North Star with Ellin Bessner

More than 60 years ago, in 1961, Saul Fenster and his older brother, Henry—two Jewish siblings from Poland who had survived the Holocaust—bought a swampy plot of land an hour north of Montreal with the dream of opening a ski resort for families. And so, the Belle Neige ski hill in Montreal’s Laurentien mountains was born. Saul had learned to ski after the war in Switzerland, where he had been sent to try to cure his tuberculosis after the brothers survived a half-dozen death camps—including Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Belle Neige is honouring its founders this weekend with the opening of a new $4-million quadruple chairlift that has been named in the Fensters’ honour. Although both patriarchs have passed away, their families will be on hand for the inauguration ceremony in Val Morin, Que., on Feb. 25—which also happens to be the one-year anniversary of Saul’s death. Two of Saul’s sons, Mark and Elie Fenster, join The CJN Daily along with Nicolas Vallieres, the Belle Neige general manager, to describe how their family created its snowy field of dreams. What we talked about:. Read more about the Fenster’s founding of Belle Neige Read the obituary of Saul Fenster in the Montreal Gazette 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.

In a relatively short time, Dan Illouz went from being a McGill University law student to sitting in Israel’s Knesset as a member of the ruling Likud government. The son of Moroccan immigrants to Montreal, Illouz moved to Israel 13 years ago. Since then, he has held political jobs and also served as a Jerusalem city councillor before taking his seat in the Knesset after Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud won the most recent election. Among his stances, Illouz supports the government’s current efforts to reform the power of the Israeli courts—which have prompted mass street protests in Israeli cities, evoked concern among many Jewish groups in the Diaspora and even brought stern warnings from political allies, including Canada. The rookie MK—who turns 37 on Tuesday, Feb. 21—views the protests more as a “disagreement” among friends, and condemns those who say the reforms will make Israel less democratic. Illouz joins The CJN Daily from his office in Jerusalem to explain. What we talked about: Read more about Dan Illouz on the Knesset website Why Illouz campaigned for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper in 2015 How Dan Illouz was deeply touched by a 2008 terrorist attack on a yeshiva in Israel 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.

Sketches on a restaurant napkin, a notebook draft of “Hallelujah”, black and white Polaroid snapshots of his naked chest: the late Canadian singer and poet Leonard Cohen kept it all for posterity. Now, a curator with the Art Gallery of Ontario has convinced the Cohen estate to dig into the icon’s personal treasures and stage a never-before-seen exhibit of the very personal collection. Cohen’s two children did not cooperate—in fact, they are embroiled in legal proceedings with Cohen’s former manager over control of their late father’s $48-million (USD) estate and holdings. The exhibit’s curator, Julian Cox, took The CJN Daily on a private tour of the exhibit, titled “Everybody Knows”, where host Ellin Bessner became surprisingly moved while seeing the intimate ephemera of the internationally renowned composer and troubadour. What we talked about:. **   **Learn more about the Leonard Cohen exhibit on the AGO website. Read The CJN’s review of the 2017 Montreal “A Crack in Everything” exhibit, still on until 2024, virtually. Why Michael Posner wrote three books about Cohen, 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.

It’s been seven months since the federal government was made aware that it had awarded a lucrative training contract to a known racist and antisemite, Laith Marouf. The story broke in July 2022, after several media watchers went public about offensive tweets which Marouf had posted about Jews, Blacks, Indigenous people and French Canadians. While his contract was eventually cancelled and his training workshops for journalists halted, serious questions have been asked ever since about what government officials knew, when they knew, why it took so long for them to take action, and how Marouf could have slipped through the vetting process so easily. On Monday, a high-ranking civil servant from the Department of Canadian Heritage appeared before a House of Commons committee hearing into the affair. What followed was a 90-minute grilling by the committee’s MPs, who remained unimpressed and even disappointed with the answers. On today’s The CJN Daily, we’ll take you to the hearings, and also get analysis from Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who has been critical of the government’s handling of the scandal. What we talked about: Watch the full Standing Committee hearings on Canadian Heritage’s handling of the Laith Marouf scandal Meet the internet expert Mark Goldberg who outed Laith Marouf, on The CJN Daily Read why Twitter suspended Laith Marouf’s personal accounts, on The CJN.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.

Philip Kuntz considers himself the first-ever customer of Aroma Espresso Bar’s first-ever Canadian coffee outlet. When the Aroma location opened in 2007 at 500 Bloor Street West in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, Kuntz drank the very first cuppa. For a dozen years, the Ontario musician and artist made that Aroma outlet part of his daily routine–– holding court for hours at the now-closed store. (It was shuttered suddenly in October, 2019.) Kuntz has been watching the Aroma brand’s venture in Canada unfold, including _The CJN’_s recent coverage of the outstanding $10 million dollar legal dispute between the original Canadian franchisor and head office in Israel. He joins The CJN Daily to offer his thoughts about what’s gone wrong, and he even recites a limerick he composed in Aroma’s honour. What we talked about: Hear Part 1 of The CJN’s investigation into the Aroma Espresso Bar multi-million- dollar lawsuit with the Canadian branch 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.    tktk tktk Credits T

More than five years have passed since the still-unsolved murders of philanthropists Barry and Honey Sherman in their Toronto home. Despite a $35-million reward for clues to solve their killing, the case remains a mystery. Conspiracy theories abound over who did it and why, with fingers being pointed at the Clintons, Big Pharma, the Sherman children, a cousin or even the Mossad. Police haven’t released any clues in more than a year. But interest is about to heat up again as two major Canadian news outlets give the story the true-crime treatment, each releasing podcasts about the Shermans—this same month. The two shows take very different approaches. One is hosted by Kevin Donovan, the Toronto Star reporter who broke most of the Sherman case and wrote a book about it; the other, produced by the CBC, is hosted by Jewish journalist Kathleen Goldhar. She has produced previous hit shows about a romance scammer and the cult that ensnared two Bronfman sisters. Today, both podcasters join The CJN Daily to explain why they have been pursuing the case for years and whether either of their competing shows actually provide closure to the unsolved mystery. What we talked about: Hear Kevin Donovan on The CJN Daily talk about his book “The Billionaire Murders” which the new podcast is based on Read about the philanthropic legacy of the Shermans in The CJN Learn why the Toronto police released this video of a person of interest in The CJN.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.

The popular Israeli chain of Aroma Espresso coffee bars is tied up in a three-and-a-half year legal fight with the Toronto business partners who originally brought the brand to Canada in 2007. Aroma’s foray here had been considered an international success story for the Israeli brand: at its peak, founder Earl Gorman and manager Anat Davidzon grew the branch to 45 franchise locations in and around Toronto. That was the most anywhere outside of Israel, where Aroma has about 160. There were plans to open many more here, but by 2017 Aroma’s Canadian venture was in serious financial trouble. Two years later, Israel terminated the contract, and took over the operations, amidst a whole lot of bad feelings on both sides. And multimillion dollar losses. Now, the whole dispute over who owes what, and to whom, is before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. And all of this story might have remained unknown, including an arbitrator’s ruling that the contract was ended “illegally” resulting in Aroma Israel owing the Canadians more than $10 million in damages, plus legal costs and interest. But now the Israelis have gone to court to set aside the results, so it’s a matter of public record. On today’s The CJN Daily, we hear from some of the players about what went wrong. What we talked about:. Read the arbitrator’s ruling on Aroma’s dispute. Read the Aroma Israel motion to set the award aside See Aroma Canada’s 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.

Lev Goldfarb may not realize it, but getting his parents to throw him a birthday party in a Picton, Ont., grocery store was good for the Jews. Not only did he spark a whole lot of goodwill in the tiny Lake Ontario resort town between Toronto and Kingston—now the Metro store manager has promised to start stocking somekosher food items for the Jewish community of about 100 people and counting in the area. Lev's fascination with the grocery store prompted his mother, Hadas Brajtman, to approach the managers about the unlikely request to have his fourth birthday party there. The result was beyond the Israeli expatriate family's wildest dreams. Brajtman joins The CJN Daily along with the Metro managers Murray Lupenette and Paul Jones, direct from the Metro staff room, to give us a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like. What we talked about: Hear more about Jewish life in Prince Edward County on Yehupetzville Follow the Jewish Community in PEC on Facebook 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.

As the annual Tu B’Shevat festival takes place Monday, Feb. 6, the yearly observance—which some consider the Jewish Earth Day—was marked over the weekend by environmental events across Canada: from vegan Shabbat dinners to walks through parks. But some synagogues and sites are embracing sustainable Judaism year-round: they’ve installed solar panels on the roof, put LED lights in the sanctuary, and stopped using disposable paper plates at Kiddush. And in Vancouver, over a dozen Jewish sites are really buying in, hoping to earn a “Seal of Sustainability.” On today’s The CJN Daily, Rabbi Shlomo Schachter of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue joins, along with Ariel Greene, head of the shul’s sustainability committee. What we talked about: Read more about Jewish Vancouver’s Hazon sustainability initiative Read Temple Beth Ora of Edmonton’s Kashruth policy Why Canadian Jews are focusing on environmental issues 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.

Hanina Hoffman originally didn’t want to accept the offer to write a Hollywood horror flick with a Jewish theme. But he changed his mind once he realized he could help change the way Hasidic Jews are so often portrayed on screens, big and small. He wanted to create something more sympathetic, like “Shtisel, the horror movie”, instead of something in the vein of shows like My Unorthodox Life and Unorthodox, where oppressed ultra-religious women flee their confined lives. The resulting big-budget film, his first, is called The Devil’s Offering, and is currently available for digital rental and purchase online. To create the script, Hoffman channelled his upbringing in Toronto as the son of a former ritual director at Adath Israel Congregation, including a teenaged job as a shomer at Benjamin’s funeral home. Hanina "Hank" Hoffman joins The CJN Daily to reveal all the subtle—and not-so-subtle—nods to Jewish mysticism, including the film’s ancient demon. What we talked about: Watch the trailer for The Devil’s Offering. Read more about producer Hanina Hoffman's Canadian background on The CJN.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.