North Star with Ellin Bessner

Like the Taylor Swift song about her ex-boyfriend, El Al airlines is likely “never, ever, getting back together” with Canada, at least not in the form of direct non-stop El Al flights with the Star of David logo on its planes. Two years ago on June 21, 2022 the Israeli carrier announced it was shuttering direct service to Toronto. After 40 years of service to Canada, the Toronto office was closed, 30 employees were laid off. The Toronto airport infrastructure was abandoned. But El Al’s new senior vice president for the Americas, Simon Newton-Smith, isn’t completely abandoning the Canadian market, which he calls “a huge contributor to our overall sales”. He wants to figure out why El Al couldn’t make money here despite flights being full, at least before the COVID pandemic ravaged international air travel. Newton-Smith came to Toronto recently, on June 5, for his first Canadian visit since being appointed to the new job, which was, luckily or unluckily for him, right after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Needless to say, he started work just as the war in Gaza combined with the tensions on Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah to decimate foreign tourism to Israel. El Al, though, has reported record profits so far this year–as other international airlines stopped flying, including Air Canada. Now, as the summer travel season gets into high gear, Simon Newton-Smith joins The CJN Daily to share his plans for El Al’s Canadian operations. What we talked about: Read more about El Al closing its Canadian operations in 2022, in The CJN.  Hear the people on the last El Al flight leaving Toronto on Oct 27, 2022 on The CJN Daily. Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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.

An Ontario court judge is expected to rule as early as this week on whether the seven-week-old pro-Palestinian tent city at the University of Toronto will be allowed to remain, or whether it must be dismantled immediately—with police help, if necessary. Lawyers for the university were in court last week arguing the encampment is illegal and has done irreparable harm to UofT’s international reputation, while also violating the rights of Jewish and pro-Israel students and staff. Lawyers for the student protestors countered in court that their right to free speech and free assembly trumps any concerns the school may have. The Toronto encampment is one of about a half-dozen still up on Canadian university campuses since a wave of pro-Palestinian tent cities began in the United States in April. McGill’s was the first in Canada—and it’s still operating after two failed appeals to courts. Waterloo just issued a trespass notice on Friday, while five other schools have cleared theirs, usually with police help: York University, UQAM, the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. Ontario Tech University in Oshawa was the first and only Canadian post-secondary institution to date to agree to the students’ demands, and saw the tents come down peacefully. The CJN’s Jonathan Rothman has been covering the UofT encampment since it went up, writing numerous pieces for us and conducting interviews inside. He joins _The CJN Daily _to describe what the tent city is like and predict what might happen next. What we talked about: Read more about Jewish groups intervening in the UofT encampment injunction court case, in The CJN Find out more about the criminal charges laid by Toronto police connected to the UofT encampment, in The CJN Read the University of Toronto’s legal application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for a permanent injunction, and read all the legal briefs on the website of the law firm of Lenczner Slaght 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.

Rising, the new children’s book by award-winning Canadian author Sidura Ludwig, tells the story of a Jewish child and their mother preparing homemade challah bread for Shabbat. Ludwig wrote the story four years ago, during the pandemic lockdown, when she found solace in the weekly ritual of challah-making during those uncertain times. Now, releasing in a post-Oct. 7 world, Ludwig realizes the activity can serve a similar purpose: baking challah by hand has become a touchstone of hope for many people dealing with grief, despair and anxiety about worldwide antisemitism. An estimated 30,000 copies of Ludwig’s 40-page book, illustrated by Sophia Vincent Guy, are making their way this month into the homes of many young Jewish families, courtesy of the free PJ Library program. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner visited Ludwig in her home in Thornhill, Ont., to learn more and get personal about what challah means for each of them. What we talked about: Read more about author, Sidura Ludwig at her website Find out more about the new book _Rising _and where to buy it Learn how to get free Jewish themed books for your children and grandchildren from the PJ Library in your area. PJ Library members can get a free one-year subscription to The CJN Magazine 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.

It’s been more than two weeks since an unknown suspect set fire to the front doors of Vancouver’s Schara Tzedeck synagogue on May 30, while people were inside attending a late-night meeting. A passerby saw the flames and called it in, while a shul member used his jacket to douse the flames. No one was hurt, but the incident left one of the building’s ornate silver doors blackened—and the community shaken. Vancouver police tasked the Major Crimes Unit to investigate, but to date have not released any updates. Schara Tzedeck was the eighth Canadian synagogue targeted by violent attacks since Oct. 7—but not the last. Another attack targeted the glass windows at Beth Jacob in Kitchener on June 7. A week later in London, Ont., on June 14, someone threw a rock through a glass door of the Beth Tefilah Synagogue. While politicians in B.C. made a point to attend Shabbat services after the Vancouver attack, Schara Tzedeck’s rabbi has a message for them: in his words, when you permit hate speech against Jews to go unchecked, and when you gloss over chants at university encampments that glorify Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, don’t be surprised when hateful or ignorant people take it a step further. On The CJN Daily, Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt tells us what’s happened since the attack—and why the damaged spot has not been fixed. What we talked about: Read about the initial attack on Vancouver’s Schara Tzedeck synagogue in The CJN Check out the London Police Service news release on Beth Tefilah’s window being smashed on June 14, 2024 Watch Grand Chief Lynda Prince of British Columbia express solidarity with the Vancouver synagogue, on behalf of the Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem, during a site visit after the arson incident 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.

Since Oct. 8, Hezbollah—the Iranian-backed Shia militia in southern Lebanon—has launched thousands of rockets into northern Israeli communities, including Metula and Kiryat Shmona, which for decades have been financially supported by Canada's Jewish community. But Israeli air strikes that killed a senior Hezbollah commander last week have escalated the situation. Hezbollah militants subsequently launched more rockets in a single day than at any point so far during the Israel-Hamas war. Yet there have only been 28 casualties, including 18 IDF soldiers, because for the past eight months, the border towns have sat largely empty. After Oct. 7, an estimated 60,000 Israeli residents fled or were ordered to evacuate their homes. Whole communities are now living scattered across Israel in hotels and other temporary accommodations. While the world has focused on southern Israel and Gaza, residents of the north wonder if they will ever be able to return home, and many feel an all-out war with Hezbollah is needed in order to make it safe. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from locals Meytal Novidomsky of Metula, whose Canadian husband coaches at one of Israel's most successful hockey schools; Sarah Mali, director of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA office in Israel; and philanthropist Barbara Crook, from Ottawa, chair of the Partnership2Gether twinning program between northern Israel and six Canadian Jewish communities. What we talked about: Hear how displaced Israeli teenage hockey players came to Canada this year for a break from the war, on The CJN Daily Follow the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA website for updates to see where they've allocated emergency funds to date Read more about Partnership2Gether, a fundraising program that partners with five northern Israeli communities 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.

Alexandria Fanjoy Silver enjoys being a proud and loud advocate for Toronto's Jewish community, even though she only became an "official" Jew in 2009. Her parents brought her up as a member of the Anglican Church; yet, while growing up, she always felt an "obsession" and a pull towards Judaism. And so, as a university student in 2007, after visiting to the Nazi death camps in Poland, she decided to go through the conversion process. (There wouldn't be a Jewish man in her personal life until several years later.) Tonight, as Jews around the world mark the annual harvest festival of Shavuot, the theme of conversion is part of synagogue observances: the Book of Ruth is read, which tells the Bible story of a non-Jewish widow who chose to remain part her late husband's Jewish family, and is widely considered the religion's first recorded "convert". While it is usually not considered good manners to ask a convert why they converted, Alexandria Fanjoy Silver agreed to join The CJN Daily to share her journey and explain what it's been like to live as a Jew—especially now, after Oct. 7, when her choice directly impacts her non-Jewish family members. What we talked about: Read Alexandria Fanjoy Silver’s PhD thesis on whether the March of the Living is good or bad for participants Follow Alexandria Fanjoy Silver’s regular columns in the Times of Israel Make her Seven Heaven’s challah for Shavuot and learn about the traditional Sephardic recipe 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.

Ellin Bessner, host of The CJN Daily _podcast, was admittedly nervous ahead of Sunday’s 55th annual Walk with Israel, held by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. For weeks, pro-Palestinian protest groups in the city had been threatening to disrupt the important Jewish solidarity march—the first one since the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7. It was stunning watching the record turnout of an estimated 50,000 people—and also seeing the massive police presence that kept a lid on trouble. But by the time Bessner and her family completed the nearly five-kilometre walk on June 9, her anxiety over the Middle Eastern war and rampant domestic antisemitism fell to the wayside and joy took over, even if only for a short time. On today’s special feature episode of _The CJN Daily, Ellin invites listeners to join her on the walk and meet some of the people she met along the way: Israeli visitors Rami and Vered Gold, who survived the Hamas massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri; Michael Gilmore of Kehillat Shaarei Torah, the Toronto synagogue targeted by two recent hate crime attacks; Dave Fingrut, a public school teacher in Millbrook, Ontario; Noah Shack, UJA’s head of combating antisemitism, and others. Plus, you’ll hear directly from some of the pro-Palestinian protestors when Ellin asks them why they came. What we talked about: Learn more about Kibbutz Be’eri survivors Rami and Vered Gold, who are touring Canada to raise awareness and funds to rebuild their community Read news editor Lila Sark’s account of the Walk for Israel in The CJN Learn more about the Brodutch family who attended the walk: four were held hostage in Gaza for 51 days, on The CJN Daily Credits: The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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.

Montreal professor Joseph Schwarcz doesn’t actually have a medical degree, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming a popular public figure in the Canadian media landscape as a reliable face of science. Schwarcz, 76, actually has a doctorate in chemistry from McGill University, where he has been based for more than four decades. In that time, he’s hosted a long-running weekly science radio show, penned a newspaper column for the Montreal Gazette, starred in YouTube videos and written over a dozen books on making science accessible to mainstream readers. Recently, McGill held an anniversary celebration to mark Schwarcz’s 25 years as director of the university’s Office for Science and Society. To help ring in the anniversary, Dr. Joe joins _The CJN Daily _ to explain why he can’t retire while witnessing a flood of unscientific wellness advice, from celery juice to anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists. What we talked about: Learn more about Joe Schwarcz and sign up for his weekly newsletter Buy his new book, Superfoods, Silkworms and Spandex: Science and Pseudoscience in Everyday Life, from ECW Press Watch his 25th anniversary lecture at McGill, hosted by journalist Josh Freed Read our coverage of Dr. Joe in The CJN archives from 2014. 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.

Hagar Brodutch, her husband Avichai and their three children are settling into their temporary home in Toronto for an extended vacation after a horrific ordeal. Hagar and the kids were among the most high-profile hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7 by Hamas and released after 51 days, during a ceasefire deal in November 2023. Many Canadians followed the Brodutch case closely because they have family living in Toronto who advocated tirelessly on their behalf with Canadian and Israeli authorities. The Brodutches lived in Kfar Aza until their kibbutz near the Gaza border was attacked by Hamas terrorists who broke into the family’s safe room. The terrorists also grabbed a three-year-old child from next door, Abigail Edan, the daughter of an American-Israeli couple who were murdered right in front of their daughter’s eyes. Avichai Brodutch was not kidnapped. He was badly wounded in a firefight and was left behind, with injuries from a rocket-propelled grenade. When he woke up in an Israeli hospital, he discovered his kibbutz had been destroyed and his family was missing. While in Canada, the family is planning to sightsee and continue its journey of healing. They’re also sharing their story with the Jewish community to thank them for their support. But they're also calling for the war to be over—now that Israel confirmed that only 80 hostages of the remaining 124 may still be alive. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Hagar Brodutch sits down with host Ellin Bessner and Lila Sarick, The CJN’s news editor, for a frank conversation about what her life has been like since that fateful day. What we talked about: Learn more about the efforts to help release the Brodutch family, in The CJN and on The CJN Daily Why so many Canadians wrote letters to the hostages even though the Red Cross didn’t deliver them for months, on The CJN Daily Meet Avichai Brodutch at the Walk for Israel on Sunday, June 9 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.

Just hours before Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 the Israeli film star Swell Ariel Or was in Canada as the guest of honour at an Israel Bonds fundraiser. The twenty-something actor was fresh off her breakout role in the Israeli historical family saga “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” which aired on Netflix in 2022. She portrayed Luna Ermoza, the fashion-designer daughter of a Sephardic Jewish family living in pre-1948 Jerusalem. The actor did a sit down interview with The CJN Daily while she was in Toronto, although neither she or we could have predicted that the world would change just hours after her Canadian appearance. Post Oct. 7., Or immediately threw herself into volunteering to help Israeli soldiers. However, recently she’s been back on set again with one of the producers of “Beauty Queen”, but it’s not Season 3. This new series will be called “Handles”–about survivors of Oct. 7. With tonight being the eve of Jerusalem Day, or Yom Yerushalayim—a national holiday in Israel celebrating the country’s recapturing of the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967—we’re now bringing you this interview with Or, in which she discusses what it was like filming Beauty Queen and why she moved to Hollywood, as well as a follow-up interview conducted after the life-changing events of Oct. 7. What we talked about: Follow Swell Ariel Or’s personal Instagram account. Learn more about the actor’s Israel Reservist Fund to reimburse Israelis who flew home to fight after Oct. 7. It is no longer accepting donations. Read why Ellin’s interview with Swell Ariel Or marked a turning point in her life, in The CJN. Watch “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” on Netflix. 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.