This 96-year-old Canadian is moving to Israel in the middle of the war, as have hundreds of Jews

Israel’s government says 45,000 new immigrants came to live in the Holy Land in 2023, including over 720 alone who landed since Oct. 7–when Hamas terrorists attacked and slaughtered 1,200 Israeli residents and took 240 others hostage. Among the newcomers is Irving Matlow, 96, a well-known member of Toronto’s Jewish community, who may be among the oldest people ever to make Aliyah. Matlow has been deeply attached to the State of Israel since he grew up in a Zionist home in Toronto, the son of Jewish immigrants from Belarus. In 1948, while studying for his business degree at the University of Toronto, he left Canada and snuck into Israel to fight for a year in the Israel War of Independence. Now, 75 years later, the widower's personal gesture of support for the country he helped found comes as Israel is engaged in a similar existential war of survival, although Matlow is long past the days of putting on a uniform. On today’s episode, we’ll speak to Matlow just before his plane lands in Tel Aviv, plus you’ll meet other Canadians who’ve permanently moved to Israel in recent weeks–despite the war, or maybe, even partly because of it: Montreal schoolteacher Laurence Ittah, and Victoria B.C. bakers Moshe and Leah Appel and their children.

What we talked about

• Learn more about Irving Matlow’s service in the Israel War of Independence in 1948, in The CJN.
• Moshe and Leah Appel ran the only kosher bakery on Vancouver Island until a few months ago, in The CJN.
• How the Canadian parents of Israeli lone soldiers are surviving the war 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.