North Star with Ellin Bessner

[This episode originally aired on The Jewish Angle. Subscribe to that podcast here.] In early October, Jesse Brown—founder of one of Canada's most recognized independent podcast networks, Canadaland—abruptly announced that he "fired" himself as the host of his flagship program. But for those watching how Jesse has presented himself publicly since Oct. 7, 2023, his stepping away from the Canadaland microphone isn't exactly surprising. He's shifted away from his hallmark Canadian media criticism and begun focusing almost entirely on the rise of global antisemitism and what he calls the "social contagion" of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel movements. That obsession has led him to realize he's distracted from his current job and needs a reset. He joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy on this week's episode of The Jewish Angle to shed some light on his decision and the broader social issues at play. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

In the summer of 2022, coin expert Brian Iseman of Richmond Hill, Ont., stumbled on a trove of long-forgotten personal military possessions belonging to the family of Lt. Myer T. Cohen, who was one of Canada’s first Jewish war heroes. Lt. Cohen, 22, from Toronto, was the first Canadian Jewish soldier to win the Military Cross for bravery in the First World War—and he was possibly the first in Canadian history to do so. Cohen also happened to come from a prominent Toronto Jewish family: his grandfather was president of Holy Blossom Temple. Cohen’s regiment would even commission some stained-glass windows in a church in Montreal, including one showing King David with a Star of David in Cohen’s honour. When King Charles’s grandmother, the Queen Mother, toured the church, newspaper reports said hearing Cohen’s story brought her to tears. But with the passage of time, Cohen’s story has been forgotten. His name was only engraved on the memorial sculpture at his old high school, Toronto’s Harbord Collegiate, in 2014, nearly a century after his death. After Cohen’s surviving next of kin died, Cohen’s military papers, medals and other historic documents were sold to a pawn shop for $5,000. Iseman quickly realized he needed to rescue the artifacts, even though, at the time, he didn’t know who Cohen was, nor was he aware of the young soldier’s remarkable achievements fighting against the Germans on the Western Front during the First World War. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, hear Ellin Bessner’s interview with collector Brian Iseman, who shares what he’s learned about Cohen and what he planned to do to share the young Jewish soldier’s story more widely. This interview originally aired Nov. 2023. Related links Why it took nearly 100 years for Harbord Collegiate in Toronto to add Lt. Cohen’s name to their memorial sculpture, in The CJN. Read Veterans Affairs Canada’s tribute to Lt. Cohen. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to North Star Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Watch our podcasts on YouTube Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair opened to the public Friday Nov. 6 in Toronto for its 104th year, with its iconic butter sculptures, goat mascots and the World Cup equestrian show jumping event. But the Allen family, of Cambridge, Ont., is laser focused on their supersized, orange pumpkin – with the Hebrew name “Chani” – which their daughter Hazel, 20, entered into the farming exhibition’s prestigious agricultural competition. Hazel is studying biology and forestry at the University of Toronto, where she’s also involved with Hillel. She says it was important to her to let everyone know that her gourd, which also has the English name “Gertrude”, is at heart, a Jewish pumpkin. The Allens estimate their pumpkin weighs close to 300 pounds, which is significantly smaller than previous winners who have tipped the scales at over 1,000 pounds. But Hazel, a first-time contestant, says she’s thrilled to have successfully raised such a “beautiful” pumpkin, and already considers the effort a win, even before the final results have been announced. The student comes by her passion for produce honestly: her parents’ now-closed Little Louie’s burger restaurant in Cambridge was once featured on the Food Network show You Gotta Eat Here. Her father Steven Allen is a repeat winner at the Royal for his apiary honey products. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Hazel Allen and her father about the family’s foray into the world of competitive agriculture growing, and asks what happens with their heavyweight pumpkin once the Royal ends Nov. 16 Related links Follow Hazel Allen and her giant vegetables on Instagram to see how her pumpkin and gourds and giant sunflowers fared at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto this month. Watch the Allen family’s beekeeping and other food foraging adventures on her father, Chef Steven Allen’s YouTube channel. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to North Star Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Watch our podcasts on YouTube Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

In the fall of 1943, the Strom family, Polish Jews living in Rome, found themselves fleeing for their lives after the Nazis occupied most of northern and central Italy and began hunting Jews and deporting them to their deaths at Auschwitz. One day, while trying to avoid a German checkpoint, Dr. Alfredo Strom encountered a former patient, Donatello De Luigi, who quickly realized his Jewish physician was in imminent danger. De Luigi, a prominent Italian book publisher, immediately took the doctor, his wife and the Jewish couple’s two toddlers to his villa on the west side of Rome. De Luigi and his wife, Zelmira, sheltered the family for nine months until the Allies liberated Rome in June 1944. There were several frightening close calls as the Nazis rounded up more than 2,000 Roman Jews. Only 16 returned after the war. The two families remained close after the war. Many decades later, De Luigi’s nephew, Emilio De Luigi—now living in St. Catharines, Ont.—learned about Yad Vashem’s program honouring non-Jews who risked their lives to save persecuted Jews. Emilio had been a teenager in Rome during the war, regularly visiting his uncle’s home and helping keep the Strom family’s presence a secret. Wanting to share his family’s story, he applied to Yad Vashem in 2010 and even wrote a book about the tale. But for years the application went nowhere, because he had lost touch with the Stroms. Only recently did the surviving son, Roberto Strom, now 87, agree to share details about his family’s rescuers. In late 2025, Yad Vashem officially recognized Emilio De Luigi’s late uncle and aunt as Righteous Among the Nations, joining 28,707 others who have received the designation. Their names will be added to the Wall of Honour at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. On Nov. 10, Yad Vashem’s chairman, the Israeli ambassador to Canada, and the Italian ambassador to Canada will attend a ceremony in the Toronto area honouring the De Luigi family’s extraordinary act of humanity. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Emilio De Luigi in St. Catharines, Ont. The nonagenarian remains haunted by what he calls “the moral failure” of the Italian authorities that enacted anti-Jewish racial laws and later cooperated with the Nazis during the Second World War. Related links Learn more about the De Luigi family rescuing the Stroms at the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem website. Buy “It had to be done”, Emilio de Luigi’s book about his uncle and aunt’s act of humanity in 1943-1944. Read about the two Dutch families who were posthumously given the award at the Israeli Consulate in Toronto in 2025. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to North Star Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Watch our podcasts on YouTube Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

About 40,000 Holocaust survivors settled in Canada after the war, and many later spent their retirement years teaching future generations about hatred and antisemitism. They helped found major Holocaust museums and school speaker programs, and pushed for mandatory Holocaust education in public schools. They were also instrumental in launching the annual Holocaust Education Week, now underway across Canada to coincide with the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, on Nov. 9, 1938. In the last few months, at least a dozen of Canada’s most prominent and beloved remaining Holocaust speakers and authors have died. They include Toronto’s Judy Weissenberg Cohen, 97, who created a website to document women’s experiences of the Holocaust; fellow Torontonian Rose Lipszyc, 97, an Order of Canada recipient whose story was published this February as the graphic novel Two Roses; Harry Rozendaal, 95, who died in Poland in May during his first March of the Living, undertaken so he could say Kaddish there for his murdered mother; Montrealer Ted Bolgar, 101, an orphan who advocated for fellow survivors; and Calgary’s Morris Dancyger, 86, who watched his father be shot and killed—a full year after liberation—by a former Auschwitz guard whom he had recognized at their displaced persons camp. The list continues with several Montreal survivors who have recently died, including Maxwell Smart, the subject of the 2023 feature film The Boy in the Woods; Sidney Zoltak; Paula Bultz; and David Barzilay. Also among those who recently died was Eva Olsson, from Bracebridge, Ont. On today’s special “Honourable Menschen” episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner is joined by The CJN’s obituary columnist, Heather Ringel, and Dara Solomon, executive director of the Toronto Holocaust Museum. They share memories of these survivors and discuss what motivated many of them to begin speaking publicly only many years after arriving in Canada. They also explore how Holocaust education is changing as the generation of first-person eyewitnesses disappears. Related links Special thanks for permission to use video and audio of the survivors: March of the Living, Calgary Jewish Federation, Hon. Stephen Lecce, the Montreal Holocaust Museum, and the Toronto Holocaust Museum. Read more about the survivors on The CJN.ca Hear the latest Honourable Menschen episode about children of survivors Tova Vickar and Franklin Biaystok Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to North Star.https://thecjn.ca/newsletters/ Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Watch our podcasts on YouTube Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)