North Star with Ellin Bessner

In May, Sheikh Jarrah became famous as the central neighbourhood in a land dispute in East Jerusalem. The Israeli government recently allowed Jewish settlers to build homes in the area, which has deep significance for religious Jews. But their settlement meant evicting Palestinians whose families have been living in there for generations. Jewish settlers say those homes actually belonged to Jews before that, while many critics and international governments consider the whole area illegally occupied. Two Israeli courts already ruled that four Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah would have to leave their homes—but these families appealed, and a final decision was supposed to be handed down this past May. But protests led to violence across the country, and soon rallies were held around the world, while Israel's attorney general requested a postponement of the court's decision until hostilities calmed down. The decision is now set to be announced next week, on Aug. 2. In Canada, progressive and left-learning Jewish groups are watching the situation closely. Young members of several organizations—including JSpaceCanada, Canadian Friends of Peace Now and the New Israel Fund of Canada—have joined forces to call on the leaders of Canada’s five main political parties to pressure Israel into stopping the evictions and prevent further violent protests. But will the letter have an effect? What are the writers' expectations? On today's episode, Ellin Bessner with Kevin Keystone, a spokesperson for the coalition of young Jews behind the letter. What we talked about: Read the joint letter at nifcan.org/joint-letter-sheikh-jarrah Learn about the upcoming event staged by Canadian Friends of Peace Now at peacenowcanada.org 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

For Canadians who took a chance this past winter and ventured south to the southern United States, winter may not have felt so bad. Many had the opportunity to get vaccinated sooner than if they'd stayed in Canada; they got to enjoy beautiful weather, as usual; and they may have appreciated local governors refusing to lock down their economies, as was the case in Florida. Of course, the downsides were significant: more than 2.3 million people in Florida contracted COVID-19, and more than 37,000 of them died. Nonetheless, a new survey of Canadian snowbirds shows 91 per cent of respondents plan to travel south this coming winter, despite lingering uncertainty over border controls, America's stagnating vaccination numbers and an impending fourth wave of the deadly virus. Even if these snowbirds are vaccinated, travel won't be business as usual. On today's episode, we're joined by Evan Rachkovsky, director of communications for the Canadian Snowbird Association, a lobby group of about 100,000 travellers. Rachkovsky addresses common questions about COVID positivity rates in Florida, estimates of border openings and how to register vaccines received stateside with Canadian health authorities. What we talked about: Visit the Canadian Snowbird Association's website at snowbirds.org Read about the proposed U.S. Senate bill that could allow Canadian snowbirds to stay south for longer at thestar.com Find details about Rabbi Bulka's Shloshim tribute at eventbrite.ca 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

The government's much-touted day-long National Summit on Antisemitism took place virtually on July 21, 2021. Among the attendees were members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, Jewish Liberal MPs, municipal leaders and representatives from the country's main Jewish organizations. They spoke at length about concrete strategies to combat antisemitism and heard firsthand accounts of how antisemitism seeps into Canadian society. Irwin Cotler, who helped put the event together, gave the keynote address, and joins today to discuss the government's promises. Plus, we speak with community leaders Shimon Koffler Fogel and Michael Mostyn to learn where the summit succeded—and where it fell short. What we talked about: Read the full transcript of Trudeau's opening remarks at thecjn.ca, or watch the full opening on Facebook Watch the full afternoon panel on community security initiatives on Facebook Read the government's pledge to earmark $6 million for upgrading security at 150 national buildings, including Jewish institutions, at canada.ca 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

For the past year, Laura Whitney Sniderman, armed with a Master's degree in psychology, has been helping people find and make new friends during the pandemic. She started a new community-driven company, Kinnd, which connects people online with a forthcoming app and a Facebook group of more than 10,000 people. During the pandemic, Kinnd also held several virtual meet-ups over Zoom, where members paid $10 to be matched with others who they might get along with. But with the world opening up again, the attraction of virtual friendships could disappear. Is this a problem for Kinnd? Or has society turned a corner in embacing and fostering online friendships? To answer these questions, Laura Whitney Sniderman joins to discuss. What we talked about: Visit Kinnd's website at kinnd.io Join the group on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/Kinnd 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

Naomi Krajden didn't go to medical school to become a front-line health care worker, even though many of her family members work in the field. Her father and brother are doctors; her mother is a nurse. So it wasn't surprising that the Toronto-born Jewish artist gravitated toward the medical world. Krajden—a trained theatre actor, singer and dancer—is the only Jewish pro therapeutic clown in Canada. If you've seen the movie Patch Adams, it's similar to what she does. Now living in Montreal, her in-person therapeutic clown visits, which took her to hospitals and nursing homes around the city, ground to a halt when the pandemic hit. She pivoted to virtual visits, but it wasn’t the same. Now, after 16 months of Zoom visits, Krajden and her troupe are slowly being allowed back to resume the work she loves. She joins us today to talk about her journey, how she channels her Jewish roots in her work, and the effect her efforts have on her patients. What we talked about: Learn more about therapeutic clowns at fondationdrclown.ca Read about Annamie Paul's press conference at thecjn.ca 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

On July 18, 1994, a car bomb blew up the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, levelling the city's main Jewish federation building. Now referred to as the AMIA bombing, the terrorist attack killed 85 Jewish people and injured 300 more. It was the worst terrorist attack in the history of Argentina and the worst attack against Jews outside Israel since the Holocaust. What's more troubling is that the perpetrators have never been confirmed. Investigators and the public blame operatives from Iran and Hezbollah, but no suspects have been brought to justice. Combined with the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which happened two years prior, many Jewish families from Argentina took this as a cue to leave. Some moved to Canada, where they are still dealing with the trauma—and seeking justice. Hernan Popper is one of those Argentinian Jews. He now lives in Winnipeg, but he lived through the AMIA bombing; on today's show, he joins to describe what it was like hearing the explosion and how he remembers those who died that day. What we talked about: Learn about B'nai Brith Canada's event, "Remembering AMIA," at bnaibrith.ca Visit Hernan Popper's cybersecurity company, POPP3R Watch Nisman, the docuseries about Alberto Nisman, the investigator of the AMIA attack, on Netflix 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

July 14 was a hectic day for Jews looking for ways to combat anti-Semitism: there were at least three large-scale events held on the subject within 24 hours of each other. One was a virtual town hall organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which aimed to gather input from Jewish leaders and ordinary people on the current rise of anti-Semitism. Another happened in Jerusalem, where different Jewish leaders met with mayors from across the world to hear about different programs being launched, what's working and what isn't. The third event was a meeting of federal parliamentarians from various countries—including Canada, the U.S., Britain, Australia and Israel—who issued an interim plan on how to fight anti-Semitism online. Today, we're devoting the entire episode to rounding up the highlights from these events: who spoke, what they said and what the Jewish community can do to move forward in combatting Jew hatred. What we talked about: Read the interim report by the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism at wassermanschultz.house.gov Check out the international panel, "Eradicating Antisemitism from our Streets", at combatantisemitism.org Listen to The CJN Daily episode with Irwin Cotler discussing Canada's upcoming national emergency summit on anti-Semitism at thecjn.ca 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

If you haven’t heard of Josh Zilberberg, you're clearly not one of his nearly 2 million followers on TikTok, nor one of his 438,000 Instagram followers. Certainly Zilberberg himself never expected this when he started posting videos about life as a 27-year-old living with his parents during the pandemic. Yet Zilberberg has quickly ascended to social media stardom. He burst onto the scene from his bedroom in his parents' house in Markham last year by posting hilarious, fast-paced, bite-sized videos in which he deadpans a 10-second, rapid-fire monologue joke that invariably ends with what's become his tagline: "Thank yew." On his feed, you'll hear him unload self-deprecating one-liners about his dancing skills, body image, dating troubles and being gay. But one thing he’s never talked about publicly—until now—has been his Canadian Jewish roots. Zilberberg joins today to discuss his rise to internet stardom, his new job as an influencer and how he hopes to fight anti-Semitism online. What we talked about: Follow Josh on TikTok @josh.zilberberg and find his merch at fanjoy.co View the government's readout of Justin Trudeau's conversation with Yair Lapid at pm.gc.ca 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

In 1947 and '48, thousands of foreign military personnel—including 300 from Canada—flew to the emerging State of Israel to fight for its survival against hostile Arab forces. Most volunteers were experienced Jewish veterans of the Second World War. Their vital military skills helped reinforce existing troops in prewar Palestine, then later the State of Israel; in the case of the air force, they actually helped create it. These fighters were known as the Machal, a name derived from Hebrew, meaning "volunteers from abroad". Decades passed before Israel officially recognized the Machal's contribution. Today, very few of them are still alive. But two of the last surviving Canadian Machal veterans are marking an important milestone this week: it’s the anniversary of their arrival in Israel, in July 1948, right in the middle of the country's War of Independence. Bill Novick is 97; Irving Matlow is a couple years younger. Both veterans join us to share stories from the war, explain why they went and discuss how it changed their lives. What we talked about: Learn more about the Machal's contributions at machal.org.il Buy Irving Matlow's book, At the Family Table, on Amazon Sign up for the 7th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism at combatantisemitism.org Learn about Bernie Grempel at findbernard.com 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

Israel's national airline, El Al, halted flights to Canada when the pandemic broke out globally in March 2020. But more than a year later, on June 28, 2021, El Al quietly started service up again on the Toronto–Tel Aviv route. On the first planeload, they handed out teddy bears to kids. There were nearly 100 empty seats. The next flight is scheduled to depart from Toronto today—Monday, July 12—but with Israel’s travel rules still in flux, and the Canadian border still closed to international tourists, it will be a while before we see the four full El Al flights per week that used to run from Toronto in the summers before COVID-19. Nonetheless, news that El Al flights have resumed is a big deal. On today's episode, Dinah Kutner, the general manager of El Al in Toronto, joins to explain what the resumption of service is looking like and what the future holds for Israeli travel. What we talked about: Find flights between Israel and Canada at elal.com Learn about Birthright resuming trips this August at israelforfree.com Register for CIJA's town hall at fightit.ca 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.