Ruth Wisse is the author of the new book, Free as a Jew: A Personal Memoir of National Self-Liberation. Its Canadian debut coincided with Jewish Book Month, hosted by the Jewish Public Library in Montreal. But the timing wasn't a coincidence.

Wisse, 85, has spent decades as a professor of Yiddish at Harvard, and pioneered the Jewish Studies graduate program at McGill. These days, her unabashed opinions, often conservative, target left-leaning Jews and what she believes is an over-emphasis on mourning the Holocaust, rather than celebrating Israel.

Wisse joins the show to discuss these topics and more in an expansive interview.

What we talked about:

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 Nov. 18, on a remote forest road in northern British Columbia, armed RCMP officers with police dogs and a chainsaw raided a cabin near the Coastal Gas Link pipeline project. They arrested about a dozen people, mostly members of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation who'd been blockading the main access road to the company's construction site.

But the police also arrested two journalists who were not members of the First Nation. One was Michael Toledano, a Canadian Jewish filmmaker who has been documenting the struggles of First Nations in B.C. for years. He was filming the Wet'suwet'en activists for a CBC documentary when the RCMP broke down the door.

Toledano's arrest made headlines across the country, and was condemned by the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Hot Docs film festival and other organizations and community leaders. He joins today to discuss his arrest, his family's legacy as partisans during the Second World War, and the role he believes Jewish Canadians have to play in the ongoing struggle for Indigenous people's land rights.

What we talked about:

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.

Nathalie Fortier is the postmistress of Disraeli, Quebec. She runs the only post office in town, which was named after Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister who was born Jewish, faced antisemitism and supported a homeland for Jews. As far as Fortier knows, there aren't any Jews living in Disraeli—and she had never heard of the namesake—until Canada Post approached her a couple of months ago, asking for Disraeli to become the first and only post office in the country with a special permanent Jewish postmark.

Released just in time for Hanukkah, the postmark shows four dreidels and a fully lit hanukkiah. And while it was only supposed to be available until the end of the holiday, like the miracle of oil that lasted longer than expected, the Disraeli postmaster loves the image so much, she's decided to continue and broaden the initiative.

Irv Osterer, an Ottawa-based graphic artist and stamp collector, designed the postmark, and joins today to share how he did it and what his hopes are for the future of this work.

What we talked about:

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.

For years, "Hanukkah on the Hill" has been an annual in person event for Jewish Members of Parliament and politicians from all stripes, including the prime minister and leaders of the opposition. Hanukkiahs are lit, prayers are said, politics get set aside.

But things looked a little different this year. While some politicians got together in-person, including the organizers, Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and Ya'ara Saks, most others joined in virtually—including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, senators, judges, rabbis, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Irwin Cotler and well over 400 guests who lit their own hanukkiahs from the privacy of their homes.

If you missed it, you can hear highlights from the event on today's episode, including concerns over the growing threat of antisemitism nationwide and what Ottawa pledges to do about it in 2022.

What we talked about:

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 year, a combination of global lockdowns, uncertainty around COVID-19 and a lack of vaccines convinced many Canadian Jewish snowbirds not to take their annual trip south to Florida.

This year, it's a different story. With the vast majority of travellers double-vaccinated, and with Florida's per-capita case counts ranking among the lowest in the United States, it's being estimated that a majority of snowbirds are finally flocking back. Despite fears over the new Omicron variant, indoor events and holiday sales are luring people indoors, while eligible Canadians are already getting their booster shots to stay safe.

So what's life like for the sun-seekers? Is Florida safe again, or are these snowbirds ducking their heads in the sand? We speak with Sidney Margles, a Montrealer who's been coming to Florida for 21 years—but stayed away last year—who shares how he plans to stay safe this season.

What we talked about:

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.

Prince Edward Island doesn't have a synagogue or rabbi. But now, exactly 120 years after Jews first began their continuous settlement on the island, the small but active Jewish community of a few dozen families celebrated their provinces's first-ever public Hanukkah ceremony in front of the provincial Legislative Assembly building in Charlottetown.

This is the building where the Fathers of Confederation first met to found Canada in 1864. In 2021, about 60 Jewish islanders showed up on the lawn to witness the historic lighting of a three-metre-tall hanukkiah and celebrate their culture.

Joseph Glass, one of the organizers of the event, joins to discuss how this came together and what makes his community unique. Plus, we hear a clip of Edmonton's candlelighting celebration, featuring NHL star and new Edmonton resident Zach Hyman.

What we talked about:

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 holiday aisle of certain supermarkets, next to the chocolate Maccabees and Star of David cookies, you can find a "Hanukkah house cookie kit". A Jewish cousin to the classic Christmas gingerbread house, the DIY craft-meets-treat trend has sprung up in recent years, seeming more prominent now than ever before.

And, it turns out, they're made in Canada. Their maker is Give & Go Prepared Foods, a pastry-producing corporation based in Ontario, whose CEO is Joel Flatt, son of the Canadian philanthropist couple Ab and Phyllis Flatt.

This holiday season, their cookie-cutter houses are being sold in the United States under different names for different outlets, including for Manischewitz. Is it another example of Hanukkah's descent into cheap commodification? Or a delightful way to feed holiday spirits and bellies? Ellin discusses with Blair Klayman, Give & Go's vice president of marketing and innovation.

What we talked about:

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.

Michael Posner is known as the "King of Cohen". He spent $35,000 of his own money to travel the world researching Leonard Cohen, the Canadian Jewish poet legend—and only after the globetrotting and spending did a publisher agree to take Posner on.

Posner's biography of the late singer is coming out in three volumes. The first was released last November; the second, this month, almost five years to the day of his death in 2016. Posner has interviewed hundreds of people who knew and admired the troubadour in an effort to compile what is poised to be the definitive Cohen biography.

Posner joins today to discuss what he learned about Cohen, including the gritty details of Cohen's escapades, dalliances and inspirations.

What we talked about:

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.

Aaron Levy was driving to Chiliwack, B.C., on a Saturday night when it started raining. Hard. There was so much water coming down, in fact, that he lost control of his car and had to call to get it towed.

Levy didn't realize at the time how the heavy rainfall he experienced was just a taste of the historic deluge that drowned out huge swaths of southern British Columbia, killing at least five people and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.

Although the situation has stabilized somewhat, the danger is not over. More heavy rain is forecast for B.C. later this week, and residents are still scrambling to recover their homes, stay safe and wrap their heads around the new normal climate. Levy is broadcasting as much critical information as he can from his radio station, CIVL, operating out of the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. He joins the show to describe what life has been like throughout this emergency.

What we talked about:

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.

Kurt Yaakov Tutter was born in Vienna in 1930. Eight years later, Nazi Germany annexed Austria. The Tutters escaped to Belgium, only for the Nazis to follow in 1940. Kurt's parents were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, while he and his five-year-old sister hid in an attic before being smuggled into an orphanage.

Austrians have long considered themselves Adolf Hitler's first victims, and it took the Austrian government 50 years to admit its complicity in rounding up, deporting and killing Austria’s Jews. Kurt Tutter played one small but critical role in that transition.

On Nov. 9, 2021—the anniversary of Kristallnacht—the country finally unveiled a new memorial to the country's Jewish Holocaust victims. The Wall of Names in Vienna features 64,440 names engraved on slabs of granite, and was spearheaded by an organization Tutter founded more than 20 years ago, in May 2000.

Having recently returned from the inauguration in Austria, Tutter—now 91—joins the show to discuss his years-long effort, the rise of antisemitism in Austria and his hopes and fears for the monument for which he spent more than two decades fighting.

What we talked about:

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.