North Star with Ellin Bessner

Over the past few weeks, Canadian grocery stores in Jewish neighbourhoods have been ravaged by a bizarre calamity: they're all out of Wacky Mac. From Kosher Quality in Montreal to Savours in Toronto to the Sobeys on Taylor in Winnipeg, Wacky Mac—a kosher staple for families craving macaroni and cheese—has completely disappeared from store shelves. The cheese-powder drought has led Jewish Canadians to social media, where eager shoppers are hunting down the country's few remaining boxes, while others sit clueless as to where all the funny-shaped pastas have vanished. On today's episode, we’ll hear from one Canadian woman who's been trying to get to the bottom of the Wacky Mac shortage, as well as a few kosher grocers who are going to extraordinary lengths to get their hands on as much of the cheddar treat as possible. What we talked about: Visit the Wacky Mac website at wackymac.com Find Wacky Mac in Toronto at savoursonline.ca See the winners of the 2021 Canadian Jewish Literary Awards at cjlawards.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 Oct. 2, a plane of Afghan refugees touched down in Albania after a five-day journey. The group included 120 women—police officers, judges, cyclists and others. It's the second effort coordinated by Israel's largest relief agency, IsraAID, along with Canadian-Israeli businessman Sylvan Adams and a few friendly Arab countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, to rescue Afghan refugees from the Taliban's recent takeover. Today, Adams is flying to Albania to meet with the refugees, who are being kept in a local hotel as they await a decision by the Canadian government over whether or not they can make it onto Canadian soil. And that's become a sticking point in this whole operation: rescuers, including the people at IsraAID, are growing increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of Canadian immigration bureaucracy—which they say is preventing them from saving even more Afghans. Yotam Polizer, the CEO of IsraAID, joins today to discuss his concern with the Canadian government and tell the inside story of how they got this latest group out of the fragile Central Asian country. What we talked about: Listen: "How billionaire Sylvan Adams helped rescue Afghanistan’s women cyclists" (thecjn.ca) Read: "Canadian Jewish community eager to help Afghan refugees; private sponsorships are on hold for now" (thecjn.ca) Watch: "How Jews and Arabs worked together to pull off an impossible rescue mission" (cnn.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; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

The latest Apple Watch is being released worldwide this week. With it, 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). 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 the recent election, David Freiheit stood out as arguably the most popular candidate running for the People's Party of Canada—apart from its leader, Maxime Bernier. The Montreal-based lawyer spends most of his days recording YouTube videos for his more than 400,000 fans across YouTube, Twitter and other social platforms, who know him as "Viva Frei". These days, in his videos, when Freiheit isn't commenting on prominent legal cases in his videos, he's arguing against vaccine mandates, lockdowns and elected politicians. He’s called Ontario Premier Doug Ford a fascist and despises Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On his show, he hosts controversial right-wing speakers such as Robert Barnes and notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Offline, Canadians might recognize Freiheit from his purple campaign signs erected around Montreal’s Westmount and NDG areas this past fall. He was the PPC candidate for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, a riding long held by Liberal cabinet minister Marc Garneau. Today, Freiheit joins to discuss why he decided to jump into politics, how he feels about winning around 1,500 votes and what he sees as the future of the PPC, which drew more than 800,000 votes nationwide. What we talked about: Watch Viva Frei's videos at youtube.com/c/VivaFrei Register for Leonard Cohen’s 5th yahrzeit lecture with Rabbi Aubrey Glazer here 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 Oct. 6, in a downtown park in Toronto, a ceremony was held to unveil a new plaque commemorating the Phillips garment factory fire of 1950. The plaque was installed near the site where 9 people were killed more than 70 years ago. Among the victims was the factory’s owner, Phillip Chikofsky. His 18-year-old son, Sidney, managed to escape—but ran back inside to help, and ended up dying as well, along with 7 other workers, including recent Jewish immigrants who had survived the Holocaust. The recent public ceremony was meant to help bring some closure to the families, but it also brought out the long-held private anguish, which both the workers' families and the owner's family carry with them to this day. What we talked about: Donate to Threads of Life at threadsoflife.ca Read "City of Toronto to memorialize Phillips garment factory fire of 1950" 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.

Last week, Israel's prime minister, Naftali Bennett, made his debut on the world stage at the United Nations General Assembly. Bennett has just passed the 100-day mark of his administration, after his coalition came together in June. How has Bennett's government fared in those hundred-odd days? Canada's former ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, would give the new team an A if she were writing their report card. Bercovici was a lawyer in Toronto when Stephen Harper appointed her as Canada's ambassador to Tel Aviv in 2014. She was let go just over two years later, after Justin Trudeau took office. (Her lawsuit against the Liberal government over her termination was settled earlier this year, but a non-disclosure agreement prevents her from speaking about it.) Despite losing that job, Bercovici remained in Israel, where she continues to work as a business consultant, public speaker and writer. She joins today to discuss her thoughts about Canada’s relationship with Israel, the ongoing controversy over the U.S. funding the Iron Dome, how Israel has handled the pandemic and more. What we talked about: Follow Vivian Bercovici on Twitter at @VivianBercovici Read: "Bercovici seeks to add PMO chief of staff to lawsuit" (thecjn.ca) Watch the short documentary Periphery on Vimeo 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.

Canada's estimated 9,000 Jewish post-secondary students have been back at school for barely more than a month—and while things are quieter so far, the culture of rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment has not gone away. Just this summer, a student living in a residence dorm at the University of British Columbia had her mezuzah damaged twice, resulting in the police getting called in. A Muslim students' club at the University of Western Ontario demanded the school ban all pro-Israel clubs and Zionist rhetoric from campus. And just last week, members of York University's student union arranged for a training workshop on antisemitism—but scheduled it on a Jewish holiday, conducted by a pro-BDS organization. So what kind of reality are Jewish students facing these days? To understand what life is like on the ground, we're joined by two graduate students and activists in Calgary Toronto who are organizing events and fighting for Jewish pride on campus. What we talked about: Read: "York University’s student union had a pro-BDS group talk to them about antisemitism" (thecjn.ca) Read: "Pavilions of Promise: Israel and the Zionist Movement at World’s Fairs—watch it Wednesday" (thecjn.ca) Find Hillel Ontario's "Joint Statement of Solidarity with Jewish Students" 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.

The Abraham Global Peace Initiative is a new human rights think tank founded by Avi Benlolo. And If Benlolo’s name sounds familiar, it may be because he’s a prolific writer and commentator about Israel and Jewish issues, including antisemitism and the Holocaust. Benlolo spent two decades as head of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, until his sudden departure in the summer of 2020. His latest venture is the AGPI, and his supporters include prominent Canadian leaders, including Ed Sonshine, Paul Godfrey, Jerry Grafstein, Holocaust suvivor Max Eisen and politicians Bill Blair and Stockwell Day. This week, Benlolo plans to bring his venture to the United Nations, where he’s launching his think tank on the international scene and handing out an award in human rights to Canada’s Ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae. While Benlolo says that, in the fight against antisemitism, existing Canadian Jewish groups—including his former employer—have a role to play, he feels their approaches aren’t working. He believes it's time to try a new method to tackle the scary state of the world. What we talked about: Learn about the Abraham Global Peace Initiative at agpi.ca Read about the second Canadian-Israeli Afghanistan rescue story 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.

Bradley Okrant grew up in the heavily Jewish community of Thornhill, Ont. Ten years ago, after graduating high school, he was accepted to college in Thunder Bay. Within weeks of arriving, he met Danelle Clark, a First Nations woman. At first, she didn’t know he was Jewish—and he thought she was Asian. Nonetheless, they've been together ever since. The Okrants live in Danelle's hometown of Beardmore, a community in Northern Ontario of 250 people, two hours north of Thunder Bay. It's not always easy being the only Jew in town, but Bradley makes it work. Today, for Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the couple joins to discuss their lives, what they've learned about each other's cultures and why they'll be wearing orange shirts for Orange Shirt Day. We want to acknowledge that this podcast is made on the traditional territories of the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe peoples, whose presence here continues to this day. I also would like to acknowledge the land I make this podcast on is at the meeting place of two treaties, the lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit and those of the First Nations of the Williams Treaty. We thank them and other Indigenous peoples for sharing this land with us. What we talked about: Learn more about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at canada.ca Learn about the meaning behind Orange Shirt Day at orangeshirtday.org Listen to The CJN Daily episode featuring Carol Wylie, who paints survivors of the Holocaust and residential school system, 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.

You might remember the fanfare back in the fall of 2017, when Canada’s Holocaust memorial opened in Ottawa, just west of Parliament Hill. Until then, Canada was the only Allied country without a national monument to victims of the Holocaust. The government paid $4 million for the Daniel Libeskind–designed project, while Canada's Jewish community raised the other $4.5 million. Later that year, a Hanukkah celebration was held at the newly minted site. But after that, only one other event was staged, in April 2019 to remember the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The monument has since been somewhat forgotten. And while the pandemic can be partly blamed for that, it doesn't tell the whole story. That longstanding vacancy ended on Sept. 14, 2021, when two men organized a memorial for the victims of the Babi Yar massacre, which happened 80 years ago this week. During the two-day slaughter, Nazi soldiers shot and murdered more than 33,000 Jews in a ravine near Kiev, Ukraine, marking the first and largest mass murder of Jews in the the Holocaust. We're joined today by the two men who organized the event, Joel Diener and Lawrence Greenspon, who explain why they did it and how they hope their event will serve as a wake-up call for the Jewish community to take advantage of the Ottawa monument more often. What we talked about: Learn more about Canada's National Holocaust Monument at ncc-ccn.gc.ca Learn about the Babi Yar massacre at yadvashem.org Read an essay by Laura Grosman about spearheading Canada's Holocaust memorial 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.