North Star with Ellin Bessner

The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Aug. 23, 2021. KlezKanada and the Ashkenaz Festival are some of the largest Jewish and Yiddish arts celebrations in North America, and both are being held mostly virtually this year because of COVID-19. As the pandemic has upended cultural events around the country, so too has it forced these two renowned annual celebrations to figure out new ways to reach fans of Yiddish and Jewish culture. Despite the hurdles, both events are gearing up for innovative programs this year, and organizers from KlezKanada have even said their audiences have grown in 2021, because technology has swung open their doors beyond geography. On today's episode, we’ll hear from the artistic director of Ashkenaz and the executive director of KlezKanada about what to expect this year from both festivals. Plus, the host of Winnipeg’s Jewish radio hour joins to explain why she feels the pandemic may have actually saved Yiddish music. What we talked about: Learn more about KlezKanada at klezkanada.org Learn more about the Ashkenaz Festival at ashkenaz.ca Listen to the Jewish Radio Hour at podomatic.com/podcasts/jewishradiohour 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; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired July 28, 2022. Update: Averbach has since finished his journey, arriving in Vancouver having trekked 1,000 kilometres across Western Canada. Gary Averbach left Calgary on a mission. The 79-year-old real estate mogul, based in Vancouver, is currently trekking through 40-degree heat waves across the Rockies from Calgary to his home city to raise money for cancer research. He's about three-quarters of the way there—his goal is to arrive home by mid-August, just shy of his 80th birthday, and to have raised $500,000 in the process. The project stemmed from a promise Averbach made last summer to his late cousin and business partner, Robert Golden, who passed away from bone cancer. After Averbach lost two more cousins and his housekeeper to cancer this spring, he decided to embark on the journey to raise money for a good cause, while also ticking off a bucket-list adventure. Averbach spoke to The CJN Daily from Boston Bar, B.C., around 45 kilometres south of Lytton, where he stopped after completing another daily 24-km hike. What we talked about: Follow Averbach's journey 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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Jan. 6, 2022. One of the most common new year's resolutions is losing weight. But it's also one of the most difficult—and the reason has less to do with willpower than with neurology. Canadian journalist Mark Schatzker is the author of a new book, The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well. Schatzker travelled the world, talking to experts and reading scientific studies, to find out why people have a hard time with food cravings and keeping pounds off. The reason, he found, has to do with the way modern food is manufactured, packed with so many added sweeteners, vitamins and additives that our brains don't believe we're getting enough real calories and urge us to eat more. Schatzker joins today to discuss his book and the important takeaways for anyone hoping to eat healthier in 2022. What we talked about: Find the book at markschatzker.com Read "The list of Jewish community members named to the Order of Canada at the end of 2021" at thecjn.ca Read "Simkin Centre nursing home in Winnipeg slammed by COVID outbreak among staff" at thecjn.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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Dec. 14, 2021. This year, an unlikely Hanukkah party was held at the Canada Pavillion of Expo 2020 in Dubai. The emcee for the candlelighting and kosher dinner was Canada's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Marcy Grossman, a Montrealer who's spent the last three years in the Gulf state. Grossman has found herself at the centre of Jewish life in the Arab country, embedding herself within a community of about 3,500 Jews—some of whom have literally come out of hiding, as the UAE fleshes out its new formal relationship with Israel, following the signing of the Abraham Accords. Before she retires from her post in 2022, Grossman joins to discuss life in Dubai and how she feels feels more comfortable as a Jewish woman in the UAE than in many other parts of the world. What we talked about: Read Marcy Grossman's bio at international.gc.ca Read her article, "Canada wishes the UAE well on its 50th anniversary", at thenationalnews.com Watch videos from the candlelighting ceremony on Instagram from @avivachernick and @marcygrossman 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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning our favourite episodes. This one originally aired Oct. 13, 2021. With the Apple Watch, you can monitor your blood oxygen levels, send emails, wear it while swimming—and, thanks to a high school student in Toronto, you can also use it to help recite your daily Jewish prayers. The new free app, called WatchSiddur, shows you which prayers to read each day and at what times, so you don't have to carry around a physical book all day. It was created by Eitan Steinfeld, a 14-year-old student at CHAT in Thornhill, Ont., who taught himself how to code during the pandemic. Inspired by the Apple Watch his grandmother gave him for his bar mitzvah, Steinfeld set out to create the world's first free daily siddur app for the platform. Steinfeld joins today to discuss his project and what it took to build. What we talked about: Download WatchSiddur from the Apple App Store 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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

The CJN Daily is on vacation this week, so here's a rerun of one of our favourite episodes. The impact of the Pope's recent visit to Canada—and his apology to Indigenous Canadians, especially on behalf of those who controlled residential schools—is still resonating among First Nation communities. To commemorate that visit, we're re-airing our interview with a Jewish-Indegnous couple about their interfaith relationship and the importance of Orange Shirt Day. 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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

One of the biggest stories in international relations this week erupted when Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. For a high-ranking American to visit the disputed country, unrecognized by the United Nations because of its conflict with China, was controversial—perhaps almost as much as when 27-year-old web developer Abe Train decided to include Taiwan in his web game, Globle. Okay, so maybe the two aren't that comparable. But hundreds of thousands of people play Globle every day, putting real stress on Train to handle geopolitical issues from his apartment in downtown Toronto. Globle, which launched in January 2022, is one of many mimics of Wordle, the popular online word game bought by the New York Times for $1 million. Globle's spin is geography: players guess a country, and are informed by a colour code whether the country of the day is near or far. Players then keep guessing until they find the nation in question. Train joins today to explain what drove him to quit his day job and focus on innovative web design full-time, and how he handles hate mail over international border definitions, such as Taiwan—or the Middle East. What we talked about: Play Globle at globle-game.com Play Abe Train's new game at plurality.fun Read about the 2021 hate crime stats at thecjn.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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

It seems every Jew in Toronto has spotted Adam Sandler this summer—or knows someone who has. He’s in the area filming a new movie for Netflix, based on a coming-of-age book, called You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah! Sandler stars in the film with his wife and daughters, as well as Idina Menzel and Sarah Sherman, and a whole bunch of local teenagers (and some adults) were paid $100 a day to be extras. The crew is filming at the Royal York Hotel, the Liberty Grand and midtown’s own Beth Tzedec synagogue—so The CJN Daily visited to see if we could spy any celebs (we couldn't) and talk to some of the staff who are helping out. That includes Rabbi Steven Wernick and Daniel Silverman, who share what they did to help on set and how the shoot seems to be going. What we talked about: Learn more about the film adaptation of You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah! Read Ellin's piece about the Zisman family and Benjamin's funeral home at thecjn.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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

When their only child, Liam, died in January 2022, Jeanne and Raziel Zisman of Toronto had to book a funeral quickly—Jewish law states a burial should happen as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours. Liam was 19. The Zismans, distraught and emotional, met virtually with a representative from Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, the country's biggest Jewish funeral home, to make arrangements. Among their services, Benjamin's offered them the use of the Benjamin Foundation, a charity arm of the company that collects donations in the name of the deceased and transfers the money later, to a charity of the family's choosing. What's only in the fine print, however, is that Benjamin's Foundation keeps 10 per cent of the money for administrative purposes. It's been this way for nearly 40 years. In the past decade alone, Benjamin's has routed more than $3 million through this foundation to charities—and quietly deducted 10 per cent of that. That's a higher percentage than many other charities, particularly many Jewish ones. When the Zismans found out, they set off on a lengthy legal battle. The case is still ongoing in provincial court, but on July 27, the Zismans won a small victory: the regulatory body that oversees funeral homes in Ontario sided with the grieving family, ordering Benjamin's to release all funds—including the 10 per cent fee—to the charities, and mandated the company to make their fee structure more transparent on their website and in contracts and in conversations with clients. On today's CJN Daily, the Zismans joins to talk about their son and their legal struggles, and you'll also hear Benjamin's side of the story. What we talked about: Read Liam Zisman's obituary See how Benjamin's describes The Benjamin Foundation on their website 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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.

Gary Averbach left Calgary on a mission. The 79-year-old real estate mogul, based in Vancouver, is currently trekking through 40-degree heat waves across the Rockies from Calgary to his home city to raise money for cancer research. He's about three-quarters of the way there—his goal is to arrive home by mid-August, just shy of his 80th birthday, and to have raised $500,000 in the process. The project stemmed from a promise Averbach made last summer to his late cousin and business partner, Robert Golden, who passed away from bone cancer. After Averbach lost two more cousins and his housekeeper to cancer this spring, he decided to embark on the journey to raise money for a good cause, while also ticking off a bucket-list adventure. Averbach spoke to The CJN Daily from Boston Bar, B.C., around 45 kilometres south of Lytton, where he stopped after completing another daily 24-km hike. What we talked about: Follow Averbach's journey Find Miriam Libicki's comics on her website, or read about her in The CJN (from 2017) 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. Production assistance by Gabrielle Nadler and YuZhu Mou. 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.