Explore every episode of the podcast North Star with Ellin Bessner
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
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| Toronto cousin of murdered hostage Carmel Gat: 'A loss that could have been prevented' | 02 Sep 2024 | 00:22:47 | |
Toronto resident Maayan Shavit is set to fly to Israel on Monday to attend the funeral of her cousin Carmel Gat, one of the six Israeli hostages found executed two days ago in a Hamas tunnel under Rafah. Carmel, an occupational therapist and yoga instructor, was kidnapped while visiting her parents’ home in Kibbutz Be’eri. Terrorists also took Carmel’s brother, sister-in-law and their young daughter hostage. They then tied up their mother, 67-year-old Kinneret Gat—a teacher and tour guide—and paraded her through the kibbutz before killing her. Although the Gats are not Canadian, their fate has resonated strongly with Toronto’s Jewish community, thanks to the tireless advocacy of their cousin, who has lobbied Canadian politicians and spoken at countless rallies and public events here since Oct. 7. On this episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with Maayan Shavit just hours after she learned the tragic news about her cousin. Shavit opens up about who she feels is to blame for what she called “a loss that could have been prevented,” and why she won’t stop fighting for the others who are still being held in Gaza. What we talked about
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| These JNF Canada donors are split about the embattled charity’s future | 28 Aug 2024 | 00:24:15 | |
When news broke of the Jewish National Fund of Canada losing its charitable status on Aug. 10, the move meant the Canada Revenue Agency also stripped the venerable Jewish charity of its ability to issue tax receipts to donors. This poses a serious challenge to the historic Zionist fundraising organization–which received $20.2 million in donations in 2023: will supporters still want to give money to JNF Canada for environmental and resilience projects in Israel if they can no longer write the philanthropy off on their Canadian income tax forms? Some donors are taking a wait and see approach, but want answers as to why JNF Canada admits it kept quiet for years about its problems with the federal tax auditors who warned them about "repeated and serious non-compliance" with Canadian tax rules dating back to at least 2014, and earlier. But other philanthropists say the bureaucrats didn't treate JNF Canada fairly, and they expect the charity will win both of its appeals in court: to block the suspension, and to eventually overturn it. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by two prominent JNF Canada donors: Jonathan Goodman of Montreal, who is raising $10 million for JNF Canada's new Climate Solutions Prize to boost "green technology", and also by Mary Ellen Herman of Toronto, who donated half the cost of an accessible playground built in southern Israel. What we talked about
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| ‘Hate has been given a free rein in our streets’: Hear highlights from Toronto's Pride of Israel solidarity rally | 02 Aug 2024 | 00:24:15 | |
With the synagogue’s shattered front glass windows still boarded up with plywood sheets and an emergency fundraiser underway to repair the damage, Toronto’s century-old Pride of Israel congregation opened its doors to host a large community solidarity rally on the evening of July 31. More than a dozen federal, provincial and municipal politicians, as well as a senior Toronto police inspector, spoke to the crowd of 1,500 and pledged to work harder to stop the wave of antisemitic hate that began after Oct. 7, yet has intensified in recent weeks. Just in the past few days, there have been dozens of incidents of vandalism, graffiti and arson targeting Toronto-area institutions. So it was no surprise that tensions ran high at the solidarity rally, with organizers trying to prevent pro-Palestinian protesters from disturbing the event—while also keeping guests inside from being rude to the invited politicians… with varying degrees of success. On the The CJN Daily, hear the crowd boo during the remarks by Mayor Olivia Chow and Liberal MP Ya’ara Saks, hear from an uninvited pro-Palestinian Jewish protestor, Gur Tsabar, and from others speakers—including Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner; newly elected Conservative MP Don Stewart; Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, the prime minister’s new special advisor on antisemitism; and Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the federal Conservative party—who pledged their solidarity and demanded that Jewish rights be protected. What we talked about
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| The CJN Daily panel talks about the year in politics: Canada on Israel, predicting Trudeau’s future, the Nazi standing ovation—and what to watch for in 2024 | 26 Dec 2023 | 00:50:13 | |
As 2023 comes to a close, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has sat down for a lot of year-end interviews with major Canadian journalists, and The CJN Daily has been asking for one with him, too–for months. But to no avail (we will keep trying). Canada’s Jewish community (and The CJN) have a lot of questions to ask about this government’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7, including why it continues funding for UNRWA, why Canada’s initial strong support for Israel has now changed with a recent UN vote calling for a ceasefire, why it took Canada’s foreign affairs minister so long to say she believes Hamas terrorists raped and murdered Israeli women, and why CBC News continues to be permitted not to call Hamas ‘terrorists’. So we’ll ask the next best thing: our panel of experts to evaluate how well or in many cases how poorly Canada’s elected leaders have handled these big issues, especially from the Jewish community’s perspective. And we’ll get them to make their predictions for the New Year. Ellin is joined from Toronto by Stephen Adler, a former Conservative insider now a senior director with National Public Relations; by Emma Cunningham, a former NDP riding president in Pickering, Ont. who quit her provincial party over antisemitism–she is now a trustee with the Durham District School Board but is speaking on her own behalf; and by David Birnbaum, in Montreal, a former Liberal member of the Quebec National Assembly for the riding of D’Arcy McGee, retired in 2022. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Jew hatred in Canada is scary now—but it’s not 1939, say Holocaust educators | 20 Dec 2023 | 00:21:14 | |
The latest hate crime figures released by the Toronto police show they are at their highest level in a decade–with 147 reported hate crimes targeting Jews in Canada’s largest city to date in 2023. That’s more than double 2022’s total. Most of these have occurred since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, prompting Israel’s retaliation. Nearly 50 people have been arrested, and charged with everything from mischief to assault. There have been 111 cases of verified antisemitic graffiti this fall, compared with 27 anti-Muslim cases. Meanwhile Toronto police are coping with what the chief described as a “staggering” number of 248 protests in the past 10 weeks. These new numbers show the unprecedented spike in antisemitism facing the Jewish community in Toronto–a spike that some Holocaust survivors and others have said reminds them of 1939 all over again. Yet, despite disturbing sightings of posters with swastikas equating Israel with Nazis, and the targeting of Jewish businesses such as Indigo books, plus a terrorist bomb plot in Ottawa and Molotov cocktails thrown at Montreal Jewish schools, we’ve also seen six Canadian provinces recently announce mandatory Holocaust education in school, and in some cases, expanding it into even younger grades. So how can both things be true at the same time? Will Holocaust education need to change in order to help what’s happening right now? On today’s The CJN Daily, we speak to Nina Krieger, director of Vancouver’s Holocaust Education Centre, and to Dara Solomon, head of the Toronto Holocaust Museum. What we talked about
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 Victoria, B.C. Jews don’t feel safe going downtown on the weekends since Oct. 7 | 19 Dec 2023 | 00:21:43 | |
The conflict between Israel and Hamas has also been playing out in one of Canada’s smaller Jewish communities: Victoria, B.C.—where a city councillor sided with Hamas and wore a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, and where 400 Jewish students at the University of Victoria reported being spit on, and they and their Jewish professors have to run the gauntlet of anti-Israel protests on campus. Although the B.C. premier, David Eby, and other provincial politicians have thrown their support behind the Jewish community by announcing mandatory Holocaust education in Grade 10 by 2025, and have condemned antisemitism–as has the university president–the anti-Israel climate in the B.C. capital now is, as one Jewish leader put it, making Jews feel unsafe to go downtown on weekends. To learn more, we’re joined by Sharon Fitch, president of the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island, and Noa Arama, a student at UVic who is co-president of the campus Hillel club. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Terrorism expert David Hofmann on how Hamas propaganda likely radicalized Ottawa teen now in custody | 18 Dec 2023 | 00:22:33 | |
David Hofmann has seen it before. Hofmann, a terrorism expert and professor at the University of New Brunswick, has spent years researching extremist hate groups operating in Canada, including neo-Nazis but also homegrown Islamic terror sympathizers. He’s published widely, particularly about the case of the “Toronto 18”, a large group of mainly young Muslim men arrested in 2006 in a foiled plot to blow up several Canadian landmarks, storm Parliament, take hostages and behead then-prime minister Stephen Harper. Hofmann wasn’t directly involved in the RCMP’s arrest on Friday, Dec. 15 of an Ottawa teenager who was charged with two counts of terrorism: instructing someone to carry out an attack against Ottawa’s Jewish community, and giving them material on how to use explosive material. The teen has been held in custody all weekend and is set to appear in court today Monday Dec. 18. But while the youth’s young age means the RCMP won’t release his name or any identifying information, Hofmann believes that the kind of charges laid, plus other details, point to something involving a young Muslim man who likely became radicalized online after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. We have extensive coverage of the story, including Ellin Bessner's story in print on The CJN.ca, and also on today’s The CJN Daily, where she's joined by professor David Hofmann for his take. We also we hear from Sarah Beutel, the interim-CEO of Ottawa’s Jewish Federation. What we talked about
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. | |||
| What really caused Calgary’s mayor to boycott the Hanukkah ceremony, and what happens next? | 13 Dec 2023 | 00:24:53 | |
It appears there’s more to the story about why Calgary’s mayor, Jyoti Gondek, abruptly cancelled her participation in the Jewish community’s 35th annual Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony on Dec. 7. Organizers of the now-infamous ceremony at City Hall acknowledge they had actually wanted the event to be an even stronger show of support for Israel, and let city officials know this in meetings during the days leading up to Hanukkah. Here were some of the original requests: let guests and dignitaries hold up posters of the Israeli hostages now captives of Hamas. Play a video of a Hebrew prayer for the hostages, called “Acheinu”. Stage a pro-Israel demonstration outside the City Hall after the candles were lit. Bring Israeli flags into the building. The city turned these down. Rabbi Menachem Matusof of Chabad of Alberta in Calgary said his committee reluctantly agreed to follow the restrictions, although he balked at the flag veto. The city also frowned on two slogans on the publicity posters: “Support for Israel” and “Israel Bonds raffle”. The rabbi promised them the evening would be a celebration of Hanukkah, and not a demonstration. But mayor cancelled anyway, claiming the organizers “repositioned” the traditional lighting ceremony “as an event to support Israel.” The move has been felt as a slap in the face to the Jewish community in Canada’s fourth-largest city, especially during this time of rampant antisemitism in Canada and the world. On today’s The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner goes behind the scenes of Calgary’s chanukkiah debacle with event organizer Nelson Halpern; Rabbi Mark Glickman of Temple B’nai Tikvah and journalist Jen Gerson, who slammed the mayor for not doing her job. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Canada's ambassador to Israel offers help to investigate Hamas’s mass sexual assault of women and girls | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:23:35 | |
Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer, has offered this country’s help to Israeli law enforcement teams who are now piecing together evidence of systematic sexual violence against women and girls by Hamas during and after the terrorist attack on Oct. 7. Stadelbauer officially reached out to the Israeli police, to women’s groups and the chair of Israel’s civil commission on sex crimes by Hamas. The Tel Aviv–based diplomat may have been the first Canadian ambassador to publicly declare that she believes Israeli women: she made her statement on Nov. 24, more than two weeks before Canada’s own minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly, tweeted the same thing on Dec. 7. The issue of feminists around the world not believing Israeli women has gained traction in the last week, while Hamas denies its militants sexually violated any Israeli victims or hostages. On today’s The CJN Daily, Lisa Stadelbauer speaks out, saying she is personally ashamed that it took her so long to realize what Israeli investigators have been telling the world. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the | |||
| These Israelis fled to Canada after Oct. 7: Why some of them want to stay | 07 Dec 2023 | 00:35:16 | |
For the past eight weeks, Canada has welcomed at least 900 Israelis who’ve arrived looking for a temporary respite from the rockets and warfare in the Middle East. While many stayed only briefly and have already returned home, some are giving up on Israel after Oct. 7, hoping to make the move permanent. They are all enormously grateful for the support they’ve received from the Jewish communities in the form of housing, schooling, mental health counselling and even recreation programs at JCCs. But, as you’ll hear on today’s episode of The CJN Daily, they’ve also been shocked by the wave of antisemitism crashing across the country. Host Ellin Bessner speaks with Maya Tobin Gonen, now staying in Ottawa, whose family survived the attack on their moshav on the Gaza border by hiding for 11 hours in a shelter; Maya Trajtenberg Madar, who left Tel Aviv with her four-month-old baby boy and two older sons to spend the fall in Toronto; and Gabi and Galit Uzan, who initially fled Ashkelon for northern Israel and are now trying to put down roots in Canada. What we talked about
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. | |||
| ‘Put two menorahs up in every public square’: Parliament Hill rally urges Canadians to support the Jewish community | 06 Dec 2023 | 00:28:43 | |
An estimated 20,000 people, mostly members of Canada’s Jewish community, gathered in Ottawa on Dec. 4 to rally in support of Israel, call for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, and fight back against antisemitism. The event was, by far, the largest single demonstration of unity held by Canada’s Jewish community since the terrorist attack that happened on Oct. 7 in Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 more kidnapped. Coming just three days before the start of Hanukkah, the rally featured many speakers who pointed to the Jewish festival of light as a concrete example of what steps Canadians should take—including political leaders—to fight against evil and fight for religious freedom. On today’s The CJN Daily, you’ll hear what it sounded like at the rally, as host Ellin Bessner speaks with several Canadians who made the trip: Myrna Yazer of Halifax; Montrealers Julie Kristof, Judy Litvack and Lucy Shapiro; and Toronto high school students Galit Bell and Jaclyn Charlat. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Moncton city council urged to revisit the ‘insensitive and callous’ end to municipal menorah lighting | 04 Dec 2023 | 00:20:41 | |
The City of Moncton’s abrupt decision to quietly halt the display of all religious symbols on municipal property—including the Hanukkah menorah it owns—came as a shock to the New Brunswick city’s Jewish community. The decision was made on Nov. 30 during a closed-door council session. It came one week before the community was expecting to participate in the annual lighting of the menorah, a tradition that’s been celebrated at City Hall for 20 years. The resulting public outcry over the weekend has included a petition, social media posts from all over the world and a flood of emails to the municipality. While the mayor has not commented, the issue is likely to be revisited on Dec. 4, when Moncton’s city council holds its bimonthly public meeting. At least three city councillors have publicly condemned how the process was conducted in secret, including Daniel Bourgeois, who vowed to The CJN he’ll try to have the issue added to the agenda when the meeting starts at 4 p.m. local time. On The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner is joined by Bourgeois and also by Leigh Lampert, a Moncton-born lawyer who is a member of that city’s Jewish community. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Evan Kosiner told the CBC to call Hamas ‘terrorists’; CBC's ombudsman agrees they could | 30 Nov 2023 | 00:17:08 | |
Toronto businessman Evan Kosiner lodged a complaint with the CBC’s ombudsman last month concerning why the news organization won’t let its journalists describe the Oct. 7 Hamas attack by using the word “terrorism”. Kosiner felt that CBC News—in choosing to refer to Hamas as militants, despite the Canadian government’s own official designation—is biased against Israel. He also accused the CBC of publishing misinformation, particularly for how some journalists initially portrayed the controversial bombing of a Gaza hospital. The CBC received more than 300 complaints, but Kosiner’s was singled out publicly on Friday Nov 24. when the CBC ombudsman, Jack Nagler, published his report. Nagler agreed terrorism is what it was, and thinks the news department could have used the word without breaking CBC journalistic standards. On today’s The CJN Daily, Kosiner joins host Ellin Bessner to explain why he’s not satisfied and is still working to hold the Crown corporation accountable, especially because it receives over $1 billion in taxpayers funding to operate. What we talked about
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. | |||
| A Hezbollah rocket put this Canadian IDF soldier in intensive care. His parents are asking for prayers | 30 Jul 2024 | 00:17:32 | |
When the Israel Defense Forces announced on July 24 that one of their soldiers was badly wounded by Hezbollah rocket fire aimed at an army base in Northern Israel, they didn't disclose the young man's identity. But his parents want the Jewish community to know. Just before they flew to be with him at his hospital bedside, the parents of Ben Brown, asked members of their community in Toronto to begin praying for their son's recovery. Now Jews in Canada and around the world are keeping the 20-year-old student in their prayers. Ben was raised in Toronto, attending Associated Hebrew School and then Or Chaim high school, and went to Moshava summer camp in Ontario before moving to Israel to attend a yeshiva and enlist in the IDF—just like his older brother before him. Since the Hezbollah attack, Ben has undergone neurosurgery in Haifa's Rambam hospital and remains in intensive care, still in a coma. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we speak to Rabbi Daniel Korobkin of the family's Beth Avraham Yoseph synagogue in Thornhill, with community members who know the Browns, and we hear from his older brother, Zach Brown, in Israel, in whose footsteps Ben chose to walk. What we talked about:
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| Just freed by Hamas, 10-year-old Ofri Brodutch wants to come to Canada, her uncle says | 29 Nov 2023 | 00:20:19 | |
This past weekend, Canadian physicist Aharon Brodutch enjoyed an emotional reunion in an Israeli hospital with his kidnapped sister-in-law, Hagar, and her three children, all of whom were taken by Hamas on Oct. 7. The Israelis from Kibbutz Aza were set free on Sunday, Nov. 26 as part of the ongoing hostage deal reached between Israel and Hamas. They'd been held for more than seven weeks since the attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and saw 240 people taken hostage. Brodutch said the four freed hostages have lost a lot of weight and were not ready to leave the hospital yet. His brother, Avichai—Hagar's husband—managed to survive the attack that day, but was wounded in the fighting trying to defend his community. Aharon Brodutch spoke to The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner just before boarding a return flight to Toronto. He recounted the tense moments leading up to his family's release and explained why his 10-year-old niece, Ofri Brodutch, who attended a Jewish summer camp this year in Ontario, wants to come back to Canada. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Ellin Bessner explains why you should consider donating to The CJN Daily on #GivingTuesday | 28 Nov 2023 | 00:13:55 | |
Nearly 500 episodes. Nearly 10,000 hours of programming. It's "what Jewish Canada sounds like." For more than two and a half years, Ellin Bessner and The CJN Daily podcast have been bringing the voices and sounds of Canadian Jewish newsmakers to listeners from coast to coast—and around the world. And since Oct. 7, it's never been more important to provide you with authoritative, trustworthy, accurate and balanced reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict, including updates on the hostage situation, the massacre of 1,200 Israeli residents and a new wave of antisemitism within Canada and beyond. It's coverage you won't find anywhere else. That's why, on #GivingTuesday, Ellin wants to get personal. In this episode, you'll hear why she and the rest of The CJN team need your financial support to keep producing award-winning journalism that's unique in Canada. What we talked about
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. | |||
| A Canadian photographer survived the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. Here’s what he saw | 27 Nov 2023 | 00:20:59 | |
As Shye Klein Weinstein was fleeing from Hamas terrorists who attacked the Supernova music festival in Israel on the weekend of Oct. 7, his camera was clicking constantly, capturing photos and videos of their escape. Except, he says, he doesn’t remember photographing anything. The Canadian photographer—who had just immigrated to Israel in the spring—bought last-minute tickets to the festival, only because a girl he liked was going. The pair travelled with friends and relatives from Tel Aviv to experience the overnight outdoor dance rave, held near Kibbutz Be’eri. The photographer brought two cameras with him and at first, spent hours wandering around and snapping portraits of people enjoying themselves at the festival: young partygoers, DJs, jewelry makers, and body paint artists. Little did he know that, at dawn, Hamas terrorists would descend on the 4,000 revellers and slaughter roughly 350 of them, with 40 more taken hostage. Deeply traumatized by the event, the young photographer is now touring North America, speaking to Jewish students at university campuses and showing them the stark photographic evidence he took of this massacre. As he tells The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner, he hopes that by repeating his story to anyone who will listen, it can allow others to understand what really happened—and help him personally process the life-changing events of that fateful day. What we talked about
_ _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. | |||
| 'There’s nowhere to hide from antisemitism': Hear Montreal Jews describe daily life amid gunshots and molotovs | 23 Nov 2023 | 00:33:51 | |
In the last few weeks in Montreal, anonymous gunmen have targeted Jewish schools; vandals threw molotov cocktails at Jewish buildings; and pro-Palestinian supporters are boycotting Jewish businesses. With this intense backdrop, it's not surprising that Montreal's Jewish community is afraid. Ever since Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, leaders in Canada's second-largest Jewish city have been dealing with an eruption of antisemitism, including at least 100 hate crimes and similar incidents already reported to police. Jewish parents are scared to send their children to school; rabbis and other leaders are demanding the Quebec government permit armed, off-duty police officers to come guard Jewish buildings; and Jewish students at McGill and Concordia are facing sometimes violent anti-Israel protesters. Law enforcement officials say they have everything under control, but to date, only one person has been charged with anything in relation to the incidents described above—compared with nearly 20 charges laid by police in other parts of Canada. The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner travelled to her hometown this week to see for herself why antisemitism seems so much worse in Montreal than elsewhere in Canada. On today's episode, she speaks to Yair Szlak, CEO of Federation CJA; Rabbi Saul Emanuel of the Jewish Community Council; Jamie Ross, a financial advisor and insurance broker; Olivia Weizman, an architect helming a petition for more security; and Esther Klein, the owner of Kosher Quality Bakery. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Canada’s new antisemitism envoy Deborah Lyons urges tripling office staff to handle ‘moment of crisis’ | 21 Nov 2023 | 00:23:49 | |
On Oct. 16, 2023, Deborah Lyons was officially named Canada’s new special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism. She takes over from the inaugural envoy, Irwin Cotler, at a time when Jews in Canada are facing frightening waves of antisemitism on the streets of this country, stemming from Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the subsequent war. Lyons, 73, is not Jewish herself but has deep ties to Israel, and to the Canadian Jewish community, having served as Canada’s ambassador to Israel from 2016–2020. She calls what is happening in this country “a moment of crisis” that calls for numerous societal changes. And to oversee that, she needs more staff. Right now she has one senior civil servant to help her. Marking one month on the job, Lyons joins_ The CJN Daily_ host Ellin Bessner to explain what she is doing on the ground to help make Canada’s Jewish community feel safer. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Hundreds gathered to honour Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver at memorial in Israel | 20 Nov 2023 | 00:18:16 | |
There has been an outpouring of love and support from around the world for the late Vivian Silver, the Canadian-born peace activist whose remains were identified last week, five weeks after she was murdered by Hamas terrorists in the safe room of her home in Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7, 2023. Silver was buried in a private ceremony on Nov. 17 at her kibbutz, with just her two sons and her siblings and a few soldiers as witnesses. The zone is still considered the front lines of Israel's war with Hamas, making access severely restricted. But the day earlier, hundreds gathered for a public memorial service on the lawn of a kibbutz she founded, Kibbutz Gezer, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. They paid tribute to the woman who made it her life's work to build bridges with Palestinians, founding charities and social justice organizations dedicated to solving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis—without violence. While the Jewish community of Winnipeg plans to hold its own memorial in the coming weeks, on today's episode of The CJN Daily, you'll hear sections from her memorial service and tributes from those she was close to: her brother Neil Silver; a childhood friend from Winnipeg, Lynne Mitchell; and Deborah Lyons, Canada's new special envoy for combatting antisemitism. What we talked about
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. | |||
| How Canadians felt marching for Israel at the historic Washington rally | 15 Nov 2023 | 00:23:19 | |
The historic March for Israel in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14 is already being described as the largest public rally by Jewish people in American history, with an estimated crowd of 300,000 people gathering at the capital’s National Mall. Among them were at least 2,000 Canadians. Some were driven in on buses from Jewish high schools, such as Yeshivat Or Chaim and TanenbaumCHAT; some flew from Montreal aboard a plane chartered by Federation CJA; others simply drove themselves on their own dime. One thing unites them: they all wanted to be part of the effort to support Israel, campaigning to free the 240 hostages in Gaza and fighting back against widespread antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas. For nearly four hours, they heard speeches from top U.S. lawmakers, Israeli politician Natan Sharansky, families of Israeli hostages, actors such as Debra Messing, and live performances by Israeli pop stars Ishay Ribo and Omer Adam. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner speaks to several Canadians who made the long trip: Toronto’s Susan Osher and her niece Dani Schkolne, 23; Montrealers Rabbi Reuben Poupko and CIJA national chair Gail Adelson-Marcovitz; Toronto high school student Adin Bendat-Appell, 15, and his mother, Yael; and Jacob Rifkind and Akyva Spiegel, members of Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in Toronto. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Why aren’t police doing more to stop antisemitic speech in Canada? | 13 Nov 2023 | 00:22:05 | |
Show notes Police in Montreal are redeploying their squad cars in different locations this week in an effort to better protect the city’s Jewish community. The move comes a week after bullets were fired through the doors of two Jewish schools; Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue and a Jewish office; and three people were injured in a fracas over the Israel-Hamas war at Concordia University. Despite all this, however, there have been no reports of anyone being charged in Montreal over antisemitism. Local Jewish community leaders point to the incitement actually starting on Oct. 28, after a high-profile Muslim clergyman exhorted a large crowd of pro-Palestinian protestors to “exterminate Zionist aggressors”. Canada, of course, does have hate speech laws under the Criminal Code—but, historically, it’s been difficult to convict people with these provisions. And even when that does happen, the accused often appeal their sentences for years through the legal system. So how should Canadian police and provincial Crown prosecutors get control of people now targeting Canada’s Jewish community? Legal expert Mark Freiman thinks police could be doing a lot more, but hopes what the Calgary police department has done—charging someone for simply “disturbing the peace”—might just work for other law enforcement units across Canada. Freiman joins The CJN Daily‘s host Ellin Bessner to discuss whether Canadian police could do more to act upon this recent wave of hate-filled acts. What we talked about
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. | |||
| A coin collector stumbled upon a Canadian Jewish war hero’s story—and is now dedicated to sharing it | 09 Nov 2023 | 00:17:20 | |
In the summer of 2022, coin expert Brian Iseman stumbled on a trove of long-forgotten personal military possessions belonging to the family of Lt. Myer Tutzer Cohen. Cohen, from Toronto, was the first Canadian Jewish soldier to win the Military Cross for bravery in the Great War—and possibly the first in Canadian history to do so. Iseman quickly realized he needed to buy the collection to save it from being sold off, even though at the time, he didn’t know who Cohen was, nor was he aware of the young soldier’s remarkable achievements fighting against the Germans on the western front during the First World War. Cohen was the son of one of the founders of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, and attended Harbord Collegiate high school. He was killed holding the line and badly outnumbered on the rain-soaked, muddy battlefields at Passchendaele on Nov. 3, 1917. His death came just a few weeks after he had been awarded the British Commonwealth’s second-highest military medal, the Military Cross, for taking out two German patrols in no man’s land in France, then capturing the rest as prisoners. Iseman has rescued an important piece of Canadian history, and connected with Cohen’s surviving family in Israel while documenting the young officer’s life. Now, he is looking for suggestions on where he can best share Cohen’s colourful story with the world. As we approach Remembrance Day this Saturday Nov. 11, The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner visited Iseman at his Richmond Hill office to see the lost Lt. Myer Tutzer Cohen collection. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Jewish university students talk about recently rising antisemitism at school | 08 Nov 2023 | 00:35:16 | |
Being a Jewish post-secondary student on Canadian campuses this semester has become an uncomfortable experience in the past month. Students have received death threats; mezuzot have been ripped down; professors have injected anti-Israel rhetoric into their lectures; and student councils—even entire departments—have issued declarations condemning Israel. All this while Jewish students, wanting to support Israel, are suffering from the same mental health crisis that’s gripped the broader Jewish Diaspora community. The world of academia has been fertile ground for anti-Zionism, where Israel is widely considered an oppressive colonial state within anti-racism frameworks. But in the past month, college campuses have become flashpoints, pitting Canadian Jewish students against vocal antisemitism from so-called progressive teachers and classmates. This has culminated in a series of lawsuits launched by Jewish students on Nov. 2, 2023, against some of Canada’s most high-profile institutions—Toronto Metropolitan University, Queen’s, UBC and York—accusing them of negligence in failing to address antisemitism for decades. The CJN Daily‘s producer, Zachary Kauffman, spoke with four Canadian students to find out what they’re encountering on campus. He’s joined by Hannah Alper, who attends Western University in London; Ido Ziv-li, from the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus; Morgan Rosenberg, from McMaster in Hamilton; and Emily Broitman, at Queen’s in Kingston. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Canada's kosher meat packers won in federal court. How will this affect the Jewish community? | 29 Jul 2024 | 00:24:00 | |
Last week, the Federal Court of Canada sided with Jewish communities in Montreal and Toronto in their dispute with the federal government over new biological guidelines covering how cows are slaughtered. On July 24, the judge granted kosher meat producers a temporary injunction, effectively pausing the enforcement of new guidelines that are aimed at ensuring animals don’t feel undue pain when they’re killed. Jewish groups such as Montreal Kosher and the Kashruth Council of Canada argued in court that the guidelines not only were bad science, but were not in keeping with ritual practice, and were too costly. Which is why the judge felt he needed to act quickly so as to preserve the religious freedoms enjoyed by Canadian Jews who’ve been legally permitted to use handheld ritual slaughter methods for generations. The judge’s ruling took religion and culture into consideration, including how trained shochetim carry out a vital religious service for the Canadian Jewish community, and also the importance of eating meat on Jewish holidays. But do Jews really need to eat meat? How many shochet jobs are actually at direct risk? And, perhaps most important to the majority of kosher-keeping Canadians, will the price for kosher meat go down? Rabbi Avi Finegold, host of The CJN’s weekly current affairs podcast Bonjour Chai, joins _The CJN Daily _to share his insight, and we’ll also hear from Shimon Koffler Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, who were directly involved in the case. What we talked about:
**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. 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 security expert says this isn't the time to take your mezuzahs down in fear | 07 Nov 2023 | 00:23:20 | |
Toronto police have arrested and charged a 32-year-old Toronto man after he allegedly tried to stop someone from putting up posters of missing Israeli hostages along Yonge Street. Police say further hate-related charges could be laid. Meanwhile late Monday, Ottawa police announced they have laid various charges against a 29-year-old man after death threats were made during a phone call with Rabbi Idan Scher, of Congregation Machzikei Hadas last Friday. The charges brings the total so far to 9 people who have been arrested and charged in Canada since Oct 7, when the barbarous Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,400 people and prompted Israel’s declaration of war against Hamas in Gaza. Jewish communities from Vancouver to Regina and Winnipeg and Ottawa to Montreal and Moncton have been targeted with antisemitic incidents. These have included damaged mezuzot; a bomb threat made to an elementary school; a weapon fired in the dead of night through the front door of a Jewish home; restaurant patrons being harassed; and death threats made against Canadian Jews. All this to say nothing of Hamas and ISIS flags being waved in the streets. Canada just announced a one-time pot of $5 million for security guards and equipment to protect Jewish and other religious groups’ offices and day care centres. But can the police do more? Should Canadian Jews stay away from schools and synagogues and events? CIJA’s director of community security, Gerry Almendrades, tells _The CJN Daily _host Ellin Bessner that’s actually the worst thing Jews can do: give into the fear. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Meet the Canadian teenagers choosing to stay in Israel during the war | 06 Nov 2023 | 00:19:28 | |
Maya Winkler, 19, was supposed to be taking classes at Reichman University in Herzliya this year—but is instead spending her days collecting supplies for Israeli soldiers and babysitting their kids. Leora Prutschi, 18, was supposed to be on a reverse Shinshinim project—a year of service for Diaspora teens in Israel—but is instead commuting from Eilat to Timna, 30 km north, to teach English to displaced Israeli kids whose homes were destroyed. Meanwhile, Joey Lipetz, 18, studies at a yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion, near Jerusalem, where he also assembles piles of ritual green prayer shawls for soldiers and recites psalms for them. These three teenagers are among an untold number of young Canadian Jewish students who went to Israel for a gap-year program, or to do a year of university studies, only to find their plans dramatically upended by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and subsequent war. And while many in their cohort have returned to Canada, these three have chosen to remain in Israel, despite pressure from their families. Winkler, Lipetz and Prutschi spoke to The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner about why they feel safer staying to help Israel, even as they face rocket attacks in a country traumatized by the barbaric murders of 1,500 Israelis and foreign tourists near the Gaza Strip a month ago. What we talked about
_ _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. | |||
| Israel’s new envoy on antisemitism has harsh words for Canada after its abstention in a UN vote on the war with Hamas | 01 Nov 2023 | 00:31:10 | |
Just ahead of her first visit to Canada as Israel’s newly-appointed Special Envoy on Combatting Antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh had strong criticism of the Trudeau government’s decision to abstain last week on a vote at the United Nations’ General Assembly about the Israel Hamas war. Cotler-Wunsh calls the decision by Canada to abstain, rather than vote “No”: “worse than silence”. The new special envoy arrives in Canada today for talks in Ottawa on Parliament Hill, and then speaks in Toronto at a fundraiser for a Jewish group. Cotler-Wunsh is Israeli, but grew up in Canada, the daughter of professor Irwin Cotler, human rights crusader and Canada’s own first Special Envoy fighting antisemitism – a position he just finished last week. Cotler-Wunsh was apppointed to her new post just three weeks before the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Southern Israel killed over 1,400 people and kidnapped over 239 more, using tactics which she calls “genocidal”. She’s working feverishly now to explain to the world why Jews and allies must fight “this existential war” on the Jewish State and people, and why Hamas’s tactics have roots in age-old antisemitism now disguised as modern anti-Zionism. As you will hear, some moments of panic ensued when Cotler-Wunsh joined The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner from her office in Tel Aviv right in the middle of a rocket attack. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Hear the families of Hamas’s hostages urge the Canadian government to do more | 31 Oct 2023 | 00:18:17 | |
If you ask some relatives of the nearly 240 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, they will say “there hasn’t been enough pressure” to free their loved ones. That’s one of the key messages they emphasized during private meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and with other Canadian politicians and journalists, on Oct. 30. The Israeli group said they are getting little to no information on their loved ones’ status from their own government, which they’ve accused of failing to protect their families. They called on Canada to break off diplomatic and financial ties to organizations and countries that help Hamas, and they want Canada to pressure Israel to make hostage recovery the top priority. On today’s The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner brings you the powerful words of several relatives, including Winnipeg-born hostage Vivian Silver’s son, Chen Zeigen; Aharon Brodutch, a Canadian-Israeli physicist whose sister-in-law and three young children were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza (including his niece, Ofri, 10, who attended Camp Gesher in Ontario this summer, and nephews Yuval, 8, and Uriah, 4); Harel Lapidot, a Regina-born Israeli lawyer, whose niece Tiferet Lapidot, 22, was murdered at the Supernova music festival, and Itay Raviv, with three relatives held hostage and one uncle murdered at Kibbutz Nir Oz. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Vivian Silver, the Canadian peace activist taken hostage by Hamas, would wish to be released through non-violent means, her close friend says | 30 Oct 2023 | 00:18:30 | |
As Israeli tanks and infantry forces began a limited push into Gaza over the weekend, ahead of an expected full-scale ground invasion, families and friends of the now-230 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 want to make sure their loved ones aren’t forgotten. That’s why Toronto social worker Lynne Mitchell, a longtime friend of kidnapped Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, is speaking out. She’s telling the world who Silver is and how her friend went to Israel to devote her life to helping forge peaceful relationships between Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and Jews. She believes Silver, a widow, would not want to be freed through violent raids—but rather by mediation or negotiation. It’s been more than three weeks since Silver, 74, was captured by Hamas while hiding in her safe room inside her Kibbutz Be’eri home, where 130 residents were later found slaughtered. Mitchell joins The CJN Daily to share how Silver’s family has been navigating this tense moment—and what she hopes will happen next. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| This Canadian social worker is helping bereaved Israelis ID the remains of Hamas attack victims | 26 Oct 2023 | 00:26:25 | |
Canadian social worker Joy Frenkiel can’t get two particular sounds out of her head: IDF soldiers hammering wood to build coffins, and the motors of refrigerated containers storing hundreds of still-unidentified bodies at an Israeli military base. Frenkiel moved to Israel from Chomedey, north of Montreal, in 1996; since the horrific murders of at least 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals earlier this month by Hamas, the Ramat Gan resident has been helping bereaved families go through what is likely the hardest experience of their lives. Frenkiel not only travels with military teams on solemn home visits to break the news to next of kin—she also supports grieving parents, spouses and other relatives when they go in-person to the morgue at the Shura military base at Ramla to officially identify the remains. For Frenkiel, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, seeing the condition of many of the bodies has been almost beyond description. But, as she tells The CJN Daily‘s host Ellin Bessner in the third episode of our series on “The Helpers” in this war, Frenkiel is honouring those who were murdered to fulfill the mitzvah of giving kindness during the darkest period of Israel’s modern history. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| This Canadian cardiologist flew to Israel immediately after the Hamas attack to volunteer—and save lives | 24 Oct 2023 | 00:20:27 | |
Dr. Brad Strauss is a cardiologist at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, with a roster of patients and several new medical devices under development. But immediately following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, Strauss dropped everything and booked a plane ticket to Tel Aviv. Despite his flight being delayed by missile threats—it took him two days in transit—he arrived ready to work near the frontlines around Gaza. Instead, he was accepted by the cardiology team at the HaEmek hospital in Afula, in the country's north—within firing range of Hezbollah's rockets. Strauss is the only Canadian doctor volunteering with that hospital's heart unit right now. But The CJN is aware of many other Canadian medical professionals who are on the ground to help. And there will be thousands more, as Israel wants foreign-trained medical staff from Canada, the U.S. and the European Union to volunteer, anticipating casualties straining their health care system. In the second episode of our week spotlighting "The Helpers" in the Holy Land, Strauss speaks to The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner about what motivated him to come and why stress is causing heart problems for patients who he has seen during these last two weeks. What we talked about
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 | |||
| Canadian toymaker Ronnen Harary is helping Israeli kids, soldiers and hospitals | 23 Oct 2023 | 00:22:28 | |
Ronnen Harary and his university friends founded the toy and entertainment company Spin Master in 1994, launching with Earth Buddies and later the wildly successful Air Hogs toys. Today, it’s their Paw Patrol characters and Gund stuffed animals that are globally famous. And for the last two weeks, since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel, Harary has been on the ground in Israel distributing 25,000 toys for Israeli kids and their families who have been affected by the war with Hamas. And that’s not all. His personal charity is buying new beds for the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem to boost capacity ahead of expected casualties. Meanwhile, the Canadian philanthropist has also personally driven boxes of socks and supplies to army bases all over Israel, and his charity is helping a Canadian-led operation sending a food truck to feed soldiers before they embark on what’s expected to be an unprecedented ground assault on the Gaza Strip against Hamas. Today, The CJN Daily is kicking off a week of stories about what we’re calling “The Helpers”: Canadians stepping up to help Israel during these difficult times. Host Ellin Bessner speaks to Harary and to Franck Azoulay, a former Montrealer who now runs Harary’s personal charity and is himself serving with the IDF.
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| CBC News explains why they can't call Hamas 'terrorists' | 19 Oct 2023 | 00:26:15 | |
There’s been a lot of attention paid this week to the way some major news organizations are covering the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, which was launched on Oct. 7. The CBC, in particular, has come under scrutiny because it is a government-funded body to the tune of more than $1 billion a year. Twelve days ago, a CBC internal memo was sent to staff right after the attack happened, reminding journalists not to use the word “terrorists” or “terrorism” without attribution, when writing their stories. The memo was leaked to the public, sparking a barrage of complaints. This week, the federal Conservatives demanded CBC brass appear in front of a parliamentary committee to explain why their news teams have been advised to use more neutral language when describing the murderous massacre of 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals. The CBC says it is not alone in insisting its team not call the Hamas gunmen terrorists: the BBC doesn’t either. They don’t want to be seen to be taking sides, even while showing the gruesome carnage in as clear and accurate detail as they can. The CJN Daily‘s host, Ellin Bessner, spoke to Brodie Fenlon, the editor-in-chief of CBC News, to find out what’s behind the controversial wording policy of militants vs terrorists, and whether it should change. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Tiferet Lapidot, 22, an Israeli charity volunteer, is considered the sixth Canadian killed by Hamas | 18 Oct 2023 | 00:18:45 | |
Tiferet Lapidot had been teaching English to children in Africa before she returned to Israel this fall to be with her family for the High Holidays. She was planning to go to Australia after holidays ended, around the time she was going to turn 23. But, first, she decided to go to the Supernova music festival near the border with Gaza. That's where she found herself frantically running for her life on Oct. 7, trying to escape from Hamas terrorists, who committed a murderous massacre at the now-notorious festival. Lapidot managed to make one last phone call home to her mother. But after that, the family heard nothing. They feared she was among the nearly 200 kidnapped Israelis and foreign tourists taken hostage in Gaza. But on Oct. 18, after an agonizing wait that took over a week, the family learned their daughter was among the 260 partygoers who died that day. On The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner speaks with the late Tiferet Lapidot's aunt, Galit Goren, and with her uncle, Harel Lapidot, both of whom are Canadians living in Israel. This interview was recorded days before the family learned of Lapidot's fate. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here | |||
| This CUPE member is suing one of Canada’s biggest unions over systemic antisemitism | 25 Jul 2024 | 00:22:19 | |
On Oct. 8, 2023, one day after the Hamas terror attack on Israel, Fred Hahn—the president of Ontario’s chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)—wrote a tweet on his social media account: “I’m thankful for the power of workers, the power of resistance around the globe. Because #Resistance is fruitful and no matter what some might say, #Resistance brings progress, and for that, I’m thankful.” It was a controversial post, due to the timing, though Hahn denies he was referring to Oct. 7—even though the longtime labour leader has a history of pro-Palestinian activism, and CUPE Ontario has long come under fire for years for harbouring antisemitic sentiments. For Carrie Silverberg, it was the last straw. The Vaughan, Ont. woman–who is a CUPE member as required by her job in a public school board–decided to take Hahn, and the union to court. The education worker is the lead plaintiff in a human rights complaint filed with Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal. Her case was also joined by nearly 80 other union members. For years, Silverberg has fought to change her union’s anti-Israel policies; it makes her sick that CUPE uses her mandatory membership dues to support anti-Israel boycotts, calls to renew UNRWA funding, and standing with the recent encampments on university grounds. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Carrie Silverberg joins to explain why she’s in for a long legal fight. What we talked about:
**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. 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. | |||
| Feeling anxious over the war in Israel? 10 tips from a mental health expert | 17 Oct 2023 | 00:23:54 | |
Toronto cognitive behavioural therapy counsellor Leanne Matlow says her phone has been buzzing ever since the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists on southern Israel on Oct. 7. She’s been hearing from Canadian parents who don’t know how to reassure their children, who are being exposed to gruesome videos and images of blood-stained rooms and also wounded or dead Israeli victims of the massacre–not to mention being nervous since extra squads of police and security guards have turned up patrolling their schools, community centres and synagogues since the violence began. Matlow has worked as a school guidance counsellor and now is in private practice specializing in helping anxious young people as her clients. She’s just issued a series of ten tips for adults (and the children they care for) to help them manage their mental health at this difficult time in Jewish history. On today’s The CJN Daily, she joins host Ellin Bessner with practical advice that everyone can use. Leanne Matlow’s 10 Tips: Here are some suggested tips. As the conflict is dynamic, so must be our responses
What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| We met the first Canadians evacuated home from Israel arriving at Pearson airport | 16 Oct 2023 | 00:18:20 | |
A student who’d been volunteering at an Israeli daycare. A widower and his three children honouring the anniversary of their mother’s death. A 15-year-old studying at an Israeli boarding school—and her mother, who was visiting her for Sukkot. These are just some of the first Canadians who’ve returned home from Israel Friday, having been safely evacuated as part of Ottawa’s emergency airlifts which began Oct. 12. After Hamas launched a murderous attack on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, including eight Canadians, the federal government took a few days to arrange the official evacuation. The Canadians boarded Royal Canadian Air Force transport planes in Tel Aviv, which brought them to the airport in Athens, Greece—where many had to spend the night sleeping on the floor, because there were no hotels available, given the mass exodus of travellers leaving the Holy Land. They then boarded an Air Canada flight home the next day, safely arriving at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Oct. 13. _The CJN Daily’_s Ellin Bessner was there on Friday evening when the special flight landed. There she spoke with Simona Bitton and her family, Kinneret Butterfield-Morrison, along with her brother Noam, and Sivanne and Jordyn Detsky. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Canada's rescue mission about to begin for citizens caught in Israel's war with Hamas: MP Ya'ara Saks | 12 Oct 2023 | 00:23:02 | |
On Oct. 11, the Canadian government announced it is mounting an emergency operation to fly Canadians out of Israel, possibly beginning as early as Thursday night. Several Canadian Forces transport planes will be sent to Tel Aviv to shuttle hundreds of Canadians and other passengers out of Israel to Greece, even as rocket fire continues raining down from Gaza, and mortars fall along the northern border with Lebanon. So far, according to Ya’ara Saks, the minister of mental health and addictions, who is the first Israeli-Canadian elected to Parliament, Canada has received 1,280 calls for travel help since the weekend, when Hamas terrorists swarmed across the Gaza border in southern Israel. Critics have blasted the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv for responding too slowly to appeals from desperate Canadians trapped in bomb shelters, especially after Air Canada and other airlines cancelled flights. Saks deflected the criticism, insisting her government is mounting an “all-hands-on-deck effort” to get Canadians out, including sending a negotiating team in for Canadians believed to be hostages in Gaza, including Vivian Silver, 74, originally from Winnipeg. Ya’ara Saks spoke to The CJN Daily’s Ellin Bessner about coping with her own personal grief over family members who’ve been killed, while helping Canadians caught up in Israel’s war with Hamas. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| These Canadian fathers describe what it’s like as their children fight for Israel | 11 Oct 2023 | 00:23:11 | |
One is a doctor. One is with a tank unit. One is in reconnaissance. All three sons of Toronto-born Ira Garshowitz were called up on the weekend to serve at the front with the Israel Defense Forces after the unprecedented Hamas attack on Oct. 7. Garshowitz’s daughter is also in uniform–and like her brothers, all are Canadian citizens but born in Israel. Meanwhile, Jonathan Shiff now has two married sons and a daughter in action since the weekend. The Canadian-born lawyer immigrated to Israel in 1989 and like Garshowitz, is also an IDF veteran. Between him and Garshowitz, they have seven children fighting in what’s been dubbed “Operation Iron Swords”, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed will “exact a price that will be remembered by [Hamas] and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.” More than 150 Israeli soldiers have been killed to date in the war. Garshowitz and Shiff join _The CJN Daily _host Ellin Bessner to describe what life is like for them right now, their fears for their children in battle, and what their families are doing as civilians to help the war effort. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Israel's new ambassador to Canada on who’s to blame and what's next | 09 Oct 2023 | 00:23:17 | |
Iddo Moed arrived in Ottawa only six weeks ago to take up the post as Israel’s new ambassador to Canada. He hasn’t even presented his credentials to Governor General Mary Simon yet, which means he isn’t permitted to make direct contact with Canadian politicians until that ceremony takes place. Nevertheless, Moed is making Israel’s position clear on who is behind the unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas over the weekend that has killed at least 700 Israelis, wounded thousands more, and saw Palestinian terrorists kidnap over 100 people, including possibly two or three Canadians. While Moed said Iran was clearly the mastermind behind the Hamas onslaught that began Saturday Oct. 6, he suggested that the international community, including Canada, should rethink its habit of sending funds through the UN to help Palestinians in Gaza, since that money winds up instead being used to incite terrorists who carried out “barbaric” acts of hatred of Jews and Israel. Since 2016, when Canada resumed funding the UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East), the Liberal government has sent or pledged at least $300 million. Despite this contentious issue, Moed welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s declaration of support for Israel now, including the move to light up the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill on Sunday with the Israeli flag. Moed joins _The CJN Daily’_s Ellin Bessner from Ottawa. What we talked about
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. | |||
| Less than 10 km from Gaza, this Canadian-Israeli couple is hiding for their lives: ‘We’ve lost a lot of hope’ | 08 Oct 2023 | 00:25:27 | |
On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, Gloria and Howard Wener woke up to the sound of rockets and an air raid warning. The Canadian couple immigrated to Israel 50 years ago as pioneers of Sde Nitzan, a moshav of 500 people, less than 10 km from the Gaza border. Now, two days into Israel’s latest war with the Hamas-controlled region, the Weners remain locked inside their home, angry and disillusioned. The couple has found themselves living near the frontlines of the most lethal attack in recent Israeli history. The surprise invasion by Hamas breached the Israeli border by land, sea and air into Israel’s southwestern towns and communities, killing (as of publication on Oct. 8) more than 600 Israeli people and wounding 2,000 Israelis. At least 100 people, mostly Israelis, have been kidnapped and are being held hostage. For now, the Weners are under orders to remain in lockdown, or even evacuate their home, while Hamas terrorists still roam their Eshkol Regional Council zone. Some of the Weners friends and neighbours have been killed or kidnapped. The Canadian couple is “fuming” and “disappointed” over the colossal inteIligence failure by the Israeli army, which didn’t see the attack coming and took hours to respond. They join The CJN Daily‘s host, Ellin Bessner, from their home on the front lines. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| It was the 'wurst' of times: Chicago 58 celebrates 100 years of Jewish-style salami | 04 Oct 2023 | 00:24:06 | |
A century after Chicago 58 Food Products’ late founder, David Bernholtz, borrowed $500 dollars to open a kosher butcher shop in Toronto’s Kensington Market, his grandchildren—and great-grandson—are still running the business. Chicago 58 threw a 100th anniversary barbecue for suppliers and customers last week, complete with fresh hot dogs and steaming brisket sandwiches on rye. For 80 years, the Chicago 58 all-beef salamis, Lanky Franky hot dogs and beef pastramis were made with the founder’s secret old-world recipes at the company’s original factory on Lippincott Street. Diners could find them at famous Ontario delis, including Pancer’s, Shopsy’s and even The Pickle Barrel. But by the 2000s, new health rules—plus family disputes and union issues—convinced the Bernholtzes that it was time to leave the aging warren of rooms in the historic Jewish neighbourhood. In 2005 they moved to a modern industrial building in the northwest Toronto suburb of Woodbridge. Today, Chicago 58 no longer makes their own meat and deli products in-house. They contract it out. And they have expanded into distributing other food lines, too, like lasagna, cheese, coffee, tuna and even bacon, supplying restaurants and grocery chains like Farm Boy, Metro, Sobeys Longos and Loblaws. Now, on the company’s centennial, the family is working to preserve the founders’ old-fashioned ways of doing business, while adapting to modern customers’ eating habits. The CJN Daily‘s Ellin Bessner visited the warehouse to speak to current president Teddy Bernholtz, a grandson of the founder, and also to Yittie Starkman, his aunt, aged 96 and a half, who worked at her father’s plant for decades. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| Will Canada finally release top-secret papers on suspected Nazi war criminals who moved to the country? | 02 Oct 2023 | 00:28:31 | |
As the fallout continues from the Canadian Parliament applauding a 98-year-old former member of a Nazi-led Ukrainian Waffen SS unit, the spotlight is focusing on how the former soldier Yaroslav Hunka and thousands of other enemy troops like him, were permitted to come to Canada in the first place. For decades, Jewish groups have been calling on the Canadian government to release the complete files from the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada—known as the Deschênes Commission—which, from 1985 to 1986, looked into how many Nazi war criminals were here and what Canada could do about it. While the final report led to a few (mostly unsuccessful) prosecutions, much of the detailed information, including the names and cases of hundreds of other suspects, was never released. The papers are held by Library and Archives Canada, the Department of Justice and the RCMP. Now, however, some are hoping the international public embarrassment might convince the federal government to finally reckon with Canada’s past and release all these historic files. On The CJN Daily, we meet the main Canadian historian, Alti Rodal, who worked for the Deschênes Commission nearly 40 years ago. Then we speak to David Matas, B’nai Brith’s senior legal counsel, who intervened in those hearings in 1985 and continues to lobby for the full records to be made public. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| The consequences of Parliament’s ‘mind-boggling’ ovation for former Nazi | 27 Sep 2023 | 00:24:41 | |
Artur Wilczynski has choice words to describe what happened in the Canadian House of Commons on Sept. 22, when lawmakers gave two standing ovations to a 98-year-old former Ukrainian solider who served with a Nazi unit during the Second World War. Wilczynski, a former diplomat and senior civil servant in Ottawa—and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor—calls the scandal an “absolute public relations disaster for Canada.” Wilczynski was stunned as he watched the incident unfold during Friday’s official ceremony in the House to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Canada. After the leader of the war-torn country made his formal speech, the Speaker of the House, Anthony Rota, recognized the presence of Yaroslav Hunka in the public gallery. Rota called Hunka, who lives in Rota’s riding of North Bay, a Canadian hero—but it soon was discovered that, in fact, he had actually fought for the Nazis and against the Russians, as part of a notorious Waffen-SS unit known for massacring Jews during the Holocaust and committing atrocities against Polish civilians. The Speaker has since announced his resignation, effective Wednesday night. But observers, including Wilczynski, say the damage will have long-lasting repercussions on Canada, NATO and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Wilczynski joins The CJN Daily to unpack how such a failure in protocol could have happened—and what Canada needs to do to fix things. What we talked about
What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. This podcast is powered by Pinecast. | |||
| Israel’s pro-democracy protest leaders come looking for support in Canada | 26 Sep 2023 | 00:27:26 | |
On Sept. 26, Temple Sholom in Vancouver is hosting two of the leaders of Israel's months-long protests: Jerusalem professor Michal Muszkat-Barkan and Ora Peled Nakash, a computer engineer who lives on a kibbutz outside Haifa. The pair will speak about their grassroots efforts these past nine months to stop the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. The two women are being flown in on the invitation of progressive Jewish groups including JSpace Canada, ARZA, the New Israel Fund, UnXeptable and the America-Israel Democracy Coalition. This is the first time anyone from the self-described pro-democracy protests (which have attracted hundreds of thousands of people every weekend for the past nine months) has made the journey to Canada to drum up support from the world's third-largest Diaspora community. They're also speaking the next day in Seattle before heading home for Sukkot. On The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Muszkat-Barkan and Peled Nakash about why they are coming to Canada—and then we catch up with Joan Garson, of Toronto, active in a wide range of local and international Reform and other Jewish organizations. She travelled to New York to protest against Netanyahu while the Israeli leader was speaking at the United Nations a few days ago. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. This podcast is powered by Pinecast. | |||
| The ICJ called Israel’s 57-year military rule of Palestinian land ‘illegal’. What happens next? | 23 Jul 2024 | 00:22:31 | |
On July 19, the International Court of Justice in The Hague demanded Israel leave the disputed territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, after occupying them since 1967. The UN’s high court also instructed Israel to repay Palestinian residents an untold sum for taking natural resources, segregating the Palestinians, forcing Palestinian families to flee their homes due to settler violence, transferring Israeli Jews into the area illegally and unlawfully turning what was once a legal postwar military occupation into a de-facto civilian annexation full of settlements. The ruling was the first time the UN’s highest court has ruled on the legality of Israel’s control of the area, which it captured 57 years ago from Jordan, during the Six-Day War. Israel immediately rejected the court’s non-binding ruling, asking how Jews could be occupying land that historically belong to the Jewish people. The Canadian government officially “took note” of the ruling but has said nothing further. So today, we ask: Is the ICJ declaration a game-changer for the Palestinian cause? Or is it, as some of the dissenting judges and critics have said, just another one-sided, politically motivated attack by the UN on Israel while the Jewish state fights for its survival against Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other nearby enemies? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we unpack the latest ICJ findings with two guests: Ben Murane, the executive director of the New Israel Fund of Canada, and Arsen Ostrovsky, who just wrapped a week of meetings in Canada as the CEO of the International Legal Forum, an Israeli-based NGO that uses courts to defend Israel around the world. What we talked about:
**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. 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. | |||
| Will masking return this winter COVID season? A doctor in Ottawa is fighting for it | 19 Sep 2023 | 00:10:02 | |
Last Monday, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board voted to determine if trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth breached the board’s code of conduct by sending a series of arguably bullying text messages to another trustee in trying to garner allies as she attempted to reinstate a mask mandate in Ottawa schools. In her messages, Kaplan-Myrth wrote that trustees opposing her motion didn't care "if Black and Indigenous children get sick… If children in poverty get sick… If children with disabilities and immunocompromised family members can’t safely go to school." She later implored her colleague to not "vote with white supremacists." The chaotic special meeting devolved into a shouting match before the final tally, when the motion failed by a single vote. In response to the debacle, The CJN's political columnist Josh Leiblein wrote a piece criticizing Kaplan-Myrth—and she responded to our publication with a lengthy three-page rebuttal. We share a bit of her response in this re-airing of our conversation with Kaplan-Myrth from May 2021. With her name back in the news—and with COVID season starting up again—we wanted to revisit this interview, recorded during her rise to prominence as an outspoken proponent of masking, back when she was hosting large-scale vaccination events known as "jabapaloozas". Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| May their memory never buffer: Synagogue yahrzeit memorials are going digital | 18 Sep 2023 | 00:25:56 | |
Many Jews around the world will be reciting the Yizkor memorial prayer as Yom Kippur approaches this weekend. And while most synagogues maintain traditional memorial wall displays, with columns of bronze or brass yahrzeit plaques, a growing number of Jewish congregations in North America and even Europe are embracing new technology and replacing the hardware with interactive digital memorials. Not only can you put longer, fuller biographies and photos on the digital memorial, but they can be also be accessed from anywhere in the world, even on your phone. It’s a modern solution for synagogues that are merging, as well as for others that are running out of wall space. And, yes, you can set the memorial so it will not violate the ban on using technology during Shabbat and holy days. Beit Rayim Synagogue and School in Vaughan, Ont., is the latest shul in Canada to install a digital kiosk, although Ottawa's Kehillat Beth Israel has had a digital display for several years, as has Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek. Now other congregations in Toronto and Montreal are considering the concept. Already some 65 congregations in the United States have installed them. On today’s The CJN Daily, Beit Rayim’s vice president, Lorraine Bloom, joins host Ellin Bessner, along with Heshy Spira, a partner with the W and E Baum company based in New Jersey, which makes the machines. What we talked about
Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||
| New year, new hurricane: Atlantic Canada once again on alert as Hurricane Lee threatens Rosh Hashanah celebrations | 14 Sep 2023 | 00:16:32 | |
This weekend, Atlantic Canada is preparing to get slammed by Hurricane Lee, a Category 1 hurricane that could blast winds as strong as 110 km/h across parts of the country. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are on especially high alert in the storm's path, with residents preparing for worst-case scenarios: power outages, storm surges, flooding and property damage. This is the second year in a row that Maritime Jews are finding their new year celebrations threatened by a lethal storm. This same time last year, community members across Nova Scotia were all set for Rosh Hashanah when Hurricane Fiona smashed into the coast, blowing winds of up to 170 km/hr and dumping seven inches of rain across the region. The community was left without power, light, refrigeration or heat. In the aftermath of the natural disaster, The CJN Daily spoke with Shayna Strong, a Jewish community member in New Waterford, just northeast of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Strong explained how they managed to celebrate Rosh Hashanah despite the hardship. With a near-identical situation facing Atlantic Jews this weekend, we're re-airing our interview with Strong, which originally ran in September 2022. Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our intern is Ashok Lamichhane, and our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. | |||