North Star with Ellin Bessner

Construction has begun at the site of the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community campus in Vaughan, Ont. for the Honey and Barry Sherman Arena. The $52 million dollar arena–to be attached to the existing JCC complex–is a gift from their son Jonathan Sherman to the Toronto Jewish community. The late Sherman’s three surviving daughters are not participating. It would make the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto the only JCC in Canada, and in North America, to own its own indoor ice hockey arena. With two NHL-sized rinks, stands, dressing rooms and a kosher snack bar, the arena is designed to provide badly-needed ice facilities for Jewish youth players and figure skaters, too. It will also be open to rentals by the wider community, where ice time is at a premium. Jonathan Sherman admits the announcement brings “heavy emotions” because the 2017 murders of his billionaire philanthropist parents have not been solved. But on this day, Sherman says he wants to focus on continuing their legacy of community building. On this episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from Adam Minsky, the CEO of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto; Christopher Ainsworth, the city councillor for the City of Vaughan where the project got the green light, and words from Jonathan Sherman himself. What we talked about Read about the construction of the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic campus in Vaughan over the years in The CJN, including the official opening in 2012. After the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman in 2017, their legacy of philanthropy was in the spotlight, in 2018 in The CJN. Learn why the northern campuses of TanenbaumCHAT high school and Leo Baeck day schools closed in 2017 and 2019 respectively, at the Lebovic Jewish campus, 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 intern is Ashok Lamachhane @jesterschest. 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.

Talk about an identity crisis. For his whole life, Canadian actor Noam Tomaschoff, 31, thought he was the son of a Jewish couple with roots in Israel and Montreal. Tomaschoff went to Jewish day school, speaks Hebrew and has visited Israel. But last summer, his life changed when his parents learned he was planning to take a DNA test, for fun, while on holiday at the cottage. So they sat him down to reveal a three-decade-old secret: due to fertility problems, they used an anonymous sperm donor to conceive. The donor is no longer alive. The shocking news prompted Tomaschoff to start searching for answers. He’s since discovered his birth father’s details, including that the man was not Jewish—and Tomaschoff now has 35 half-siblings scattered around the world. Now Tomaschoff has put the experience into a new show, called Our Little Secret: The 23 & Me Musical, debuting July 6 at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Noam Tomaschoff joins The CJN Daily, along with his parents, Gideon Tomaschoff and Sylvie Leone-Tomaschoff. What we talked about Learn more about Noam Tomaschoff and his play To buy tickets, check the play’s website Read how The CJN covered Noam Tomaschoff and his friends in Grade 12 at TanenbaumChat high school when they wrote their first musical in 2009 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.

Welcome to one of the most squalid Jewish-owned office buildings in Canada: 788 Marlee Ave. in midtown Toronto. Over the years, it’s been home to countless Zionist organizations and Jewish charities—including Mazon Canada, Canadian Young Judaea, Sar-El Canada, Camp Shalom, Machane Lev summer camp, the Association for Soldiers of Israel, Canadian Friends of Yad Sarah, and more. Some tenants have been complaining for years about the conditions, including a rat infestation; mould on lobby ceilings; extensive water damage from a leaky roof and broken skylights; elevators that haven’t been inspected since at least 2020; bathrooms with no lights and broken sinks; and a toilet with human feces that wasn’t cleaned in eight months. The city has cited the building several times for garbage violations and uncut grass. The conditions have become so bad that at least one tenant moved out permanently in May. Others choose not to work in their offices much, except to drop off the rent. On top of it all, there are two lawsuits filed in the Ontario courts against the longtime owners of the building, the Toronto Zionist Council. Among the lengthly list of allegations in the court documents are accusations of wilful negligence, misappropriation of money (particularly by one of the directors, Paul Rotenberg, to the tune of at least $70,000), forgery, deliberate misconduct and allowing the once-proud symbol of the Zionist movement in Canada to fall into “appalling” conditions. The TZC also owns a 75-year-old summer camp in Gravenhurst, Ont., called Camp Shalom, which is also discussed in the court documents, amidst questions wondering where the money to upgrade the camp has gone. The CJN will be publishing several reports as part of this exclusive investigation. To start, on today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we take you inside 788 Marlee Ave. You’ll hear from Mazon’s Izzy Waxman; Jessie Lash, the owner of a catering business; and Roni Perez, who served on the board of the ground-floor synagogue known as The Marlee Shul. What we talked about Take a video tour of 788 Marlee Ave. on The CJN’s YouTube channel Toronto Zionist Council director Paul Rotenberg has spoken out often in favour of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including in 2016 in The CJN Read why the Canada Revenue Agency revoked charitable status of the Toronto Zionist Council’s charity, the Zionist Organization of Canada Charitable Fund, in 1995, for funnelling money illegally to settlements in the West Bank A new charity has been set up with a similar name by the same directors of the Toronto Zionist Council, now called the Ontario Jewish Education Association, in Toronto, since July 24, 2020. 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.

Fashion journalist Jeanne Beker has been in the public eye for more than 50 years, most notably as a globetrotting reporter interviewing some of the world’s highest-profile designers and models, as well as entertainers the likes of Paul McCartney and Bob Hope. But for the last year, Beker, now 71, has turned the camera on her own story—as a breast cancer patient. She’s been extremely public about her diagnosis, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and surgery. And now, she’s advocating for better (and earlier) screening for women with dense breasts. Two weeks ago, Beker completed her year of cancer treatments at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. But that challenge hasn’t stopped her from starting to write a new book, hosting her Style Matters television show and making countless appearances at fundraisers for breast cancer and other good causes. Beker joins The CJN Daily to discuss where she got her determination and how she’s found a renewed gratitude for life. What we talked about Follow Jeanne Beker on her Instagram account or her website Read The CJN’s coverage of Jeanne Beker’s career from emceeing the Zareinu fashion shows, to winning many awards Hear The CJN Daily’s interview with Jeanne Beker’s cancer authority, Dr. Paula Gordon, on why women with dense breasts should get screened beginning at 40 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.

Torontonians will elect a new mayor, the city’s 66th, on Monday, June 26, in a byelection made necessary by the surprise resignation of John Tory in February. With 102 names on the ballot—including a pet dog—the choice for voters can be confusing, but The CJN Daily‘s political panel is here to break down the issues and evaluate the frontrunners. In the days leading up to the vote, it’s Olivia Chow’s election to lose. The former NDP MP and city councillor has previously run unsuccessfully for mayor before, but she holds a significant lead over the man polling second in most polls, Mark Saunders, a former Toronto police chief who has run unsuccessfully for the Ontario Conservatives. Trailing those two in third-place: Anthony Furey, a former newspaper columnist; Anna Bailaõ, a former city councillor and ally of ex-mayor Tory; and Josh Matlow, a sitting councillor and member of the Jewish community. On today’s episode, we’re joined by Stephen Adler, senior director of public affairs at National Public Relations; Sophia Hershfield, The CJN’s “Critical Kvetching” columnist; and Josh Lieblein, The CJN’s “Doorstep Postings” columnist. Read more Read Lieblein’s “Doorstep Postings” columns on some of the candidates running for mayor in Toronto in The CJN, including Josh Matlow, Mark Saunders, Anna Bailaõ, Brad Bradford, Anthony Furey and Rob Davis Read more about Ben Carr, who won Monday’s federal byelection in his late dad Jim Carr’s riding of Winnipeg South Centre, in The CJN How to vote in the Toronto mayor byelection June 26, 2023 Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.Read transcript

Dani Dayan was in Canada last week to honour the outgoing chair of the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem, Fran Sonshine, and to attend the opening of the new Toronto Holocaust Museum. Dayan, 67, took the job as chair of Yad Vashem in 2021. After enjoying a high-profile political career as a spokesman for Jewish settlers in Israel, and then as Israel’s Consul General in New York City, Dayan made it his goal to revamp the world’s foremost Holocaust museum, in Jerusalem. Dayan often says he has to be apolitical, but he hasn’t shied away from speaking his mind since taking office. He’s slammed Russian leaders for Holocaust distortion; criticized Poland’s controversial new law that outlaws discussing Polish crimes committed during the Holocaust; and, most recently, voiced support for a Canadian professor who was harassed while giving a Holocaust lecture in Poland. Dayan joins The CJN Daily for his only Canadian interview during his recent tour. He praises the new Canadian Holocaust museum, describes what it was like meeting his fellow Argentine countryman Pope Francis, and warns of what he calls “the Disneyland” approach to teaching about the Holocaust. What we talked about Hear our interview with Prof. Jan Grabowski on Poland’s and Wikipedia’s campaign to deny their role in the Holocaust, on The CJN Daily Read Josh Lieblein’s column on how Jewish leaders pick their battles, in The CJN How Russian President Vladimir Putin falsified Russian Holocaust history while at Yad VaShem in The CJN from 2020 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.

On Friday, an American jury brought down a guilty verdict for all 63 counts against the gunman who burst into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, murdering 11 Jews and wounding six others. It was the worst-ever mass killing of Jews in the United States. Among the victims was a Toronto native, Joyce Fienberg. The retired widow, 75, attended the synagogue nearly every day, according to her younger brother, Dr. Bob Libman, a Toronto physician. He’s been monitoring the trial closely from his home in Thornhill. In this exclusive interview with The CJN Daily, Libman talks about the devastating impact his late sister’s killing had on the extended family, and what he hopes will happen with the sentencing hearing for the shooter—in which the shooter faces the death penalty. What we talked about Read more about Joyce Fienberg, z”l in The CJN, from 2018 and here How Christians and Muslims formed a “ring of peace” around Canadian shuls in 2018 in The CJN Hear journalist Mark Oppenheimer discuss his book on the Squirrel Hill shooting on Bonjour Chai 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.

This week, the Consky family of Toronto is marking the third anniversary of Harvey Consky’s death, on June 13, 2020. Consky, 67, was a personal injury lawyer, a husband, and father of two. He was diagnosed with an incurable form of anal cancer during the terrifying first few days of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Doctors gave him two months to live. That’s when his adult son Mitchell Consky, a Canadian journalist, decided to move back into the family home and help provide palliative care for his father right until the end. The younger Consky coped with his own emotions of grief, anxiety and also joy in the best way he knew how: he kept notes and interviewed everyone, including his father, during those last few weeks of his life. While caregiving at home isn’t for everyone, Consky says, he remains glad that he did it. Now he’s sharing his own experiences and lessons in a book called Home Safe: A Memoir of End-of-Life Care during COVID-19, published by Dundurn Press. He joined Ellin Bessner for a live taping of _The CJN Daily _podcast in front of an audience at the recent Limmud Toronto event. What we talked about Learn more about author Mitchell Consky and his book Home Safe, including how to order a copy Donate to Consky’s preferred charity for bereaved children, Camp Erin Toronto Read how Mitchell Consky won The CJN’s writing prize back in 2016 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. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

For the past six weeks, thousands of high school students from around Toronto have gone on a special field trip back in time. They’ve attended an immersive outdoor play about antisemitism in 1933 Toronto, when growing racial tensions between local Nazi supporters and Jewish immigrants boiled over at a baseball game at Willowvale Park, now known now as Christie Pits. The ensuing street brawls lasted for six hours, wounding dozens of people and prompting the mayor of the day to clamp down on hate symbols by banning the display of swastikas. The creators of the new play hope that by showcasing the age-old hatred of Jews and immigrants, they’ll also challenge students to recognize modern instances of hate and take action when they see it. Will the play succeed? The CJN Daily’s Ellin Bessner took in a recent performance of The Riot at Christie Pits. On today’s show, you’ll hear from some students who watched it, teachers who accompanied them, the play’s creator Sam Rosenthal of the Hogtown Collective, and his 88 year old father Joseph, who grew up nearby. What we talked about Read Alex Rose’s story on the Riot at Christie Pits live, interactive play in The** **CJN Hear our interview with Jamie Michaels about his graphic novel about the Christie Pits riot on The CJN Daily, and watch it on our YouTube channel Take the audio tour of the Christie Pits Riot with the Hogtown Collective 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.

The latest court challenge to Quebec’s controversial new French-language law, Bill 96, has been launched by a group of two dozen municipalities with large English-speaking populations, led by the heavily Jewish suburb of Côte Saint-Luc. At a media conference on June 7, mayors outlined their objection to five new rules which came into effect on June 1 this year, after the original bill passed in 2022. At issue are access to government services for people who are entitled to speak English under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but not under Bill 96, because Quebec’s nationalist leaders in the ruling Coalition Avenir Quebec party invoked the notwithstanding clause in the Constitution to override these rights for five years. The lawsuit comes just days after Côte Saint-Luc staffers used a cheeky telephone voicemail message to poke back at the new restrictions. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with Mitchell Brownstein, the mayor of Côte Saint-Luc, to break down the new language laws and why he feels they alienate people instead of making them embrace the French language. What we talked about Bill 96 deeply worrying to Quebec’s Jewish community, in The CJN Read about Naftali Bennett’s vision to save Israel from “horrendously” handled judicial reforms, in The CJN Follow Nir Guzinski’s Montreal comedy on his Instagram page 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.