North Star with Ellin Bessner

As the annual Tu B’Shevat festival takes place Monday, Feb. 6, the yearly observance—which some consider the Jewish Earth Day—was marked over the weekend by environmental events across Canada: from vegan Shabbat dinners to walks through parks. But some synagogues and sites are embracing sustainable Judaism year-round: they’ve installed solar panels on the roof, put LED lights in the sanctuary, and stopped using disposable paper plates at Kiddush. And in Vancouver, over a dozen Jewish sites are really buying in, hoping to earn a “Seal of Sustainability.” On today’s The CJN Daily, Rabbi Shlomo Schachter of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue joins, along with Ariel Greene, head of the shul’s sustainability committee. What we talked about: Read more about Jewish Vancouver’s Hazon sustainability initiative Read Temple Beth Ora of Edmonton’s Kashruth policy Why Canadian Jews are focusing on environmental issues 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.

Hanina Hoffman originally didn’t want to accept the offer to write a Hollywood horror flick with a Jewish theme. But he changed his mind once he realized he could help change the way Hasidic Jews are so often portrayed on screens, big and small. He wanted to create something more sympathetic, like “Shtisel, the horror movie”, instead of something in the vein of shows like My Unorthodox Life and Unorthodox, where oppressed ultra-religious women flee their confined lives. The resulting big-budget film, his first, is called The Devil’s Offering, and is currently available for digital rental and purchase online. To create the script, Hoffman channelled his upbringing in Toronto as the son of a former ritual director at Adath Israel Congregation, including a teenaged job as a shomer at Benjamin’s funeral home. Hanina "Hank" Hoffman joins The CJN Daily to reveal all the subtle—and not-so-subtle—nods to Jewish mysticism, including the film’s ancient demon. What we talked about: Watch the trailer for The Devil’s Offering. Read more about producer Hanina Hoffman's Canadian background on The CJN.ca Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

Reena was born in 1973 because a handful of Jewish parents in Toronto wanted to keep their disabled children in the community—rather than putting them in an institution. Fifty years later, it’s the largest Jewish organization in Canada offering supportive housing for people with disabilities. But as we begin Jewish Disability, Awareness and Inclusion Month, held annually each February, officials at Reena are worried about finding enough housing and support for an aging clientele who are living longer. The CJN Daily attended the Jan. 18 anniversary party held at the new Lou Fruitman Reena Residence in Vaughan, Ont. In this episode, you’ll hear from some residents, parents and staff: Brenda Rothenberg, Anita Lipman, Sharon Magor and CEO Bryan Keshen join to talk about the impact Reena has had on their lives, and the challenges ahead. What we talked about: Learn more about Reena @ 50 Read about Reena’s last milestone in The CJN. Ophira Calof wants theatre to make room for disability on the stage in The CJN Daily. Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Subscribe to the podcast by watching this short video.

The popular Montreal comedy duo YidLife Crisis is betting that their humour could have even greater worldwide appeal if what they’re saying was more widely understood. That’s why a 2015 episode explaining how some Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas Eve has been translated now... into Mandarin. The revamped episode was recently released on YouTube, and on a Chinese social media platform Bilibili. The pair is also hoping to expand their reach in Quebec—with French subtitles, via Radio-Canada’s streaming service, Tou.tv. But does the YidLife Crisis shtick really translate to other languages? Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion join The CJN Daily to explain their motivations in giving it a try. What we talked about: Watch ‘Yingle Belz’ with Chinese subtitles on YidLife Crisis’ YouTube channel. Learn more about the translation of Yidlife’s materiel into other languages on The CJN.ca Watch the French version of the poutine episode on Radio-Canada. 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. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Subscribe to the podcast by watching this short video. 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 learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

In the wake of the damning report by Dr. Ayelet Kuper about antisemitism at the University of Toronto’s Temerty medical school, the UofT’s anti-racism office hosted a “restorative circle” for Jewish students and staff. The unusual event on Jan. 23 saw Hillel’s UofT branch meet with about 25 people, via Zoom, where participants were asked to share their experiences with antisemitism, and then work on ways to get past it—and to find joy in being Jewish. It’s a small but important step, say both Hillel and the UofT, in the overall effort to take antisemitism as seriously as it takes other forms of racism. So what was it like? Did it help? To find out more, Hillel’s facilitator, Jacqueline Dressler, joins The CJN Daily, plus we speak to a student who attended: Alex Rose, who is also a former reporter for The CJN. What we talked about:. Learn more about the UpfT Medical School report by Dr. Ayelet Cooper Read the UofT’s statement on antisemitism from January 2023 Listen to the first The CJN Daily trailer from April 2021 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.

Winnipeg's Holocaust Education Centre is Canada's smallest, at 1,000 square feet. You could park about five cars in it, side by side. And since the pandemic, the Freeman Family Holocaust Education Centre—inside the Asper Jewish Campus—has undergone a major redesign. It now focuses on teaching the Holocaust in a more modern way: using artifacts and digital technology to tell the stories of the 1,050 survivors who would make Winnipeg their new home. The centre reopened to the public on Jan. 25, just ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. But The CJN Daily got an early sneak peek (via Zoom) with a private tour by the executive director, Belle Jarniewski. Listen to the podcast as she explain why the vision for the museum needed to change. What we talked about: Read more about the museum’s redesign on The CJN.ca Visit the Freeman Family Foundation Winnipeg Holocaust Education Centre website Free download (until Feb. 3) of the five new audio book memoirs read by Canadian Holocaust survivors themselves 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.

When he was 19 years old, a Slovakian Jewish teenaged slave labourer named Walter Rosenberg (later he changed his name to Rudolf Vrba) did what only five Jews ever managed to do: successfully escape from Auschwitz. But his escape in April 1944 and subsequent testimony about the mass murder of Europes Jews at the Nazi death camp had an enormous impact: it reached the Allies, the Vatican and major press outlets. Vrba is credited with saving the lives of 200,000 Hungarian Jews, who would have otherwise been deported to their deaths that summer. But the killing of more than a million victims at Auschwitz haunted him until his death in Vancouver in 2006. A new book by British journalist Jonathan Freedland makes the case for Vrba being considered as one of the greatest, unknown Jewish Holocaust heroes of the time: right up there with Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel and Oskar Schindler. Freedland joins The CJN Daily from London, England to explore why that hasn’t happened, and why it should. What we talked about: Learn more about The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland. Read more about Rudolf Vrba on this website curated by Vancouver scholar Alan Twigg.** Watch the livestream from Ottawa of the National Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Jan. 27. 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 learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

From one of the Jewish community's longest serving rabbis, Bernard Baskin of Hamilton–whose funeral was Sunday, he Jan. 22— to the musical composer Leon Dubinsky of Nova Scotia, who died at age 81, Canada has lost many prominent community leaders in recent weeks. Many were Holocaust survivors, but others came to Canada as immigrants from Scotland and America: they were actors, judges, furniture magnates, and scholars. In the latest edition of _The CJN Daily'_s "Honourable Menschen", regular contributor Ron Csillag joins host Ellin Bessner to share some personal tributes to Baskin, Albert Reichmann, Jules Kronis, Maximilien Polak, Gerda Frieberg, Saul Feldberg, Michael Marrus, Cantor David Aptowitzer and Leon Dubinsky. What we talked about: Read our interview with the late Rabbi Bernard Baskin in The CJN from 2010 The eulogy for Albert Reichmann, 93, by his son David, in The CJN Learn more about the late Gerda Frieberg Maximilien Polak was once appointed honourary Dutch consul in Montreal Historian Michael Marrus investigated the Holocaust Read Tamara Kronis’ tribute to her late father, lawyer Jules Kronis Special thanks to Dr. Les Glassman for the photo and audio of Cantor David Aptowitzer 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.

Ronen Hoffman arrived in Ottawa to be Israel’s new ambassador to Canada in November 2021, full of big plans. But after just a year in office, Hoffman took to Twitter on Saturday night (Jan. 21) to announce he has handed in his resignation. Was he pushed? Or did he time his announcement as a salvo to Canada's Jewish community and to Israel to beware of the hard-right members of Netanyahu's coalition and what they want Israel to look like? On today's The CJN Daily, Ellin digs into Hoffman's very public gesture, with guests Vivian Bercovici, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, and Joe Roberts, the new chair of JSpaceCanada. What we talked about: Read more about Ronen Hoffman in The CJN.ca Follow Vivian Bercovici's news articles at The State of Tel Aviv Hear The CJN Daily's interview with the newly-arrived ambassador from January 2022 Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

Lisa Levitan founded the Jewish Educators Group to help Ottawa-Carleton District School Board staffers like herself cope with increasing hatred. The award-winning elementary school teacher says she receives “two or three calls or emails a day” about antisemitism directed at colleagues or students—which she immediately sends to the appropriate principal and to the school board’s team. But the responses seemed insufficient until this week, when the trustees passed a motion to hire a Jewish equity coach. It was partly the result of Levitan’s lobbying, which included collecting over 1,000 signatures on a petition. The CJN Daily takes you behind the scenes of the school board’s Jan. 17 committee hearing before Lisa Levitan joins to explain why she hopes it marked a turning point for Jews in Ottawa’s public school system. What we talked about: Read more about the Jewish Equity Coach motion in this story in The CJN Hear what life is like for Jewish students in Ottawa’s public schools on The CJN Daily Learn why Jewish students were scared of a pro-Palestinian student rally in Ottawa in this story 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.