North Star with Ellin Bessner

After 9/11, Canada sent 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. One of those was Tamar Freeman. She spent 25 years in the military, including a deployment in 2006 to the Central Asian country, where she treated Canadian troops and Afghan women and children who suffered burns and abuse. When she arrived, insurgents were setting off roadside bombs; while Taliban rockets were routinely killing Western soliders. She lost friends and colleagues in the half-year she spent there, and endured strange looks from Afghan nationals who were surprised to see a short, blonde-haired female soldier—and they didn't even know she was Jewish. Coming up, to help mark Remembrance Day, Freeman joins to recall her experiences as a Jewish soldier in Canada’s last war, how she marked the Jewish holidays in Afghanistan and why watching the Taliban retake the country has been so sad and frustrating. What we talked about: Listen to "Shalom chaverim" played on Parliament Hill Nov. 11, beginning 11:45 a.m. EST, at ourcommons.ca Learn about the film featuring Tamar Freeman, Sisters in Arms, at sistersinarms.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 this week 73 years ago, Israel officially enacted a law recognizing its new national flag: the classic blue-and-white Star of David we recognize today. Ever since, the Israeli flag has evoked pride and a sense of belonging for Israelis and most Jews in the diaspora. But it has also, increasingly in recent years, become a geopolitical lightning rod, burned by opponents of Israel in the Middle East and smeared by anti-Zionist protesters around the world. How would the flag's designers react to this controversy today? Did they know how powerful the symbol would become? And why did they choose that final design to symbolize the State of Israel? To help answer these questions, we're joined by historian and collector David Matlow, who pens the recurring Treasure Trove column for The CJN. What we talked about: Be one of the first 50 people to email David Matlow through his website, herzlcollection.com, to receive a special envelope with the first day cover stamp Listen to "Meet the family doctor personally vaccinating hundreds of Ottawans" 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.

As the Canada-U.S. land border reopens today, officials are expecting it will be busy. Canadian snowbirds will begin their annual migration south to places like Florida and Arizona, but government restrictions and social distancing regulations will inevitably slow things down, and traveller hesitance will prevent numbers from reaching pre-pandemic levels for some time. Add the cost of travel insurance and expensive COVID-19 tests required by the Canadian government to return, plus the tests your destination country needs—not just for vaccinated adults, but unvaccinated children as well. It adds up. To discuss these issues and more, we're joined by three Jewish travel agents: Dinah Reich-Kuttner, from El Al's Canadian office; Jay Mandelker, a senior travel advisor with YYZ Travel; and Neal Chark, a senior travel advisor and sports tourism expert with Uniglobe Carefree Travel Group in Vancouver. What we talked about: Visit the agents' websites at yyztravel.com, uniglobecarefreetravel.com and elal.com/en/Canada 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.

Saul Rubinek has had a prolific career dating back to the 1960s. He's acted at the highest echelons of Canadian theatre, enjoyed stints on popular sitcoms like Warehouse 13 and Frasier, and played supporting roles in classic films such as Unforgiven, True Romance and The Trotsky. Coming off some of his most visibly Jewish roles—a main character in Amazon's Hunters, about Nazi hunters in the 1970s, and guest spots on Jewish shows Schitt's Creek and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel—the veteran actor, now in his 70s, is taking on a more personal project. He's diving into his family history with a new play he wrote, called All in the Telling, which dissects how the Holocaust affected his family—starting with his parents, who are both Polish survivors. Until he can get it produced in a theatre after the pandemic fades away, Rubinek is previewing parts of it himself, for Canadians for the first time, at a virtual Kristallnacht memorial event being put on by the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship in Ottawa. He joins today to discuss his inspiration and process in telling this delicate story for the first time. What we talked about: Register for the Ottawa event, "All in the Telling," at chesatottawa.ca Buy So Many Miracles on Amazon and watch the documentary on Vimeo Learn more about Time For My Story at timeformystory.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.

At age 17, Doris Grinspun moved to Israel, where she enrolled in nursing school in Jerusalem. When the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973, even though she was still a student, Grinspun was thrown into action anyway, caring for wounded Israeli soldiers in the burn unit. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor who fled to Chile during the war—where she was born and raised—Grinspun was no stranger to generational trauma. Now, she's working on the frontlines of a different war: against COVID-19 and anti-vax misinformation, and alongside thousands of nurses whose industry has reached a breaking point. As head of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, a lobby group representing Ontario's 45,000 nurses, Grinspun advises Premier Doug Ford frequently and has handled, by her count, more than 8,000 media requests about the pandemic. She joins today to share a glimpse into the dire situation facing Ontario's health care system, including an exodus of nurses fleeing to the United States for higher wages and what she fears is a too-fast economic reopening. What we talked about: Visit the RNAO website at rnao.ca Read Grinspun's blog at doris-blog.rnao.ca See the obituary notice for Rabbi Mordechai Glick at dignitymemorial.com Learn more about Time For My Story at timeformystory.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.

Steven Levitt isn't the first Jew to compete in CBC TV's reality competition, The Great Canadian Baking Show. But he is the only one this season. And so far, he's proven to be a pretty smart cookie, surviving the show's first three weeks. That he won a couple competitions along the way is just the icing on the cake. Not that he's been able to to brag about it—until now. He and his rivals were whisked off to a secret location this past summer for eight weeks of filming, where judges separated the wheat from the chaff and voted off the least-deserving muffin makers. But now that the show is airing, the tattooed, motorcycle-riding Jewish dad is free to break bread with The CJN Daily. How did he transform his pie-in-the-sky dream of pro baking into sweet reality? He gives us the straight answers—no sugarcoating. What we talked about: Watch the show at cbc.ca/life/greatcanadianbakingshow Learn Steven's recipe for chai pound cake at cbc.ca Donate to Sam Tenebaum's marathon fundraiser at fundraisers.hakuapp.com/sam-tenenbaum Get your free consultation from www.timeformystory.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.

Today marks The CJN Daily's 100th episode: a significant milestone for any podcast, but especially one exclusively covering Canadian Jewish issues on a daily basis. We’ve reported on Canada's Wacky Mac shortage, the 2021 war between Israel and Hamas, the anniversary of the MS St. Louis, Canada's first summit on antisemitism and dozens more topics that matter to Canadian Jews. The CJN Daily really is what Jewish Canada sounds like. On this special anniversary episode, we've invited other hosts from The CJN Podcast Network for a podcast party bonanza. Join the voices behind Bonjour Chai, Yehupetzville, Menschwarmers and Rivkush—together for the first time—to discuss what it's like being storytellers with Canada's biggest Jewish podcast community. What we talked about: Listen to all The CJN's podcasts at thecjn.ca/podcasts Learn more about Time For My Story at timeformystory.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.

If horror films ever have religious themes, they’re almost always Christian ones: good and evil, exorcisms, crosses and vampires, satanic cults. But as Halloween approaches, a Jewish horror-aficionado power couple is arguing that should change. Canadian horror writer Ariel Fisher and her husband, Jonathan Barkan, believe Jews have been reluctant to mine their real-life horrific experiences for artistic expression in the horror genre. In reality, Jews have suffered centuries of trauma that could well fuel its own subgenre. Fisher, who was born in Thornhill and now lives with her American-born husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan, join today to explore why Jewish horror stories have been so rare—and how they think it could change. What we talked about: Learn about Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary, an upcoming film by Jonathan Barkan, at mentalhealthhorrordoc.com Follow Ariel Fisher, managing editor of the horror magazine Fangoria, on Twitter @Afis8 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 spring of 1944, Eva Olsson's family—along with the rest of her town’s Jewish population—was deported to Auschwitz. Her parents were killed, along with her brothers and all but one sister. A year later, after being moved to Bergen-Belsen, Olsson wound up liberated as the war ended, and subsequently moved to Sweden, where she met and married a Swedish man. The family ended up moving to Canada after that, where Olsson stayed silent about her wartime experience for 50 years—until a grandchild asked her to speak at their school. That was 25 years ago. Today, Olsson estimates she's shared her life story with nearly two million students, as she's become one of Canada's most recognizable and vocal survivors. She’s written a memoir, been the subject of a short documentary and has received an honorary doctorate. And this week, Olsson had to fit a special event into her busy speaking calendar. On Oct. 28, 2021—her 97th birthday—she's being honoured in an online event arranged by her neighbours in Bracebridge, Ont., together with Yad Vashem’s in Jerusalem. Olsson joins today to share her story and offer advice on how to combat rising hate, Holocaust denial and antisemitism. What we talked about: Watch a short documentary about Eva Olsson, "Stronger Than Fire", on YouTube Read "Karina Gould’s new role comes with her new status as the only Jewish minister in Canada’s new federal cabinet" at thecjn.ca Read "Yad Vashem marks the birthday of prolific Holocaust speaker Eva Olsson, who lives in Muskoka at age 97" 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.

Tova Moradi is in her late 70s. After the Taliban came to power and threatened to stone her, one of the last remaining Jews in Afghanistan, she knew she had to leave the country. Weeks ago, a joint Canadian-Israeli rescue mission snuck Moradi and some of her extended family out of the country. But even though it happened weeks ago, details are only now being released, since Moradi and her family have landed safely in a Middle Eastern country on Oct. 25. That means four of Moradi's children, who live in Canada, can sleep a little easier. But the story doesn't end there. The rescue mission got them out, but the next step remains a mystery: Where will they end up? Moradi and other family members are hoping it will be Canada, but that's not a sure bet. On today's episode, we're joined by Joseph Friedberg, the man at the centre of the rescue operation, as well as Moradi's daughter Korsheid. What we talked about: Read "Another plane load of women from Afghanistan now safe after second Canadian-Israeli rescue" at thecjn.ca To learn more about the Box Jump Challenge for Stevie Schwartzberg, visit familialdysautonomia.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.