Best Chuppah Podcasts (2025)

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A Hallmark movie gone wrong? How a glass-breaking accident took this groom from chuppah to hospital 25:11

Play Pause

21d ago25:11

25:11

“We had a beautiful wedding. Wish you could have been there!” That’s what Shawna Magence quipped to her new husband, Steven Weiss, about three weeks ago, after a freak accident marred their joyous marriage ceremony in Florida. Magence, 55, from Toronto, had just stood under the chuppah on Nov. 16 with her husband-to-be, an American from the Five To…

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Do hermetically sealed Tefillin ever need to be checked? 15:31

1h ago15:31

15:31

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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These Ontario ‘Family Feud’ winners were proud to represent Judaism onscreen—especially during hard times 23:12

2d ago23:12

23:12

Fans of the long-running game show Family Feud Canada may have caught the Bernstein family appearing as contestants last week. The five family members—who all live around Richmond Hill and Oshawa—taped their episodes back in August at CBC headquarters in Toronto, but had to keep their appearances a secret until their three episodes aired on Dec. 15…

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Cabinet minister Evan Solomon opens up about ‘unacceptable’ antisemitism in Canada 37:18

4d ago37:18

37:18

Cabinet Minister Evan Solomon tells The CJN in a wide-ranging interview how the government is 'highly engaged' in monitoring terrorist threats against Canada's Jewish community. Solomon spent much of last week carrying out his official role as Canada’s first Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, making funding announcements to…

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Canadian Jews overwhelmingly support Israel, but hesitate to call themselves ‘Zionists’. A new study explains why 24:38

7d ago24:38

24:38

When sociologist Robert Brym published his research on Canadian Jewry in November 2024, his findings made international headlines. While 94 per cent of the community said they support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state—and about 84 per cent were strongly or somewhat emotionally attached to Israel—barely half said they called themselves Zioni…

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Congregant guns in shuls - halachic considerations 18:02

6d ago18:02

18:02

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Canadians in Australia explain how ‘life now is completely different, overnight’ 27:53

8d ago27:53

27:53

Funerals began Wednesday in Australia for some of the 15 Jewish victims of the Dec. 14 Bondi Beach massacre, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger. The Chabad rabbi was shot at the popular Hanukkah candle-lighting festival near his synagogue during the terrorist attack by an ISIS-affiliated suspect. Among those who will be mourning is a former Ottawan, Mic…

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'Tonight when we light our candles, we're not just lighting for us': Canadians react to Australia terror 26:15

11d ago26:15

26:15

In the wake of Sunday’s terrorist attack on Australia’s Jewish community, Canadian Jews are feeling angry, scared, mournful and defiant, with some seriously considering moving to Israel. As of Sunday night EST, the death toll in New South Whales had risen to 15 victims, including the host of the Bondi Beach candle-lighting event, Chabad Rabbi Eli S…

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This Vancouver student just led a $1.6-million fundraising campaign for BBYO 25:21

14d ago25:21

25:21

This weekend, starting on Dec. 12, thousands of Jewish teens from nearly 70 countries, including Canada, will be participating in BBYO’s annual #GlobalShabbat weekend, featuring dances, Havdalah services and other meaningful Jewish events in between. These BBYO high schoolers can thank Vancouver student Levi Moskovitz for helping raise a lot of the…

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How late can one light the menorah with a bracha? 10:11

13d ago10:11

10:11

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Police confirm even more mezuzahs were stolen from Toronto seniors’ complex. Leaders think the number’s even higher 18:38

16d ago18:38

18:38

Toronto police, investigating the suspected hate-motivated theft of mezuzahs from a seniors apartment complex over the weekend, now tell The CJN they have raised their original count of 20 cases to approximately 30. But community leaders—including rabbis, political offices and some tenants—believe the true number is significantly higher, anywhere f…

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What is the novelty of Chassidus ? 11:14

16d ago11:14

11:14

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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What's behind the recent flare ups of Holocaust denial in Poland? 27:34

18d ago27:34

27:34

Over the last two weeks, the Polish government has been doubling down on its official narrative that, during the Second World War, its own people were the victims of the Germans—not responsible for collaborating in the murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. That policy has been law since 2018, and has led to strained relations with Israel…

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May non Jews do certain Jewish mitzvohs ? 9:39

21d ago9:39

9:39

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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'We weren't complete until all the hostages returned home': Ottawa seniors launch book of Oct. 7 feelings 25:43

23d ago25:43

25:43

Nearly 40 handwritten letters by a group of Ottawa seniors have made their way into a unique new publication documenting the impact of Oct. 7 over the last two years. The project is by a group called “Active Jewish Adults 50+”, and grew out of a call-out by The CJN in mid-October, following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and subsequent release of the r…

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Four Israeli leaders are coming to Canada to debate the two-state solution. Meet the 'no" side. 30:04

25d ago30:04

30:04

Former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, a diplomat and former member of the Israeli Knesset, says he has always refused to do public “gladitorial” debates when it comes to representing Israel these last two decades in public life. But the American-born statesman and author changed his long-standing practice to come to Canada this Wednesday Dec. 3 t…

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How Israeli Rabbi Leo Dee rebuilt his life, with Canadian help, after Hamas killed wife, two daughters 29:22

28d ago29:22

29:22

After Hamas terrorists gunned down Rabbi Leo Dee’s wife Lucy and two of their daughters, Maia and Rina, during a family outing in the West Bank in April 2023, the tragedy made international headlines. Thousands attended the funerals, where the bereaved rabbi and his three surviving children quickly became public figures. The Dees are officially con…

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Which arm does an ambidextrous person put Tefillin on ? 16:14

28d ago16:14

16:14

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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New Quebec law coming to ban public prayers, prayer rooms on campus, in wider secularism push 28:59

1M ago28:59

28:59

Quebec’s nationalist government is expected to table yet another bill later this week that will go even further to take religion out of provincial institutions and public life–and which will likely include a few key issues impacting the Jewish community. The new “Secularism 2.0” law, as the minister in charge has dubbed it, will make it illegal to …

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[From the archives] Meet the real rabbi who starred in Drake’s controversial new music video 15:28

1M ago15:28

15:28

While host Ellin Bessner is on vacation, we're bringing you an episode from the archives of our show. This episode originally aired 06/20/2022. For the past 20 years, Ari Sitnik has taken small acting gigs on the side in Toronto. But nothing compared to two weeks ago, when he got a call to show up at the Royal York Hotel for the top-secret filming …

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[In Good Faith] How a Palestinian and a Jewish Canadian are trying to depolarize the country 35:41

1M ago35:41

35:41

This episode originally aired on The CJN's peace-building podcast, In Good Faith. To subscribe and hear more, visit thecjn.ca/faith. Mainstream Jews, who support Israel and consider themselves Zionists, feel like they are under attack. When they see people wearing keffiyehs and storefronts stamped with Palestinian flags, they hear an implicit attac…

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Are you wearing your tefillin in the correct place? 16:13

1M ago16:13

16:13

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Catching up on the Sherman murder mystery [From the archives] 22:43

1M ago22:43

22:43

While host Ellin Bessner is on vacation, we're bringing you an episode from the archives of our show. This episode originally aired February 13, 2023. More than five years have passed since the still-unsolved murders of philanthropists Barry and Honey Sherman in their Toronto home. Despite a $35-million reward for clues to solve their killing, the …

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Lechayim shidduch vort How does it work ? Why do they specifically break an earthenware plate and not a glass plate like by the chuppah? How does one deal with a broken shiduch Chas vshalom ? 12:06

1M ago12:06

12:06

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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[From the archives] Struggling to afford your first home? This Jewish-backed investment firm wants to help 24:49

1M ago24:49

24:49

This episode originally aired Oct. 15, 2024. On the night of Oct. 16, 2024, Jews around Canada welcomed the holiday of Sukkot, having erected temporary wooden or cloth structures outside their synagogues and homes. While celebrating in their makeshift shacks, many told stories of the huts that ancient Israelites lived in after their exodus from Egy…

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Their Jewish-Muslim friendship was destroyed after Oct. 7—until they found a way to reconcile 33:53

1M ago33:53

33:53

While host Ellin Bessner is on vacation, we're bringing you some highlights from other podcasts produced by The CJN. Today: The second episode of our interfaith miniseries, In Good Faith. Over the last two years, a flood of gruesome images have emerged in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and ensuing war in Gaza. In Canada, thousands of kilometr…

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Untold Jewish WWII and IDF veterans' stories revealed in new nonfiction book 26:34

2M ago26:34

26:34

Mickey Heller wasn't eager to open up about his Second World War military service. But his grandson, Aron Heller, a journalist and contributor to The CJN, was curious about his zayde's wartime past—and so, over the span of a decade, he asked questions durings phone calls, visits and emails. As Heller discovered his grandfather's fascinating untold …

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Untouched for decades, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor's memoir is now a Canadian podcast series 33:25

2M ago33:25

33:25

Twenty years ago, when Ilanit-Michele Woods urged her grandmother Olga Fisch to write down her memoirs of life in Hungary before and after the Holocaust, Woods could never have imagined the journey that manuscript would make. The 75 typed pages, all in Hungarian, sat unread for decades in Montreal, long after Olga died in 2017. The family eventuall…

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Visiting the sick 9:07

2M ago9:07

9:07

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Israeli journalist Lahav Harkov explains life in post-ceasefire Israel 33:21

2M ago33:21

33:21

While host Ellin Bessner is on vacation, we're bringing you some highlights from other podcasts produced by The CJN. Today: The most recent episode of The Jewish Angle. Israelis breathed a collective sigh of relief after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that included the return of the remaining hostages and and end to the fighting in Gaza. Bu…

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Why Jewish heroine Hannah Senesh is having her moment of renewed interest 25:48

2M ago25:48

25:48

The name Hannah Senesh is a household legend for many Israelis, and also for Diaspora Jews of a certain generation–especially those who attended Jewish school. Over the years, there have been books and films and documentaries about her, and even a recent re-enactment of Senesh’s famous 1944 military commando mission when she and dozens of Jewish vo…

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Honourable Menschen: Her paper heart from Auschwitz remains a powerful symbol of Holocaust survival 28:34

2M ago28:34

28:34

Fania Fainer’s friends risked their lives to celebrate her 20th birthday in a forced labour factory in Auschwitz, fashioning a tiny ersatz cake along with a folded paper greeting card shaped like a heart. Decades later, she was living in Toronto when she decided to donate it to the Montreal Holocaust Museum to further the cause of Holocaust educati…

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May one carry a mezuzah for protection? 10:07

2M ago10:07

10:07

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

1
'Edgy for a rabbi, clean for a comedian': Meet the Orthodox rabbi comic mocking antisemites onstage 24:22

2M ago24:22

24:22

Rabbi David Rotenberg got his first break performing jokes when he was 15 years old, in 1998. He had to rush out of his yeshiva’s Talmud class to get to a 7-Eleven store payphone and book the gig at the Yuk Yuk’s comedy club in his hometown of Ottawa.Over the past nearly 30 years, the Orthodox rabbi and Jewish educator chose to put his stand-up com…

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Support group Ha'ikar offers a 'brave space' for young Canadian Jews post Oct. 7 19:34

2M ago19:34

19:34

"On a scale of one to 10, how afraid are you?" That's a conversation starter for the new youth discussion forum Ha'ikar, founded by two Toronto friends, which has served as a support group for Canadian Jews under 40 who have been affected by Oct. 7. A few months after Oct. 7, the group started meeting monthly at Temple Har Zion in Thornhill, Ont., …

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A famous Jewish pilot's vintage plane could be scrapped. This man is on a mission to save it 23:30

2M ago23:30

23:30

Louis Helbig, of Sydney, N.S., has been racing against time trying to find a solution and a good home for what he describes as the Trans-Atlantic Luscombe. The vintage aircraft, built in 1948, was once owned by a famous Jewish watchmaker named Peter Gluckmann, who had fled Hitler's Germany in 1939 to England as teenager with his family. He then who…

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Alternative medicine halachic considerations 15:19

2M ago15:19

15:19

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Drumming, chanting, climate change: Canada's Jewish Renewal movement is growing 26:30

2M ago26:30

26:30

With the three-week-long Jewish holiday season behind us, Ralph Benmergui, the well-known TV and radio personality—and former podcaster with The CJN—is still kvelling about the first-ever High Holiday services offered by Ha’Sadeh in Toronto. The new-ish, Jewish Renewal community welcomed 150 attendees for its Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah services t…

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Israel’s antisemitism envoy opens up about why she quit—and what comes next 26:40

2M ago26:40

26:40

On Sept. 29—the same day that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, joined U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington to announce the 20-point ceasefire plan with Hamas—one of Israel’s best-known advocates sent out her own, much lower-profile press release. It was a surprise resignation letter.Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the Canadian-raised lawyer a…

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Saying vayechulu on Friday night without a minyan 11:13

2M ago11:13

11:13

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Why this Oct. 7, Kingston’s Jewish community built a sukkah outside City Hall 24:01

2M ago24:01

24:01

Kingston’s small Jewish community celebrated the return of the hostages earlier this week, just hours after they took down their large blue-and-white fabric sukkah, which they’d erected right in the city’s most iconic space: outside the historic City Hall building at Springer Market Square.The initiative to bring Jewish culture to the heart of the …

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Reciting half kaddish when reading from more than one Sefer Torah 11:24

2M ago11:24

11:24

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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With Israeli hostages set to return, Canadian Oct. 7 victims’ families are still seeking justice 23:43

3M ago23:43

23:43

Jacqui Vital has a simple message for the anxious families of the 48 remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, who are set to be released this week: “I’m glad for them.” But despite the joy and celebration of the long-awaited truce between Israel and Hamas, Vital’s own work in Canada is incomplete. Vital, along with the other families of the eight Canadi…

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‘When I tell the story, it is therapeutic’: These Canadians are still on the front lines, 2 years after Oct. 7 31:12

3M ago31:12

31:12

Shye Klein and Joy Frenkiel hadn’t met before last week. But they share some common traits: both are dual Canadian-Israeli citizens, and both are still helping victims of trauma heal, as the world prepares to commemorate two years since Oct. 7, 2023.Klein, 27, is a photographer who had recently moved to Israel when he decided to attend the Nova mus…

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Trees overlapping on the sukkah 13:37

3M ago13:37

13:37

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Barry Avrich vows to help rebuild kibbutz on Gaza border as ‘The Road Between Us’ releases in theatres 26:22

3M ago26:22

26:22

The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, a documentary about an Israeli couple driving across the country on Oct. 7 to save their children from Hamas terrorists attacking Kibbutz Nachal Oz, opens in select theatres this week. And down the line, once the film’s revenue is more clear, the filmmakers plan to donate proceeds from the film to the kibbu…

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This reporter made a film about his father’s dying days, turning grief into love 23:38

3M ago23:38

23:38

It’s been five years since Mitch Consky, now The CJN’s Local Journalism Initiative campus reporter, watched his father be diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and, within a few months, pass away at the age of 67. It happened in 2020, right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when health care access became nearly impossible. In the spring of that…

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Guidelines for a doubtful choleh on Yom Kippur 17:18

3M ago17:18

17:18

By Rabbi Dovid Nissan Bressman

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Why this acclaimed Indigenous leader opposes Canada’s recognition of Palestinian statehood 30:16

3M ago30:16

30:16

Retired Ontario Justice Harry LaForme isn’t entirely comfortable with the label of “ally,” which many Jewish leaders have been using to describe him since Oct. 7. After all, LaForme—who was the first Indigenous Canadian to be appointed to the highest court in any province—says he always felt a kinship with the Jewish people, ever since his family t…

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Mensch of Steel? Comic books are on the curriculum at this synagogue’s Sunday school 26:29

3M ago26:29

26:29

When Sunday Hebrew school classes begin on Oct. 5 at Toronto’s Beth Radom Congregation, the students won’t be punished for reading comic books in class. On the contrary: spiritual leader Cantor Jeremy Burko is bringing his extensive collection of over 550 Jewish superhero comics into the curriculum.It’s his (graphic) novel way to explore the messag…