporter based in New Orleans, for answers. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, "Organ Grinder Swing") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here)

On Sunday Aug. 10, Montreal's 19th annual Pride parade is set to take place, and two local Jewish organizations have been once again been invited to participate—despite a turbulent few days in which the organizers originally barred both Ga'ava and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. The explusion stemmed from complaints Pride said it received that Ga'ava, a pro-Israel, Jewish 2SLGBTQIA+ group, had used “hateful discourse” in a recent CJN article when describing groups that objected to Zionists participating in the parade this year. The short-lived ban outraged many, since Pride is supposed to be inclusive and a celebration of 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and also because the festival receives over $1 million in government funding. While the reversal is being described by some activists as a victory—and Ga'ava and CIJA, who march together, are pushing for a large turnout ahead of the big day—some members of the Jewish queer community say the whole incident has left them feeling traumatized. There is also some concern about how their enjoyment of the annual Pride experience might be marred by the required heavy security that will be deployed to protect them. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner gets reaction from Claire Frankel, a recent graduate of McGill University and a board member with JQueer Montreal, as well as from retired Ontario justice Harvey Brownstone. Brownstone was Canada's first openly gay judge, performed numerous same-sex marriages and, years ago, was the president of Chutzpah, a group created in the 1980s to support queer Toronto Jews who had been rejected by their families. Related links Why Montreal's main Pride organization has reversed course and welcomed back two pro-Israel Jewish groups to participate, in The CJN. How Toronto's  2SLGBTQIA+ community faced some hard decisions whether to participate in the 2025 Pride events, in The CJN. Learn more and follow Harvey Brownstone's interviews show. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

While many Canadians are continuing to boycott products made in the United States, when it comes to mikvehs, nearly a dozen Canadian Jewish communities have no qualms about accepting their money. Mikvah USA is a Brooklyn-based charity that gives out financial aid, advice and technical support for renovating outdated mikvehs and building brand-new ones, and in the last few years, they've supported 10 clients in Ontario and Quebec. One of them is Ottawa's Naomi Bulka Community Mikvah, which held its grand reopening on July 20, having completed a makeover of the 25-year-old facility, attached to Ottawa's Soloway ewish Community Centre. While only 30 women have been using the mikveh each month, officials believe they will attract larger crowds who come for the religious experience in a bright, refreshed, spa-like atmosphere. The team in Ottawa received a grant to kickstart independent fundraising from Mikvah USA, which has been subsidizing mikveh projects across North America since 2004, mostly in smaller Jewish communities. The list includes London, Ont.; Quebec City; and a forthcoming mikveh in Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., which is still under construction. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner is joined by some Canadian mikveh organizers who collaborated with the American charity to get their projects to the finish line: Dina Teitlebaum and her husband, Rabbi Levy Teitlebaum, in Ottawa, and Chana Carlebach and her husband, Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach, who are building the multimillion-dollar mikveh in Saint-Agathe-des-Monts. Related links Learn more or donate to the newly renovated Naomi Bulka community mikveh in Ottawa. Learn more or donate to the new community mikveh in Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, built by Congregation House of Israel. Why this Chabad family in Kelowna, B.C. built the only mikveh between Vancouver and Calgary, in The CJN archives. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

We're taking some time off to recharge this summer and prepare for new projects at The CJN. Instead of a new episode, we're bringing you another podcast from The CJN: The Jewish Angle, hosted by former Bonjour Chai host and current opinion editor at The CJN, Phoebe Maltz-Bovy. Avi Finegold is her guest. Not in Heaven will be back soon—stay tuned. To our knowledge, neither the now-former CEO of tech company Astronomer, nor the company's now-former head of HR, are Jewish. The secretive couple—who were having an affair that was famously caught by a videographer behind the Jumbotron of a Coldplay concert—instantly became a viral sensation, sparking waves of ridicule and resulting in their departure from the company. But The Jewish Angle podcast host Phoebe Maltz Bovy had to ask: is it lashon hara to speak of these people behind their backs? So she asked The CJN's resident rabbi, Avi Finegold, to shed light on the situation. It's not quite lashon hara if the secret has been put out in the open by a Jumbotron, but that doesn't quash the ick factor from giddily discussing people's personal lives on social media. Plus: why wasn't this seen as a #MeToo echo, given the power imbalance between the CEO and lower-level female employee? Listen to The Jewish Angle to find out. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

On July 30, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that, come September, Canada will officially recognize Palestine as a state, during the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York. In making the announcement in Ottawa earlier this week, Carney said he had received three “commitments” from the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas: to hold elections in 2026, to reform the P.A.'s governance and to demilitarize the territories. Carney said Canada couldn't wait any longer for a two-state solution to happen on its own, and needed to act quickly. Why? Because Hamas continues to pose a “pervasive threat” to Israel and its right to exist after the “heinous terrorist attack of October 7, 2023.” But he also blamed Israel for planning to expand settlements and annex the West Bank, for letting extremist settlers continue attacking Palestinians, and for allowing a humanitarian crisis to unfold in Gaza. The news has Canadian Jews divided. Some mainstream organizations reacted to the news with alarm; B'nai Brith Canada called the decision “dangerously premature”, while the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs warned of “another failed Palestinian pseudo-state controlled by terrorists”, adding their deep concern that the recognition doesn't hinge on the release of the hostages and the removal of Hamas first. Meanwhile, some progressive Jewish groups commended Carney for the move, including Canadian Friends of Peace Now and JSpace Canada. The latter praised “this significant and courageous step” as being “shared by the majority of Canadian Jews,” and that a two-state solution “remains the only just and sustainable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with two senior international affairs analysts on opposite sides of the issue. Alan Kessel is a former Canadian diplomat and legal advisor to Global Affairs Canada, and his former colleague Jon Allen was Canadian ambassador to Israel from 2006-2010. Related links Read more about Canada's pledge to recognize Palestine in September, in The CJN. Read Prime Minister Mark Carney's official announcement on why Canada will recognize Palestine. Hear the former Palestinian envoy to Ottawa say there can't be elections because Israel is occupying East Jerusalem, the Palestinian capital, on CBC News. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

For nearly three weeks now, members of Canada's Druze community have been desperately sounding the alarm after an outbreak of ethnic violence in the Sweida area of Syria resulted in the deaths of roughly 1,000 people, mostly civilians. Tensions erupted on July 11 between local Sunni Bedouin clans and the majority Druze population living in Syria's southern province. But the Druze say when the Syrian army was sent to the scene, the government soldiers carried out mass killings. Images have emerged of burned-out buildings, bodies on the ground and uniformed soldiers forcibly shaving and tearing off the moustaches of Druze elders. After days of attacks, Israel took the unprecedented step of launching air raids on Syrian military positions, in support of the Druze people living in northern Israel and their relatives across the Syrian border. It's been an agonizing time for Canadian Druze residents, including Hend Raad of Barrie, Ont., who lost 10 members of her family in the recent violence. Jamil Ammar of Niagara Falls says his relatives who were visiting Sweida from elsewhere in the Middle East and Europe are now stuck with no fuel and no way to get out. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Hend Raad and Jamil Ammar about the situation facing their loved ones in the aftermath of the fighting in Sweida, and what they want Canada to do. Related links Read more about the Toronto Druze community's efforts to raise awareness about the massacre of their people in southern Syria, in The CJN. Learn more about the Beit El Jebel Organization of Druze in Toronto, and how to donate. Meet an Israeli Druze IDF veteran who was wounded after Oct. 7, who came to Canada to recover, in The CJN Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

On July 25, Iain Aspenlieder pleaded guilty in court to a charge of mischief for defacing Canada's National Holocaust Monument. Before dawn on June 9, Aspenlieder—a former lawyer with the City of Ottawa—cycled to the monument with three cans of bright red paint to write the words "FEED ME". He meant the phrase as a political statement about the humanitarian condition of Palestinians in Gaza, he admitted. He had also just started a hunger strike, which lasted nearly a month, to call attention to the cause. After his guilty plea, a Superior Court justice released Aspenlieder on bail until the sentencing process starts in the fall. He must leave Ottawa and remain under supervision until then at his parents' home near Alliston, Ont. He is under what the Crown Attorney described as "extremely strict" bail conditions, including wearing a GPS-tracking ankle bracelet, staying off social media, and keeping away from Jewish or Israeli buildings. He is also banned from discussing the conflict in Gaza with anyone except mental health specialists. The prosecutor argues this was a hateful act, and the government intends to ask the judge for a prison term because of the fear he instilled in the Jewish community. But Aspenlieder's defence maintains their client was "driven by a profound sense of compassion and moral urgency—not by hatred or prejudice." On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner gets reaction from Ottawa's Jewish community, including Mina Cohn, the chair of Ottawa's Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship, and lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who is co-chair of the National Holocaust Monument Committee. Related links An Ottawa judge originally denied bail to the man who later pleaded guilty to defacing the National Holocaust monument. Why the Ottawa police hate crime team and the Ontario Crown prosecutor laid three charges, including criminal harassment, against the suspect Iain Aspenleider. Why Ottawa's Jewish community held an interfaith rally June 15 at the Holocaust monument site after the June 9 defacing. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

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. Related links Learn more about Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach and his Congregation House of Israel's Pre-Shabb'o'at on a Lake Near You program. Send a note to The CJN to register for the weekly Shabbat on the Lake/Shabbat Sur Le Lac which Howard Stotland runs in Ivry. Watch videos of Shabbat On the Lake and Pre Shabb'o'at on A Lake Near you on The CJN's YouTube Channel Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

From July 18-20, Torontonians everywhere in the city heard the thunderous roar of racing cars running circuits around the downtown Exhibition Place. The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto brought drivers and racing fans from around the world—including at least one (but maybe two) Jewish athletes. Robert Shwartzman, the Israeli rookie who stunned the world by taking pole position at the acclaimed Indy 500 in May, continued his fall back to Earth in Toronto, where he came in 16th place. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Nolan Siegel of Arrow McLaren is believed by most to be Jewish—including folks at the Jewish Federations of Toronto and Indianapolis, as well as Jewish racing fans—but we've yet to confirm this. He did, however, finish 18th. Interpret that how you will. The Menschwarmers' own Gabe Pulver went down to the event to learn what he could and witness the noise firsthand. He reports back to guest host Michael Fraiman, who later explains how Jewish NBA rookies Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf performed for the Brooklyn Nets during the 2025 Summer League. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, "Organ Grinder Swing") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here)

David Zvi Kalman, a research fellow at the Hartman Institute and Sinai and Synapses, is one of the foremost thinkers looking at the intersection of artificial intelligence and Jewish life. While many in the Jewish community worry about destruction of past traditions, Kalman looks to the future. He looks at what could be the next big transformation in Jewish thought—on the margins today, mainsteam tomorrow. Case in point: artificial intelligence. Kalman posits that AI, unlike previous technological advancements, has the unique ability to mimic human behaviour—a characteristic that could fundamentally alter our relationship with work, productivity and even religious practice. How are rabbis using AI today? Could the machines one day issue halachic rulings? Will it transform the role of rabbis? Kalman joins as guest host of Not in Heaven, The CJN's podcast about the future of Jewish communal life and spiritual practice. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

In her first media interview since stepping down early as Canada's Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons spoke to The CJN frankly about why she left. There were no medical or mental health issues that prompted her decision, she says. It was, in part, exhaustion after spending nearly two years “waking up every day to a fight”. It was hard to get people to speak up for the community. Some wouldn't even agree to speak with her personally. Over time, she grew “despondent and despairing” over how few Canadians have stood up against the anti-Jewish hatred that has flared up in this country since she took the job, soon after Oct. 7, 2023. Despite serving a term as Canada's ambassador to Israel from 2016 to 2020, her appointment raised eyebrows in some quarters—including in the Jewish community—because she herself is not Jewish. Nonetheless, she maintained to The CJN how important it was for her to accept the job to show what allyship can look like and to fight for a better Canada. Now, however, she is leaving the post highly critical of various Canadian sectors. Canadian business leaders, religious leaders and politicians have failed to support the Jewish community. Governments, she believes, found it easier to hold summits to fight carjackings and tariffs—yet could not cooperate when it came to combatting hate. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship news podcast North Star, Deborah Lyons sits down with host Ellin Bessner for an in-depth interview to explain her resignation and why Canadians need to stop being bystanders in what she calls a fight for the future of our country's children. Related links Read reaction from the Jewish community as Ambassador Deborah Lyons announces she is stepping down on July 17, in The CJN. Hear Deborah Lyons' first interview after being appointed Special Envoy to replace Irwin Cotler, in The CJN, and her later one after releasing the new IHRA handbook in the fall of 2024. Her last initiative before resigning was a study of antisemitism in Ontario public schools, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

There are two framed medical certificates missing from the wall of Dr. Michael Kalin's office in his medical clinic in Montreal. Kalin, who owns Santé Kildare, earned them years ago from the College of Family Physicians of Canada, which oversees 45,000 family doctors. But the College has ordered him to take them down, after Kalin publicly resigned his membership and withdrew his application to sit on their board, following the College's publication of a controversial article in their official magazine. Kalin—along with hundreds of his colleagues and Canadian Jewish medical associations—believes the article, titled “The Day the Pagers Exploded”, praises members of Hezbollah, a banned terrorist organization in Canada. The piece in question was written by a Lebanese doctor living in Beirut who has no apparent ties to Canada. She treated hundreds of wounded Hezbollah members in her local emergency ward in September 2024 on the night thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies suddenly exploded, as part of the stunning Israeli operation to take out terrorists who planned attacks on the Jewish State after Oct. 7. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Kalin explains to host Ellin Bessner what the reaction has been to his protest. Because they refused to retract the story or explain how it was published in a peer-reviewed journal that usually talks about care standards for Canadian patients, he speaks frankly in saying there is no longer a place for him in the Canadian organization of family physicians. Related links Read the Canadian Family Physician magazine article about the wounded Hezbollah patients and the complaints and the CFPC response. Find out more about Santé Kildare, Dr. Michael Kalin's family medicine clinic in Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec. Learn more about the exploding pagers operation in Lebanon, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

On July 18, Jewish communities will mark the 31st anniversary of the AMIA terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which Hezbollah, backed by Iran, murdered 85 people and wounded hundreds more at the city's Jewish Federation building. Until Oct. 7, 2023, the AMIA bombing had been the worst mass attack against Jews since the Holocaust. For Irwin Cotler—the acclaimed lawyer, former justice minister and chair of the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights—commemorating this anniversary brings a deeply unsettling sense of déjà vu. For two decades, he has been pushing the Canadian government to take stronger measures against the Islamist regime, resulting in an Iranian murder plot planned against him. Today, Cotler will be speaking on a national Federation panel entitled "The Islamic Republic's Long Shadow of Terror". On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Cotler in his home in Montreal to hear exactly how Canada's lax policies on Iran have come home to roost. Related links Watch the July 18 official ceremony and panel on the Islamic Republic's Long Shadow of Terror, live at 11 am EDT Friday, sponsored by Canada's Jewish Federations. Hear how Winnipeg's Argentinian Jewish community remembers the 1994 AMIA bombing by Iranian-backed terrorists. Read more about the search for justice in the 1994 AMIA terrorist bombing of Argentina's Jewish community, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

It's a brave new world out there for the Jews. Over the past two weeks, we've seen a series of stories published showing the ways new technologies are affecting Jewish life, from bot armies to A.I.-generated memes to racist Elmo to chatbots who think their surname is Hitler. But are any of these technologies creating new avenues for Jewish living (or Jew hatred)—or are they merely reflecting a culture that already existed? A.I. could represent our generation's moral panic, as the printing press, television and comic books did before... or it could be something genuinely new and different. And before that, our rabbi hosts tackle the great cholent debate: can you eat the customarily Shabbat food on a Thursday? In honour of the summer food edition of Scribe Quarterly, The CJN's free print magazine, Avi, Yedida and Matthew talk about the glow-up of Ashkenazi cooking within the foodie world and its move from borscht belt to bougie. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

Hey guys. Let's enter the multiverse! In this alternate dimension episode of CJN, Kylan is joined by longtime co-hosts Josh Balogh and AJ Simmons to discuss Jars Of Clay's first album. As you know in this universe we all LOVE bongos, but will our analysis of the album be Worlds Apart from our first time?If you like what you hear, please rate, review, subscribe, and follow!Connect with us here:Email: contact@churchjamsnow.comSite: https://www.churchjamsnow.com/IG: @churchjamsnowTwitter: @churchjamsnowFB: https://www.facebook.com/churchjamsnowpodcastPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/churchjamsnowpodcast

It has been three weeks since a ceasefire on June 24 paused the brief war between Israel and Iran. As a recap of what happened: the Israel Defense Forces launched surprise air strikes on Iran's nuclear bomb-making facilities and other targets. The Israeli government said Iran was weeks away from having working nuclear missiles, which officials say would pose an existential threat to the Jewish State. Teheran retaliated by firing 550 ballistic missiles at Israel and dropping more than 1,000 bombs via drone. Despite Israel intercepting most of those missiles and bombs, the Iranian strikes managed to kill 30 Israelis, while Israeli attacks resulted in an estimated 900 Iranian deaths. Thousands of civilians were wounded on both sides. U.S. President Donald Trump sent forces to bomb three of Iran's main nuclear facilities, ultimately pushing Iran and Israel to call off hostilities. When the IDF launched its surprise attack, many Canadian-Iranian dissidents initially expressed support for Israel. Some hoped the war would prompt a regime change and bring back democracy and freedom to their homeland. But Trump vetoed the removal of Iran's leaders, and now initial optimism in Canada has shifted to concern amidst reports of renewed crackdowns by the Islamic republic on its domestic opponents. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship news podcast, North Star, reporter Alex Rose sits down to speak with Kaveh Shahrooz, a Canadian lawyer and international human rights activist, on what the brief war achieved and what he fears comes next. Related links Read more about how Iranian Canadians are now concerned for their homeland, after initial hope during Israel's raids on the nuclear bomb building sites in June, in The CJN. How Canadian government agencies are preparing for Iranian domestic threats, in The CJN. Why Iran's terror regime is creating common bonds between Jewish and Iranian Canadians, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

When Sheila Nemtin Levine began painting, she didn't plan to fulfill the final commandment of the Torah: that every Jew should write their own Old Testament. But, since 2016, that's what ended up happening. She has painted 54 vibrant, mixed-media canvases—one for each chapter—each with a modern take on the ancient verses. They comprise her new art exhibit, Tablet Tableaux. Nemtin Levine calls it a journey of exploration, complete with inspirational messages and famous quotes. Audience members are encouraged to physically engage with the works by touching the grains of sand, family photos and architectural blueprints for the Israelites' portable desert tabernacle. Nemtin Levine's work, which has been displayed at several synagogues across Montreal, has recently been used at Jewish high schools for special b'nei mitzvah study modules. The project has also spawned a coffee table book, a free audio guide and a forthcoming documentary video series. On today's episode of North Star, Nemtin Levine shares her story with host Ellin Bessner, who visits the artist in Montreal to see the work in person. Related links Learn more about the Torah Tableaux at the artist Sheila Nemtin Levine's website. Watch the exhibit's launch in Montreal, on YouTube. Read and explore the free audio guide to the 54 chapters: https://tablettableaux.orpheo.app/#/ Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

While envoys from Israel and Hamas met this week in Qatar to negotiate the latest peace effort for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza, a new report warns that Canada should pay closer attention to the millions of dollars in funding that has found its way into our country from Qatar. The report was released by a New York–based organization, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), run by Charles Asher Small, a Canadian scholar. His outfit includes academics from around the world who combat antisemitism, and includes some high-profile Jewish leaders: Irwin Cotler, Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, Israeli politician and human rights advocate Nathan Sharansky, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. The new report suggests growing anti-Israel sentiment in Canada, particularly at universities, can be traced to funds coming in from several Qatari charities that also support the global Muslim Brotherhood movement and Hamas. The report also suggests the money supporting protests on campuses such as McGill, Concordia, U of T and York, has links to Iran, Russia and China. Previous ISGAP reports have revealed how billions of dollars in Qatari money bought influence on elite U.S. college campuses. In this latest report, released June 26, ISGAP calls for Canada to ban the Muslim Brotherhood—which has already been banned most recently by Jordan, but also the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt and Austria, and is now under the microscope in France. The authors also name names of some Canadian Muslim politicians and bureaucrats who, it is claimed, exert influence and have ties or even worked for charities that have been linked to the terrorist groups overseas. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship news podcast, North Star, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Charles Asher Small about how Canada's traditional “niceness” has allowed the situation to became a national security threat. Related links Read the June 25 ISGAP report on how Canada has been infiltrated by financing from Qatar, linked to supporters of the banned terrorist group Hamas, and also to the extremist Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement. Learn why the Premier of Quebec wanted to ban Muslim public prayers in protests that block traffic, in The CJN. Why this former Muslim Brotherhood member is now warning of the group's threat to Jews, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Jewish congregations and institutions—particularly non-Orthodox ones—often focus on how they can be more appealing and accessible to the growing number of Jews who feel like religion isn't for them. This has resulted in "big tent Judaism", which may have swung the door open for the masses—but has it also diluted Jewish spaces and expertise? Recently, Rabbi Ari Witkin, ordained in the Reconstructionist movement, wrote an article that cautions against over-universalizing Jewish life and messaging. "We've become more inclusive, more welcoming, more responsive to the diversity within our communities. It's allowed countless people who once felt pushed out of Jewish life to find a place and build authentic relationships with our practice and tradition. But somewhere along the way, 'meeting people where they are' became the goal instead of the starting point.... And so I think we have to ask: Are we actually helping people grow? Or are we just trying not to lose them?" And so, on this week's episode of Not in Heaven, our rabbi panel digs into whether the future of Judaism lies in smaller tents, rather than bigger ones—digging into niches, embracing stricter communal authority, and not trying to water-down the public sphere. After that, the gang discusses Avi Finegold's latest article in the recently released summer edition of Scribe Quarterly. Are horoscopes kosher? While the popularity of star signs and astrology—among Jews and non-Jews alike—may seem distinctly "new age", Avi offers a variety a sources that show they are anything but. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

The North Star team is taking the day off and will return soon. Please enjoy this recent episode of another podcast from The CJN, Not in Heaven, all about the future of communal Judaism. Over the last century, North American Jews have poured untold millions of dollars into an alphabet soup of legacy institutions: UJA, CIJA, ADL, JNF, et al. And yet, after 19 months of rising antisemitism—while Canadian and American Jewish communities feel like they're free-falling through a crisis—many have been asking, “What have we been giving all this money for? Where are the results?” To wit, two recent pieces published in the New York Post ask these exact questions. Rachel Sapoznik, an entrepreneur, wrote an opinion piece headlined “Why I'm ending my donations to US Jewish groups and seeking new leadership to protect US Jews,” in which she calls for American Jews to support (mostly Republican) pro-Israel politicians instead of the Anti-Defamation League. Kathryn Wolf, a journalist, wrote a similar piece in the same publication that juxtaposes major organizations' glitzy galas and celebrity endorsements against a growing wave of grassroots Jewish activism. In Canada, against the backdrop of louder upstart Jewish advocacy groups, the Centre for Israel Jewish Affairs parted ways with former CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel, a diplomatic leader who held the post for nearly 40 years, and replaced him with Noah Shack, who accepted the permanent position on June 27. “We have to be nimble,” Shack told The CJN. “We have to try new things and do whatever we can to win.” But to what extent should the Jewish community pivot away from these legacy organizations, who've spent years building goodwill with all levels of government and non-Jewish organizations? Is any support the Jewish community now finds not due to years of quiet, behind-the-scenes bridge-building? Not in Heaven host Avi Finegold has long been critical of Jewish communal organizations—though he might also find himself disagreeing with the most vocal activists vying to replace them. In this week's episode, we unpack the pros and cons of how far these institutions have taken us, and what comes next. Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

On the first night of the NBA draft on June 25, the most surprising team was undoubtedly the Brooklyn Nets. They had five first-round picks—and, for the first time in NBA history, kept all of them. They picked Egor Demin earlier than anyone would have predicted. And they used two of their picks—back-to-back at numbers 26 and 27—on this year's only Jewish prospects, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf. Saraf, an Israeli guard, is a skilled passer and playmaker who just took his German team to the finals of Germany's national league; Wolf, an American who has played for Israel's national team, brings a seven-foot frame, excellent court vision and smart footwork. Both will vie for permanent roster spots in Brooklyn's young core, making their Summer League debuts this week. To learn more about who these players are and how they fit into Brooklyn's future plans, the Menschwarmers invited on Nick Agar-Johnson, the editor-in-chief of No Ceilings, a website, Substack and podcast that specialize in year-round NBA draft coverage. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, "Organ Grinder Swing") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here)

Although Montrealer Philip Khazzam has never set foot inside his family's nearly-century old mansion in the Iraqi capitol of Baghdad, he has heard many stories about the lush gardens, fountains, bedrooms to sleep 12, and pool. The residence, built in 1935, was home to his grandparents' and also to his great-uncle's families-brothers Ezra and Khedouri Lawee–wealthy Jewish automobile dealers who were pillars of Iraq's business community. They lived there for over a decade, until growing support for Nazism in Iraq during the Second World War and widespread resentment of Israel in the years afterword made life dangerous for the historic Jewish community. Some 130-thousand Iraqi Jews were forced to give up their citizenship and leave behind all their property, in exchange for a permit to flee the country in 1951-52. The ancestral home, still in the family's name, was eventually rented out to the French government as an embassy, but 35 years ago, in 1968, a coup eventually brought dictator Saddam Hussein to power. His regime froze the family's ownership and ordered France to pay the rent directly to Iraq instead. Philip Khazzam has spent years pursuing Iraq for the legal rights to his family's stolen house. He is also suing the French government for $30 million in back rent. On today's episode of North Star, The CJN's flagship news podcast, host Ellin Bessner catches up with Phillip Khazzam to learn why he is continuing this multi-generational fight for his family's lost patrimony. Related links Philip Khazzam's uncle Mayer Lawee shows photos and recounts his time living in the family's now disputed Baghdad mansion, in this interview with Sephardi Voices. Learn more about the 1941 Iraqi pogrom against its Jewish community, in The CJN. Why another Montreal whose family was forced to flee Egypt, tried for years, unsuccessfully, to sue Coca-Cola for stealing their ancestral property in Cairo, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Rabbi Marat Ressin was concerned when he heard the preliminary Canadian results for the World Zionist Congress elections. The prominent member of Canada's Russian-speaking Jewish community ran as a candidate for the international organization, dubbed the “Parliament of the Jewish people”, under the United for Israel slate. While the final Canadian numbers aren't yet public, voter turnout was much lower than Canadian Zionist Federation (CZF) organizers had hoped—approximately 18,000 voters in a country of 400,000 Jews. When he heard that, Rabbi Ressin—who has a PhD in economics—immediately questioned whether it was worthwhile to spend $1 million on marketing, staffing and operating the software for the online voting campaign. For Rabbi Ressin, it hits especially hard, as he believes many Russian-speaking Canadian Jews weren't able to vote. Voting was online-only, posing a challenge to seniors; payment was tightly restricted; and, critically, the CZF election website was only in English and French. Despite it all, Rabbi Ressin understands that establishing a democratic process had one positive result—it strengthened the community and its ties to Israel. He joins Ellin Bessner on The CJN's flagship news podcast, North Star, to explain why Canada's Russian-speaking Jewish community may appeal the results, regardless of the organization's internal findings. Related links Investigation into irregularities and ‘red flags' delaying release of final Canadian results in World Zionist Congress election, in The CJN. Hear what's at stake in the World Zionist Congress elections for Canadian voters, on The CJN North Star. Read more about the election on The Canadian Zionist Federation website. Why The CJN's Treasure Trove columnist David Matlow urged Canadian Jews to vote in the WZC election. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Over the last century, North American Jews have poured untold millions of dollars into an alphabet soup of legacy institutions: UJA, CIJA, ADL, JNF, et al. And yet, after 19 months of rising antisemitism—while Canadian and American Jewish communities feel like they're free-falling through a crisis—many have been asking, "What have we been giving all this money for? Where are the results?" To wit, two recent pieces published in the New York Post ask these exact questions. Rachel Sapoznik, an entrepreneur, wrote an opinion piece headlined "Why I'm ending my donations to US Jewish groups and seeking new leadership to protect US Jews," in which she calls for American Jews to support (mostly Republican) pro-Israel politicians instead of the Anti-Defamation League. Kathryn Wolf, a journalist, wrote a similar piece in the same publication that justaposes major organizations' glitzy galas and celebrity endorsements against a growing wave of grassroots Jewish activism. In Canada, against the backdrop of louder upstart Jewish advocacy groups, the Centre for Israel Jewish Affairs parted ways with former CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel, a diplomatic leader who held the post for nearly 40 years, and replaced him with Noah Shack, who accepted the permanent position on June 27. "We have to be nimble,” Shack told The CJN. “We have to try new things and do whatever we can to win." But to what extent should the Jewish community pivot away from these legacy organizations, who've spent years building goodwill with all levels of government and non-Jewish organizations? Is any support the Jewish community now finds not due to years of quiet, behind-the-scenes bridge-building? Not in Heaven host Avi Finegold has long been critical of Jewish communal organizations—though he might also find himself disagreeing with the most vocal activists vying to replace them. In this week's episode, we unpack the pros and cons of how far these institutions have taken us, and what comes next. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

Le Château was a fashion fixture across shopping malls in Canada during its heyday in the 1970s and '80s. Founder Herschel Segal, a Montrealer who recently died, is credited with bringing bell-bottom jeans to the masses—and later helping to launch the David's Tea brand. Segal is one of the five prominent Canadian Jewish leaders we've lost since this spring, and whose larger-than-life achievements left a clear mark on the community. Today, we honour those men and women with another episode of our recurring podcast series, Honourable Menschen. Also in today's show: Larry Robbins, 94, known affectionately as “Zaidy Larry”, was one of the original founders of Toronto real estate development giant Great Gulf Homes. In his later years, he pivoted from putting up private homes to helping young people develop stronger ties with their Jewish identity. Elly Bollegraaf, of Ottawa, started life as a hidden child in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, before becoming a scientist and well-known Holocaust educator in Canada. David Attis rose to fame when he took on a notorious Holocaust denier who was a teacher in the school system of Moncton, New Brunswick. And Rabbi Mordechai Feuerstein, 78, spent many years as the spiritual leader of Vancouver's Orthodox Congregation Schara Tzedeck synagogue, maintaining close ties with the Reform Jews who once shared the building. On today's episode of Honourable Menschen on North Star (formerly The CJN Daily), host Ellin Bessner is joined by The CJN's obituary columnist, Heather Ringel, to share their personal encounters with these prominent community members. Related links Read about the life of philanthropist Larry Robbins in The CJN. How Elly Bollegraaf went from hidden Dutch child to Canadian scientist, in The CJN. Rabbi Mordechai Feuerstein of Vancouver built ties between his Orthodox Schara Tzedeck synagogue and local Reform Rabbi Philip Bregman, in The CJN. Why Moncton-native David Attis fought against an infamous Holocaust denier teacher, in The CJN. Herschel Segal came from Montreal garment industry royalty to found Le Chateau stores, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

Michael Levenston has long known about his father's heroism in the Second World War. But he didn't know his father dated a Dutch woman there, a nurse, who helped rescue downed Allied pilots—and he had no idea his father had gifted the Resistance member several personal keepsakes, including a battered Canadian flag, his army beret and a radio. The woman kept those artifacts until her death in 2014. Having recently discovered his father's wartime romantic past when he sorted through old wartime photos and letters, he felt suddenly compelled to repatriate the flag, especially after hearing U.S. President Donald Trump taunt Canada as “the 51st state” and Prime Minister Mark Carney retaliate with the country's “Elbows up” campaign. Levenston, from his home in Vancouver, contacted the woman's family, and asked them to try to find the flag. The flag arrived recently back in Canada, in relatively good condition, despite some insect holes and dirt stains, and now Levenston plans to fly it proudly to celebrate Canada Day 2025. On this special Canada Day episode of The CJN's _North Star _podcast, host Ellin Bessner sits down to hear the full flag story with Michael Levenston—and also calls across the pond to speak with the Dutch ex-girlfriend's son, Rein Putman Cramer, who lives in Naarden, the Netherlands. Related links Read more about the late Gerald Levenston's role in accepting the German surrender in May 1945. Watch a video of the late Gerald Levenston describe why he got Canadian troops to rescue hundreds of priceless Van Gogh and Picasso paintings after the Canadian Army liberated the Netherlands from the Germans in 1945. Buy the book about Gerald Levenston's wartime romance with Ada Hugenholtz, a Dutch nurse in the Resistance. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) 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)

In March 2025, Josh Goldenberg had all but given up his dreams of playing professional golf. Using his finance degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he took a job at Goldman Sachs. But when he saw an opening to play in a qualifying tournament for the RBC Canadian Open, he signed up and flew up north on a Sunday—so he wouldn't have to take work off—and ended up earning a spot on his first PGA Tour. Goldenberg shares his remarkable story on this week's Menschwarmers, along with his thoughts on being a proudly Jewish player and how he carries that through his life. Also in this episode: Gabe recounts how Robert Shwartzman fell as quickly as he rose in his recent F1 race, and the hosts pay homage to Zach Hyman, who won't play in the Stanley Cup Finals due to injuries—despite the Edmonton Oilers remaining both the most Canadian and most Jewish team to root for this year. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, "Organ Grinder Swing") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here)