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Show notes Seniors are in the spotlight this week as Canada and other countries are meeting at the United Nations to discuss ways to help the world's billion people over the age of 60. And Dan Levitt is in the thick of it—the longtime nursing home administrator from Vancouver, who started as British Columbia's official seniors advocate in April, flew down to New York to advocate for a binding international convention for seniors' rights. The urgency is real: he predicts a “silver tsunami” has already started and Canada will have a full quarter of the population over the age of 65 within the next 10 to 20 years. Levitt has been in a unique spot in his provincial government. Since last month, he's been bringing the concerns of B.C.'s million seniors and their caregivers directly to the ears of provincial politicians. And those concerns have been expansive. Canadian seniors are worried about the cost of living, housing, transportation, employment and even something that's become his pet peeve: how so many birthday cards aimed at the silver-haired crowd are actually ageist. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Levitt explains why he took the job and how it helps him fulfil the biblical commandments about honouring one's parents. What we talked about: Read more about Dan Levitt, B.C.'s new seniors advocate How this 104-year-old Montreal super-senior stays engaged in life, on The CJN Daily Why Camp B'nai Brith in Montreal had trouble with a summer program for seniors, in 2020, in The CJN. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

The CJN Daily‘s Honourable Menschen is back, just ahead of Lag b'Omer on June 11, when tens of thousands of observant Jews traditionally make a pilgrimage to Israel's Mt. Meron to visit the tomb of Rabbi Simeon Bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar. Ahead of the calendar anniversary, it felt important to shine a spotlight on the legacies left by these recently departed Canadian Jewish figures: Patricia “Patti” Starr, who rose to notoriety at the centre of one of Ontario's biggest political scandals; Harry Davis, a boxer turned legendary boxing referee; Jack Prince, who caught the last boat out of Poland before the Holocaust and became a philanthropist in Israel and Canada; Alexander Eisen, a self-taught engineer and Holocaust survivor; Rabbi Dovid Schochet, who built the Chabad Lubabvitch community in Toronto; and Lita-Rose Betcherman, a women's rights advocate and author who was told she shouldn't pursue her PhD because she was a woman. The CJN's retired reporter Ron Csillag joins to share his personal recollections of covering these trailblazing Canadians. What we talked about: Read more about author Lita-Rose Betcherman in The CJN Watch the video recording of Patricia Starr's funeral Read The CJN's obituaries of Toronto's Chabad Lubavitch founder Rabbi Dovid Schochet, boxing referee Harry Davis, Halifax philanthropist Jack Prince, and Alexander Eisen Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

On April 30, Shaked Tsurkan, a 14-year-old Israeli girl attending high school in New Brunswick, was followed and beaten up by an older student. It happened off school grounds during the lunch hour and other classmates gathered to watch—someone even filmed the whole thing on their phone, later posted to social media, where you can see Tsurkan getting jumped from behind, thrown to the ground and punched repeatedly. According to Shaked, her assailant is an older female Muslim student who also attends her school, Leo Hayes High School, in Fredericton. It appears the physical assault came after months of being targeted for being Israeli after she started Grade 9 in Sept. 2023, just weeks before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack. The altercation left Tsurkan with cuts, bruises and black eyes. While the school declined to share details about the incident to protect the privacy of its students, Tsurkan says her assailant was suspended from school for a week; she also says when she returned to school, she was advised to use the teachers' private washroom for her own safety, not to walk alone and to stay inside the building between classes. Tsurkan's parents are frustrated, because they feel local authorities are ignoring the antisemitic overtones to their daughter's beating. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Shaked Tsurkan and her parents, Eli and Michal, share their side of the story, detailing how the war in the Middle East is playing out in their corner of Atlantic Canada. What we talked about: Learn more about the antisemitic vandalism that resulted in broken windows on the Fredericton synagogue early on Jan, 27, 2024, in The CJN. Read why Fredericton's Major Crimes Unit has been called in to investigate the case, in The CJN. Why Canadian Jewish students are feeling afraid in public school classrooms, after Oct. 7, in The CJN Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

As Israel and Jewish communities around the world mark Yom ha-Zikaron, the Israeli memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, some Toronto veterans of the Yom Kippur War are remembering the chaos and the fear they experienced during their own military service some 50 years ago. On Oct. 6, 1973, Israel fought Egyptian and Syrian forces after the Arab states launched surprise invasions during Israel's solemn day of fasting. Henry Balaban, now 75, served with the Golani infantry brigade in the north, where Syrian soldiers swarmed into the Golan Heights. Yoram Shalmon, 72, served in a tank unit that was the first to cross the Suez Canal into Egypt under General Ariel Sharon. His wife, Rachel Shalmon, served in intelligence. Since Oct. 7, the veterans have been anxiously following developments in this latest war—the longest in Israel's modern history. While the 1973 war resulted in the deaths of 2,656 IDF soldiers in just two and a half weeks—triple the IDF's current losses of more than 700 casualties since Oct. 7—these veterans also worry about the long-term psychological cost for those young men now fighting inside the Hamas tunnels in Gaza. On today's special Yom ha-Zikaron episode of The CJN Daily, the veterans offer a fascinating and in-depth perspective on what it's like to lose your friends and suffer through the fog of war. What we talked about: Browse the new memorial website by the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel listing all 425 Canadians and Americans who were ever killed defending Israel, or in terrorist attacks, including since Oct. 7 Learn more about ERAN, the 24-hour mental health hotline for Israelis that Toronto IDF veteran Yoram Shalom volunteers Watch the 2024 memorial service in Israel for North Americans killed in battle, on the AACI Facebook channel Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.Read transcript

According to Robert Brym, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto, while two-thirds of Canada's Jews currently feel unsafe and victimized in this country, and think it will get worse, his new study also shows most non-Jewish Canadians actually have positive feelings about Jews. His research was published before B'nai Brith Canada released its annual antisemitism audit earlier this week, in which the organization cited at least 5,791 incidents of violence, harassment, online attacks and threats against Jews in Canada in 2023—the highest level recorded since it began documenting this phenomenon more than 40 years ago. The worrying trends were also noted in a global report by the Anti-Defamation League and Tel Aviv University, which indicates “that the war in Gaza helped spread a fire that was already out of control.” But Brym calls both those reports “misleading” and he questions their “very flawed” methods. His findings, published in the spring 2024 edition of the academic journal Canadian Jewish Studies, measure people's attitudes to Jews and Israel, not antisemitic incidents. While he found 83% of Canadians hold positive feelings about Jews, the antisemitism comes primarily from four specific groups in Canadian society—Muslims, white supremacists and leftists, non-Jewish university students, and Quebecois. As Brym tells The CJN Daily, his study should also be a wakeup call for Canadian Jewish leaders that they're tackling the problem of antisemitism the wrong way. What we talked about: Read Robert Brym's survey on Canadians' attitudes towards Jews and Israel, published in Canadian Jewish Studies, Read B'nai Brith Canada's 2023 antisemitism audit, and read The CJN's coverage of its release Read the ADL/Tel Aviv University report on global antisemitic incidents in 2023 Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes: At least five Canadian university campuses are now home to temporary tent cities erected by pro-Palestinian students protesting Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. The U of T, McGill, Western, the University of Ottawa and the University of British Columbia have all become focal points for protestors insisting they won't leave until their schools divest of financial ties to Israel, among other demands. Other schools like TMU are coping with sit-in protests. So far, local police departments have not forcibly cleared out the compounds, as happened earlier this week at Columbia University in New York, where the movement began. But protests on this side of the border are equally polarizing: some Jewish students and faculty have joined the protests, while Hillel and other Jewish organizations argue these demonstrations aren't peaceful, and call for the destruction of Israel and kicking Zionists off campus and out of Canada. So what's behind the phenomenon? And where will it go next? On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from Opher Baron, a management professor at the University of Toronto who's worried that protests could derail an important annual conference he's hosting next week; then we're joined by Arno Rosenfeld, the Forward's antisemitism beat reporter, who's been covering the chaos from Columbia to UCLA, the University of California, Los Angeles. What we talked about: Read more about McGill encampment, in The CJN Follow Arno Rosenberg's work and get his Antisemitism Notebook newsletter in the Forward Learn more about Opher Baron at Rotman's School of Management Listen to Wednesday's interview with three Canadian Sunday school students who took home the top prizes at the International JewQ contest, run by Chabad, on The CJN Daily Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

The youngest child traditionally asks the Four Questions at Passover. But Daniel Marquez, 8, of Mississauga, Ont., could probably have answered all the questions by himself: the Grade 3 student won the 2024 JewQ competition, an annual tournament of Jewish knowledge hosted by Chabad. Marquez hoisted his trophy onstage during a live game show on April 7–held an hour away from the Lubavitch movement's headquarters in Brooklyn. To reach that point, he had to beat around 4,000 Chabad Sunday school kids from 25 countries during local, regional and national playoffs. It's an especially remarkable achievement for Daniel because this is his first year of formal Jewish education. His twin brother, David Marquez, also attends the Miriam Robbins Chabad Hebrew School in Mississauga—and he also made it to the JewQ finals, winning a gold medal. A third pupil from the same school, Sofia Mejia Perfiliev, 13, took home gold in her older age group. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner meets the three Canadian scholars and their teacher Sara Slavin—then tries to answer some of their quiz questions, with surprising results. Listen and play along to ask yourself: do you know Jewish better than a third grader? What we talked about: Watch the 2024 JewQ International Torah Championship broadcast Take the Grade 7 test yourself, and the other tests from Gr. 3 up. Learn more about Mississauga's Chabad Jewish Discovery Centre and its founding Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes It's coming up on five months since Paul Finlayson, a business instructor in the Toronto area, was suspended from teaching at the University of Guelph-Humber, in Nov. 2023. Finlayson, who is not Jewish, is the subject of an internal investigation after several students and staff members filed complaints in the aftermath of Oct. 7. They told the university they felt unsafe on campus after seeing one of his personal social media posts on LinkedIn, in which Finlayson sided with Israel and denounced Hamas's murder of 1,400 Israelis, saying they want a “barbaric primitive Islamic caliphate and hate all post-enlightenment values.” He suggested that someone who said “From the River to the Sea” was a Nazi, wants dead Jews and supports Hitler. Finlayson took his LinkedIn post down in a matter of days, but a week later, the school suspended him. The complaint—led by a Palestinian colleague—said the professor's words incited hatred, Islamophobia and possibly even physical violence against Muslims, adding that his post “dehumanized Palestinians”. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Finlayson to find out why he is still fighting for his rights to free expression, despite a climate where “Zionist” has become a dirty word on Canadian campuses. What we talked about: Read more from Finlayson and follow his Substack, called “Freedom to Offend”  See LinkedIn posts made by complainant prof. Wael Ramadan Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

It's going to be a special Passover seder this year in Victoria, B.C. for The Klezbians, an all-woman musical group that performs Klezmer music. They're marking 10 years since the band formed to play professionally in 2014. And even before that, the band and their wider group of Jewish lesbian friends have been holding annual inclusive seders, by invitation only, at a private home. These seders started as an alternative to the women's unpleasant memories of their experiences as lesbians at their own traditional family seders, which were usually not welcoming spaces for them or their partners. Over the years, guests have created their own seder rituals, including making their own haggadah. The seder is usually accompanied by live klezmer performances of their favourite Passover songs. For a special Erev Passover edition of The CJN Daily, we're joined by two of The Klezbians to hear their heartwarming story: Debby Yaffe is a retired women's studies professor from the University of Victoria who plays guitar, and Susan Dempsey is a psychotherapist and counsellor who plays the accordion. What we talked about: Read more about the Klezbians on their official Facebook page Check out their music on YouTube Check out Bonjour Chai's “Third Annual Great Canadian Seder” Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes: In just a few weeks, Ruby Grinberg will be packing her red ball gown and heading to Montreal to compete in the 2024 Miss Canada competition. The 20-year-old Toronto-born political science student will vie for the tiara against 20 other young women in the venerable contest—a pageant that, when it started in the 1940s, was all about beauty and bathing suits, but these days is more about personality. Grinberg isn't your typical pageant contestant. In fact, she actually entered the event as a bit of a lark. But she isn't totally unqualified: she's a world-champion public speaker, debating coach and award-winning community volunteer. She hopes to use her voice and upcoming national platform to raise awareness about cancer, a disease that has directly impacted her own family. However, Grinberg is also acutely aware that being a Jewish woman competing in a public event these days likely will open her up as a target for some ugly antisemitism post Oct. 7, which is why she's played down that important part of her life… for now. To hear more about her strategy, Grinberg joins The CJN Daily, and later, CJN podcast producer Zac Kauffman tells the history of Connie Gail Feller, his aunt's sister, who was the first Jewish Miss Canada in 1961. What we talked about: Read more about Ruby Grinberg's efforts to win Miss Canada, and learn how to vote Read about previous Canadian Jewish pageant contestants, from the archives of TheCJN.ca Read about the first Jewish Miss Canada from 1962, Connie Gail Feller (Salomon). Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

The week before Passover is always a busy time for supermarkets' kosher meat sections. But this year, the meat you'll find is likely different, because of a change in how kosher cows are being slaughtered in Canada. As The CJN Daily reported on earlier this year, the country's two main kosher certifying bodies, the Kashruth Council of Canada and the Jewish Community Council in Montreal, which runs MK Kosher, have launched a high-profile legal dispute against the Canadian government. At issue are newly enforced regulations designed to make the killing process more humane for animals—but Jewish groups say they are based on bad science and also violate Jewish freedom of religion; plus, they warn, if they have to continue following them, the added costs could effectively end kosher slaughter in Canada. So who is right? How painless is Jewish ritual slaughter of beef, and what does science say? Is this a Charter case or mainly about money? To discuss the issue, we're joined by Rabbi Allan Nadler, an Orthodox Montreal commentator and professor, and Dr. Joe Regenstein, a food scientist professor emeritus from Cornell University in New York, who is also one of the world's foremost experts on ritual slaughter. What we talked about: Hear why MK Kosher and COR are suing the Canadian government on The CJN Daily Learn about a similar, previous threat to the kosher veal industry in Canada, in The CJN (from 2018) Why a Canada-U.S. trade dispute led to higher prices for all kosher imports, in The CJN Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

A delegation of 17 Canadians from British Columbia spent an anxious Saturday night hunkered down in Tel Aviv, watching the skies and waiting for air raid sirens, as Iran made good on its threat to retaliate for the Israeli airstrike that killed two top Iranian military commanders in Syria earlier this month. The overnight barrage of 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched from Iran were been mostly intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces, with help from U.S. and other allied forces in the region. There have been few reports of injuries in what Israel's army calls a major escalation of hostilities. And stuck in the middle of it all is a delegation led by Vancouver's Jewish Federation that's been visiting Israel with provincial and municipal politicians, an Indigenous leader and local donors. They were staying inside while booms and sirens blared in the country. On this breaking-news episode of The CJN Daily, Ezra Shanken, the CEO of Vancouver's Jewish Federation, joins from his hotel in Tel Aviv to describe what the last 24 hours have been like. What we talked about: Watch Ezra Shanken's videotaped message from Tel Aviv on the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver's X (Twitter) account Register for the Jewish Federations of North America special briefing on Israel under Iran attack, on Sunday April 14 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Follow The CJN's continuing coverage of the Iran attack on Israel, on TheCJN.ca Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes Two Toronto community leaders have gone public about a legal fight involving one of Canada's oldest Zionist organizations, which also runs Camp Shalom, a 75-year-old Jewish summer camp in Ontario. David Matlow, a CJN columnist who also lectures widely about Theodore Herzl, has taken the little-known Toronto Zionist Council to court over allegedly restricting who can be a member, claiming the organization only allows Jews who hold right-wing political views on Israel and Zionism. His legal case also alleges years of financial mismanagement by the organization's former (and one current) directors, negatively impacting the TZC's neglected Toronto headquarters at 788 Marlee Avenue, and Camp Shalom, in Gravenhurst, Ont. The lawsuit has been before the courts since August 2022. But while it continues, Matlow's not-so-quiet pressure campaign has already resulted in a partial victory: the replacement of nearly all the longtime TZC directors at the centre of his allegations. Guidy Mamman, a Toronto immigration lawyer, was named the new president of the TZC board, and says he's vowing to set things right. He wants to help Camp Shalom grow, fix the office building on Marlee, investigate any financial wrongdoing and even try to retrieve any allegedly missing money.  On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we bring you the full fascinating back story with plaintiff David Matlow and with new TZC president, Guidy Mammon. What we talked about: Read our first part of the investigation into the squalid conditions of The Toronto Zionist Council's headquarters at 788 Marlee Ave., in The CJN. Watch our tour inside 788 Marlee, on The CJN's YouTube channel. See the 1995 letter from Revenue Canada revoking an affiliated charity that illegally sent money to the West Bank. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes Mount Royal's Member of Parliament, Anthony Housefather, has made headlines for the past three weeks for publicly mulling over whether to quit the governing Liberal party. He found himself torn after being one of just three members of his own party to reject an anti-Israel motion held in Parliament on March 18. But late on Friday, April 5, Housefather announced he will be staying a Liberal after all. Why? It's partly because he says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to doing even more to fight the rampant antisemitism in Canada since Oct. 7—and expects Housefather to play an important new role. The exact details will be formally announced sometime before Passover, he tells The CJN. He will likely work together with Canada's special envoy on combatting antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, to tackle the relentless anti-Israel street protests replete with hateful language that have become regular events. He also wants to find better ways to help Jews feel safer, especially at Jewish buildings and on university campuses. Housefather joins The CJN Daily to explain why he made his choice, and what pushback he's been receiving from Jewish voters and others who felt he should jump to the Conservatives because of that party's stronger support for Israel. What we talked about Hear Housefather explain why he thought about quitting the Liberal party after March 18's anti-Israel vote, on The CJN Daily Anthony Housefather intends to run again, in Mount Royal, in The CJN Why the Montreal Jewish community received a court injunction blocking aggressive protests outside Jewish buildings until early April, in The CJN Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

For the second time in less than two weeks, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is promising Canadian Jews that he has their backs after Oct. 7 in a way that, he says, Canada's current prime minister no longer does. Poilievre told a crowd of 600 people at Toronto's Beth Tikvah synagogue on April 7 that he wants more done to protect Canadian Jews' rights to live and worship in the country. He called for a crackdown on campus antisemitism, pushed for expanded funding for security around Jewish buildings, and slammed Canadian lawmakers who recently voted in Parliament on March 18 to block arms sales to Israel. The message struck a similar tone to what Poilievre has been promoting in recent weeks—and he's been finding a receptive audience among Canadian Jews. Many are frustrated with Canada's resumption of funding for UNRWA, calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, the refusal to denounce a UN court case investigating Israel's “plausible” genocide against Palestinians—not to mention the fact that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not yet visited Israel, despite Hamas murdering eight Canadian civilians during the terrorist attacks six months ago. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we followed Poilievre during his weekend campaign through Jewish Toronto. You'll hear from Rabbi Jarrod Grover, who invited him; Rabbi Adam Cutler, and community leaders Claire Horowitz, Karen Kizell and Stan Korolnek. Plus, we tracked down Ephraim Shore, the mysterious rabbi whom the Conservative leader often credits with sparking his support for Israel and the Jewish people decades ago. What we talked about See Pierre Poilievre's Toronto speech to Beth Tikvah congregation on April 7, 2024, and also watch his speech at the Six Months in Hell Rally for the hostages at Nathan Philips Square on YouTube Read more about Poilievre's stance on Jewish issues, from a November 2023 announcement he made at Shaarei Shomayim Synaogogue in Toronto, in The CJN Why Poilievre didn't sanction three Conservative MPs who met with a far-right anti-immigrant European politician in 2023, on The CJN Daily Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

With over 41,000 members and counting, the Everything Jewish Toronto Facebook group has found itself serving as an unofficial online public square for Canada's largest Jewish community. The group was created a decade ago by two Toronto sisters–Jennifer Stallman and Brittney Waxman Sultan–as a vehicle to promote Jewish businesses, for a fee, to a Jewish audience. It has since morphed into a popular online space where Jewish people who aren't necessarily members of a synagogue or of other formal Jewish organizations, could connect: find a hairdresser, book a lawyer or even rent an apartment. But since Oct. 7, Everything Jewish Toronto has exploded with hundreds of posts per day from members reporting on the Israel-Hamas war, on efforts to free the hostages, and updating when they encounter instances of antisemitism, boycotts, vandalism and threats as a result of the anti-Israel protests happening in Toronto-area schools, hospitals, stores and especially on the streets. So who is behind Everything Jewish Toronto? How do they decide who can join, who can post, and how do they keep the level of discourse civil in a space that can often be flooded with online trolls and hate? On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we meet the founders: sisters Jennifer Stallman and Brittney Sultan. What we talked about: Learn more about Everything Jewish Toronto on Facebook. See Entertain Kids on a Dime, a related website run by one of the sisters. If you missed Ellin on ‘Bonjour Chai's last episode about whether Canada is really so antisemitic (because it sure feels like it), listen here on The CJN website. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Just two months after Justin Trudeau held a closed-door meeting with Toronto's Jewish leaders, the Canadian prime minister spent an hour last week doing the same thing at a Vancouver synagogue, Temple Sholom. Trudeau met privately with four leading community rabbis and the local Federation's chair of the community security committee. Sources tell The CJN the meeting was arranged in advance by the Liberal MP for Vancouver Granville, Taleeb Noormohamed. While there are 10 members of the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver, the meeting was kept small. Several told The CJN they received criticism from their community for attending, because the meeting came a week after the Liberal government supported an NDP motion on March 18, in the House of Commons, that resulted in halting arms sales to Israel, resuming funding for UNRWA, and—before the language was hastily amended—would have seen Canada unilaterally recognize Palestine as a state. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom explains why he felt it was important to “take the prime minister to task” on a half-dozen key issues. What we talked about: See and sign the petition to stop the B.C. Ministry of Education from including the Nakba (meaning “The Catastrophe”, what Palestinians call Israel's 1948 War of Independence) in the provincial social studies curriculum Watch Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's speech at Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue in Montreal on March 26, 2024 When Justin Trudeau quietly met with Toronto Jewish leaders in Jan. 2024—and why some rabbis left dissatisfied, on The CJN Daily Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

In the early days after the shock of Oct. 7, many Diaspora Jewish communities including Canada swung into action to send military equipment, clothing and medical supplies to Israel–along with emergency financial help. But with the conflict in its sixth month and over 130 Israeli hostages still being held in captivity, grass roots groups have sprung up from coast to coast to coast, as Canadians take their all their grief and worry from the past few months and try to do something positive with it: some with their hands, some with their feet, and some with light. They are getting out in the world and encouraging others to start moving towards hope-even if it's just for a few blocks (or a few hats or prayers). On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we meet members of Run for Their Lives: Toronto's Tovit Neizer, Thornhill's Michelle Factor and Vancouver's Daphna Kedem, plus Calgary's Michele Doctoroff, who runs, too, but also helms the Knitzvah Project: creating warm hats for IDF soldiers. And you'll hear about Gale Star's growing Candles4Israel initiative, now taking place in homes every Friday night in her Toronto neighbourhood. What we talked about: Learn more about Run for Their Lives campaign and find a chapter near you. Read more about Daphna Kedem's activism in Vancouver, in The CJN. See the pattern to knit toques for IDF soldiers, and learn more about other knitting projects for the IDF, in The CJN. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Just days after Canadian lawmakers voted to stop further export permits of arms sales to Israel, the Israeli ambassador to Ottawa, Iddo Moed, hinted the move would not go unanswered. He told The CJN that Canada's decision to halt weapons sales—even though the motion was non-binding on the government—sent “the wrong message at the wrong time.” However, Moed denied that Canada's new policy would make it harder for Israel to defend itself in its current war against Hamas. This is a walk back from comments the ambassador made earlier last week to other media organizations. So how does Israel now view Canada's pivot in military support for Israel after the March 18 House of Commons vote? What does Israel make of Canada becoming the first G7 country to renew funding for UNRWA, before the UN's own internal investigation is finished? Is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even welcome in Israel anymore? Moed returns to _The CJN Daily _nearly six months after his first interview with us, which took place just hours following the Oct. 7 massacre. What we talked about Follow Iddo Moed on Twitter to see his daily posts about the remaining hostages Hear Moed's first interview with The CJN Daily after Oct. 7, on The CJN.ca (transcript available) Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Canadian Liberal MP Anthony Housefather is clear about one thing: he will run for office again in the riding of Mount Royal—and he expects to win. But he's undecided about whether he'll stick with the federal Liberals, or choose instead to cross the aisle or even sit as an independent. The 51-year-old, who has represented his riding since 2015, says has been “reflecting” on his political future since Monday, after he found himself one of only three Members of Parliament from the governing party who voted against a motion outlining Canada's official stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Housefather has been a loyal Liberal for 30 years, but this past week he hinted that he wasn't sure whether he still fits. His House of Commons speech, entitled “I am a Canadian, I am a Jew, I am a Zionist,” was a cri de coeur _outlining the anxiety and fear that many Canadian Jews now feel amidst a spike in antisemitism seen after Oct. 7. In his view, the federal government has shifted towards a harder stance against the Israeli government's actions in response to the Hamas massacre. So what's Housefather's next move? Might he leave the federal scene for a second career in provincial politics? How has he been handling the alarming antagonism from both the right and left? To answer these questions, Housefather sat down with Ellin Bessner on _The CJN Daily for an extensive and insightful interview. Related links Read Anthony Housefather's interview with The CJN Daily in print form, on The CJN.ca Watch Anthony Housefather's speech to Parliament How the NDP channelled Vivian Silver and the Holocaust in pushing for Canada to recognize Palestine, on The CJN Daily Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Embattled cabinet minister Ya'ara Saks says it was her “choice” to meet with the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas last week in Ramallah, and that includes posing for photos that show him holding her arm and hand. The Liberal MP for a heavily Jewish Toronto riding, the Canadian-Israeli has been heavily criticized by community members since those photos were posted March 14 on the official social media account of Canada's foreign minister Mélanie Joly. (They were not posted on any of the accounts belonging to Saks herself.) Saks says she “was asked to go” with Joly on a diplomatic swing through Israel and the West Bank, and is adamant that despite the optics, it was “important for me to be in that room.” Ya'ara Saks joins The CJN Daily to explain the background to THAT photo, what she told Abbas and why she voted “yes” to a controversial NDP motion passed Monday in the House of Commons that many say rewarded Hamas terrorists. What we talked about: Read Ya'ara Saks statement on her Facebook page or on her Twitter(X). Ya'ara Saks on protests in Toronto since Oct. 7 in The CJN, and read Josh Lieblein's opinion column, in The CJN. Learn more about the World Wide reciting of the Shema prayer set for Thursday 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

The photo has caused outrage in Canada's Jewish community. Last week, the government released an image of the minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly, and Ya'ara Saks—her Israeli-Canadian cabinet colleague and Toronto area MP—smiling and holding hands in Ramallah with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. The grip and grin photo was taken on March 12, while the two Canadian politicians were on a diplomatic swing through the region, pledging aid to both sides while the war between Israel and Hamas enters its 24th week. The furor over the photo comes just as Canadian lawmakers on Monday are set to debate a key NDP motion in Parliament which, among other things, would see this country unilaterally recognize Palestine as an independent state. Will this motion will pass? What is Canada signalling about whose side they are on, now that Ottawa has also restarted financial aid to UNRWA, blocked export permits for military equipment to Israel and pledged $1 million to investigate sexual assaults on Palestinian prisoners by Israeli police and soldiers? On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we dive into that infamous photo, the upcoming vote and what it all means. With Conservative insider Anthony Koch of AK Strategies; Emma Cunningham, a former Ontario NDP riding president; and Joe Roberts, formerly of JSpace Canada, and now a lobbyist and managing director with Winston Wilmont Public Affairs in Ottawa. What we talked about: Read the NDP motion on recognizing Palestine as an independent state, on the House of Commons website. When the Liberals voted in favour of an NDP motion to re-examine Canada's relationship with Israel and Palestine, in May 2023, on The CJN Daily. Read about Emma Cunningham's departure from the Ontario NDP over antisemitism, in The CJN. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

It's been a week since Selina Robinson scorched her premier and former B.C. NDP colleagues for their “silence” after Oct. 7, and for the way they've treated the prominent Jewish politician ever since. Robinson quit the governing party on March 6—the day of her 60th birthday—releasing a blistering five-page letter. Robinson said she was heartbroken, but felt compelled to leave when her premier, David Eby rejected her “too political” offer to host a bridge-building initiative between Muslims and Jews. He'd already fired her from her cabinet post as the minister responsible for post-secondary education back in February. Her troubles began when she participated in a live webinar hosted by B'nai Brith in January, wherein she described pre-1948 Israel as a “crappy piece of land” without an economy. Despite issuing two long apologies and offering to take anti-Islamophobia training, the premier declared she had “screwed up” too badly. Since the controversy began, she's received a death threat that forced her to leave Canada for a while. Her constituency office was vandalized with posters comparing Zionism to Nazism. But Robinson vows she won't be cancelled so easily. Selina Robinson sat down with _The CJN Daily _ahead of Wednesday March 13, the day she sits in the provincial legislature for the first time as an independent MLA representing her Coquitlam-Maillardville riding in Vancouver. What we talked about Read about the B.C. Jewish community's outrage after Selina Robinson got fired from cabinet, in The CJN Watch the controversial remarks which Selina Robinson made on Jan. 30, 2024, during her webinar with B'nai Brith's League for Human Rights Read the full text of Selina Robinson's resignation letter from the B.C. NDP caucus Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Canada's main kosher supervision agencies, the Kashruth Council of Canada (COR) and the Jewish Community Council in Montreal, which runs the MK brand, do not believe Canada wants to ban kosher slaughter. But they say new regulations to reduce animal suffering will have the same impact and puts the nation's entire domestic kosher meat industry “very much at risk”. COR and MK and two of the country's largest kosher meat producers—Shefa and Mehadrin—are launching a legal challenge to the country's new slaughter regulations, which were introduced in 2019 but have only begun being enforced since 2023. Under the regulations, animals must be first stunned with a bolt to the brain, which is not permitted under Jewish law. Alternative methods are also being allowed, such as stunning after the neck is cut, with is still a no, or giving the animals more time to die—but will cost meat processors too much money to make it profitable much longer, the plaintiffs argue. The collective of Jewish organizations filed for a judicial review on March 8, 2024, in the Federal Court of Canada. They're arguing that kosher slaughter is already humane—and say they have the science to prove it. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear the backstory from Richard Rabkin, managing director of COR, and Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal. What we talked about Learn more about the history of similar threats to kosher meat production in Canada, in The CJN archives Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

For decades, Israeli entrepreneurs have been mounting traveling real estate trade shows here in Canada, to encourage Diaspora Jews to buy property in Israel. But in the wake of Oct. 7, there has been renewed attention paid to anything having to do with Israel and Palestinians, meaning several of these annual real estate events in Montreal and Toronto last week touched off large, aggressive anti-Israel street protests. Critics accuse the promoters (and buyers) of stealing Palestinian land, especially because some of the apartments for sale are located in disputed areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN and Canada consider these illegal settlements because they are still under Israeli military rule since being captured during the 1967 Six Day War. So are the protests hurting business, or are they having the opposite effect, as Diaspora Jews worried about the rising antisemitism at home look for a safer place to live or invest in Israel as a show of support? On today's The CJN Daily, we go inside one of the real estate events in Toronto to see what they are all about. We also speak with Israeli promoter Gidon Katz of the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, and with Ben Murane, head of the New Israel Fund of Canada, who explains why the event is problematic for many. [Ed. note: Organizers of this past week's Israeli Real Estate Event have been a client of The CJN for many years, buying ad space in our magazines and other news products. ] What we talked about: Read more about the protests at two Israel real estate sales events in Toronto, and also at the tour's stop in Montreal, in The CJN. Israeli real estate events have been visiting Canada since at least 2009, in The CJN. Watch and learn more about the made-in-Canada Oscars' antisemitism ad that was originally supposed to air during the Super Bowl in The CJN. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence against women, and may be disturbing to some listeners. On March 4, days before International Women's Day, the office of the UN's Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict released their long-awaited report on what happened to Israeli women near Gaza on Oct. 7. The report paints a gruesome picture of what happened to some of the 300 Israeli women who were attacked and killed by Hamas—and also warns that hostages still being held in Gaza are likely still being rape and tortured. The UN's fact-finding mission to Israel took place last month, with the blessing of the Israeli government. And the resulting 23-page report is important for a whole host of reasons. Supporters say it spells out, for the first time—despite repeated denials by Hamas and their supporters—”clear and reasonable grounds” to believe rapes, and even gang rapes, happened that day. It also cites “clear and convincing” grounds sexual violence happened to hostages—then, and even now. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we speak to Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a professor and Israeli legal expert on women's rights, who helped make this report happen. She was in Toronto. What we talked about Read the UN special representative's report on sexual violence during and after Oct. 7 Learn more about the work of Ruth Halperin-Kaddari at Bar Ilan University and the Rackman Centre Hear Canada's ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer, explain why she was “ashamed” it took her so long to pay attention to #believeIsraeliwomen, on The CJN Daily (and read other CJN coverage) Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

It's been more than 150 days since Hamas captured Israeli hostages on Oct. 7 and took them into Gaza. Hamas leaders claim they don't know where all the hostages are, or even if they are all still alive. But Nir Maman, a security expert who lives in Toronto, has his theories—including his take on why the Israel Defense Forces haven't been able to rescue them. Maman, 47, is one of the older volunteers who've flocked to the Jewish State to help his native country respond to the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. But despite his age, Maman offers a special set of skills: the married father of five is also an elite counter-terrorism expert who trains police and military in North America and Israel how to rescue hostages and conduct urban warfare. For the last four months, Maman has been deployed with an IDF light infantry reserve battalion in Hebron, in the West Bank. He's been manning checkpoints, hunting for terrorist cells and conducting raids. He was on leave back home in Canada last week, for just 11 days, until it was cut short by a surprise summons to return to the front lines—this time, in Gaza. He spoke to _The CJN Daily _during his furlough, about what the war has been like and whether Israel can rescue the remaining hostages. What we talked about: Learn more about Maman and his CT707 counter-terrorism company Follow Maman on Instagram Learn about other lone soldiers in the IDF on The CJN Daily and in The CJN Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Brian Mulroney didn't meet a Jew until he left his home in Quebec to go to boarding school. Yet despite this, the Canadian prime minister, who died on Feb. 29, made fighting antisemitism and supporting Jews—and Israel—priorities during his lengthy political career. Mulroney, 84, died after a fall in the bathroom of his home in Palm Beach, Florida, friends say. He had recently been treated for prostate cancer. Mulroney served as prime minister for nine years, from 1984 to 1993. He resigned due to growing separatist sentiments in Quebec, a recession and record-low popular support. However, Jewish leaders and experts say Mulroney's support for Jews in and out of office was remarkable. His dedication included hiring a succession of Jewish political advisors to be his chiefs of staff; appointing Norman Spector as the first Jewish ambassador to represent Canada in Israel; establishing a public inquiry to investigate how Nazi war criminals were allowed into Canada after the Holocaust; and welcoming Chaim Herzog, then the president of Israel, as the first leader of the Jewish State to address Parliament, in 1989. On today's edition of The CJN Daily, we explore why Canada's 18th prime minister felt moved to fight what he called “a noxious social cancer” of antisemitism, even to his last days. We hear from philanthropist Charles Bronfman; Irwin Cotler, the former special envoy on combatting antisemitism; political panelist for _The CJN Daily _Stephen Adler; and Don Abelson, the founding director of the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government in Nova Scotia. What we talked about: Read professors Don Abelson and Monda Halpern's scholarly paper about Brian Mulroney and the Jews, “On the Right Side of History” Read Ron Csillag's article about Brian Mulroney's legacy, in The CJN Watch Mulroney's last public speech, to the World Jewish Congress in New York, from Nov. 2023 Why criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitism, Mulroney said: in The CJN archives Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

On Feb. 26, Canada signalled it is done waiting for internet giants and social media companies to protect children from consuming or being victims of harmful online content. Justice minister Arif Virani introduced Bill C-63, which sets up a new Digital Safety Commission to handle these cases and impose multimillion-dollar fines on social media sites for not complying. For the Jewish community, the new law would also toughen penalties for those who incite hatred, including antisemitism, and promote genocide or Holocaust denial. It's a long-awaited piece of legislation for Jewish advocacy groups like CIJA, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal and B'nai Brith: all have been warning about the dangerous explosion of online hate, saying that it could lead to actual terrorism, especially after Oct. 7. But some critics, including the federal Conservatives, fear the new law may go too far in curbing free speech, and have hinted they will vote against it as the proposed law now makes its way through Parliament. On today's The CJN Daily, we speak with Bernie Farber, who was one of the consultants hired by the government to shape the new legislation, and with professor Michael Geist, an internet law expert from the University of Ottawa, who sees some red flags. What we talked about: Read more about the Ottawa teenager charged in December with a terror-related bomb making plot against Canadian Jews, in The CJN Read how Canadian Jewish leaders reacted to the Canadian government's new Online Harms Bill, in The CJN See the actual Online Harms Act for yourself on the Government of Canada's website and read the accompanying explanation Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Last Thursday, Feb. 22, the school of business at McGill University in Montreal had to quickly cancel its in-person classes and switch to online learning, because anti-Israel protesters blocked access to the department's Bronfman building, off Sherbrooke St. W. The protest was called by a campus Palestinian club and was the latest incident in an escalation of what the authors of a new study have found was an alarming rise of antisemitism on Canadian university campuses, especially after Oct. 7. Researchers at the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI) released their 2023 campus antisemitism report on Feb. 16. It documents the “intimidation, harassment, and regrettably, violent behaviour against Jewish students” and also the “blatant targeting of Jewish students”, and calls into question the effectiveness of the institutions' embrace of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. They also gave letter marks for each of the universities: York, University of Toronto and Concordia got the lowest grades of F, while five schools weren't much safer: University of Victoria, Queen's, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), UBC and Lethbridge–they all scored Ds and D-. Dr. Neil Orlowsky is Director of Education for the AGPI, and he joins to review the findings, and why he feels parents should consider the report before advising their teens where to attend university this fall. What we talked about: Read how a blockade impacted classes at the McGill University Bronfman building last Thursday, in The CJN. Read the AGPI's 2024 report on campus antisemitism, and hear The CJN's coverage of the AGPI's first report in 2022 on the best and worst schools for Canadian Jews, on The CJN Daily. Excellent campus safety resources page for Jewish students in Montreal, by Federation CJA. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Gary Grill and Leora Shemesh want an apology from the owners of the Toronto Raptors basketball team, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. On Feb. 22, security at Scotiabank Arena asked Grill to remove his black-and-white “Free Our Hostages” sweatshirt while the two were watching the Raptors play the Brooklyn Nets at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The reason given? Because it was “political”. On principle, Grill chose to leave, rather than remove his hoodie–a gift from Shemesh. Now the friends, who are both criminal defence lawyers, are calling the act discrimination—even though MLSE's website clearly prohibits fans having “signs, symbols or images for commercial or political purposes”. Despite the longstanding ban, which is common among sports arenas and not unique to Toronto, Grill and Shemesh say they could take legal action. Did they know about the rule but choose to ignore it? Was this a stunt to provoke attention to the plight of the 140 hostages still held in captivity by Hamas? Or was it a genuinely unexpected brush with an overzealous security officer? Grill and Shemesh join _The CJN Daily _to explain what happened, why they went public afterword, and whether this is good for the Jews. Related links Read MLSE's code of conduct Why Phoebe Maltz Bovy was triggered by Kiana Ledé wearing a Keffiyeh to sing the U.S. national anthem at the NHL All-Star game, in The CJN Why the Toronto Raptors never went on their promised trip to Israel after winning the NBA championship in 2019, in The CJN Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

On Jan. 30, a striking piece of pop-up theatre was staged near Vancouver's art gallery. A man dressed as a Hamas militant marched a woman in a white top and grey sweatpants down the street—her hands tied together, her crotch blood-stained (with dye, not real blood). Behind them was a placard: “This is what free Palestine looks like.” It was a re-enactment of one of the most infamous videos shot on Oct. 7, in which Hamas terrorists kidnapped an Israeli teenager and stuffed her into a black jeep. The video fuelled widespread speculation that the young woman had been sexually abused by Hamas terrorists. The Vancouver protest was the initiative of Nonviolent Opposition Against Hate (NOAH), a fledgling organization created by two Israeli expats that aims to counteract the louder anti-Israel voices in British Columbia's largest cities. Those organizers are not alone—other groups have staged similar protests, including one organization called Canadians for Israel, in Toronto, which on Feb. 14 held a street side re-enactment of the same Hamas incident. While the Toronto's event's stated goal is to call attention to the female hostages still believed to be in captivity in Gaza, and pressure the federal government to do more to demand the hostages' immediate release, the group on the West Coast aims to warn Canadians that Hamas's message represents real danger for all Jews around the world. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, NOAH co-founder Asaf Arad explains why he personally dressed up like a Hamas terrorist and marched in Vancouver to make the powerful statement. What we talked about: Learn more about the NOAH initiative via their Instagram account, and watch their street demonstration video on YouTube. They are now fundraising through Gofundme, at this link Follow the Toronto activist group Canadians for Israel, on Facebook. Read about them in The CJN Read more about the Enough_T.O. sticker initiative, just launched to bring back civility and dialogue in Canada's largest city Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Insp. Paul Rinkoff was known to Jewish leaders in Toronto before Oct. 7, 2023 for his diplomatic, low-key approach to establishing good relationships between the Toronto police and the Jewish community. But since the Hamas attack on Israel last Thanksgiving, Rinkoff has been thrust into the very public spotlight–as the highest profile Jewish officer in charge of the police force's community partnerships and engagement unit. While Rinkoff also oversees police outreach to Toronto's other ethnic and racialized groups, including Palestinians and Muslims, what's happened since Oct. 7 is obviously deeply personal- he's also co-chair of the Jewish consultative committee for the police. The veteran officer was born to a Jewish family from England, raised in St. Catharines, Ont. where his parents are still active in the Niagara Jewish community, he reads Hebrew, he went on Birthright, he's visited Auschwitz, and is a proud alumnus of the Chidon Hatanach, the National Bible Contest for Jewish students. Rinkoff, 44, says the Toronto police have had to manage over 340 protest rallies since Oct. 7, including last week's targeting of the Mount Sinai Hospital, plus investigate an unprecedented number of hate crimes and graffiti, resulting in over 54 arrests and 117 charges to date. Rinkoff recently took The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner on a tour of one of the two Toronto police command posts erected in Jewish areas and then shared what it has been like for him to be the Jewish point person during this fraught, historic time. What we talked about: Watch more about Inspector Paul Rinkoff and his advice for the Jewish community on safety in this webinar by UJA Federation Toronto's Real Estate Division from Dec. 2023. He appears at 29:00 Watch an upcoming live seminar from Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw speaking to B'nai Brith on Feb. 29, 2024. Read more about Toronto Police Services hate crime statistics since Oct. 7 in The CJN. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

As hospitals in Toronto announce they are beefing up their security procedures following Monday's anti-Israel protest outside Mount Sinai Hospital, on Feb. 14 police were called to the Thornhill constituency office of Canada's deputy Conservative party leader, Melissa Lantsman. Her staff arrived to work Wednesday to find anti-Israel posters plastering her office's front windows. After more than four months of anti-Israel protests popping up seemingly everywhere in major cities, calls are getting louder for police to start cracking down on intimidation and harassment of Canadian Jews. But Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, says banning these protests outright would be a dangerous thing—even though many Jews find them annoying, scary or even fuelled by hatred. It's an opinion she knows might be unpopular, but she joins The CJN Daily to explain her case. What we talked about Read more about the Canadian Civil Liberties Association position on protests in The CJN Read more about the vandalism at Melissa Landsman's office in The CJN Learn why the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is challenging Quebec's Bill 21, which bans religious symbols at work for public servants Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Canada's century-old Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto was founded in 1923 by Jewish doctors who couldn't find work elsewhere due to antisemitic hiring policies of the day. Now, the hospital which treats patients of all faiths and employs staff from all walks of life, has become the latest flashpoint for anti-Israel protesters and their campaign of intimidation and targeting of Jewish-affiliated institutions across Canada–in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and the Israeli government's declaration of war in Gaza four months ago. It's exactly the kind of thing that's been keeping Deborah Lyons awake at night. Lyons is Canada's Special Envoy to combat antisemitism and to promote Holocaust remembrance. She started her job in October, right after Oct. 7. Lyons says stopping the rampant antisemitism now facing the Jewish community in this country, will take a team effort: from Canadian leaders in business, academia, politics, other religions, and also of course law enforcement. She's put them on notice that they must step up and do more. Lyons joins today's episode of The CJN Daily for a report card on her first four months in office. What we talked about: Read about Ambassador Lyons' appointment as Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and for Holocaust Remembrance, in The CJN. Hear Ambassador Lyons' debut interview on The CJN Daily from Nov. 2023. Read the Bloc Québecois' Bill 373 to toughen Canada's hate crimes laws outlawing antisemitic speech, to now include religious speech or opinions based on religious books Read more about the reaction to the Mount Sinai Hospital protests, in The CJN. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

You may have heard the story of Adi Vital-Kaploun, the Canadian citizen who was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. The 33-year-old scientist died in the safe room of her home, murdered while protecting her two sons: four-month-old Eshel and four-year-old Negev. The boys, and their father survived the massacre, as did Adi's father, Yaron Vital. But for days, no one knew if Adi was dead or taken hostage—until her body was found booby-trapped under a bed. It's a series of events that Yaron Vital and his wife, Jacqui—who is originally from Ottawa—have retold countless times, mostly on Zoom presentations with synagogues and Jewish groups. They have transformed their grief into a mission to share her story with the world. That includes many in-person meetings with well-wishers who want to help support Adi's family—despite little assistance from the Canadian government. On this episode of The CJN Daily, the Vitals recount their daughter's inspiring, horrifying final hours, and explain what the future looks like for Adi's bereaved husband and their two traumatized sons. What we talked about Learn more about Adi Vital-Kaploun, 33, in The CJN Make a tax-deductible donation to help Eshel and Negev Kaploun through AJA50 Plus and Canada Helps. (Note that donations must be accompanied by a message that the donation is for Adi's children.) Learn more about the store belonging to Adi's grandfather, Irving Rivers, located in Ottawa's ByWard Market Credits Special thanks to Sheila Osterer and the AJA 50+ group in Ottawa for inviting us to attend the Vitals' presentation on Jan. 23, 2024, with permission to use the audio. The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Two weeks ago, Canada joined the United States and other top Western donors in announcing they will suspend further funding to UNWRA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The move comes after intelligence from Israel and other sources proved the extent to which thousands of UNWRA employees and their family members have ties to Hamas—in some cases, even being full Hamas members and taking part directly in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, kidnapping and hiding hostages. Canadian lawyer Hillel Neuer runs the Geneva-based UN Watch, which helped reveal some of that damning evidence. He brought to light a 3,000-member UNWRA teachers' chat group on Telegram that vocally supported the attack on Israel. UN Watch also exposed the identities of UNWRA teachers who proudly trumpet anti-Israel hate on their social media accounts. UNWRA has now launched its own official investigation, due at the end of April. But already there are calls to allow the discredited agency to be allowed to weed out the few “bad apples”, and for full funding to be restored. due to the humanitarian emergency and displacement of the vast majority of Gaza's 2 million residents during Israel's war with Hamas, now entering its fifth month. Hillel Neuer joins Ellin Bessner on _The CJN Daily _to explain why he thinks UNWRA should be disbanded permanently—but probably won't be. What we talked about: Learn more about Canada announcing it will pause funding for UNWRA, and what new agencies will get the money instead, in The CJN Watch Hillel Neuer's testimony (eight minutes) before the U.S. Congress on Jan. 30, on YouTube Read when the UN launched investigation in 2014 after missiles were discovered in UNRWA buildings in Gaza during war with Israel, in The CJN Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

One of the lesser-known consequences of the horrific Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, has been the shutdown of normal life for Israelis living in northern Israel: hundreds of families who live near the border with Lebanon had to be evacuated from their homes to escape the barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah forces, which continues to this day. And that has meant the suspension of hockey games and practise for the small coterie of Israeli players in the country's hockey program housed at the Canadian-founded arena in Metulla. But thanks to Canadian supporters of the Israeli hockey program, the Vancouver and Winnipeg Jewish communities, and Maccabi Canada, twenty hockey players between the ages of 12-18 got a break from the tension and anxiety of living through the war, with an all-expenses-paid two week trip to Canada. One group visited Vancouver, while another visited Winnipeg-where they got to practise at the Winnipeg Jets' training arena, meet with Indigenous elders and the local Jewish day school, and even throw some strikes at a local bowling alley. Last month, the teens travelled to Toronto to end their trip, with the requisite stop at the CN Tower and a visit to what some might consider the shrine to the game of hockey: The Hockey Hall of Fame. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, producer Zachary Kauffman speaks to Liv Sharabi, 18, who plays defence for the Israel Women's National Team; Maksim Dashanov, also 18, who played defence on Israel's gold-medal winning U18 Men's National hockey team at the 2023 World Championships in Iceland, and to chaperone Melissa Wronzberg, a veteran Canadian women's hockey player. What we talked about: Learn more about Mike Levin and the Israeli U20 Men's national hockey team's quest for gold at the IIHF World Championships in Bulgaria last weekend, in The CJN. Read why Israel's U20 men's hockey team nearly didn't play the 2024 IIHF tournament for Division lll, in The CJN. Hear player Melissa Wronzberg on The CJN's Menschwarmers podcast on why women's hockey had a moment during the 2022 Maccabiah games in Israel. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me. What we talked about: Learn more about Mike Levin and the Israeli U20 Men's national hockey team's quest for gold at the IIHF World Championships in Bulgaria last weekend, in The CJN. Read why Israel's U20 men's hockey team nearly didn't play the 2024 IIHF tournament for Division lll, in The CJN. Hear player Melissa Wronzberg on The CJN's Menschwarmers podcast on why women's hockey had a moment during the 2022 Maccabiah games in Israel. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

On Feb. 1, the Canadian government announced it wants to postpone until 2027 the commitment to expand medical assistance in dying (MAiD), which currently does not allow patients with mental illness to end their lives with a physician's or nurse practitioner's help. MAiD has been legal for terminally ill patients since 2016, and since 2021, for those with chronic illness, allowing nearly 45,000 Canadians to subsequently legally end their lives with the program. That number is growing every year. The new mental health provision was actually supposed to come into effect this March, already a year later than originally planned. But the Liberal cabinet says the country's health system still isn't ready. While Orthodox Jews are prohibited from taking one's own life, and also medically assisting someone to end their own life, there is now some room for more nuanced approaches for MAiD within the Conservative and Reform branches of the Jewish community—although expanding the program for patients suffering from mental illness is not yet on the books in this country. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Ellin speaks with Rabbi Louis J. Sachs of Toronto's Beth Torah synagogue, who has come to support MAiD, and also with Dr. Karen Devon, a surgeon at Women's College Hospital and Toronto General, who is one of the nearly 2,000 Canadian physicians trained to carry out medically assisted deaths. What we talked about: Learn more about how a Vancouver Jewish nursing home became a flashpoint for medically assisted deaths in Canada, in The CJN Read Lila Sarick's feature article on MAiD and Jewish seniors' homes, from The CJN archives (2020) Read the in-depth report from the Canadian government on MAiD use in Canada from 2016-2022 Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

As the rabbinic leader at Temple Sinai Congregation in Toronto, Rabbi Michael Dolgin has gotten used to speaking to a crowd. But on Feb. 11, the Canadian rabbi had been hoping to appear before a global audience of more than 100 million, as part of a 30-second commercial about antisemitism that's debuting during Super Bowl LVIII. Rabbi Dolgin was part of a cast in a commercial which was filmed completely in Toronto earlier this month, for the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. The organization was set up in 2019 by Robert Kraft, the American Jewish billionaire and owner of the New England Patriots. The ripped-from-the-headlines story shows how an American teenager's bat mitzvah service was interrupted by a bomb threat in Massachusetts just days after Hamas's attack on Israel last October. The stranded Jewish worshippers had to evacuate the building, but found themselves quickly welcomed in by an Evangelical church across the road in Attleboro. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Dolgin joins to describe why the role was actually created with him in mind—and what he hopes the ad will do when it is aired some day, because, in the end, the producers decided to use a different ad with Martin Luther King's speechwriter. What we talked about Watch the speech at Auschwitz made by the director Jon Weiman's late grandfather, Ernie Weiss, during his 2008 March of the Living trip to Poland Learn more about the Ernie's Books project run by Liberation 75, which distributes free Holocaust books to Grade 6 students and their teachers How Rabbi Cantor Aviva Rajsky sang the national anthems at a Toronto Raptors basketball game in 2019, in The CJN Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

When the trustees of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board convene their monthly public meeting on Tuesday Jan. 30, the trustee for Zone 9, Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, will not be permitted to participate. It's a result of the sanctions imposed on the high-profile physician, back in December, for what the board voted were breaches of their trustees' code of conduct. In effect, the sanctions bar her from fully carrying out her elected role, which also means keeping her off five school board committees for the next three months. Kaplan-Myrth maintains she did nothing to justify the punishments in what she calls an “Orwellian” situation. Rather, she feels the code of conduct has been weaponized because she was forcefully pointing out how the Ottawa school board and some of its trustees routinely ignore her situation as a victim of rampant antisemitism and sexism: she has been the target of constant hateful emails and even death threats, including several currently being handled by police. Kaplan-Myrth has now asked for a leave of absence while she appeals the sanctions through the court system and elsewhere. But with two and a half years left on her term, the beleaguered trustee tells _The CJN Daily _why being in public life may not be worth it for Jewish women like herself. What we talked about: Learn more about the sanctions imposed on Kaplan-Myrth in December 2023, after an investigation into her conduct during meetings and during disputes with some of the other 11 trustees, in The CJN Read about the threats Kaplan-Myrth has received for her stance on COVID and masking, and also for being a Jewish woman, in The CJN (from 2022) Read the full report by the Ottawa school board's integrity commissioner on complaints about the behaviour of three trustees, including Kaplan-Myrth, Donna Dixon and Donna Blackburn Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

What did Friday's International Court of Justice ruling mean? Did Israel actually get convicted of carrying out genocide on the Palestinian people in Gaza during its three-month military campaign that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7? Why did Israel's own judge on the panel, Aharon Barak, vote against his country in some rulings? And what happens now? While the ICJ didn't tell Israel to stop the war, it also didn't throw out South Africa's genocide charges altogether: they could be something the court looks into down the road. The ruling worries Canadian human rights lawyer Tamara Kronis, who fears it gives Jew haters around Canada even more ammunition to ramp up their public protests and hateful attacks, like the one this past weekend against a synagogue in Fredericton, N.B. Kronis has worked as a prosecutor in The Hague. She wasn't expecting the ICJ to come back with a ruling so soon. South Africa and Israel put forward their oral arguments before the 17 judges only two weeks earlier. Kronis returns to The CJN Daily with an insider's analysis of the ICJ's provisional measures imposed on Israel—and what happens next. What we talked about: Hear Tamara Kronis explain how the UN's International Court of Justice works, and what was at stake for Israel, on The CJN Daily from earlier in January 2024 Read Canada's official reaction to the ICJ ruling in The CJN Watch the taped video showing the ICJ presiding judge read their ruling on imposing provisional measures against Israel Read more about how Fredericton is reacting to the vandalism on the city's only synagogue in The CJN, and donate to help the synagogue carry out repairs and install a security system Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

A Federal Court judge has ruled that the Trudeau government broke the Charter of Rights by invoking the Emergencies Act to stop the truckers' convoy in 2022. In today's encore presentation of The CJN Daily (because Ellin is still sick) we revist her interview with Benjamin Dichter, who rose to fame as a spokesperson for the Freedom Convoy that overtook Ottawa (and other parts of Canada) in 2022. Since then, the Toronto resident and part time trucker has become a known quantity in conservative and right-wing media circles, appearing on Tucker Carlson's Fox News program and earned an endorsement from Jordan Peterson for a new self-published book about his experience: Honking for Freedom: The Trucker Convoy that Gave us Hope. Dichter calls the protest a success because most provinces – and eventually the federal government – did lift their COVID vaccine mandates, and Ottawa got rid of the controversial ArriveCan app. But Dichter is still feeling the ramifications of his involvement with the convoy, including how the federal government unleashed the rarely used Emergencies Act to freeze his and other key protesters' bank accounts. There's still the massive lawsuit launched against the convoy leaders by residents of downtown Ottawa. Underlying his story is the fact that Dichter wasn't just the convoy spokesperson—he's also their biggest Jewish face. In this extensive interview with The CJN Daily, Dichter explains his decision to reveal his Jewish identity publicly, and how the convoy organizers felt about Nazi imagery in their protests. What we talked about: Find Dichter's book Watch Dichter's testimony before the Emergencies Act inquiry on Nov. 3, 2022 (starts at 2:32:05) Hear The CJN Daily's stories about the freedom convoy: Jews who supported the cause, locals who opposed it and the original outrage at the Nazi imagery within Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

In one of 2023's buzziest blockbuster films—Oppenheimer, about the real-life head of the top-secret wartime Manhattan Project—the film's director neglected to include an important Canadian figure. A Jewish scientist from Winnipeg, Louis Slotin, was a key part of the team of groundbreaking researchers at the Los Alamos atomic laboratories. He helped build and assemble the bombs that would be dropped on Japan in 1945, ultimately ending the Second World War. Slotin's family thought he was researching medical uses for nuclear radiography. They only learned the truth after he was killed in a controversial experiment after the war had ended. Slotin received an immense—and fatal—dose of radiation, but not before he heroically saved everyone else in the room by separating unstable plutonium pieces with his bare hands. Slotin died in Los Alamos in 1946 at age 35. On The CJN Daily, Slotin's surviving Canadian relatives Beth Shore and Rael Ludwig both of Winnipeg, join to tell their uncle's story, in hopes the world will learn more about what Oppenheimer overlooked. What we talked about Learn more about the “Trinity” nuclear bomb test of July 16, 1945, and see original silent film of Louis Slotin as part of the Manhattan Project, from the Trinity Remembered website Read Beth Shore's tribute to her late uncle Louis Slotin on the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba website Learn more about scientist Louis Slotin in Ellin's book, Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military and WWII, published by the University of Toronto Press Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer..Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

Did you know the late Toronto men's fashion retailer Harry Rosen actually paid for his first store with a bag of quarters? Or that George Cohon, the lawyer who founded McDonald's restaurants in Central and Eastern Canada, later brought Big Macs and fries to the USSR? In the last few months, Canada's Jewish community said goodbye to Rosen, Cohon and many other esteemed community builders. And on today's episode of The CJN Daily's Honourable Menschen, we pay tribute to these honourable men and women. You'll hear about Zelda Young, who hosted a daily Jewish radio show for nearly four decades; Holocaust survivors and educators Vera Schiff of Toronto, Willie Glaser of Montreal and Toronto Rabbi Erwin Schild, who lived to be 104; McGill professor Gershon Hundert, a world-renowned giant of Jewish academia; toy store owner Harry Bricks; and Moishe Goldstein, the father of longtime CJN editor-in-chief Yoni Goldstein. At a time when so many are mourning what's happening abroad, and are anxious about what the future might hold here in Canada, it feels all the more important to honour the incredible impact on our country made by these recently departed Jewish men and women. CJN reporter emeritus Ron Csillag joins host Ellin Bessner to share the stories behind the names. What we talked about Learn more about Willie Glaser, Vera Schiff, Zelda Young, Gershon Hundert, Rabbi Erwin Schild in The CJN Learn more about xHarry Rosen, and George Cohon and Moishe Goldstein Listen to the wisdom of Rabbi Erwin Schild on The CJN Daily Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Last week, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Jewish State was accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a case launched by South Africa. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly both gave oddly confusing statements, in which they said Canada's support for international law “does not mean” they support South Africa's accusations. Onlookers were confused by the phrasing—and even federal government staffers didn't know what to make of it. It took a few days before a statement by Global Affairs Canada confirmed that the country will, in fact, abide by whatever the ICJ rules. But Israel is vehemently defending itself on the international stage, with its barristers at The Hague describing South Africa's case a “libel” designed to prevent Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas after Oct. 7, 2023. That's the big takeaway for legal expert Tamara Kronis, a Canadian human rights lawyer who has worked in The Hague on other genocide cases. On The CJN Daily, Kronis walks us through the inner workings of this important court, what's likely to happen and what it means if Israel loses. What we talked about Watch Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's comment on Canada's position vis a vis the genocide hearing on Israel at the International Court of Justice Learn more about Tamara Kronis and about her late father Jules Kronis's esteemed legal background in The CJN Watch Israel's submission before the International Court of Justice on YouTube Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Last week, the International Ice Hockey Federation—the sport's governing body—announced they were barring Israeli national teams from competing in crucial championship matches this winter. The move is seen by many as an unfair penalty against the Jewish State in the wake of the war with Hamas, in which an estimated 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, resulting from Hamas's terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023. IIHF officials insist their decision was not political, but instead made purely for security reasons: they couldn't guarantee Israeli athletes' safety from protestors during upcoming matches in Bulgaria, Serbia and Estonia. Nontheless, Israel's hockey federation has announced a legal appeal. In the meantime, the IIHF's ruling has shocked the team's fans around the world—not to mention Israel's athletes and coaches themselves, including a handful of Canadians closely tied to Israel's hockey program. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, you'll hear from two of them: Esther Silver, the Canadian-born manager of Israel's women's hockey team, and Eliezer Sherbatov, a veteran of the men's team, now based in Montreal. What we talked about Learn more about the growing reaction to Israel's hockey teams being blocked from international competition, in The CJN Read more about athlete Elie Sherbatov's long hockey career, including his escape from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and about his new book on overcoming a weak left foot condition to succeed on the ice, on The Menschwarmers' podcast Hear about the birth of Israel's national women's hockey team and manager Esther Silver's support for the players, on The CJN Daily Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Vancouver rabbis Dan Moskovitz and Carey Brown spent four days in Israel in December 2023 as part of a delegation of eight spiritual leaders from the city. They carried 21 duffel bags full of supplies, toured Kibbutz Be'eri and heard from survivors, met with mourners and visited the grave of Vancouver's Ben Mizrachi, who was murdered at the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023. Three months after the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 residents–sparking a war that shows no end in sight–tourism in the Holy Land has stalled. Many airlines have yet to resume full service to Israel; hotels are full of displaced residents from Israel's frontline communities; lifestyle travellers have cancelled trips. In the midst of this bad economic news, however, one unique type of tourism has partly filled the void: volunteer missions. Wine tastings in the Galilee and mud baths at the Dead Sea are out, but picking avocados is in. And hundreds of Diaspora Jews have volunteered. On today's The CJN Daily, we'll hear why so many Jews are feeling compelled to “bear witness”. Rabbi Moskovitz will discuss his December visit; we'll meet Yael Benarroch and Sherri Ettedgui, both Toronto residents, who volunteered on a “Mother to Mother” mission organized by U.S.-based Jewish organization Momentum. And Gal Hana, Israel's consul for tourism in Toronto, describes what tourism will look like from now, until the fighting ends. What we talked about Learn more about the “Till They All Come Home” hostage bracelet fundraiser created by Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, including how to order. Read more about how volunteers are preparing food for Israelis, in The CJN. Why Canadian cardiologist Dr. Brad Strauss flew to Israel to help a hospital after Oct. 7 on The CJN Daily. Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

After weeks of Palestinians staging anti-Israel protests on Canadian streets—even going so far as to take over highway overpasses in the Toronto area—on Jan. 6, uniformed Toronto police officers were filmed handing over a large Tim Hortons coffee container and cups and snacks to some protesters blockading a Jewish neighbourhood at Avenue Rd. and Wilson Ave. After the video went viral, the Toronto police later explained they did not provide the coffee to the protesters themselves, but were rather “managing a dynamic situation” by handing it over on behalf of some other protesters who had brought it but weren't being permitted back inside the protest zone. Nevertheless, the gesture has touched off strong feelings, coming just days after a Jewish-owned deli in Toronto was set on fire—and after months ofhundreds of Palestinian protests: including taking over shopping malls, vandalizing bookstores and Jewish businesses, including setting fire at a Jewish grocery store. Community members want answers on why Toronto police are permitting these overpass protests— protests that even the Ontario solicitor general, who lives in the area, calls “intimidation and harassment”. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we try to find out why no one is stopping the protests, with guests Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, who is in charge of Ontario's public safety and policing, and Toronto city councillor James Pasternak. Also with special guest Lila Sarick, The CJN's News Editor. What we talked about: Read the petition circulating from residents of the Avenue Rd. and 401 neighbourhood in Toronto asking for the Palestinian overpass protests to be banned Watch the video clip of the coffee incident via Caryma Sa'd on X Learn more about the arson at the IDF grocery store in Toronto on Jan 3, in The CJN Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.