Podcasts about cjn

The 2026 Winter Olympics ended on a very Jewish note with an overtime goal scored by NHL star Jack Hughes. Brother Quinn Hughes, also a member of the gold-medal winning American team, has a legitimate chance to lead his team, the Minnesota Wild, to a Stanley Cup this year. With the Winter Olympics behind us, there's so much more to catch up on in the world of Jews and sports. The World Baseball Classic kicked off last weekend, and Team Israel secured its spot in the next tournament — which will happen in a few years — with a 5-0 win over Nicaragua. The bats are solid, but pitching depth remains a challenge in a pool led by powerhouse Dominican Republic, as well as Venezuela. Team Israel was eliminated from the 2026 tournament, with a record of 2-2 and finished a respectable third place in Pool D. Daniel Berger narrowly lost the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour, and in the NBA, Deni Avdija returned from an injury. The Menschwarmers are back together after Jamie's appearance on Jeopardy — where he won three games and gave the podcast a national shout-out. 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 )

[NOTE: Due to a technical glitch some listeners may have received an incorrect audio file last night. The problem is now corrected. Thank you for your patience and understanding] Gunfire struck three Toronto-area synagogues in less than a week, prompting police to promise a “relentless” investigation into what leaders say are antisemitic attacks. In this episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner reports from outside Beth Avraham Yoseph synagogue in Thornhill and also listened in outside the Shaarei Shomayim congregation in North York Sunday as police, politicians and Jewish leaders gathered for a show of solidarity. Bullet holes were discovered this weekend at Beth Avraham Yoseph congregation in Thornhill and Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in North York. Temple Emanu-El had been targeted earlier in the week. A Jewish-owned restaurant and a Jewish school were also struck the same day. The attacks have stunned Toronto's Jewish community and sparked calls for stronger action from governments and police before someone is seriously hurt or killed. Keywords: Toronto synagogues, antisemitic attacks, Jewish community Canada, North Star podcast. Related stories: Read The CJN's comprehensive coverage of the week of gunfire against Toronto-area Jewish businesses and synagogues: beginning with Temple Emanu-El and a restaurant and education academy shot at on March 2 , Then the BAYT and Shaarei Shomayim shot at separately on the night of March 7 . Read what the politicians and the police promised, on March 8, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Tina Ahava Azarin constantly checks the news about the war between Iran and Israel. But for the Ottawa resident, it's not just distant headlines. An Iranian-Jewish entrepreneur, Azarin was born in Isfahan and raised in Tehran before leaving Iran for Canada in 2001 with her husband and their newborn daughter. Today, that daughter is studying in Israel — making the conflict between the two countries Azarin loves deeply personal. The latest escalation between Iran and Israel followed an Israeli air strike last weekend that killed Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an attack reportedly carried out with support from the United States. The strike and Iran's retaliation have raised fears of a broader regional conflict, leaving many people in the Iranian and Jewish diasporas watching events unfold with deep personal concern. Growing up in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution meant living under strict social controls. While Azarin was at university, she was detained by the regime's morality police. Some neighbours and relatives were killed. Now living freely in Canada for more than two decades, where she and her family are active members of Ottawa's Jewish community, Azarin says she felt “overwhelmed with joy” after learning of Khamenei's death. Despite everything, Azarin still dreams of one day bringing her children back to visit Iran to see the roots of one of the world's oldest Jewish communities. Jewish life in Persia dates back roughly 2,700 years, although today fewer than 10,000 Jews remain in Iran. On this episode of The CJN's flagship North Star podcast, Azarin speaks with host Ellin Bessner about living between three loves — Iran, Israel and Canada — and how cooking Persian Jewish dishes helps her cope as she watches the conflict unfold. Related stories Read an essay which our guest, Tina-Ahava Azarin, wrote for the Ottawa Jew Ottawa Jewish Bulletin ish Bulletin in January 2026 while she was watching the tensions build in Israel and Iran. Meet Iranian Jewish Canadian lawyer and politician Dyanoosh Youssefi, who fled Iran as a schoolgirl with just the clothes on her back, in 1982, after the Islamic Revolution,  on The CJN's North Star podcast from 2022. Why Jewish Canadians have been receiving support at their pro-Israel rallies from the Iranian Canadian community, in The CJN from 2024 . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

The story of Purim is well known: in ancient Persia, a wicked royal vizier plots to wipe out the Jewish people — but he didn't count on Queen Esther, a courageous Jewish woman who revealed the plot to the king. The tables were turned for the Jews as the powerful are victimized by their intended victims; those who were once low are brought high, those who were once high are brought low. When Israel and the U.S. launched a joint military campaign on Iran on Shabbat Zachor, just days before the festival of Purim, it was almost inevitable that politicians, rabbis, and Jews around the world would see themselves in the Book of Esther. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the connection explicit in his first statement announcing the strikes: “Twenty-five hundred years ago, in ancient Persia, a tyrant rose against us with the very same goal, to utterly destroy our people,” Netanyahu said. “Today as well, on Purim, the lot has fallen, and in the end this evil regime will fall too.” Each week, rabbis stand before their congregations and find connections and explanations about how the Torah portion speaks to their modern lives. They try to give structure and meaning to a world that often feels chaotic. On this week's episode of Not in Heaven, our rabbi podcasters ask: what do we risk when we draw these connections too tightly? Avi Finegold and Matthew Leibl discuss what may be lost in understanding the modern day when we look through the lens of Purim and what is lost in understanding Purim when we look through the lens of the modern day. 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 )

For decades, Iran's regime has targeted Canada's Irwin Cotler — publicly denouncing him, threatening him, and, according to Canadian authorities, plotting to assassinate him for the last two years. Now, after the military campaign launched by Israel and the U.S. this past weekend that took out Iran's Supreme Leader, and many of his top regime officials, Cotler isn't thinking about letting down his guard. Instead, he's speaking out about what must happen next, even with the war is still going on. In today's episode of The CJN's flagship North Star podcast, Canada's former justice minister and retired Special Envoy on Combatting Antisemitism argues that this moment is not only about celebration — but should be about accountability, too, including for the estimated 35,000 Iranians executed by the regime in January's popular protests. And Cotler explains to host Ellin Bessner why what he calls a 26-year “culture of impunity” which persisted for so long, may finally be coming to an end. Related stories: In 2024, Irwin Cotler was warned of an imminent threat on his life at the hands of Iranian agents, and received 24-hr protection, on The CJN North Star . How Canada's lax immigration policies allowed Iranian regime members to come quietly to live in Canada, Irwin Cotler charged, on The CJN North Star podcast from June 2025. Read Irwin Cotler's letter to The CJN after Ottawa scrapped the position of Canada's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, from Feb. 2026, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Last week, millions of people watched one of our own stand behind a podium on Jeopardy! — and win. Toronto lawyer James Hirsh, co-host of The CJN's long-running Menschwarmers podcast, became the latest Canadian contestant to compete and succeed on the iconic American game show. Hirsh says it was “the thrill of a lifetime” to be selected, to fly down to the Alex Trebek studio at Sony Pictures in Culver City, near Hollywood, where he taped several episodes of Jeopardy! It all happened about three weeks ago, but he's had to keep quiet about how he fared. Until now, as the episodes started airing this week on millions of television screens across North America. Hirsh had decades of practice to prepare for his small-screen debut: as a teenager, he was reigning champion at his summer camp's version of the game show, over four seasons. The prize money back then was enough to buy some beers. This time, his actual Jeopardy! winnings will help the father-of-three pay off his family's mortgage. He also won a custom Jeopardy! hat and a tote bag, but he says the best prize is a coveted tagline to his bio: he can now say “I was on Jeopardy!” On today's rebroadcast of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner chats with James Hirsh about what it was like under the bright lights, what questions stumped him and how he regrets wearing the wrong shoes. 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 )

As rockets continue to fly across Israel and the surrounding region, the confirmed death of Iran's Supreme Leader marked a major turning point — but not necessarily the end of the fighting, nor the Iranian regime. Israel's air defences continue to intercept most, but not all of the incoming Iranian drones and missiles–however, the death toll in Israel is climbing. And Israelis, and Canadians living or visiting that country, are moving in and out of shelters as alerts have been sounding since the attacks launched Saturday Feb. 28. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship "North Star" podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Montreal lawyer and parent Neil Oberman–currently visiting his son in Israel–as the family's rides out the hostilities. During our conversation, rocket sirens sounded and he took us along (virtually) to the bomb shelter to finish the interview. We then speak with Middle East expert Professor Thomas Juneau, of the University of Ottawa, about what this moment means strategically — what it does not mean — and what is likely to happen in the next 24-48 hours. Related stories: Learn more about Neil Oberman , who was a Conservative candidate in the last election, his legal warfare in support of Montreal's Jewish university students and safety zones around places of worship, in The CJN . Read how Canadians in Israel from North to South are riding out this latest war, in The CJN. Toronto's Jewish and Iranian community held separate and also joint celebrations on Sunday: for Purim, and the death of the Ayatollah, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

A handwritten letter by a Jewish luminary of the 18th century, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as the Ramchal, hit the auction block earlier this year. The event grabbed headlines both because of the nearly $400,000 US sale price, but also because, until recently, many believed that the letter was safely among the hundreds of other handwritten pages that make up the Ramchal collection at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). JTS had quietly sold off a number of valuable books and manuscripts from their collection in private sales a decade ago. Over the years, scholars have decried the transfer of these texts to private collections, as they see treasures of the Jewish past finding their way under the auctioneer's gavel. On today's episode of Not in Heaven, Rabba Dr. Yedida Eisenstat helps make sense of the recent sales, and ther co-Rabbi podcasters discuss how libraries balance evolving financial constraints with being guardians of a common heritage. Then, with the holiday of Purim on the horizon, the rabbis look at Jewish material culture: the newest Rabbi runway, the hottest lookbook of Kosher couture, the Instagram account known as @rabbinicfitcheck. How do you dress for a bris, funeral, and a wedding all in one day? Rabbis from around the world are posting their outfits. We discuss. 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 )

Earlier this week, millions of people watched one of our own stand behind a podium on "Jeopardy!" — and win. Toronto lawyer James Hirsh, co-host of The CJN's long-running "Menschwarmers" podcast, became the latest Canadian contestant to compete and succeed on the iconic American game show. He's got three wins now and will keep going next week. Hirsh says it was "the thrill of a lifetime" to be selected, to fly down to the Alex Trebek studio at Sony Pictures in Culver City, near Hollywood, where he taped several episodes of Jeopardy. It all happened about three weeks ago, but he's had to keep quiet about how he fared. Until now, as the episodes began to air this week on millions of television screens across North America. Hirsh had decades to prepare for his small-screen debut: as a teenager, he was reigning champion at his summer camp's version of the game show, over four seasons. The prize money back then was enough to buy some beers. This time, his actual Jeopardy! winnings will help the father-of-three pay off his family's mortgage. He also won a custom Jeopardy! hat and a tote bag, but he says the best prize is a coveted tagline to his bio: he can now say "I was on Jeopardy!" On today's episode of The CJN's "North Star" podcast, host Ellin Bessner chats with James Hirsh about what it was like under the bright lights, what questions stumped him and–how he regrets wearing the wrong shoes. Related links: Follow James Hirsh on The CJN's “Menschwarmers” podcast and subscribe, for free. Missed watching his Jeopardy shows live? Catch all the episodes beginning Feb. 24, 2026 where James Hirsh was a contestant. The show streams on Crave TV in Canada. Tune in Friday in Canada on YES TV to find out how he does on Day 4. Read this Jeopardy fan page for a play-by-play of how James'  Feb. 24 game played out. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Israel's Supreme Court ordered the government on Feb. 19 to complete long-delayed renovations to Robinson's Arch, the official egalitarian prayer section just south of the main Western Wall. For years, it's where non-Orthodox Jews, including women, can pray together, and also read from a Torah scroll. But what began as a ruling about construction permits has quickly become something bigger. Members of Israel's governing coalition are advancing legislation this week that would effectively bring the broader Kotel site, including Robinson's Arch, under the authority of the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. The law could mean prison terms of up to seven years for anyone deemed to be desecrating the holy site — and observers fear the new proposal could ban any alternative forms of Jewish prayer around Judaism's holiest place. This raises a deeper question: where does that leave millions of Jews, especially outside of Israel, who are not Orthodox? On today's episode of The CJN's “North Star” podcast, Toronto Rabbi Elyse Goldstein joins host Ellin Bessner to explore what's at stake. The Rabbi is a longtime advocate for pluralistic prayer, for women's place in Judaism, and a supporter of the Women of the Wall movement's decades-long struggle for equality at the Kotel. Related stories: Read about the Israel Supreme court decision on Robinson's Arch Feb. 19, 2026, and reaction, in The CJN Learn more about what Rabbi Elyse Goldstein experienced joining the Women of the Wall's 25th anniversary prayer service in 2013, in The CJN . Hear what it was like in July 2023 at a Women of the Wall prayer service in this eye-witness account by The CJN's producer Zachary Judah Kauffman , who was studying in Israel and produced this podcast for The CJN's North Star Podcast. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

What is a very special announcement from Jamie? 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 )

For many Canadian Jews who grew up feeling secure here, the idea of needing a ‘Plan B' might have never occurred to them. Unthinkable, even. It was something their grandparents faced before the Holocaust. But in recent months, that conversation is now happening in many Jewish spaces across this country — even among people who have no immediate plans to leave. Some families are actively scouting Florida, despite the political and immigration challenges which the U.S.A. poses. Others are traveling to Panama, to explore buying property there just in case-where permanent residency is attainable. Real estate agents and immigration lawyers in Israel and beyond are fielding new calls. And communities in the U.S. and Israel are marketing directly to Canadians: you will have heard about Lech L'Tulsa, Oklahoma. But is this a real demographic shift — or is it something deeper: a rupture in confidence about the future of Jewish life in Canada in response to rising antisemitism and uncertainty? Today on The CJN's flagship podcast North Star, host Ellin Bessner examines why some Canadian Jews are looking for Plan B: we speak with Aryeh Snitman and his wife Heather Snitman of Thornhill who're exploring both Florida and Panama; with Jaqueline Lewis, of Toronto, who bought a place in Panama just a few months ago; and with Lauren Cohen, a Canadian-born lawyer based in Boca Raton, Florida who provides immigration business and real estate guidance to clients considering moving to “Mechaya Florida”. Related links: Learn more about Tafsik's Plan B resources, their next trip to Panama in March , and watch their Zoom video about moving to Panama. Read more about Lauren Cohen's immigration and real estate services designed for Canadians interested in relocating to Florida, or elsewhere in the United States. Why these Canadian Jews moved to Israel months after Oct. 7, 2023, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler, The CJN's Editorial Director Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter https://thecjn.ca/newsletters/ Subscribe to North Star https://thecjn.ca/north https://www.youtube.com/user/CanadianJewishNews https://www.youtube.com/user/CanadianJewishNews Donate to The CJN + get a charitable receipt Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

What is behind the push to have Ontario school boards adopt policies to combat anti-Palestinian racism? And why has it prompted an outcry of concern from many families of Jewish students, from Jewish school staff and from some Jewish human rights groups?  The Ontario government recently put more than half a dozen school boards, including in Toronto and Ottawa, under the supervision by the ministry of education. This has effectively halted official school board discussions on the issue there – for now, but the debate over anti-Palestinian racism policies, or APR for short, isn't over: it's just moved out of the spotlight. For weeks, our Mitchell Consky, The Canadian Jewish News's Local Journalism Initiative reporter, has been digging into why the campaign for school boards to adopt APR policies has become such a flashpoint, what's at stake for Jewish and Israeli families, and also for Palestinian ones, and their allies.  His story was published last week. His investigation also uncovered evidence that the Canadian government has been funding APR advocates who strongly oppose Canada's widely-accepted definition of antisemitism known as the IHRA Definition, even as the APR groups accuse this framework of causing anti-Palestinian racism.  On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Consky joins host Ellin Bessner to tell us more about his reporting, what APR is, and how the clash is playing out on the ground and in the schools. Related stories: Read Mitch Consky's investigative story about the controversy over the campaign to have school boards in Ontario adopt anti-Palestinian racism policies, in The CJN . Hear Mitch Consky evaluate why some Jewish teachers and even a Jewish school board trustee were accused of anti-Palestinian racism, on The CJN's North Star podcast from June 2025. Learn more about why this Jewish advocacy group for parents warned that identity politics are feeling antisemitism in Ontario schools, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Taglit-Birthright Israel was founded just over 25 years ago, with the aim of strengthening Jewish identity among young adults through a 10-day, free of charge trip to Israel. The program has brought over 900,000 young adults from 70 countries to Israel. The ambitious program began as a grand solution to solve a crisis of Jewish continuity and unity as the world entered the new millennium, spearheaded by Canadian Jewish philanthropist Charles Bronfman and American Michael Steinhardt, but required the mustering of global Jewish communal resources. Last week, Bronfman, along with Jeffrey R. Solomon, the past CEO of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, wrote an op-ed for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, titled "We backed Birthright. Now it's time for more big ideas for a post-Oct. 7 world” where they called for the next big idea to address the next big Jewish challenges. On today's episode of Not in Heaven, our rabbi podcasters, offer their perspectives of the Birthright Israel program and suggest what should come 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 )

Just over four months from now, thousands of campers and staff will be heading out to Jewish summer camps from coast to coast. But the lead-up to the annual countdown for camp has being threatened by a new boycott campaign from a coalition of pro-Palestine groups who hope to cripple 17 high profile camps over their support for Israel and hiring of Israeli staff. The campaign was launched Feb. 4. They released a report online urging official camping associations in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes to de-certify the accreditation of these Jewish camps. They also asked the federal tax department to strip the camps of their charitable status because the programming supports “a genocidal state”. The campaign came to light ahead of the Family-Day long weekend weekend, on Friday Feb. 13, afer the Ontario Camps Association released a blistering statement condemning the targeting of Jewish campers and staffers. The board also denounced the singling out for discrimination of its own executive director, Joy Levy. Levy was accused of being a “Zionist who publicly supports Israel, its military, and promotes anti-Palestinian racism,” among other things.  While public reaction has been swift from some Jewish advocates and some allies, none of the individual Jewish summer camp directors we contacted responded to our request for interviews, except for Camp Northland, who declined to comment. It appears the camps have decided to not amplify the boycott's impact. But on today's episode of The CJN's flagship podcast “North Star”, host Ellin Bessner gets reaction from Risa Epstein, the CEO of Young Judaea Canada, an umbrella group for nine Zionist camps operating in Canada, and also from Simon Wolle, the CEO of B'nai Brith Canada, who previously was director of Camp Northland. You'll also hear what Joy Levy had to say. Related links: Read Ellin Bessner's in-depth print article about the boycott campaign and how it has impacted Yonge Judaea's nine camps, and also Joy Levy, the executive director at Ontario Camps Association, who was personally targeted, in The CJN. Read about Israeli kids finding respite from war at Canadian summer camps, in The CJN. How Canada's Jewish summer camps provided a safe space to discuss the geopolitical issues in the Middle East, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for "North Star" on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!) https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN

Alfred Nakache is a famous athletic icon within France—but outside the country, his story is not well known. Born in 1915 to a Jewish family that fled Iraq for Algeria, Nakache rose to become one of France's top swimmers, breaking records and competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany—he even finished fourth, beating the German team. By 1944, however, Nakache, his wife and their young daughter were taken and thrown in the Auschwitz concentration camp. His wife and daughter were killed there—but he survived. Emaciated and traumatized, Nakache returned to France after the war and did something few thought possible: he resumed training, reclaimed national titles, and competed in the 1948 London Olympics. Now, decades after he passed away, his story has become the subject of an emotional new film, Butterfly, which has been nominated for the Academy Award for best animated short. The 15-minute movie, tenderly painted frame-by-frame by director Florence Miailhe, follows the ebbs and flows of Nakache's life, from his childhood fear of water to the loss of his family and his remarkable Olympic comeback. Producer Ron Dyens, who previously won the Oscar for animated feature for Flow, joins the Menschwarmers to explain more. 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 2024, the image of Jake Retzlaff—the only Jewish quarterback ever to play for Brigham Young University's football team—adorned special editions of Manischewitz matzah boxes. That brand deal, to showcase a promising Jewish pro-football prospect, was the inspiration for a company co-founded by former Montrealer Jeremy Moses. His sports-marketing company is called Tribe NIL. (NIL stands for Name, Image and Likeness, a new monetization route for college athletes to make money off their work.) The company aims to boost the careers of hundreds of talented Jewish college athletes, including more than a half-dozen Canadians playing for U.S. college football, baseball, hockey, basketball and swim teams, among others. Moses was raised in Montreal. He's the middle son of retired Montreal Rabbi Lionel Moses and Yiddish scholar and editor Joyce Rappaport. His brother, Zev Moses, is the founder and executive director of the Museum of Jewish Montreal. Jeremy Moses moved to Brooklyn where he's worked in the sports and entertainment field. He and business partner, the comedian Eitan Levine, founded Tribe NIL last spring. This year, they're doubling down on the Manischewitz campaign, looking for one male and one female Jewish athlete to reward with $10,000 in prize money each, a “L'Cheisman Trophy” and international fame as this year's faces of Manischewitz matzah. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship podcast North Star, Jeremy Moses joins host Ellin Bessner to share more about his campaign—plus they get into the myriad Jewish sporting news of the week, including Jewish Olympians and Robert Kraft's controversial Super Bowl antisemitism ad. Related links Learn more about co-founder Jeremy Moses's company, Tribe NIL and see some of the 250 Jewish NCAA college athletes they represent (including some Canadians). Follow Manischewitz's contest with TribeNIL for Jewish male and female college athlete of the year, with winners to be announced in March. Listen to The CJN's Not in Heaven podcast discuss whether parents want their kids to be professional athletes. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube.

This cold week in February has been dominated by two major sporting events: the 2026 Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. Jews played roles in both; the Olympics regularly see a handful of Jewish athletes competing on the world stage, including nine Israeli delegates and a smattering of Americans in mainstream sports like curling and hockey. While no Jewish football players played in the Super Bowl, Robert Kraft's anti-antisemitism organization did run a pricey anti-hate commercial. With sports on the brain, our three rabbi podcasters wanted to look at their own community values. There's no doubt that Jews can excel in sports—so why isn't it more common? Jewish parents often put their kids in active extracurriculars—but when it comes to post-secondary education, academics trump athletics. Case in point: note how many pro sports teams are owned by Jews, versus how many have Jewish players on their rosters. Rabbis Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat and Matthew Leibl dig into all this and more on this week's episode of Not in Heaven. 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 )

France's administrative court has thrown out a lawsuit launched by Montreal's Lawee family, who allege the French embassy in Baghdad has been occupying their family's ancestral home, rent-free, for more than fifty years. The Paris-based body ruled against the Jewish family on Feb. 2. in a printed decision, after an in-person hearing last month, The court said it's denying the Canadian family's case because France has immunity for acts done on foreign soil–and because the old lease was signed in the 1960s in the city of Baghdad, so local Iraqi laws apply. The case has garnered international headlines because it involves a much wider story: the historic injustice done to nearly a million Jews from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) who were forced to flee their regimes' growing anti-Israel sentiment after 1948. They were stripped of their citizenship and their assets were seized. The CJN's flagship podcast "North Star" has been following the story since last year, and on today's episode, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Philip Khazzam, the Montreal businessman on a mission to seek justice for what happened to his grandfather's beloved mansion. Related stories Read the French administrative court's Feb. 2 decision in The CJN. Learn why Philip Khazzam launched his $30 million legal challenge against France for unpaid rent and damages last year, in The CJN . Hear the survival stories of Canadians of Iraqi descent who survived the “Fraud” pogrom against Baghdad Jews in 1941, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube.

The first Jewish aid mission from Canada since 2019 arrived in Havana, Cuba on Feb. 3, loaded with seven extra suitcases full of batteries, pills, and hundreds of pieces of donated baseball equipment. The delegation from Toronto's Beth Sholom synagogue spent the past week delivering pharmacy supplies and other necessities–which they donated to Jewish seniors, Cuban synagogues, and even to a pharmacy housed inside the Jewish community centre in Havana, which supplies Jewish Cubans and also nearby hospitals. Local Jewish leaders say this group is the first Canadian Jewish mission to come to Cuba in nearly seven years, since before the pandemic in 2019. And officials worry there might be fewer going forward. The Canadian government raised its travel warnings for Cuba on Feb. 4, citing widespread economic problems impacting tourists, including more frequent power outages, lack of food and fresh water, and fuel shortages. The island, a popular destination for Canadians, was hit in October 2025 by a damaging monster hurricane. But the country's difficulties worsened noticeably in the last month, after the U.S. president ordered all shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba be halted, as part of the capture of Venezuela's former dictator Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship podcast “North Star”, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Beth Sholom's Cantor Eric Moses, who organized the trip, and with William Miller, a Jewish community leader in Havana; plus we hear from Benji Tock of Toronto. The teenager didn't make the trip, but his bar mitzvah project–collecting eight duffle bags full of donated baseball bats, cleats, gloves and other gear–arrived safely in Cuba, too, destined for local Jewish players bound for this coming summer's Maccabiah Games in Israel. Related stories To donate to the Cuban Jewish community, contact Toronto-based Cantor Eric Moses cantor@bethsholom.net Donate to the Global Seder initiative of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. https://www.jewishtoronto.com/donate Learn more about Canadian efforts over the decades to help the small Jewish community of Cuba with kosher food and basic daily supplies, in The CJN archives. In 2014, four Toronto bar mitzvah boys raised thousands to help Cuba's Jewish community purchase medical supplies, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube.

One day before Prime Minister Mark Carney's government announced it will scrap the role of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, a group of senior Canadian bureaucrats and policing experts attended a roundtable in Ottawa where they heard advice from some of the world's top antisemitism experts. The guest list of the four-hour meeting included government advisors and scholars on antisemitism and the Holocaust from France, Germany, the U.K. and Israel. The closed-door discussions strove to understand what tactics to tackle anti-Jewish hatred are working worldwide, which Canada might try; Norway, for example, has found success bringing young Jewish “pathfinders” into schools to meet their peers. The international experts also told the government what Canada doesn't need: more laws. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner sits down with two of those experts. Sally Sealey runs the U.K. envoy's office for post-Holocaust issues and chairs the Holocaust memorial foundation, which is building the country's new education centre in London; Carl Yonker, meanwhile, is the senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, which also publishes an annual global antisemitism monitoring report. Related stories: Read Irwin Cotler's column about Canada scrapping its special envoy office, a role which he first held from 2020-2023, in The CJN . Reaction was swift to Canada's surprise announcement Wednesday that the government is ending its Special Envoy position for Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, (and the other one for Islamophobia) in favour of a single advisory council on rights, equity, inclusion, in The CJN. Read the latest global antisemitism report from Tel Aviv University published in April 2025 , and the Israeli Diaspora ministry's newest interim report on international antisemitism, from January 2026. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here) Watch our interviews on our YouTube Channel

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With the return of Ran Gvili's body, many Jewish leaders are publicly inviting community members to stand up from their proverbial shivas and re-engage with normal life. Federations across North America are welcoming—even memorializing—the return of ceremonial dog tags and yellow pins. But it's been two and a half years of incorporating these thoughts into Jewish ritual life, adding prayers for the hostages at High Holidays and the Shabbat table. What happens now? Can we ever truly go "back to normal"? Our three rabbinic podcasters discuss on this week's episode of Not in Heaven. Later in the episode, they look at the Jewish response to the ICE raids in the United States. Some Jews are offering to hide their Haitian caregivers as President Donald Trump's administration cracks down on deportations; some rabbis are mobilizing in Minnesota after immigration officers murdered a number of civilian protesters. Where is the Jewish community standing during this fraught time in American political life? 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 )

Eight decades ago, Andrew Cassel's father was bundled aboard a prison ship in England and sent to Canada as an “enemy alien”, where he was held behind barbed wire for two years. The elder Cassel was part of a little-known operation that in 1940 targeted about 2,300 Jewish Europeans whom the British feared were spies for Adolf Hitler. Now, Cassel—along with other descendants and some historians—are raising awareness about what he calls “Canada's dirty little secret”. They want an apology from Canada and educational programming. The prisoners lived in harsh conditions at nine prisoner-of-war camps in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. In some cases, they were locked up together with groups of real Nazi soldiers and German U-boat crews who'd been captured by the Allies during the Second World War. But they weren't spies—they were doctors, professors, Yeshiva students and bankers who fled to England to escape the Holocaust. The British government soon realized their mistake, but Canada took until 1943 to release all the prisoners. Some experts blame widespread antisemitism in the Canadian government for the undue delay. Many of those former internees later became prominent community leaders in Canada, including the late Rabbi Erwin Schild, who died in 2024 at age 103; Justice Fred Kaufman, the first Jewish judge on Quebec's Appeal court; Alfred Bader, a chemist and philanthropist to Queen's University; businessman Eric Exton; printer Leo Klag; philosopher Rabbi Emil Fackenheim; and two Nobel Prize winners. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner is joined by Andrew Cassel; Jewish historians Paula Draper, and Jennifer Cousineau of Parks Canada, who collaborated to release a new podcast spotlighting the story of one of the POW camps south of Montreal; and Blatant Injustice author Ian Darragh, who is spearheading the apology petition. Related stories Learn more about the new Parks Canada podcast  spotlighting European Jews deported from Britain to Canada in 1940 as enemy aliens and held in POW camps in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.  Read the petition , initiated by author Ian Darragh , sponsored by Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, asking the House of Commons for an apology and educational programming and commemorative plaques at the sites of the former POW camps. Read more about the Andrew Cassel's father, Henry Cassel , and also about the late Toronto Rabbi Erwin Schild  and Dr. Walter W. Igersheimer , all former internees. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube.

The 2026 Winter Olympics start this week, taking over northern Italy from Feb. 6-22. But while Jewish sports fan might be eager to root for their fellow members of the Tribe... there just aren't that many this time around. Canada isn't sending any Jewish athletes that we could find (having snubbed some key hockey players), which leaves the United States and Israel as the only visible representatives of Jewish athletics in this year's winter games. Fortunately, there are still some unique stories to watch. A.J. Edelman, who was recently profiled for Scribe Quarterly, has been on a years-long mission to qualify for Olympic sliding sports; he will lead his bobsleigh team—dubbed "Shul Runnings"—after coming 28th in the skeleton competition in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. American curler Korey Dropkin will look to hold Team USA's reigning gold medal in mixed curling. Israel is sending a sizeable delegation of nine athletes, including a brother-sister alpine skiing duo, a nationally celebrated figure skater, and a Floridian lawyer looking to break new ground in skeleton racing. Hear all about them and more in the latest episode of Menschwarmers. 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 ) 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 )

As Canada's ambassador to the United Nations for the last five years, Bob Rae helped shaped how the international community has responded to the most pressing global human rights issues of our time: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Iran's nuclear threats, the collapse of Haiti, genocides against the Rohingyas and the Uyghurs, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, and more. But no issue has been as polarizing as the Israel-Palestine crisis, especially after Oct. 7, 2023—which also marked when Canada's long-standing support for Israeli government policies began to change. Canada abstained or voted yes to motions and resolutions that were critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians and military campaign against Hamas. Canada called for a ceasefire and condemned, with other nations, Israel's settlement-building in the occupied West Bank and the Golan. (Canada also did try, early on, to get the U.N. to censure Hamas for its massacre of Israelis, but the motion failed.) Last fall, at the 80th U.N. General Assembly, Canada unilaterally recognized the State of Palestine—which Rae says he fully supports. He also supports funding UNRWA, the U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, where some employees were fired for being linked to the violence of Oct. 7. But while Israel and many Canadian Jews feel the U.N. and its leadership are obsessed with demonizing Israel, the outgoing ambassador disagrees. Rae's term as Canada's envoy to the U.N. started during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and ended in November 2025. Since then, he's joined two universities and a think tank, and has been a regular commentator in the Canadian media. Rae joins The CJN's flagship North Star podcast host Ellin Bessner to unpack what's behind his support for Canada's tougher stance on Israel—and what that's cost him. Related stories Hear former Ambassador Bob Rae discuss the whether the Russian invasion of Ukraine unleashed genocide, in a 2022 interview on  The CJN's Bonjour Chai podcast. Rae spoke to broadcaster Ralph Benmergui last year about how his spiritual side mixes with his political career, on The CJN's “ Not That Kind of Rabbi” show.  When Bob Rae was a Liberal MP from Toronto, in 2010, he told a Haifa University fundraising event in his honour that co-existence between Israelis and Palestinian is the only way forward, in  The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins (https://www.brethiggins.com/) Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here) Watch our podcasts on YouTube.

The Jewish festival of Tu b'Shevat begins this Sunday. The new year for trees. Some people feel it's the Jewish version of Earth Day: a day to care for the environment. While much of Canada is still in the deep freeze of winter, the people who run Vancouver's Jewish Community Garden are itching to get their rubber boots on soon, and go up to the rooftop of the two-storey parking structure located between Congregation Beth Israel synagogue and the VTT, The Vancouver Talmud Torah, where the garden is located.. This spring, the garden will begin its third season of growing food and flowers for programs at the shul, and school, as well as for clients of Vancouver's Jewish Family Services, and hosting dozens of volunteers–all the while teaching environmentalism and food security through a Jewish lens. When the garden was officially opened in the spring of 2023, we interviewed the team behind the idea, likely the highest Jewish community garden in Canada. The episode originally aired May 31, 2023. The Vancouver Jewish Community Garden had its official ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 28, 2023, a fitting debut for the $200,000 initiative. On North Star (formerly The CJN Daily), we're joined by the organizers: Congregation Beth Israel's Rabbi Jonathan Infeld; Emily Greenberg, head of school at VTT; and Tanja Demajo, executive director of Jewish Family Services in Vancouver. Related links Watch a video of the construction of the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden  on You Tube https://youtu.be/oUQJ9yKCd_o In Toronto, the Shoresh farming agency ran a community garden in peoples' backyards, in  The CJN Read more about environmental programming gaining popularity in B.C. in  The CJN Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Subscribe to North Star https://thecjn.ca/arts/podcast-how-to/ Watch our podcasts on YouTube Donate to The CJN + get a charitable receipt

OneTable is a non-profit organization with two goals: make Shabbat a regular part of young people's Jewish lives, and combat the epidemic of loneliness among that same demographic. Hosts can receive a small stipend for every guest who attends their Friday night dinner, and the broader Jewish community benefits from higher levels of Shabbat engagement. But despite hundreds of thousands of young Jews being interested, OneTable laid off a quarter of its staff in December 2025, struggling to find financial support while realizing their repeat users were often accepting money for hosting dinners with friends that they would have hosted regardless. And on an even deeper level: is there even a viable business model for a one-note non-profit like this? Our rabbinic podcasters discuss. After that, they look at how the Art Gallery of Ontario came under fire when they decided not to acquire work by acclaimed photographer Nan Goldin because of alleged antisemitic comments, and finish off with some Textual Healing. 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 Gary Kapelus grew up in Canada, his father, Jerry Kapelus, never talked about what it had been like to be forcibly tattooed by Nazis in Auschwitz in 1944. But Kapelus noticed that his dad never tried to hide or remove the tattoo, either; indeed, he often displayed it as he spoke to thousands of school children over the years about his experiences. After Jerry died in 2021, Kapelus took up the mantle as a Holocaust educator, sharing his father's story. Recently, at the age of 70, Kapelus decided to take one extra step: he got that same number, B-7619, tattooed on his own left arm. The act is a growing trend among descendants of Holocaust survivors, known as “re-marking”, taking ownership of something that was done against the will of the Nazi's victims. The tattoos are done for many different reasons: some do it in defiance of their grandparents' persecution, while others see it as a way to honour the six million killed. Kapelus's motivation was to spark conversations. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Gary Kapelus ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27. Related links Read more  about Gary Kapelus's father, Jerry. Why descendants of Auschwitz survivors are tattooing their own arms, in  The CJN  archives (from 2021). Learn more about the  (Re)marked project Stories from the Skin  at the University of Waterloo. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Subscribe to North Star Watch our podcasts on YouTube Donate to The CJN + get a charitable receipt

This episode originally aired on The CJN's peace-building podcast, In Good Faith. To subscribe and hear more, visit thecjn.ca/faith. There's a teaching that appears almost word-for-word in both Jewish and Islamic scriptures: whoever kills a soul, it's as if he killed the entire world; anyone who saves one soul, it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. Judaism and Islam diverge on many points—but on this one, they're in unanimous agreement. Yet over the last two years, both Jews and Muslims in Canada and around the world have felt like they're in a constant state of mourning over the violence and death in Israel and Gaza. And it's not just the weight of the loss itself—there is also rage when it feels like someone else's grief is being prioritized above your own, or when the reality of your grief is questioned. At the same time, grieving is fundamentally not about death. Grief can heal us and bring communities together—as it has for both guests on today's episode of In Good Faith. First, you'll hear from Layla Alsheikh, a Palestinian mother whose six-month-old son died after inhaling tear gas that Israeli soldiers shot into her West Bank village in 2002. After her story, Yonatan Zeigen discusses life after the murder of his mother, the Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, at the hands of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. What connects these two bereaved voices? After suffering a brutal loss, both wound up turning toward peace-building as a way to honour the legacy of their late family members. Credits Hosts:  Yafa Sakkejha and Avi Finegold Producers:  Michael Fraiman and Zachary Judah Kauffman Editor:  Zachary Judah Kauffman This podcast is sponsored by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, with support from the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation.

With the release of Wicked: For Good, Jewish audiences have been asking online: Are the munchkins supposed to be Jews? What about Elphaba—the vilified, bookish, green-skinned witch? Is she Jewish-coded? It's a question asked by some Jewish culture critics seemingly every time a movie with goblins, elves or hook-nosed monsters comes out. Are J.R.R. Tolkien's dwarves Jewish? Is Nosferatu Jewish? Are Star Trek's Ferengi species Jewish? And then, if the answer strikes you in the affirmative, the logical follow-up is: "Is this vaguely antisemitic?" But as our three rabbinic podcasters discuss on this week's episode of Not in Heaven, the question may reveal more about the person asking it than the onscreen goblins themselves. The real question may not be, "What were the filmmakers' intentions when creating these characters," and instead, "What does this negative interpretation say about us as a community?" But before that, Yedida takes a detour down a different cinematic road: a Jewish analysis of the heavily Christian animated film David, which is something of an origin story of the biblical king. 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 Menschwarmers return after a lengthy winter break! In this mid-January catch-all catch-up, Gabe and James get started looking at arguably the biggest trade of the NHL season last, involving two Jewish players—Quinn Hughes and Zeev Buium—who were swapped with predictable results. Then they start looking at Winter Olympics rosters, starting with Olympic hockey: which Jewish players got snubbed? After that, a glimpse at Deni Avdija's odds at being the first Israeli NBA All Star and an obsessive look at golf in the dead of winter. 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 )

Just after New Year's Day, an NDP member of Parliament, Heather McPherson, adopted a private citizen's petition calling on the government to scrutinize Canadian citizens and residents who have served in the Israel Defense Forces. The petition is the latest in a series of requests from lawmakers targeting IDF veterans for allegedly violating Canadian war-crime laws and international rules on genocide. This parliamentary effort comes after a Liberal MP from the Montreal area, Sameer Zuberi, asked officials with the Canada Border Services Agency to screen for non-Canadian citizens entering Canada who served in the IDF and may have participated in breaches of international law. Simultaneous to all this, families of Canadian IDF soldiers are still reeling after a Canadian media outlet created a public database of hundreds of former or current soldiers, effectively doxxing private citizens. One young man on that list is Eitan Ellis, 29, the son of Israel Ellis, an author and podcaster who is campaigning to get the website shut down. For reaction to this societal pivot against the IDF Canadians have witnessed over the last several months, Israel Ellis joins today's episode of The CJN's flagship podcast, North Star, along with David Kalman, an entrepreneur in Toronto who served his compulsory military service over thirty years ago. He calls the targeting of people in his situation a “witch hunt”. Lastly, at the end of this episode, hear a clip of host Ellin Bessner's exclusive interview with Israeli comedian Guy Hochman, who was held for nearly six hours by Canadian border agents before a scheduled performance at the Prosserman JCC in Toronto—and found himself greeted with anti-Israel protesters once he arrived at the venue. Related links Read more about the RCMP's structural investigation into possible war crimes by IDF veterans in The CJN from June 2025 , and in Jan. 2026 . Learn more about Israel Ellis' new book “10.7 The Wake Up Call” and his “The Unfiltered View” podcasts via his website . Follow Israeli comedian Guy Hochman . Learn more about David Kalman's pest control business Good Riddance Critters . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Subscribe to North Star Watch our podcasts on YouTube Donate to The CJN + get a charitable receipt

It's Monday. That means hundreds—maybe thousands—of employees around the world, including some in Canada, will start a shortened work week. It's part of a growing trend towards a new way of working—the same pay in fewer days. It's been a trend since the pandemic. Companies such as Microsoft and Lamborghini, along with small towns in Ontario, British Columbia and elsewhere, have turned their workplaces into more productive environments, getting tasks done more efficiently by using technology—especially AI—while avoiding in-person “busy work” during the traditional five eight-hour days spent in an office. Toronto business journalist Jared Lindzon, also the host of The CJN's Geltwise podcast, has a new book out digging deep into this concept. His book is called Do More in Four: Why It's Time for a Shorter Workweek, published by the Harvard Business Review. He co-authored it with an Irish-Canadian academic, Joe O'Connor, who has been helping corporations around the world try out this new way of working. The results have helped companies' financial bottom lines and the mental health of their employees, who report less burnout, more equal opportunities for women, and a greater environmental impact. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Jared Lindzon sits down with host Ellin Bessner to share why his new book reveals a work-life recipe worth trying. And check out the giveaway contest at the end of the episode to win our one free copy of Do More in Four. Related links Follow Jared Lindzon at his  website and learn more about how to buy  his new book Listen to The CJN's  Geltwise podcast. Why Canadian cabinet minister Evan Solomon is funding so many applications of artificial intelligence, on  The CJN's “North Star” podcast . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer),Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Alicia Richler: The CJN's Editorial Director Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Subscribe to North Star https://thecjn.ca/arts/podcast-how-to/ Watch our podcasts on  YouTube Donate to The CJN + get a charitable receipt

The Senate didn't attract much attention last month, when, on Dec. 8, the Standing Committee on Human Rights wrapped up its public hearings about antisemitism. Over the course of a full year they held eight meetings, heard from over 40 witnesses and received about 37 briefs. Now the senators and staffers are drafting their report. But while communal Jewish leaders welcome the Senate's attention to antisemitism, they maintain they don't need another study that gathers dust on the shelves. Lawmakers have a mandated deadline of the end of 2026 to release the report—but one committee member, Senator Leo Housakos, the leader of the Conservative party in the Senate, wants the final document of non-binding recommendations to come out much sooner. He believes it is urgent to convince the Carney government to tackle “a terrible crisis, and we need action quickly to start protecting our Jewish community.” Housakos feels he represents the voice of Canada's mainstream Jewish community on the nine-member permanent committee, which currently lacks any Jewish senators. Four of those committee members, including the chair, have either signed open letters critical of Israel's conduct in Gaza, or spoken about it in the Senate. Housakos wasn't thrilled by some of the anti-Zionist witnesses nvited to testify. He clashed with one witness, who said any groups that support the State of Israel should be destroyed. He also frowned on those who urged Canada to scrap the current IHRA definition of antisemitism, which the government adopted in 2019. The committee also heard that antisemitism is being exaggerated and in some cases, carried out by Jews on themselves. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Senator Leo Housakos joins host Ellin Bessner to explain his urgent priorities for the expected antisemitism report. Related links Take a deep dive into the  Senate's hearings on antisemitism , which wrapped up Dec. 9, 2025. Why U of T professor Robert Brym told the Senate committee studying antisemitism they had been given “weaponized” information from some anti-Zionist witnesses, on  North Star . Read what the House of Commons committee studying antisemitism recommended in its report on antisemitism in Canada, published in Dec. 2024, in  The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Subscribe to North Star https://thecjn.ca/arts/podcast-how-to/ Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/user/CanadianJewishNews Donate to The CJN + get a charitable receipt https://www.youtube.com/user/CanadianJewishNews

Antisemitic acts don't all mean the same thing, even if they provoke the same fear. A swastika sprayed on a synagogue door in Winnipeg is not the same as a fire set at a synagogue in Mississippi. And while community members understand this, when violence and intimidation come to their own neighbourhood, it's easy to fall into a maximalist trap that treats all threats as equal. On this week's episode of Not in Heaven, our rabbinic hosts hone in on Rabbi Matthew Leibl's hometown of Winnipeg, where local police swiftly tracked down the vandal who went on a hateful graffiti spree, laying down charges of mischief and breaking and entering. They dig into the communal response and ask if anything needed to be handled differently. And before that, the hosts look at a new initiative that aims to repurpose religious real estate to help combat homelessness. 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 )

While Ellin and her team prepare new stories for the new year, we're bringing you an episode from another podcast by The CJN, The Jewish Angle_, hosted by Phoebe Maltz Bovy. She recent sat down with Montreal-based academic and writer Adam Louis-Klein, who founded the Movement Against Antizionism._ Anti-Zionism is often presented as simply a political critique of Israel. But in reality, it frames Zionists as a hostile, genocidal group, while often collapsing Jews and Israelis into the same stereotype due to their support for the Jewish State. From that perspective, anti-Zionists can quickly fall into racist tropes against Israelis, flattening identities into caricatures and seeing scapegoating Israel in broadly conspiratorial ways. The consequences ripple outward. Some anti-Zionists end up sidelining Muslim and Palestinian voices that don't fit a rigid ideological script, diverting attention from corruption and repression elsewhere in the Middle East. It also reshapes identity politics, excluding Jews from multicultural events, and turning “Zionist” into a charged label that Jews are pressured either to renounce or wear as provocation. On this week's episode of The Jewish Angle, Phoebe Maltz Bovy sits down with Adam Louis-Klein, a writer and academic currently completing his PhD in Anthropology at McGill University. He is the founder of the Movement Against Antizionism and a pundit who covers this topic in the media. As he explains, by creating an activist organization with academic roots, Louis-Klein is on a mission to help Zionists prepare responses to public anti-Zionist claims while reframing the discussion entirely. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle

It's been just over a week since U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the military capture and trial of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The stunning late-night operation on Jan. 3 was welcome news to millions of Venezuelans who have fled their home country over the last two decades, leaving it to descend into corruption and impoverishment, despite controlling the biggest oil reserves on the planet. Among the estimated eight million Venezeulans who left, tens of thousands are Jewish. They faced additional pressure to escape: the regime was strongly anti-Israel, supporting Iran and Hezbollah, which led to the harassment of the local Jewish community. It's a stance first adopted by Maduro's predecessor, the late former president Hugo Chavez, in 2006. While Maduro now faces drug and racketeering charges in New York City, the uncertainty about what happens next has kept Venezuelans confined to their homes, with schools temporarily closed and paramilitary forces patrolling the streets. Some political prisoners are being released, in a gesture of goodwill by Maduro's replacement, while President Trump is vowing to bring billions in investment to revamp Venezuela's oil production. While some Venezuelans say they have great hope now that Maduro is gone, others think restoring democracy is still a long way off. On today's episode of The CJN's flagship _North Sta_r podcast, we hear reaction and analysis from three Venezuelan Jews who have made their homes in Canada. Jonathan Rosemberg Kort and Rebecca Sarfatti join from Toronto, while Daniel Topel joins from Ladner, B.C., south of Vancouver. Related links Read what Irwin Cotler and two other experts concluded in 2018 that Venezuela was committing crimes against humanity, in The CJN archives . Why Maduro's predecessor, president Hugo Chavez, embraced Jew-hatred and hatred for Israel, in The CJN archives . Montreal Rabbi Adam Scheier feared for the safety of Caracas' Jews after a visit to the country in 2009, in The CJN . Learn more about Jonathan Rosenberg Kort's new book on corporate change, published in Nov. 2025. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter https://thecjn.ca/newsletters/ https://thecjn.ca/donate/ Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube

Cindy Schwartz started her life in dance when she was barely out of first grade, when her parents arranged for her to perform for patients at the Donald Berman Maimonides long-term care hospital in Montreal. At the time, they felt her passion for dancing should stay just a hobby—but Schwartz believes her late parents would be proud that she's transformed her passion into a decades-long project that culminated in her being named to the Order of Canada on Dec. 31, 2025. Schwartz founded Les Muses, Canada's first full-time performing arts training program for neurodivergent adults, over three decades ago in Montreal. Since then, she has landed her students roles in movies, television and onstage; one even won best Actress at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2014. The Order of Canada recognition came, coincidentally, just days before Schwartz officially retired on Jan. 5, 2026, at the age of 65. She joins North Star host Ellin Bessner to reflect on her achievements and explain how the Canadian entertainment business still has a long way to go to create space for actors, dancers and singers who are persons with disabilities—which includes increased government funding. Related links Learn more about the latest 2025 Order of Canada winners of Jewish faith, in  The CJN. Read more about Les Muses, t he training school  founded in Montreal by Cindy Schwartz. When autistic artist Adam Wolfond's poetry, and his mother's creations, were on display at the Koffler Centre for the Arts in 2025, in  The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner info@thecjn.ca Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior 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 ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube

We know you like the party, but the party never stops at CJN. We are only three men covering I'm Only A Man by Emery. This record didn't land with many fans when it came out, and we're giving our two cents on the matter (but we got your penny change). It's a new year, and we're never gonna go away, we're never gonna go away.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

The red swastikas and hateful tags that were spray painted on the front doors of Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek synagogue early on Jan. 2, 2026 have been mostly cleaned off the building's front doors, less than a week later. But Winnipeg police say the suspected hate crime is affecting not only the Jewish community, but the city as a whole. And it's prompted them to call on residents to take a stand against hate, report suspicious activity, and refrain from acting as vigilantes. Meanwhile, the Shaarey Zedek congregation has welcomed the outpouring of support in the last few days, which it received from Manitoba's premier, Winnipeg's mayor, the Lieutenant Governor, federal members of Parliament, and religious leaders of other faiths. But despite the solidarity, some Jewish leaders say what's really needed is for existing hate laws to be enforced, and for Canada to quickly appoint a new special envoy on antisemitism—a post that's been vacant since July 2025. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, you'll hear first from Inspector Jennifer McKinnon of Winnipeg's Major Crimes Unit, then Rabbi Carnie Rose of Shaarey Zedek congregation and Belle Jarniewski, a Holocaust educator and director of Manitoba's new Institute to Combat Antisemitism, which recently launched. Related links Why Winnipeg police retrieved a suspicious item from the Shaarey Zedek property on Sunday Jan 4, 2026, in The CJN . Rabbi Carnie Rose returned to Winnipeg in the summer of 2025 to lead the city's Shaarey Zedek congregation where he grew up, and be close to his brother Rabbi Kliel Rose who leads Congregation Etz Chayim in the same city. Then their parents moved back too. On The CJN's North Star podcast. Under Belle Jarniewski's guidance, Winnipeg's Holocaust education centre got a redesign in 2023 aimed at accommodating more visits. Hear the story in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior 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 the Canadian Parliament has been on winter break since mid-December, international politics have only heated up so far in 2026. Pro-democracy protests have rocked Iran; Russia's war against Ukraine remains unresolved; and the United States stunningly bombed oil-rich Venezuela and captured its dictator, Nicolas Maduro. It's all likely to overshadow domestic policy issues once Canadian federal politicians come back to work. But Canadian Jews have their own concerns at home, worrying about whether lawmakers will keep last year's promises to fight antisemitism and remain proactive about hate-fuelled terrorism. And some federal policy is less clear: how will Canada change its relationship with Israel in the wake of recognizing Palestinian statehood? Will the federal New Democratic Party choose former broadcaster and anti-Israel activist Avi Lewis as their new leader? Is Pierre Poilievre, a staunch ally of Israel, going to survive his party's leadership review in January? And what about the economic problems our country continues to face stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war? On today's episode of North Star, The CJN's political panelists weigh in. Joining host Ellin Bessner today are Dan Mader a Conservative strategist and a founder of Loyalist Public Affairs, who sits on CJPAC's advisory board and volunteers with Friends of JNF Canada; David Birnbaum, a former Liberal member of the Quebec National Assembly for the riding of D'Arcy-McGee in Montreal; and Noah Tepperman, a past president of the Windsor-Tecumseh NDP riding association, who has advised the federal and provincial NDP on Jewish issues. Related links Read more about Canada recognizing the State of Palestine in Sept. 2025, in  The CJN. Hear federal Liberal cabinet minister Evan Solomon on how his government is taking antisemitism seriously, as well as the safety of Jews, in  The CJN. How Toronto's Jewish community gave a warm welcome to Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre at a synagogue in December, in  The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior 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 Dec. 9, 2025, The CJN teamed up with the Shalom Hartman Institute and two synagogues in Toronto—Beth Tzedec and Holy Blossom Temple—to host a live event called Pathways to Hope, a conversation with young Israeli changemakers. The Hartman Institute runs a project called Hazon, which mentors Israeli university students who are also active in their campus's pro-democracy movement, among other social justice issues in Israel.  Two of the students, Yonathan Machlis and Ayala Dahan, along with Hartman's director of the Center for Israeli & Jewish Identity, Ronit Heyd, joined North Star producer Zachary Kauffman for a panel discussion about what gives them hope amid a challenging time for Israeli democracy. The panel also shares their vision for Israel's future and what it means to enact democracy as the Jewish State heads towards an election in October.  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 )

2025 was a big year for CJN! We covered so many records, talked to so many artists, and really engaged with the material. Join us as we talk about our favorite (and least favorite) moments from the year and let us know what yours were! Peace Out Mon Freres!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

Fans of the long-running game show Family Feud Canada may have caught the Bernstein family appearing as contestants last week. The five family members—who all live around Richmond Hill and Oshawa—taped their episodes back in August at CBC headquarters in Toronto, but had to keep their appearances a secret until their three episodes aired on Dec. 15-17. In an interview with The CJN's North Star podcast, two of the family members reveal how proud they were to represent Judaism on the small screen—bantering in Yiddish with comic host Gerry Dee—even though their episodes ended up airing during difficult times. The family watched themselves on TV last week, shortly after losing patriarch Nat Bernstein, 101, in Montreal. And while the timing around Hanukkah was convenient for celebration (especially given how much gelt they won), the terror attack at Bondi Beach in Australia cast a pall over their excitement. To find out what the experience was like, why they auditioned, and what the five of them will do with the prize money, siblings Shaun Bernstein and Alexis Orchard join North Star host Ellin Bessner. Related links Watch the Bernstein family's three episodes on Family Feud Canada on CBC Gem , or see clips on YouTube . Read about the Kestelman family including Rabbi Stephen Wise and his wife Cheryl, who runs the synagogue's supplementary school, his sister Renee Cohen of TanenbaumCHAT, and other relatives win on Family Feud Canada back in 2022, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior 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 )

Cabinet Minister Evan Solomon tells The CJN in a wide-ranging interview how the government is 'highly engaged' in monitoring terrorist threats against Canada's Jewish community. Solomon spent much of last week carrying out his official role as Canada's first Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, making funding announcements to support local researchers and entrepreneurs. But on Dec. 14, the rookie politician made a point to tell Canadians about the impact that the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre had on Canada's Jewish community—including himself. Having already spoken to his rabbi and congregants at his synagogue, Holy Blossom Temple in midtown Toronto, he quickly headed downtown to City Hall to film a video of support, inviting Mayor Olivia Chow to join. Days later, he took part in a roundtable discussion with RCMP officials and other Canadian law enforcement agencies, where politicians and Jewish community leaders were briefed about the possibility of a domestic copycat attack. Solomon insists his government is “highly engaged” with what he calls the “unacceptable level” of antisemitic attacks and the “threat level” that's causing fear and anxiety for his community. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Solomon sits down with host Ellin Bessner to explain what is being done. Related links Evan Solomon was one the two Jewish MPs from Toronto who were appointed to Prime Minister Mark Carney's new government in May 2025, in The CJN . Hear Evan Solomon's (and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow's_ message to the Jewish community for Hanukkah, after last week's Australian Bondi Beach massacre, on The CJN's North Star podcast. Learn more about Evan Solomon's election campaign for the Liberals in Toronto Centre, one of the key ridings to watch in April 2025, with a tiny Jewish electorate at 1.4% of the population, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior 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 sociologist Robert Brym published his research on Canadian Jewry in November 2024, his findings made international headlines. While 94 per cent of the community said they support Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state—and about 84 per cent were strongly or somewhat emotionally attached to Israel—barely half said they called themselves Zionists. The three progressive Jewish organizations that commissioned the survey concluded it proves how nuanced conversations about Israel are within Canada's Jewish community after Oct. 7. It also showed how no one can claim to speak for the majority of Canadian Jews, they added—not the mainstream centre-right organizations, nor the anti-Zionist far-left ones. All the while, the author himself has been quietly fuming, as he believes his original findings have been “weaponized”, deliberately misinterpreted by Jewish groups—mainly Independent Jewish Voices—in order to bolster their own political goals. This came to his attention a few weeks ago in the Senate, where a committee has been studying antisemitism in Canada. Byrm has been sitting on the results of a new study he did earlier this year, which he says proves them wrong. He revisited the same nearly 600 people who answered the first time, and asked why 51 per cent felt they could not call themselves Zionists. Now that his paper has been published in the latest issue of the academic journal Canadian Jewish Studies, Brym is eager to set the record straight: while he found the same overwhelming support for Israel as a Jewish state at 94%, modern interpretations of the word “Zionism” are making many Canadian Jews reject the label. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Ellin Bessner sits down with Brym to unpack his latest findings and to hear his advice for people who support Israel but don't want to use the Z-word. Related links Read Brym's new  2025 study just published in the Association of Canadian Jewish Studies' latest journal edition.  Read his first  2024 survey done on behalf of NIFCanada, JSpaceCanada and Canadian Friends of Peace Now Hear how the heads of New Israel Fund of Canada and JSpace Canada broke down the findings of the first 2024 survey, on  The CJN's Bonjour Chai podcast from Dec. 2024. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior 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)

As far as Jewish filmmakers go, the Safie brothers could well be the GOATs (Greatest Of All Time) when it comes to Jewish sports cinema. One of their earliest collaborations was a 2013 documentary on high school basketball star Lenny Cooke; their breakout feature, Uncut Gems, was a sports-adjacent thriller featuring a Passover Seder with Adam Sandler and Idina Menzel; then younger brother Benny Safdie went on to star in Sandler's Happy Gilmore sequel—another sports film with a Jewish lead character. Now, in late 2025, the brothers (who are great-nephews of architect Moshe Safdie, for those wondering) have gone their separate ways, each directing their own sports movie. Benny directed The Rock in a biopic of MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, while older brother Josh Safdie tapped Jewish actor Timothée Chalamet to play table tennis champion Marty Reisman in Marty Supreme. While Marty Supreme is slated for a Christmas Day release 2025, the Globe and Mail's film editor, Barry Hertz, just published a review of the Oscar contender, in which he says the story "burns with the relentless, fight-for-your-life spirit of the Maccabees.... With apologies to Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, Marty Supreme is, thematically and spiritually, the greatest Hanukkah movie ever made." Hertz joins the Menschwarmers to explain his reasoning and how this ping pong epic fits into the larger canon of Jewish cinema. And before that, the boys chat about Jake Retzlaff leading the Tulane Green Wave to success, and get to the source of an incorrect rumour about the Toronto Blue Jays' Eric Clement being Jewish. 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 )

Why is hatred against Jews so bad in Canada, specifically? Is it because of our government? Is it the failure of the police? Is it because of Muslim immigration? On this episode, three theories, and one conclusion. Credits: This series is a co-production of Canadaland and The Canadian Jewish NewsMade possible by the generous support of The Bissell Family Foundation, George Burger, Dan Debow, Daniel Klass, Nanette Okun, Leslie Scanlon, Marjorie Skolnik, The York School, Lee Zentner, and others. Written and Reported by Jesse BrownResearch and Story Editing by Kate MinskyOriginal Music by SocalledSound Design, Mixing and Mastering by Caleb ThompsonEditorial Input from Michael Fraiman This episode relied on video documentation of the protests at Bathurst and Sheppard filmed by many sources, but none more than Caryma Sa'd and her videographer, Lee.. Special thanks to them and to Jonathan Rothman of The CJN. For a list of sources cited in this episode, please refer to this episode's web page (link)To support Canadaland, visit http://canadaland.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Moez Zaman is the spokesperson for an antizionist protest that has taken place in the same Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto over 40 times. He says that his group has been unfairly characterized as antisemitic and pro-Hamas. So what do they really believe? What do their signs and chants actually mean? And what responsibility do they take for the impact they are having on their neighbours? Moez sits down for an uncommon exchange about his goals. This series is a co-production of Canadaland and The Canadian Jewish NewsMade possible by the generous support of The Bissell Family Foundation, George Burger, Dan Debow, Daniel Klass, Nanette Okun, Leslie Scanlon, Marjorie Skolnik, The York School, Lee Zentner, and others. Written and Reported by Jesse BrownResearch and Story Editing by Kate MinskyOriginal Music by SocalledSound Design, Mixing and Mastering by Caleb ThompsonEditorial Input from Michael Fraiman This episode relied on video documentation of the protests at Bathurst and Sheppard filmed by many sources, but none more than Caryma Sa'd and her videographer, Lee.. Special thanks to them and to Jonathan Rothman of The CJN. For a list of sources cited in this episode, please refer to this episode's web page (link)To support Canadaland, visit http://canadaland.com/join Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.