North Star with Ellin Bessner

For some Jews, just the thought of returning to Poland—let alone to help Ukrainians—stirs up complicated feelings, given the two countries' fraught Holocaust legacies. But this week, three Canadian rabbis did exactly that, confronting the past and engaging with the present emergency. Rabbi Mark Fishman, Rabbi Adam Scheier and Rabbi Reuben Poukpo travelled to Poland on a mission to help Ukrainians who are fleeing Russia's war on their home country. The rabbis flew into Warsaw and made their way east, stopping to meet traumatized Ukrainian refugees in hostels and Jewish buildings. They distributed money and donated warm clothes, which they packed and brought in large suitcases. They believe that modern Jews must put aside their memories of Europe's troubled past and focus on helping people in need today. And while their brief trip is one small effort in the larger humanitarian crisis, they knew they had to do something. Rabbi Fishman and Rabbi Poukpo spoke to The CJN Daily from the Warsaw airport to discuss what they saw, how they helped and what they're taking away from this life-changing experience. What we talked about: Watch Rabbi Fishman's video from the border on Facebook Read about Rabbi Scheier's experience meeting Ukrainian Jews on Facebook Read "Rabbi Erwin Schild looks back on 95 years" at thecjn.ca Donate to Jewish Winnipeg's Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund at jewishwinnipeg.org/ukrainian-emergency-relief-fund Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

Rosemary Sullivan, the Canadian author of more than a dozen books, knew she'd get some pushback for her latest non-fiction endeavour, a book that casts the Anne Frank story in a troubling new light. But she never expected it to be this bad. The city of Amsterdam demanded 100,000 euros back from the subjects of Sullivan's story; Dutch newspapers issued bold retractions on their front pages; the book's Dutch publisher publicly apologized to readers for offending them. At the root of the controversy is a startling revelation alleged in Sullivan's new book, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation. Sullivan details a team of Dutch and American investigators who discover that it was likely a Dutch Jewish man who betrayed the Franks, inviting a Nazi raid that ultimately led to many of the family members' deaths. The story, and the resulting outcry, has made international headlines. In Canada, Indigo's CEO, Heather Reisman, called the book the "one thing you should read this year," and Sullivan herself stands by the investigators' findings—even if they're hard to stomach. She joins to discuss. What we talked about: Buy The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation at harpercollins.ca Read "Chaim Katz’s six-year battle culminates in the University of Toronto withholding $10,918 earmarked for the BDS caucus in a graduate student union" at thecjn.ca Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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 March 19, 12-year-old Naomi Hochman will celebrate her bat mitzvah at Winnipeg's Shaarey Zedek synagogue. And while she's the first girl in her family to have a bat mitzvah—her older brothers had theirs, and she just took for granted she would enjoy one too—bat mitzvahs are in fact a relatively new phenomenon. Naomi's bat mitzvah actually takes place on the 100-year anniversary of the very first bat mitzvah in North America. The daughter of an American reconstructionist rabbi, Judith Kaplan, earned that distinction on March 18, 1922. In Canada, what is believed to be the first bat mitzvah wouldn't take place until decades later, in 1949. Miriam Lieff led a Friday night service at Agudath Israel Synagogue in Ottawa, paving the way for generations of Canadian girls to take a more egalitarian role in Jewish religious life. Now 86, Lieff joins to recall her experience during a time when girls weren't even allowed to stand on the bimah—and Naomi will talk about how she feels carrying that torch so many years later. What we talked about: Submit your bat mitzvah story to the Jewish Women’s Archive at jwa.org/stories/batmitzvah-at-100 Donate to the Jewish community of Mariupol at jewishwaterloo.com Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

For weeks now, we here at The CJN have been reporting on a wave of antisemitic incidents being reported at public schools across Toronto. Mostly they involve Nazi salutes and swastikas, and the targets have been both students and teachers. Three new incidents happened late last week—all on the same night. Earlier this year, students made Nazi salutes at two separate schools in Toronto; at a third school, a teacher was suspended for comparing vaccine passports to Nazi-era yellow stars. It's gotten to the point that even mainstream media outlets are paying attention, while many parents, teachers and school board officials are wondering what is going on. Is it ignorance? Or something more sinister? Professor Barbara Perry, an expert in right-wing extremism who teaches at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, calls what's happening a "contagion" circulating in the ether. She joins to explain. What we talked about: Read "A suspect is being sought after antisemitic graffiti was found at three Toronto high schools; the latest in a string of hateful incidents" at thecjn.ca Read the TDSB report, "Combatting Hate and Racism: Student Learning Strategy", at tdsb.on.ca See the full list of the Order of British Columbia at news.gov.bc.ca Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

In December 2021, baking entrepreneur Amy Rosen made a splash on the CBC reality show Dragons' Den. The pastry specialist and accomplished cookbook author pitched them a stake in her line of bake-at-home cinnamon buns. While the dragons loved her foods, she stumbled when asked about her sales figures. Rosen calls that moment a national embarrassment—and also unfair. But she's moving on. She landed a spot on a new TV cooking show called Wall of Bakers, which debuts March 28 on Food Network Canada. And now that enough time has passed, she's ready to dish some dirt on what really happened during her time in the den. Rosen joins to talk about her TV experiences, her Jewish cookbooks and what's next for Rosen's Cinnamon Buns. What we talked about: Watch Amy's appearance on Dragons' Den at cbc.ca Read about her most recent cookbook at thecjn.ca Read Leila Paperman's obituary at thecjn.ca Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

In late February, The CJN published a first-person essay by 17-year-old Talia Freedhoff about antisemitism and ignorance at her Ottawa public high school. It wasn't the first time she spoke out about these issues. She's done TV interviews and delivered speeches to school board trustees to try and open the public's eyes about the reality of Jewish student life. She's had teachers schedule tests on important Jewish holidays and refuse to change the date, even after they were ordered to by the administration. She's heard stories from fellow Jewish students who've had coins thrown at them in hallways and swastikas drawn on their personal belongings. These incidents aren't unique within her circles, either: in 2022, numerous antisemitic incidents have been reported across public schools in Ontario, including in Jewish neighbourhoods in Toronto. Freedhoff joins The CJN Daily to explain why school boards shouldn't have to wait for Jewish kids to speak out to teach them how to tackle antisemitism. What we talked about: Read "Toronto’s Pleasant Public School is investigating an allegation of antisemitism—following two February incidents elsewhere" at thecjn.ca Read "The problem with antisemitism in education isn’t that no one is speaking up, it’s that schools aren’t listening, says Ottawa student Talia Freedhoff" at thecjn.ca Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

Of the 200 people protesting across the street from the Russian embassy in Ottawa on Sunday, most held up signs coloured yellow and blue, in solidarity with Ukraine. But there was one sign in black and white with a menorah on it and the words "Let Ukraine live. We are family. Canada's Jews." Holding the sign was 77-year-old Alti Rodal, a historian and the daughter of Holocaust suvivors. She was born in Chernowitz, Ukraine, but has lived in Ottawa for many years. She and her husband founded a group called Ukrainian Jewish Encounter in 2007, wanting to bridge the longstanding distrust between Jews and Ukrainians that dates back to the Second World War, when Ukrainians were slapped with a reputation of being the worst Nazi collaborators in all of Europe. All their hard work is in jeopardy now. As Russia wages its war in the country, it breaks Rodal's heart to know that all the museum exhibits, conferences, school tours and especially the restoration projects of Jewish cemeteries that she’s been leading in Ukraine are at risk—especially because, as she tells The CJN Daily, nearly every Ashkenazi Jew in the world originally came from Ukraine. What we talked about: Learn about ukrainianjewishencounter.org Read Steve Arnold's death notice at uhmc.ca/arnold-stephen Read "Canadian Jews are opening their hearts (and their wallets) for Ukrainian Jews now facing war" at thecjn.ca Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

On Sunday, thousands of people in cities across Canada gathered in solidarity with Ukraine. The support may comfort Anatoliy Shengait—as the head of Kyiv’s Jewish community, he's spent the past week fielding worried WhatsApp calls, keeping tabs on the war and trying to communicate with his own family, including his brother, who's trapped with no electricity or running water outside the capital city. Shengait's life and work is busy enough during peacetime. He coordinates events, liaises with the city's synagogues and Jewish schools and has been advocating for a better airport in Uman, where thousands of Hasidic Jews make an annual pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Russia's attacks have risked not only his life and the lives of his fellow Ukrainian Jews—about 200,000, by some estimates—but it's also created a humanitarian crisis that has led hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee the country. Shengait spoke with The CJN Daily podcast from his home in besieged Kyiv on Sunday night. He spells out what he hopes the world understands about the situation and what he fears might happen next—that this war could lead to another massacre like what happened at Babi Yar against Ukrainian Jews during the Holocaust. What we talked about: Read "Ukraine emergency appeals have been activated by Jewish federations across Canada" at thecjn.ca Read about Jewish Canada's partners at jewishcanada.org/home/partners Donate to Chabad's Ukraine Jewish Relief Fund at chabad.org Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

Meet Primrose Madayag Knazan. She's the winner of the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competiton, and her new play, Precipice, is about a Filipino-Canadian woman who converts to Judaism—just like she did. The Winnipeg resident’s play debuted in 2021 at the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre's So, Nu? Festival, beating nearly two dozen entries to claim the top prize. Madayag Knazan calls Precipice a love letter to the symbolism and ceremony of Judaism. The former Catholic wanted to study the Jewish religion after meeting her husband-to-be’s rabbi, Alan Green, who had lived in the Philippines. Now the Knazans are raising their family in the Jewish tradition, with their sons enrolled in parochial school and one having recently celebrated his bar mitzvah. Madayag Knazan joins The CJN Daily to discuss how her play, as well as her new novel Lessons in Fusion, provide a mirror for children like hers to face the challenges of being a visible minority within Canada's Jewish community. What we talked about: Follow Primrose Madayag Knazan on Instagram Buy her novel Lessons in Fusion Watch the Compliments Challenge video for Kindness Week Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.

If David Segal's name sounds familiar, it's because he put the "David" in DavidsTea, the popular chain of heavily curated loose leaf teas and cafes that sprang up across North America in the 2010s. Segal left the company in 2016, starting a salad-based restaurant chain called Mad Radish instead. Now the Ottawa-based entrepreneur is getting back into the tea game alongside fellow Jewish Ottawan Harley Finkelstein, the president of Shopify. Segal is bringing the tea knowledge; Finkelstein is bringing the digital platform. Instead of launching hundreds of cafes and appearing on supermarket shelves, this new brand, called Firebelly Tea, will be digital-only, relying exclusively on its Shopify store for sales. So why does Segal think his formula will work in the middle of a pandemic, in a market hit with rising inflation and consumers hesitant to indulge in nice-to-have luxuries like fancy tea? He joins to discuss. What we talked about: Learn about Firebelly Tea at firebellytea.ca Read "Yet another ‘Heil Hitler’ salute—this time targeting a Jewish teacher—is reported at a Toronto middle school, in Flemingdon Park" at thecjn.ca Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden 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.