Not in Heaven

In 2016, Hillel Montreal was absorbed into Federation CJA as part of their GenMTL program. Then things went a little sideways. Hillel went from having a non-stop campus presence to seeing students quit committees in frustration. Staff members showed up less, and eventually there were fewer staff members, period. Numerous students complained that the organization became overly focused on pro-Israel...

The Calgary Stampede, winding down this week, is about more than Stetson hats and corn dogs. The annual festival creates an opportunity for Albertans of all backgrounds to come together over bull-riding rodeos, country music shows and pancake breakfasts. And this is certainly true for Jewish Albertans, whose community can trace it roots deep into the origins of the Wild Rose Country. On this week'...

It's a trend extending beyond Jewry, beyond Canada, but persists in our nation nonetheless: younger people are donating less than their parents' generation, and when they do get involved in philanthropy, they're doing it differently. Several Jewish organizations have taken up the mantle to try and engage younger donors, and this week, an episode of The CJN Daily spotlit the recent Canadian expansi...

To celebrate Canada Day, we have a special audio feast of Canadiana lined up. First up, we chat with a recent immigrant from Israel to Montreal, Shauli, who moved here with his partner and their toddler in November to find work and a better life as a gay couple; then we're joined by Yoni Goldstein, editor and publisher of The CJN, to discuss the state of Canadian Jewry and how one of the biggest C...

Last week's episode about the state and ethics of kosher food drummed up a lot of responses from our listeners—so many, in fact, we decided to run a spiritual sequel of sorts this week. Montreal's Vaad Ha'ir, the organization responsible for MK kosher supervision, launched a new initiative justifying the high cost of kosher meat in the city. But Avi wasn't impressed by what he saw as propaganda, a...

Kosher has been in the news a lot lately. A restaurant in Hamilton came under strutiny because the rabbi that certified its kosher status wasn't Orthodox; in Toronto, the popular Slice N Bites restaurant was asked to stop seating customers on Saturday nights because too many teens were using it as a hangout spot; and in the U.S., a restaurant had its certification pulled after its owner, Shalom Ye...

Over recent years, the Jewish community has grown from merely being aware of queer Jews to standing where we are today: leaders and activists in almost every denomination are working to actively include queer Jews in Jewish law and practice. Queer and nonbinary Jews no longer settle for pointing out their existence and right to be included; they're crafting narratives that explain how deeply and i...

It was almost 50 years ago today, on June 3, 1972, that Sally Priesand broke ground as the first-ever female rabbi ordained in North America. But still, even half a century later, rabbis who happen to be women face different expectations, treatment and discrimination than their male counterparts. To talk about what's changed, what hasn't and what life is like as a female rabbi, we've assembled a p...

It's a little-known fact that the first Jews in Canada were actually Sephardim, founders of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal in 1768. Over subsequent years, Ashkenazi Jews would follow from Europe, becoming the dominant Jewish culture; it wasn't until the mid-20th century that Middle Eastern Jews arrived to add their own contributions to the Canadian Jewish mosaic. The often quiet...

Festival season is upon us, which means Canadian Jews are marking their calendars with the myriad dates slotted for cultural celebrations across the country. But who are these events made for, and who actually shows up? Are Jewish festivals designed only for those with the means to buy tickets, or is there a greater mandate to foster community through innovation and outreach to younger audiences?...

With the United States embroiled in the fight over abortion rights, many Canadians have turned to reflect on our own nation's history with the once-controversial practice. A key figure in Canada's pro-choice movement was Henry Morgentaler, a Holocaust survivor and doctor who offered safe abortions for women who didn't qualify for one within Canada's once-restrictive system. Morgentaler endured jai...

York University has been in the Jewish news a fair bit recently, after their student union bungled an educational session on antisemitism and the school's name was labelled one of the least safe campuses for Jews in Canada . But there is always another side to these stories—one which often involves students protesting for Palestinians' rights. University administrators are often caught between the...

Jews are no strangers to the apocalypse. Having survived centuries of persecution and the biggest genocide in human history, generational trauma and fears of fatality come pretty naturally to us. Jay Baruchel is no exception. He's transformed those anxieties into a brand-new TV show, debuting Apr. 30 on Crave, called We're All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel) , in which he explores the myriad ways in...

After Mayim Bialik lost her father, she began a year of mourning, culminating in thoughts and feelings that she'd end up culminating into her first screenplay. The actress, best known for the The Big Bang Theory and now hosting Jeopardy! , is now making her debut as a writer and director with As They Made Us , a drama about a dying father, played by Dustin Hoffman. Ilana sat down with Bialik to ta...

It's the first annual Bonjour Chai Passover extravaganza! In this super-special edition, we bring you stories from 20 prominent Canadians about what Passover means to them. Pull up a chair, break off some matzah and join us at the virtual seder table alongside Evan Solomon, Zach Hyman, Bob Rae, Ya'ara Saks, Melissa Lantsman, Nathan Englander, Lisa Rubin and a whole slew of rabbis, CJN podcasters a...

Shocking images from Ukraine emerged this week, depicting war crimes and massacres happening in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. Suddenly, onlookers are using the word "genocide" to describe what has, until recently, most often called a war. But is it a genocide? Do these crimes against humanity qualify, or do we risk watering down the term if we apply it too quickly or too often? Jews, in pa...

For over a decade, Jews have been the number-one most-targeted religious group in federal and municipal hate crime reports. Just a few weeks ago, StatsCan released the latest edition of its annual paper, proving the trend correct yet again . But headlines don't tell the whole story. Is Jewish prominence on these lists the result of zealous Jewish communities over-reporting minor incidents? Or is i...

It's been a month since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, forcing 10 million Ukrainians to leave their homes, including nearly four million refugees. Many have fled to neighbouring Poland, which is where a number of Canadian Jewish community and non-profit leaders have flown to personally engage with and witness the tragedy unfold. Back on Canadian soil, numerous charities and NGOs, including...

It's not making headlines nationally, but Quebec is ushering in Bill 96, legislation that will further cement French as the province's dominant language. While Canadians may be familiar with various provincial government attempts to ensure French remains the primary language, Bill 96 goes a step further: it will require all new immigrants to send their children to French-language schools after a t...

In the days ahead of Purim, we wanted to take a step back from all the serious news and focus on some lighter fare. To honour King Achashverosh, who ruled from Hodu to Kush, we convene a roundtable of expert Canadian Jews in the cannabis industry to dive into the weeds of what marijuana usage looks like in the Jewish community. Cannapreneur Abi Roach and the men behind the startup Oy Vapes join. P...

It's the one-year anniversary of Bonjour Chai , and to celebrate, we're taking a look ahead at what the future of Judaism looks like. As more Jews engage with their culture outside of Federations and traditional synagogues, what are the "new establishments" coming up? How do they take shape? Who's behind them, and are they indeed the future of Jewish life? We think of Bonjour Chai as one...

Ukraine has one of the largest Jewish populations in the world. But as Russia invades the Eastern European nation this week, the country's Jews—as they so often find themselves—are getting caught in the middle. Within 24 hours of the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared his intention to "de-Nazify" Ukraine, despite Ukraine having a Jewish president and being a generally sa...

Last weekend, acclaimed Canadian director Ivan Reitman passed away at 75. The director of such 1980s classic comedies as Ghostbusters, Meatballs and Stripes was not only one of the most prominent and influential Jewish Canadians in Hollywood, but an integral part of the Canadian film industry, whose name and impact has become synonymous with the Toronto International Film Festival. Len Blum, Reitm...

This week, Conservative MP Kevin Waugh introduced a private member's bill to amend the criminal code by prohibiting Holocaust denial. It came the same week NDP MP Peter Julian introduced a similar amendment that would ban hate symbols like swastikas and Confederate flags. That both sprung up shortly after the trucker convoy arrived in Ottawa—in which swastika-bearers and Holocaust deniers mixed wi...

The Olympics kick off this weekend, but sports are far from the biggest story. Instead, international media attention has turned to the persecution of China's Uyghur population, a Muslim minority of about 12 million suffering genocide at the hands of the Chinese government. For many, this is not just a humanitarian crisis, but a deeply Jewish issue: a million Uyghurs are being held in concentratio...