Not in Heaven

Rivka "Rivkush" Campbell, a Jew of Jamaican descent, has been one of Canada's most vocal Jews of colour. As a co-founder of Jews of Colour Canada , as well as a new podcaster with The CJN Podcast Network ( listen to the trailer here ), Rivkush is focused on making the voices of JOCs heard in the mainstream Canadian Jewish community on subjects beyond race and identity politics. But she w...

With a hot wildfire season upon Western Canada and a record-shattering heat dome that just killed hundreds of people in B.C., it's imperative for Jewish Canadians to look at climate change as a real threat and ask what they can do to help. And yet, despite a clear intersection between environmental protection and Jewish values in the Torah and Mishnah, there has been very little collective Jewish...

As the manager for The Pursuit of Happiness, The Watchmen, Adam Cohen and, of course, The Tragically Hip, Jake Gold has been an integral part of Canada's music scene since 1985. In a special Canada Day edition of Bonjour Chai , Jake joins Avi to chat about Canadian music, mensches and management. Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold, Melissa Lantsman and Ilana Zackon. Michael Fraiman is the prod...

June 24 is the Fête nationale du Québec , also known as Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. It's one of the province's biggest holidays, despite being largely unknown by non-Francophone Canadians. Nevertheless, it creates a perfect opportunity to discuss the role of Jews in Quebec: how they've integrated, what daily life is like and how Zionism has (or hasn't) resonated with Quebec nationalists. Pierre Ancti...

Ever since another round of conflict began in the Middle East in May 2021, the Green Party of Canada has been rocked by infighting and a leadership crisis. Jenica Atwin, an MP from New Brunswick and the Greens' latest addition to the House of Commons, who has described Israel as an "apartheid" strate, recently crossed the floor to join the Liberals, after clashing with a Zionist advisor...

Few Canadians understand both the First Nations and Jewish communities as well as Nakuset. The prominent activist, at a young age, was taken from her home in the Sixties Scoop and adopted by a wealthy Jewish family in Montreal. Today, she joins the podcast to discuss Canada's reckoning with its recent history of brutality against First Nations people, especially in the light of the mass grave of c...

Rabbi Steven Greenberg has been described as the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi. He is the founding director of Eshel, a non-profit organization that helps LGBTQ+ Jews in the Orthodox community. Eshel is sponsoring a panel at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival this year after a screening of the film Marry Me However , about the phenomenon of Orthodox Jews who marry spouses of the opposite gender, d...

May has been an exhausting month for Canada's Jews—a steady stream of anti-Semitism conflating with anti-Zionism has flowed across social media and is affecting real-world businesses, institutions and communities. Meanwhile, Jewish voices from the left are rising louder than ever before, perhaps indicating that mainstream opinion on Israel-Palestine is shifting. On today's episode, Avi, Melissa an...

Bonjour Chai is going weekly! Every other week, we'll be featuring shorter, more intimate episodes with fascinating Canadian Jews. Today, Ilana sits down with Aviva Armour-Ostroff, a director, actor and writer whose work has spanned decades in the Canadian theatre and film scene. Her latest movie, Lune , is receiving its Canadian premiere at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, where it became the fi...

May 11 marked two big events for watchers of Jewish demographics in North America: in Canada it was Census Day, whereby Jews could identify themselves as Jewish in the long-form census; and in the United States, the Pew Research Center released a sprawling survey into American Jewry. What lessons can be gleaned from new demographic insights? What are the key takeaways from the Pew study? Why is Ca...

In 1975, Jason Sherman received a certificate for his bar mitzvah. Instead of a regular savings bond, the certificate explained that a tree had been planted in Israel, in his name, by the Jewish National Fund. Now a playwright and documentary filmmaker, Sherman wanted to find that tree in what is today known as Canada Park, a 700-hectare Israeli national park—but one with a controversial history o...

Concordia University's student union recently surprised the Canadian Jewish community by issuing an apology for indifference to anti-Semitism on campus. Nicole Nashen and Harrison Kirshner, the two Jewish students who pushed for that apology, join us to explain how they did it. Plus: Dr. Barry Pakes talks about COVID vaccination and viral outbreaks in the Jewish community, and how we can combat va...

We're in the thick of Passover, which means Mimouna is right around the corner. What's Mimouna, you (likely Ashkenazim) might ask? It's the end-of-Passover celebration, celebrated by Sephardic Jews around the world. Avi, Ilana and Melissa chat with Instagram comedian Orel Gozlan to learn more about it. Find Orel on Instagram @orelgozlan . Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold, Melissa Lantsman an...

Next week, Jews around the world will face their second year of Passover in self-isolation. Should the halachic rules change in the wake of these exceptional circumstances? Relevant links: Read " Judge Denies Hasidim’s Request for Curfew Exemption " at The CJN Check out the Yiddish language course on Duolingo Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold, Melissa Lantsman and Ilana Zackon. &quo...

Episode Notes On the debut episode of Bonjour Chai , we bring on Rabbi Steven Wernick of Beth Tzedec to discuss his conservative temple's recent bombshell move: marrying same-sex couples. Plus, we discuss the controversy around a street in Ajax, Ontario, that is for some reason named after a Nazi. This episode is sponsored by Atelier Lou ( atelierlou.com ) and Securassure ( securassure.ca ). What...

Episode Notes Canadian Jews, listen up: this podcast's for you. Join hosts Avi Finegold, Melissa Lantsman and Ilana Zackon as they break down the goings-on across our community. Geographically and politically diverse, this show will dive into current affairs, spiritual advice, and the latest news with in-depth analysis and special guests. (Trailer music: Glass Eye/Snow Globe by Great Circles.)