North Star with Ellin Bessner

Show notes It’s coming up on five months since Paul Finlayson, a business instructor in the Toronto area, was suspended from teaching at the University of Guelph-Humber, in Nov. 2023. Finlayson, who is not Jewish, is the subject of an internal investigation after several students and staff members filed complaints in the aftermath of Oct. 7. They told the university they felt unsafe on campus after seeing one of his personal social media posts on LinkedIn, in which Finlayson sided with Israel and denounced Hamas’s murder of 1,400 Israelis, saying they want a “barbaric primitive Islamic caliphate and hate all post-enlightenment values.” He suggested that someone who said “From the River to the Sea” was a Nazi, wants dead Jews and supports Hitler. Finlayson took his LinkedIn post down in a matter of days, but a week later, the school suspended him. The complaint—led by a Palestinian colleague—said the professor’s words incited hatred, Islamophobia and possibly even physical violence against Muslims, adding that his post “dehumanized Palestinians”. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Finlayson to find out why he is still fighting for his rights to free expression, despite a climate where “Zionist” has become a dirty word on Canadian campuses. What we talked about: Read more from Finlayson and follow his Substack, called “Freedom to Offend” Learn more and donate to a Go Fund Me fundraising campaign to help Finlayson with his legal battle See LinkedIn posts made by complainant prof. Wael Ramadan 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

It’s going to be a special Passover seder this year in Victoria, B.C. for The Klezbians, an all-woman musical group that performs Klezmer music. They’re marking 10 years since the band formed to play professionally in 2014. And even before that, the band and their wider group of Jewish lesbian friends have been holding annual inclusive seders, by invitation only, at a private home. These seders started as an alternative to the women’s unpleasant memories of their experiences as lesbians at their own traditional family seders, which were usually not welcoming spaces for them or their partners. Over the years, guests have created their own seder rituals, including making their own haggadah. The seder is usually accompanied by live klezmer performances of their favourite Passover songs. For a special Erev Passover edition of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by two of The Klezbians to hear their heartwarming story: Debby Yaffe is a retired women’s studies professor from the University of Victoria who plays guitar, and Susan Dempsey is a psychotherapist and counsellor who plays the accordion. What we talked about: Read more about the Klezbians on their official Facebook page Check out their music on YouTube Check out Bonjour Chai’s “Third Annual Great Canadian Seder” 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes: In just a few weeks, Ruby Grinberg will be packing her red ball gown and heading to Montreal to compete in the 2024 Miss Canada competition. The 20-year-old Toronto-born political science student will vie for the tiara against 20 other young women in the venerable contest—a pageant that, when it started in the 1940s, was all about beauty and bathing suits, but these days is more about personality. Grinberg isn’t your typical pageant contestant. In fact, she actually entered the event as a bit of a lark. But she isn’t totally unqualified: she’s a world-champion public speaker, debating coach and award-winning community volunteer. She hopes to use her voice and upcoming national platform to raise awareness about cancer, a disease that has directly impacted her own family. However, Grinberg is also acutely aware that being a Jewish woman competing in a public event these days likely will open her up as a target for some ugly antisemitism post Oct. 7, which is why she’s played down that important part of her life… for now. To hear more about her strategy, Grinberg joins The CJN Daily, and later, CJN podcast producer Zac Kauffman tells the history of Connie Gail Feller, his aunt’s sister, who was the first Jewish Miss Canada in 1961. What we talked about: Read more about Ruby Grinberg’s efforts to win Miss Canada, and learn how to vote Read about previous Canadian Jewish pageant contestants, from the archives of TheCJN.ca Read about the first Jewish Miss Canada from 1962, Connie Gail Feller (Salomon). 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

The week before Passover is always a busy time for supermarkets’ kosher meat sections. But this year, the meat you’ll find is likely different, because of a change in how kosher cows are being slaughtered in Canada. As The CJN Daily reported on earlier this year, the country’s two main kosher certifying bodies, the Kashruth Council of Canada and the Jewish Community Council in Montreal, which runs MK Kosher, have launched a high-profile legal dispute against the Canadian government. At issue are newly enforced regulations designed to make the killing process more humane for animals—but Jewish groups say they are based on bad science and also violate Jewish freedom of religion; plus, they warn, if they have to continue following them, the added costs could effectively end kosher slaughter in Canada. So who is right? How painless is Jewish ritual slaughter of beef, and what does science say? Is this a Charter case or mainly about money? To discuss the issue, we’re joined by Rabbi Allan Nadler, an Orthodox Montreal commentator and professor, and Dr. Joe Regenstein, a food scientist professor emeritus from Cornell University in New York, who is also one of the world’s foremost experts on ritual slaughter. What we talked about: Hear why MK Kosher and COR are suing the Canadian government on The CJN Daily Learn about a similar, previous threat to the kosher veal industry in Canada, in The CJN (from 2018) Why a Canada-U.S. trade dispute led to higher prices for all kosher imports, in The CJN 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

A delegation of 17 Canadians from British Columbia spent an anxious Saturday night hunkered down in Tel Aviv, watching the skies and waiting for air raid sirens, as Iran made good on its threat to retaliate for the Israeli airstrike that killed two top Iranian military commanders in Syria earlier this month. The overnight barrage of 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched from Iran were been mostly intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces, with help from U.S. and other allied forces in the region. There have been few reports of injuries in what Israel’s army calls a major escalation of hostilities. And stuck in the middle of it all is a delegation led by Vancouver’s Jewish Federation that’s been visiting Israel with provincial and municipal politicians, an Indigenous leader and local donors. They were staying inside while booms and sirens blared in the country. On this breaking-news episode of The CJN Daily, Ezra Shanken, the CEO of Vancouver’s Jewish Federation, joins from his hotel in Tel Aviv to describe what the last 24 hours have been like. What we talked about: Watch Ezra Shanken’s videotaped message from Tel Aviv on the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s X (Twitter) account Register for the Jewish Federations of North America special briefing on Israel under Iran attack, on Sunday April 14 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Follow The CJN’s continuing coverage of the Iran attack on Israel, on 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes Two Toronto community leaders have gone public about a legal fight involving one of Canada’s oldest Zionist organizations, which also runs Camp Shalom, a 75-year-old Jewish summer camp in Ontario. David Matlow, a CJN columnist who also lectures widely about Theodore Herzl, has taken the little-known Toronto Zionist Council to court over allegedly restricting who can be a member, claiming the organization only allows Jews who hold right-wing political views on Israel and Zionism. His legal case also alleges years of financial mismanagement by the organization’s former (and one current) directors, negatively impacting the TZC’s neglected Toronto headquarters at 788 Marlee Avenue, and Camp Shalom, in Gravenhurst, Ont. The lawsuit has been before the courts since August 2022. But while it continues, Matlow’s not-so-quiet pressure campaign has already resulted in a partial victory: the replacement of nearly all the longtime TZC directors at the centre of his allegations. Guidy Mamman, a Toronto immigration lawyer, was named the new president of the TZC board, and says he’s vowing to set things right. He wants to help Camp Shalom grow, fix the office building on Marlee, investigate any financial wrongdoing and even try to retrieve any allegedly missing money.  On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we bring you the full fascinating back story with plaintiff David Matlow and with new TZC president, Guidy Mamman. What we talked about: Read our first part of the investigation into the squalid conditions of The Toronto Zionist Council’s headquarters at 788 Marlee Ave., in The CJN. Watch our tour inside 788 Marlee, on The CJN’s YouTube channel. See the 1995 letter from Revenue Canada revoking an affiliated charity that illegally sent money to the West Bank. 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Show notes Mount Royal’s Member of Parliament, Anthony Housefather, has made headlines for the past three weeks for publicly mulling over whether to quit the governing Liberal party. He found himself torn after being one of just three members of his own party to reject an anti-Israel motion held in Parliament on March 18. But late on Friday, April 5, Housefather announced he will be staying a Liberal after all. Why? It’s partly because he says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to doing even more to fight the rampant antisemitism in Canada since Oct. 7—and expects Housefather to play an important new role. The exact details will be formally announced sometime before Passover, he tells The CJN. He will likely work together with Canada’s special envoy on combatting antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, to tackle the relentless anti-Israel street protests replete with hateful language that have become regular events. He also wants to find better ways to help Jews feel safer, especially at Jewish buildings and on university campuses. Housefather joins The CJN Daily to explain why he made his choice, and what pushback he’s been receiving from Jewish voters and others who felt he should jump to the Conservatives because of that party’s stronger support for Israel. What we talked about Hear Housefather explain why he thought about quitting the Liberal party after March 18’s anti-Israel vote, on The CJN Daily Anthony Housefather intends to run again, in Mount Royal, in The CJN Why the Montreal Jewish community received a court injunction blocking aggressive protests outside Jewish buildings until early April, in The CJN 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

For the second time in less than two weeks, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is promising Canadian Jews that he has their backs after Oct. 7 in a way that, he says, Canada’s current prime minister no longer does. Poilievre told a crowd of 600 people at Toronto’s Beth Tikvah synagogue on April 7 that he wants more done to protect Canadian Jews’ rights to live and worship in the country. He called for a crackdown on campus antisemitism, pushed for expanded funding for security around Jewish buildings, and slammed Canadian lawmakers who recently voted in Parliament on March 18 to block arms sales to Israel. The message struck a similar tone to what Poilievre has been promoting in recent weeks—and he’s been finding a receptive audience among Canadian Jews. Many are frustrated with Canada’s resumption of funding for UNRWA, calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, the refusal to denounce a UN court case investigating Israel’s “plausible” genocide against Palestinians—not to mention the fact that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not yet visited Israel, despite Hamas murdering eight Canadian civilians during the terrorist attacks six months ago. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we followed Poilievre during his weekend campaign through Jewish Toronto. You’ll hear from Rabbi Jarrod Grover, who invited him; Rabbi Adam Cutler, and community leaders Claire Horowitz, Karen Kizell and Stan Korolnek. Plus, we tracked down Ephraim Shore, the mysterious rabbi whom the Conservative leader often credits with sparking his support for Israel and the Jewish people decades ago. What we talked about See Pierre Poilievre’s Toronto speech to Beth Tikvah congregation on April 7, 2024, and also watch his speech at the Six Months in Hell Rally for the hostages at Nathan Philips Square on YouTube Read more about Poilievre’s stance on Jewish issues, from a November 2023 announcement he made at Shaarei Shomayim Synaogogue in Toronto, in The CJN Why Poilievre didn’t sanction three Conservative MPs who met with a far-right anti-immigrant European politician in 2023, on The CJN Daily 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

With over 41,000 members and counting, the Everything Jewish Toronto Facebook group has found itself serving as an unofficial online public square for Canada’s largest Jewish community. The group was created a decade ago by two Toronto sisters–Jennifer Stallman and Brittney Waxman Sultan–as a vehicle to promote Jewish businesses, for a fee, to a Jewish audience. It has since morphed into a popular online space where Jewish people who aren’t necessarily members of a synagogue or of other formal Jewish organizations, could connect: find a hairdresser, book a lawyer or even rent an apartment. But since Oct. 7, Everything Jewish Toronto has exploded with hundreds of posts per day from members reporting on the Israel-Hamas war, on efforts to free the hostages, and updating when they encounter instances of antisemitism, boycotts, vandalism and threats as a result of the anti-Israel protests happening in Toronto-area schools, hospitals, stores and especially on the streets. So who is behind Everything Jewish Toronto? How do they decide who can join, who can post, and how do they keep the level of discourse civil in a space that can often be flooded with online trolls and hate? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we meet the founders: sisters Jennifer Stallman and Brittney Sultan. What we talked about: Learn more about Everything Jewish Toronto on Facebook. See Entertain Kids on a Dime, a related website run by one of the sisters. If you missed Ellin on ‘Bonjour Chai’s last episode about whether Canada is really so antisemitic (because it sure feels like it), listen here on The CJN 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Just two months after Justin Trudeau held a closed-door meeting with Toronto’s Jewish leaders, the Canadian prime minister spent an hour last week doing the same thing at a Vancouver synagogue, Temple Sholom. Trudeau met privately with four leading community rabbis and the local Federation’s chair of the community security committee. Sources tell The CJN the meeting was arranged in advance by the Liberal MP for Vancouver Granville, Taleeb Noormohamed. While there are 10 members of the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver, the meeting was kept small. Several told The CJN they received criticism from their community for attending, because the meeting came a week after the Liberal government supported an NDP motion on March 18, in the House of Commons, that resulted in halting arms sales to Israel, resuming funding for UNRWA, and—before the language was hastily amended—would have seen Canada unilaterally recognize Palestine as a state. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom explains why he felt it was important to “take the prime minister to task” on a half-dozen key issues. What we talked about: See and sign the petition to stop the B.C. Ministry of Education from including the Nakba (meaning “The Catastrophe”, what Palestinians call Israel’s 1948 War of Independence) in the provincial social studies curriculum Watch Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s speech at Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue in Montreal on March 26, 2024 When Justin Trudeau quietly met with Toronto Jewish leaders in Jan. 2024—and why some rabbis left dissatisfied, on The CJN Daily 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. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.