North Star with Ellin Bessner

One thing that unites all Jewish Canadians—from Victoria to Winnipeg to Halifax, across politics and religious denominations—is that we all came from somewhere else. Before there was here, there was there. And whether it’s a part of your recent or more distant memory, all of our families were once strangers in a strange land.  The idea of an organization to help Jewish immigrants from Europe began after the First World War, with many small groups volunteering in cities across Canada. On a summer’s day in 1922, all these groups came together to create Jewish Immigrant Aid Services, better known as JIAS.  This year marks the organization's 100th anniversary. To celebrate the milestone, JIAS hosted two special exhibits: the first, called Love the Stranger, was created with the Ontario Jewish Archives. It uses original documents and photos and oral histories to tell the story of JIAS and how Canada’s Jewish population arrived at our shores. The second is called the Refuge Canada Tent. Its a travelling exhibit created by the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, and it introduces viewers to Canada’s place in the global refugee crisis. The CJN Daily producer Zac Kauffman visited both exhibits at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. What we talked about: Learn about the JIAS exhibits, running until Nov. 28. 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.

On Nov. 21, Rabbi Donniel Hartman spoke at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple in a frank conversation about the future of Israeli democracy with David Koffman, a professor of Jewish studies at York University. In an extensive interview, Hartman sat down with Avi Finegold, host of The CJN's weekly current affairs podcast, Bonjour Chai, to expand on his ideas about the state of Israel religious and political landscape in the wake of Benjamin Netanyahu's return to power and describe Diaspora relations with the Zionist state. With Ellin Bessner on vacation this week, we're bringing listeners of The CJN Daily an excerpt of that insightful conversation. What we talked about: Listen to Rabbi Hartman's full interview on Bonjour Chai Learn more about the Shalom Hartman Institute at hartman.org.il 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.

Every weekday, Cst. Sean Shapiro slips on his headphones, flips on his microphone and goes live on his show, Ask a Traffic Cop, broadcasting from his studio inside Toronto's traffic unit headquarters. Shapiro answers questions about highway safety, speeding, cycling, U-turns and what qualifies as distracted driving—and then posts clips on his TikTok page, where he's amassed nearly 600,000 followers. It all started after the 22-year veteran officer was hurt on duty. Instead of giving out tickets, he started giving out advice. It helps that he has the perfect voice for radio; in fact, he recently won third place in an international radio contest out of the United Kingdom. He credits a lot of his recent success to his Jewish identity, including how his mother influenced his profession and how his upbringing instilled in him a strong sense of morality. The CJN Daily visited the “TikTok Traffic Cop” at his studio to learn the road he took to getting where he is. What we talked about: Watch his videos on TikTok or his full-length videos on YouTube 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.

Naomi Seidman's father, Hillel, was a descendant of a Hasidic dynasty. Despite her family heritage and religious schooling in New York, Seidman eventually left her home and community, forging a new relationship with Judaism and enjoying a successful career in academia. She now teaches at the University of Toronto. She wants you to know that, while not often talked about, there is a sizeable community of people like her in Canada and the United States—formerly ultra-Orthodox Jews who went "off the derech," as they say. To share their stories, she teamed up with the Shalom Hartman Institute to product a podcast miniseries, Heretic in the House, which debuted today. As she explains in the show, the true lives of these former Hasids are nothing like the depictions you see on Shtisel, Unorthodox, My Unorthodox Life or many other TV shows. These people can easily lose family, friends, spouses, children and careers—which can send them into deep depression, even suicide. Seidman joins The CJN Daily to discuss her life and new podcast. What we talked about: Listen to the podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute Visit the Facebook group 'Off the Derech' See Naomi Seidman's U of T faculty profile 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.

Guests: Elisha Wiesel and Dara Horn. Horn believes Holocaust museums and education won't end antisemitism. She suggests celebrating Jewish religion, culture, and contributions to combat hate. They discuss the rise of antisemitism and the importance of Jewish pride.

As winter approaches and flu season begins, Canadians—especially children—are facing a significant health crisis. Top doctors in Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba have all urged people to wear masks in public, mostly because children's hospitals are overwhelmed, cancelling surgeries and scrambling to open new ICUs for kids to handle the flood of young patients. The triple threat is not just COVID-19, but also RSV and the flu. And because so many people have stayed socially distanced these past two years, the rush of infections is hitting earlier and harder than usual, cutting swaths through classrooms. Meanwhile, exasperated parents seeking pain medicine for their kids are finding empty shelves in their pharmacies, while doctors are reporting a shortage of children's antibiotics. It's a perfect storm in an already overburdened health care system—and Dr. Kevin Schwartz is right in the thick of it. An infectious-diseases expert and a pediatrician, he works at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto and recently published a study showing how wearing a mask during the pandemic significantly cut down cases of airborne illnesses. Schwartz joins today to explain how masks and vaccines are badly needed, and how Canadian parents can get through this tough winter. What we talked about: Follow Kevin Schwartz on Twitter @DrKevinSchwartz 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.

On Nov. 15, Manitoba's first Jewish lieutenant governor, Anita Neville, will find herself in the spotlight as she reads the government’s speech from the throne to mark the start of a new session of the province's legislature. Neville admits she's facing a big learning curve as she figures out what's expected of her and how she can put her own stamp on the office—which includes installing a mezuzah when she moves into a century-old government mansion in Winnipeg. Neville previously served as longtime Liberal MP and school board chair, along with being deeply involved in her synagogue and the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. At 80 years old, Neville wasn't expecting to get the prime minister's call offering her this latest position. But she wasn't about to let her age stop her. Her appointment, coming as Manitoba adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, is "a signal of positive acceptance and integration" for the Jewish community in her province. Today, we're airing an in-depth interview with Neville about why she took the job and what she hopes to accomplish. What we talked about: Read about Anita Neville's appointment in The CJN (Aug. 2022) Read about Neville's clash with Stephen Harper's government over Israel in The CJN archives (Feb. 2010) Read about Neville's stance on Jewish refugees in The CJN archives (Mar. 2011) Read about Neville's stance on ageism in The CJN archives (2011). 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.

Ethan Schachter was born with a rare genetic disease, nemaline myopathy type 2—a type of muscular dystrophy—that disproportionately affects Ashkenazi Jews. It's not always fatal, but Ethan, at 20 months, needs round-the-clock care, including a machine to help him breathe and a tube for nutrition. He can't walk or talk because his muscles are too weak. Currently, there is no cure. Doctors have only known about this form of the disease for about 15 years. And it's so rare—only one in 47,000 people have it—that couples trying to conceive aren't even screened for it in Canada, where Ethan is one of maybe four or five kids who live with the condition. Ethan's mother, Toba Cooper, wants to change things. She recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise more than a million dollars to help researchers develop a made-in-Canada treatment for her son's condition. And she hopes to raise awareness so the condition could be added to the list of eligible tests. Cooper joins The CJN Daily today along with Jim Dowling, a doctor at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, who is one of the world's foremost experts on this rare disease. What we talked about: Donate to Toba Cooper's crowdfunder Learn more about nemaline myopathy type 2 Learn about Jewish genetic diseases awareness testing 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.

On Sept. 13, 2022, at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands, an early Remembrance Day memorial service was held to honour the more than 1,000 Canadian soldiers buried there. They fell in battle in the spring of 1945, shortly before the Second World War ended, liberating the area from Nazi occupation. Elliott and Jonathan Shiff were the only Jews on the trip. They were commemorating their great-uncle, Sgt. Harry Bockner, a former fur salesman from Toronto who was killed when his light anti-aircraft gun crew came under attack during a manoeuvre codenamed "Operation Cannonshot". More than 500 Canadians became casualties during that operation, including Bockner, a stocky redheaded sergeant who had already survived nearly 18 months on the front lines of Italy. The Shiff brothers join The CJN Daily today to discuss their great-uncle’s life and legacy, how they felt accepting an invitation to join a group of veterans’ children visiting the battlefields of Holland, and why they brought some earth all the way from Jerusalem and Toronto to place on his grave. What we talked about: Watch this short clip about the Canadian Army in Operation Cannonshot from April 1945 Read about Ontario making Holocaust education mandatory in public schools 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 learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

Robbie Waisman was the youngest of six children growing up in Poland, having just turned eight years old when the Nazis invaded. While his whole family was killed except for him and one sister, Waisman survived a ghetto, a slave labour camp, typhus and the Buchenwald concentration camp. After moving to Canada to start a new life, Waisman kept quiet about his time in Europe until prominent Holocaust deniers began making headlines in the 1980s. He decided it was time to share his story and revisit his past. Fast-forward several decades and Waisman, now 91, is a well-known educator and public speaker—whose story is now a book for young adults. Boy From Buchenwald came out last spring, but just won an award at the Toronto International Festival of Authors. To mark the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht—when, on Nov. 9, 1938, Nazis burned Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues across Germany and Austria—Waisman and his co-author, Susan McClelland, join The CJN Daily to describe the impact they hope his life's story will make on young readers. What we talked about: Order a copy of The Boy From Buchenwald Learn about Waisman at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre Read about Waisman in The CJN archives (2016) 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.