North Star is on vacation this week, so we're rerunning some of our favourite episodes. This one originally aired May 12, 2022.

You've probably heard "Skinnamarink", the classic children's song by Sharon, Lois & Bram. But you probably haven't heard it on TikTok, where Sharon Hampson, now 82, is putting out quick snippets of classics and new material with her newfound family band.

She's recruited her daughter, Randi, and grandsons Elijah and Ethan Ullmann, both full-time students at the University of Toronto. Although they grew up in a musical dynasty, it took an international lockdown for them to agree to help their Bubbe's resurgent Zoom-based career.

At the time of recording, they were preparing to mount their first live indoor show since the pandemic began, at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa, Ont., back in May 2022. And despite Sharon's worry that her voice isn't as strong as it used to be, her relatives say she’s still got it. All four join to explain how they're trying to make music that stays relevant for a generation raised on the Frozen soundtrack and "Baby Shark".

What we talked about

• Learn about the performance and others at sharonloisandbram.com/events

• Learn about the Brott Music Festival at brottmusic.com

• Listen to "Talk About Peace"

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Original Production team: Victoria Redden (producer)
• Current Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Original Music: Dov Beck-Levine
• Current Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)

In the months following Oct. 7, Vancouver native Kai Balin learned wanted to dig deeper into his Judaism, but learned that, despite his strong Jewish upbringing, his family actually isn’t considered Jewish by some in the Orthodox community. The discovery shocked him to his core—not only is Balin the grandson of Holocaust survivors, but he always felt destined to become a rabbi, right from his early childhood. The rejection of his family’s Jewish identity sent Balin on a years-long quest to find out what being Jewish meant to him. He took his cameras along the way as he traced his family’s heritage across four generations on three continents. The Canadian did most of the filming—and all of the financing on his own, interviewing family members and learning, once the film wrapped, that his story had an unexpected twist ending. The result is an hour-long documentary, Son of a Seeker, premiering in Toronto on Aug. 20 at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre. It debuted in Vancouver earlier this summer. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner sits down with Kai Balin to learn about the roots of this project and where his faith has taken him.

Related links

• Learn more about Son of a Seeker and get tickets to see the film in Toronto on Aug. 20.
• Read about the filmmaker’s sister, who co-produced his documentary, once winning _Chopped Canada’_s teen cooking contest in 2017, in The CJN archives.
• Watch the trailer of "Son of a Seeker".

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)

Under a new Israeli plan, announced Aug. 7 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about a million Palestinian residents of Gaza City would be forced to evacuate the area over the next two months, culminating on Oct. 7, 2025. After that, Netanyahu’s plan calls for the Israel Defense Forces to move in and capture the capital city, along with one other area: the remaining 25 percent of the strip that Israel doesn’t yet control. The forthcoming escalation, after 22 months of fighting, has touched off international condemnation, including from the Canadian government, over fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis. However, the plan is also sparking deep divisions within Israel. Families of the remaining hostages call it a death sentence for their loved ones; some reservists and haredi groups have vowed not to answer their call-ups to the armed forces. Other right-wing politicians and settlers support the move, as they have long called for the government to annex the Gaza Strip and re-establish Jewish settlements that stood there until 2005. Negotiating expert John Shulman, based in Nova Scotia, has been watching the developments this week—and they’ve given him déjà vu. Twenty years ago, Shulman, a lawyer, was sent to the region with a Harvard University negotiation program to help facilitate dialogue between Israeli politicians just before Ariel Sharon’s government (which Netanyahu was part of) moved to unilaterally withdraw more than 8,000 Jewish residents and soldiers from Gaza and the West Bank, beginning on Aug. 15, 2005. Shulman says that historic withdrawal, known as “The Disengagement”, had costly consequences—not only because Hamas quickly took over Gaza in 2007, but also because its scars are still playing out inside Israel today, ahead of the planned recapture of Gaza. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, Shulman joins host Ellin Bessner to discuss what’s at stake by not following the rules of successful conflict resolution.

Related links

• Learn more about how the Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiations had a front row seat during the 2005 Gaza Disengagement.
• Read more about our guest, negotiation expert John Shulman of Alignor.
• Why some Israelis want to return to live in the Gaza Strip, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)

“Let’s get the patrols put in place, let’s have it happen! Do something that’s going to address the situation. Do something that will make the community feel safer!” That’s the message from Rabbi Saul Emanuel, executive director of Montreal’s Jewish Community Council, in the wake of a “heinous” attack on a haredi man on Aug. 8 in a public park. The incident, which was captured by a bystander on video, shows what Jewish leaders have called a “stark and painful illustration of the vulnerability Jewish Montrealers face today.” Officials told The CJN the visibly Jewish victim, 32, was with his three young daughters in the Park Extension area of the city when he had an encounter with a lone man carrying a red grocery bag. Water was splashed on one or both of the men, although it remains unclear what prompted the interaction. The video shows the suspect punching the man five or six times, on the ground, with terrified children clinging to their father’s arms. The suspect then left the park. Montreal police are searching for the suspect. The victim, who lives with his family in the area, suffered a broken nose and bruises to the face, and is reportedly traumatized, as are the young girls. He was treated in hospital and is now recovering at home. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner hears more about the attack from Mayer Feig, of the Quebec Council of Hasidic Jews, who knows the victim and first posted the video to social media; and also from Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the executive director of Montreal’s Jewish Community Council, which represents at least 80 haredi congregations and schools.

Related links

• Learn why the Israel-Hamas conflict since 2023 has contributed to hundreds of protests and 577 hate crimes or hate incidents in Montreal, in The CJN.
• Read more about reaction to Friday’s attack on a Montreal Haredi man with his daughters, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)

On Sunday Aug. 10, Montreal’s 19th annual Pride parade is set to take place, and two local Jewish organizations have been once again been invited to participate—despite a turbulent few days in which the organizers originally barred both Ga’ava and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. The explusion stemmed from complaints Pride said it received that Ga’ava, a pro-Israel, Jewish 2SLGBTQIA+ group, had used “hateful discourse” in a recent CJN article when describing groups that objected to Zionists participating in the parade this year. The short-lived ban outraged many, since Pride is supposed to be inclusive and a celebration of 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and also because the festival receives over $1 million in government funding. While the reversal is being described by some activists as a victory—and Ga’ava and CIJA, who march together, are pushing for a large turnout ahead of the big day—some members of the Jewish queer community say the whole incident has left them feeling traumatized. There is also some concern about how their enjoyment of the annual Pride experience might be marred by the required heavy security that will be deployed to protect them. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner gets reaction from Claire Frankel, a recent graduate of McGill University and a board member with JQueer Montreal, as well as from retired Ontario justice Harvey Brownstone. Brownstone was Canada’s first openly gay judge, performed numerous same-sex marriages and, years ago, was the president of Chutzpah, a group created in the 1980s to support queer Toronto Jews who had been rejected by their families.

Related links

• Why Montreal’s main Pride organization has reversed course and welcomed back two pro-Israel Jewish groups to participate, in The CJN.
• How Toronto’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community faced some hard decisions whether to participate in the 2025 Pride events, in The CJN.
• Learn more and follow Harvey Brownstone’s interviews show.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)

While many Canadians are continuing to boycott products made in the United States, when it comes to mikvehs, nearly a dozen Canadian Jewish communities have no qualms about accepting their money. Mikvah USA is a Brooklyn-based charity that gives out financial aid, advice and technical support for renovating outdated mikvehs and building brand-new ones, and in the last few years, they’ve supported 10 clients in Ontario and Quebec. One of them is Ottawa’s Naomi Bulka Community Mikvah, which held its grand reopening on July 20, having completed a makeover of the 25-year-old facility, attached to Ottawa’s Soloway ewish Community Centre. While only 30 women have been using the mikveh each month, officials believe they will attract larger crowds who come for the religious experience in a bright, refreshed, spa-like atmosphere. The team in Ottawa received a grant to kickstart independent fundraising from Mikvah USA, which has been subsidizing mikveh projects across North America since 2004, mostly in smaller Jewish communities. The list includes London, Ont.; Quebec City; and a forthcoming mikveh in Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., which is still under construction. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner is joined by some Canadian mikveh organizers who collaborated with the American charity to get their projects to the finish line: Dina Teitlebaum and her husband, Rabbi Levy Teitlebaum, in Ottawa, and Chana Carlebach and her husband, Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach, who are building the multimillion-dollar mikveh in Saint-Agathe-des-Monts.

Related links

• Learn more or donate to the newly renovated Naomi Bulka community mikveh in Ottawa.
• Learn more or donate to the new community mikveh in Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, built by Congregation House of Israel.
• Why this Chabad family in Kelowna, B.C. built the only mikveh between Vancouver and Calgary, in The CJN archives.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)

On July 30, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that, come September, Canada will officially recognize Palestine as a state, during the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York. In making the announcement in Ottawa earlier this week, Carney said he had received three “commitments” from the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas: to hold elections in 2026, to reform the P.A.’s governance and to demilitarize the territories. Carney said Canada couldn’t wait any longer for a two-state solution to happen on its own, and needed to act quickly. Why? Because Hamas continues to pose a “pervasive threat” to Israel and its right to exist after the “heinous terrorist attack of October 7, 2023.” But he also blamed Israel for planning to expand settlements and annex the West Bank, for letting extremist settlers continue attacking Palestinians, and for allowing a humanitarian crisis to unfold in Gaza. The news has Canadian Jews divided. Some mainstream organizations reacted to the news with alarm; B’nai Brith Canada called the decision “dangerously premature”, while the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs warned of “another failed Palestinian pseudo-state controlled by terrorists”, adding their deep concern that the recognition doesn’t hinge on the release of the hostages and the removal of Hamas first. Meanwhile, some progressive Jewish groups commended Carney for the move, including Canadian Friends of Peace Now and JSpace Canada. The latter praised “this significant and courageous step” as being “shared by the majority of Canadian Jews,” and that a two-state solution “remains the only just and sustainable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with two senior international affairs analysts on opposite sides of the issue. Alan Kessel is a former Canadian diplomat and legal advisor to Global Affairs Canada, and his former colleague Jon Allen was Canadian ambassador to Israel from 2006-2010.

Related links

• Read more about Canada’s pledge to recognize Palestine in September, in The CJN.
• Read Prime Minister Mark Carney’s official announcement on why Canada will recognize Palestine.
• Hear the former Palestinian envoy to Ottawa say there can't be elections because Israel is occupying East Jerusalem, the Palestinian capital, on CBC News.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)

For nearly three weeks now, members of Canada’s Druze community have been desperately sounding the alarm after an outbreak of ethnic violence in the Sweida area of Syria resulted in the deaths of roughly 1,000 people, mostly civilians. Tensions erupted on July 11 between local Sunni Bedouin clans and the majority Druze population living in Syria’s southern province. But the Druze say when the Syrian army was sent to the scene, the government soldiers carried out mass killings. Images have emerged of burned-out buildings, bodies on the ground and uniformed soldiers forcibly shaving and tearing off the moustaches of Druze elders. After days of attacks, Israel took the unprecedented step of launching air raids on Syrian military positions, in support of the Druze people living in northern Israel and their relatives across the Syrian border. It’s been an agonizing time for Canadian Druze residents, including Hend Raad of Barrie, Ont., who lost 10 members of her family in the recent violence. Jamil Ammar of Niagara Falls says his relatives who were visiting Sweida from elsewhere in the Middle East and Europe are now stuck with no fuel and no way to get out. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Hend Raad and Jamil Ammar about the situation facing their loved ones in the aftermath of the fighting in Sweida, and what they want Canada to do.

Related links

• Read more about the Toronto Druze community’s efforts to raise awareness about the massacre of their people in southern Syria, in The CJN.
• Learn more about the Beit El Jebel Organization of Druze in Toronto, and how to donate.
• Meet an Israeli Druze IDF veteran who was wounded after Oct. 7, who came to Canada to recover, in The CJN

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here)