This week marks one month since Islamist rebels overthrew the brutal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and took control of the country, forcing the former president to flee for his life to Russia on Dec. 8. Jews around the world, including in Canada, might breathe a sigh of relief at some of the new regime’s stated attitudes toward Jews and Israel. Their leader has made promising comments about not wanting to continue its war with Israel, and the ruling party has also pledged to allow people of all religions to worship freely in the war-torn country, Jews included. There’s just one problem: there are barely any left. That’s according to retired human rights advocate Judy Feld Carr. The Canadian activist has spent decades masterminding the secret exodus of Syria’s remaining Jewish population; by 2001, she had successfully smuggled out more than 3,300 Syrian Jews, including many who had been imprisoned, tortured and falsely accused of being Israeli spies. Unsurprisingly, Feld Carr has been monitoring the recent developments in Damascus, including reports about the condition of the local Jewish community’s historic buildings and the whearabouts of millions of dollars worth of looted Jewish artifacts. She joins The CJN Daily to shed light on what what life was like for Syrian Jews under the Assad regime, and why there are still some parts of her clandestine mission that can never be made public.

Related links

• Read more from Judy Feld Carr about her rescue mission for the Jews of Syria, in The CJN archives from 2017.
• Why growing up Jewish in Sudbury, Ont. helped Judy Feld Carr deal with bullies, in The CJN magazine from 2022.
• Watch the documentary "Miss Judy" on YouTube.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

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

Over the past 12 months, The CJN team has produced more than 700 podcast episodes, news stories, opinion pieces and foreign dispatches. The overwhelming theme has been the reverberation of Oct. 7: firebombed synagogues, gunshots at schools, anti-Zionist campus encampments, cancelled Jewish artists, a crackdown on Jewish charities—and more.

But we always make sure our coverage balances heartache and hope. Throughout the year, we've also reported on the powerful resurgence of Jewish pride and engagement in Canada's spiritual and communal life—increased numbers of Jewish conversions, secular artists embracing their Jewish identities, solidarity across political lines—which gives us a cause for optimism, even while tense conversations about the Israel-Hamas war continue dividing families, colleagues and civil society at large.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner assembles a team of CJN reporters from across the country to weigh in on the most talked-about stories of the past year and predict what we might expect in 2025. You'll hear from news editor Lila Sarick; Quebec correspondent Joel Ceausu; Western Canada correspondent Sam Margolis in Victoria, B.C.; staff reporter Jonathan Rothman, who covers Toronto city hall and culture pieces; Local Journalism Initiative reporter Mitch Consky, whose beat is campus life and education; and the producer of this very podcast, Zachary Kauffman.

What we talked about:

• Read more about Indigo Books winning legal action to block the BDS movement’s effort to boycott the retailer, in The CJN.
• Hear the interviews with Anthony Housefather about his decision to stay in the Liberal Party, and also our interview with Ya’ara Saks on her choice to meet with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, both on The CJN Daily.
• Read more about Selina Robinson’s new tell-all book, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

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

Just in time for Hanukkah, comes a century-old-tale of a young Jewish boy’s courage to take on an adult’s responsibilities as chief light keeper in his Russian shtetl. It’s the true story of Ottawa’s Samuel Saslove, who stepped up to keep his community's brand new electric street lights working, at the tender age of ten. Saslove arrived in Canada in the 1920s and while he didn’t divulge much about his experiences growing up in “the old country”, his daughter, Sheila Baslaw, preserved those memories for decades. Now, at 92, Baslaw has found a whole new audience for her father’s inspiring tale of bravery and resilience. Her debut children’s book “The Light Keeper”, co-written with Karen Levine of “Hana’s Suitcase” fame, has just been published by Second Story Press and is already a Heather’s Pick at Indigo. While Baslaw’s father did have to overcome antisemitism–and the persecution of Jews in Czarist Russia that sparked mass emigration to this country in the 1900s–her book’s message deliberately highlights the universal challenges many of her young readers could face. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Sheila Baslaw joins along with her co-author to explain why it’s never too late to learn a new skill.

What we talked about:

• Learn more and buy 'The Light Keeper' book at Second Story Press.
• Read more about Hana’s Suitcase, the true story of the Brady family, on The CJN Daily.
• Hear more stories about the author’s family in her oral history with the Ottawa Jewish Archives from 2001.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

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