North Star with Ellin Bessner

Retired Toronto homicide inspector Hank Idsinga’s new memoir about the systemic problems inside Canada’s largest police force contains disturbing allegations about the force’s persistent in-house discrimination and racism, including antisemitism. He also spells out for the first time his own family’s Jewish and Holocaust roots – a history he’s kept private for decades, while he oversaw some of the...

A new documentary is challenging assumptions about one of the most visible—and most misunderstood—traditions in Orthodox Jewish life. Sheitel: Beauty in the Hidden , by Halifax-native director Lynda Medjuck Suissa, explores why many Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair after marriage—and why many say it reflects not oppression, but identity, faith and choice. (And, yes, also a more genuine relat...

During the Senate’s year-long study on antisemitism, released a week ago on April 21, Senator David Arnot admits to becoming deeply upset when learning some Canadian Jews want to leave the country because they no longer feel safe. The study began in Dec. 2024. During the year, Arnot and his colleagues on the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights heard 44 witnesses over seven meetings. They als...

As federal Liberals celebrate their newfound majority government—aided by floor crossings and three recent by-election victories—Canadian Jews are no so elated. On Monday, April 27, B’nai Brith Canada releases its annual audit of antisemitic incidents; community members expect the numbers will break new records, as they have in many recent years. Earlier this month, Jewish leaders asked for $100 m...

For about a dozen years, the City of Toronto has displayed Israel’s flag each spring on a ceremonial courtesy pole to mark the Jewish State’s Independence Day. The annual event drew little attention—until the Oct. 7 war reshaped the context and protests have spilled onto local streets ever since. Last fall, a Jewish advocacy group sought to block what would have been the first Palestinian flag rai...

On Israel’s 78th birthday, Israelis are marking that moment during a very different reality—two years after the October 7 attack, and in the wake of a ceasefire from a widening regional conflict that includes the U.S., Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 1948, the founders declared Israel’s independence with a manually typed paper invitation to a secret, hurried ceremony in a secure basement, with a se...

In his new book,  Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe , Matti Friedman sets out to uncover the short life of Holocaust heroine Hannah Senesh and several of her comrades. It is the second book of late to revisit the story of the Hungarian-born Zionist who became a British-trained parachutist sent from Mandatory Palestine into Nazi-occupied Europe. Friedman argues that after Senesh’s...

Forgiveness is often framed as a moral ideal. But what happens when the wound is still open? In his new book  The Forgiveness Experiment , Rabbi Yisroel Bernath of Montreal makes the case that forgiveness is a form of self-liberation, not a gift to those who caused you harm. After Yom ha-Shoah but ahead of Yom ha-Zikaron on Monday April 20, that idea collides with a painful reality: for many Jews,...

Toronto entrepreneurs Daniel Carson and Daniel Schreiber have been revelling in the spotlight ever since the Artemis ll astronauts blasted off into space on April 1. That’s because the best friends’ Goldy’s Superseed Strawberry Lavender breakfast cereal was along for the ride as part of the historic mission’s menu. Their product is made in a KSA-certified kosher plant in Etobicoke. It was personal...

As Yom HaShoah begins, award-winning Canadian children's author Kathy Kacer explains how 100,000 small brass plaques across Europe—known as stolpersteine —help pass Holocaust memory to the next generation. That’s why after publishing over 30 kids books with Holocaust themes, her newest effort  Last Known Address , dropped just before Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Kacer uses “stolperstein...

For Marci Stepak, Toronto Public Library branches were never just about books—they were where she spent time with her mother. Eunice Stepak died of breast cancer on April 7, 2025, one day before what would have been her 88th birthday. This week, marking one year since her mother's death, Stepak set out on a 10-day, 300-kilometre walk to all 100 TPL branches. She’s calling it Every Library TO and i...

Two weeks after Toronto police’s new rules of engagement were announced for the duelling anti– and pro-Israel weekly demonstrations at the intersection of Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave., a small core of marchers nevertheless spread out through the heavily Jewish area. That prompted renewed expressions of frustration on Sunday, April 5, from some local residents and Jewish leaders who believe that...

As extended families gather this week for their Passover seders, discussions are bound to get tense. That tension is taken to a whole other level in a new feature-length film by Toronto filmmaker and lawyer Joel Etienne, called  Sisters of Fate . In the film, an Orthodox family gathers together for Passover, when long-buried allegations of abuse at the hands of an old rabbi teacher surface, forcin...

At a time he calls a “national crisis of antisemitism,” Simon Wolle has stepped into one of the most visible advocacy roles in the country: CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. He took over in October, leading the 150-year-old Jewish human rights organization at a moment of growing concern for Jewish Canadians. He had little time to settle into the role before the security situation changed dramatically: Wo...

It took five years of DNA testing, forensic analysis and genealogical sleuthing to restore his name — and reveal a hidden past. Pte. Albert Henry Detmold, was the son of British Jews from London, and the nephew of Rufus Isaacs — better known as Lord Reading — who served as Britain’s Chief Justice and later as Viceroy of India. It is the first time since Canada launched its missing war identificati...

Members of Canada’s New Democratic Party are meeting this weekend to choose a new party leader, with a decision slated for Sunday. And for the first time since the 1970s, a Jewish candidate has a strong chance of being elected. Avi Lewis could follow in the footsteps of his late grandfather David Lewis, who led the NDP shortly after Avi was born. David Lewis remains the first Jewish Canadian in hi...

Will Bill C-9 make it safer for Canada’s Jews? The federal government’s Combating Hate Act is heading toward a final vote—after weeks of committee study. and a move recently to limit debate. The bill is being framed as as Canada's signture response to rising antisemitism after Oct. 7. But will it actually work? In this episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with two Jew...

The Liberal MP for Eglinton–Lawrence, Vince Gasparro, says his heart dropped when he heard a synagogue in his riding was recently targeted. Now he is calling for arrests, increased police support and expanded intelligence sharing, and hints there will be additional funding coming in the spring budget for Jewish security. The rookie MP represents the riding with third-largest concentration of Jews...

Two Israeli seniors were killed overnight when an Iranian cluster bomb hit their Ramat Gan apartment. The husband reportedly needed a walker to get around. When a missile warning sounds in Israel, people have only seconds to act — to get to a safe room or bomb shelter. But what if you can’t get there in time? Nearly one in five Israelis lives with a disability. And for many, reaching safety isn’t...

After three Toronto-area synagogues were shot at within the same week earlier this month, new questions are emerging about how the justice system handles antisemitic incidents. In this episode of The CJN’s "North Star" podcast , Toronto lawyer Michael Teper and former Crown prosecutor Rochelle Direnfeld discuss why many protest-related charges tied to antisemitism in Toronto are later wi...

Israel’s deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel says Canada must take rising antisemitism seriously after three Toronto-area synagogues were targeted by gunfire. Born in Canada, Haskel tells The CJN’s "North Star" podcast host Ellin Bessner why Israeli officials are watching closely, and why she believes the attacks are a warning of worse violence to come. Related stories They want to sc...

When Laya Witty arrived for early morning Shabbat services at Beth Avraham Yoseph synagogue in Thornhill this past Saturday March 7, she noticed a police car parked at the entrance. Within moments, she learned why: overnight, gunfire had shattered the synagogue’s glass front doors. Witty says she was relieved no one was hurt, and then she swung into action as a volunteer with the synagogue’s secur...

[NOTE: Due to a technical glitch some listeners may have received an incorrect audio file last night. The problem is now corrected. Thank you for your patience and understanding] Gunfire struck three Toronto-area synagogues in less than a week, prompting police to promise a “relentless” investigation into what leaders say are antisemitic attacks. In this episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast , h...

Tina Ahava Azarin constantly checks the news about the war between Iran and Israel. But for the Ottawa resident, it’s not just distant headlines. An Iranian-Jewish entrepreneur, Azarin was born in Isfahan and raised in Tehran before leaving Iran for Canada in 2001 with her husband and their newborn daughter. Today, that daughter is studying in Israel — making the conflict between the two countries...

For decades, Iran’s regime has targeted Canada’s Irwin Cotler — publicly denouncing him, threatening him, and, according to Canadian authorities, plotting to assassinate him for the last two years. Now, after the military campaign launched by Israel and the U.S. this past weekend that took out Iran’s Supreme Leader, and many of his top regime officials, Cotler isn’t thinking about letting down his...