Not in Heaven

For Jews in the pews, the wail of the shofar is the signal sound of the Jewish New Year. But for congregational rabbis, it’s like the crack of a starting pistol, setting them off on a six-week sprint of preparation and facilitation. The role of the pulpit rabbi can be emotionally draining, with unrealistic expectations and a lack of boundaries for their personal lives. Logistics, administration, governing boards and committees take over, leading some to search for a new path. Enter the freelance rabbi. Not in Heaven host Avi Finegold covered the rise of the freelance rabbi in the most recent issue of Scribe Quarterly . As membership numbers at synagogues continue to fall, demand is increasing for spiritual leaders who can fit into their lifestyles. These freelance rabbis are unaffiliated with any synagogue, and they're available for officiating lifecycle events like weddings, funerals, baby namings, or b'nai mitzvah. This week, our rabbinic podcasters—including our very own Matthew Libel, longtime freelance rabbi in Winnipeg—look at what's behind the trend and where it's going. What does a community lose when participation becomes an à la carte experience? And how does shifting to the gig-work world ultimately affect the rabbi's mental health? Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) https://pnc.st/s/not-in-heaven

Eight months after the Conservative movement issued a public apology to interfaith families for historically treating them as a threat to Jewish survival, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), the rabbinic arm of the denomination, released a new set of Jewish legal rulings delineating both the possibilities and limits for including interfaith families in Jewish religious and ritual life, entitled “Gateways Into Jewish Living: Guiding the Conservative/Masorti Rabbi in Supporting Families with Non-Jewish Loved Ones” . Two findings make this story of particular interest to Canadian Jews. First, as of 2019, Conservatives comprised the largest denominational affiliation among Canadian Jews, totalling 33 per cent of the population. Second, more than 35 per cent of married Jewish Canadians under the age of 40 have a non-Jewish spouse. While the rulings did provide concrete ways for rabbis and congregations to welcome interfaith couples and families, critics are frustrated that the CJLS said that rabbinic officiation of interfaith marriages remains beyond the pale of permissibility under Jewish law. Defenders say that the rulings deal with how interfaith families can build a Jewish home, raise Jewish children and celebrate life-cycle events—the things that make up Jewish life every day outside of the wedding. The publication solidified a number of practices into Jewish law for the first time. For instance, non-Jewish parents “may and should” be included in English blessings on the bimah during their child’s bar or bat mitzvah. They may not receive an aliyah to the Torah—recite the official blessing before a Torah reading—but may accompany a partner to do so. A Jew may not sell their hametz, leavened bread products, to their non-Jewish spouse. A non-Jewish spouse may perform “labour” that is typically religiously prohibited for Jews to do on Shabbat, as long as it’s not directly asked for by the Jewish partner, though a young Jewish child may ask them to do so. Our rabbinic podcasters react to this set of rulings and wonder if the movement is trying to be “half-pregnant,” or deftly trying to walk the tightrope between tradition and modernity. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

The prospect of summer grilling season might bring a tear to the eye of any patriotic Canadian, but it’s the eye-watering prices in the meat aisle that are stirring up the most emotion this year. The cost of beef remains stratospheric—up nearly 63 per cent since 2021 and over 12 per cent over the past year alone, according to Statistics Canada. Even switching to less expensive meats, such as chicken thighs, offers little relief. But for Jews who eat only kosher meat, those prices are almost enviable. A major fire on July 28 at one of the largest kosher meat-processing plants in the United States threatens to drive up kosher meat prices ahead of the High Holidays. The fire at AgriStar Meat & Poultry in Postville, Iowa, destroyed at least 75 per cent of the plant and put more than 600 people out of work, city officials said. While the damaged facility will likely mean a shortage of kosher beef and chicken in the United States, the Kashruth Council of Canada is reassuring Canadian Jews that it does not foresee any disruption to the domestic kosher meat supply chain. But that doesn't change the fact that the rising cost of living is squeezing meat off many dinner tables this year—and some kosher Jews are ahead of that curve, cutting out meat already to hold an easier kosher life, and going full vegetarian or vegan. Today on the podcast, our rabbinic podcasters ask: How did meat come to play such a significant role in Jewish culture and cuisine? What is its spiritual and emotional significance in the community? And does it have to be this way? Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

As darkness fell last night, Jews around the world sat on synagogue floors and listened to the chanting of Eicha, the Book of Lamentations, marking the beginning of Tisha B’Av. Traditionally the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, it is a day of mourning for the calamities that have befallen the Jewish people over the centuries—chief among them the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the devastation of Jerusalem. While the community survived and continued going through the motions of worshipping the god of their forefathers, surely many Jews—in the generation that saw the Temple burn, and the streets of their holy city strewn with starved and butchered bodies—must have lost their faith. And today, as Jews read Lamentations and refrain from eating, drinking, washing, wearing leather shoes or even greeting one another, some may participate in rituals they no longer entirely “believe” in. On this episode of Not in Heaven , rabbis Avi Finegold and Yedida Eisenstat ask how closely Jewish observance has to line up with personal conviction or theological belief. Sparked by the new Israeli television series Behasture , about a secret group of Jerusalemites who outwardly live fully haredi, strictly religious lives despite having lost their faith long ago, they explore why people remain in communities they no longer internally align with; the pressures of living with the cognitive dissonance between practice and belief; and the costs of searching for a community whose rituals and values perfectly mirror your own commitments. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

How much does motive matter when it comes to hate crimes? In recent years, Canadian Jews have been rocked by a series of attacks on their community institutions, including late-night shootings at schools and synagogues, attempted arson, and smashing community centres' windows. Many Jews have met the situation with a profound sense of dislocation and disbelief; a feeling that the country they once thought they knew had radically shifted around them, that their non-Jewish neighbours were not who they thought they were. But last month, new information emerged about the alleged perpetrators of these crimes. According to reports in both Toronto and Montreal, some significant portion of these attacks were carried out by ‘gig-criminals’, a kind of gun-for-hire network of young people getting paid thousands of dollars from anonymous clients to shoot at targets as varied as waste managment plants, the American embassy, tow truck companies—and Jewish instiutions. This prompted our rabbinic podcasters to ask: if the perpetrators of at least some of these shootings were motivated by financial gain, and not animus towards Jews in particular (as one arsonist has claimed in court as recently as this week ), how does that change our community narrative? Will collective pressure on politicians to combat antisemitism actually help the situation, if the criminals are not motivated by antisemitism? And, on a deeper level, do you need to feel hate to commit a hate crime? Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Canada Day and the Fourth of July are coming up, which means flags are popping up across North America like summer flowers. But Jewish Canadians — and Jewish Americans — have fair reason to be skeptical of nationalism. Jewish parents would be forgiven for feeling uneasy seeing their children pledge allegiance to a national flag — and that's even before getting into the extreme evolution of modern nationalism movements that, in North America and Europe, tend to skew anti-Jewish. So on this week's episode, we're looking at flags. Specifically, flags in synagogues. Whether the flag is Canadian, American or Israeli, not everyone will feel comfortable with broad national symbols on the bimah. Some view them as "idol worship". Others insist they're a unifying force for the majority of congregants. No one is right, so how do community leaders bridge the divide? Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Too often, when people talk about Jewish life in Canada, they are really talking about Jewish life in Toronto and Montreal. But the truth is more than a quarter of Jewish Canadians live outside those cities. Yes, many still live in large cities, but Jews live in mid-sized and smaller communities, from the coasts of Nanaimo, B.C., to Sydney, N.S. These communities have a different texture, richness, set of challenges, and needs than those in the largest Jewish population centres. Today on Not in Heaven , our resident rabbis talk about some of the work happening to support Jewish life and leadership in smaller communities. We'll discuss the Jewish Federation of British Columbia’s Community Connector program, which partners with local Jewish leaders across the province to facilitate whatever Jewish culture looks like in their grassroots community, and the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Courageous Leadership Canada Initiative, which brought together lay and professional leaders from small and mid-sized communities to study, collaborate, and reflect on common challenges. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Two weekends, two parades, two attendance-taking exercises. On each of the past two Sundays, the United States and Canada each held their largest annual gatherings and celebration Jewish pride in their respective countries, in the form of a walk, parade or march for Israel. In New York, there was enormous community outcry over the refusal of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and some other political officials to attend to appear at the ostensibly non-partisan event. That outcry was quickly drowned out by the sound of backpedalling from local Jewish leaders and political figures as they condemned the parade for hosting three of Israel’s most extreme right-wing ministers at the head of the Israel delegation. In Toronto, there was similarly strenuous consternation about which politicians attended and which did not, why, and what that means about their views towards Jews. Some columnists have begun asking why our countries’ largest celebrations of Jewish pride should focus on a single aspect of identity—and perhaps the most contentious. On this week's episode of Not in Heaven , our rabbinic podcasters weigh in on the growing debate. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Adina Sash, known online to over 100,000 followers as Flatbush Girl , is an American Jewish social media influencer and activist based out of Brooklyn. Originally, her content focused on the comedic aspects of Orthodox female life, but in recent years, her activism has shifted to advocating for agunot , women who cannot get halachically divorced from their husbands for various reasons. For all intents and purposes, they are trapped in their marriages under Jewish law. Sash's most recent focus is a couple originally from Montreal, Raphi Stein and Adeena Kohn. For five years, Stein has refused to grant Kohn a gett, a Jewish divorce. Sash has taken up the cause and waged a social media campaign urgently calling on Montreal's Orthodox Jewish community to increase pressure on Stein. As part of that campaign, Sash launched an online initiative called “Gett Naked”, where Orthodox women have sent unusually revealing photos of themselves with the hashtag #freeadeena . In the pictures, they show parts of their bodies that are usually covered: hair, elbows, shoulders, knees. Others go further, snapping shots of cleavage and bikinis. In some ways, it's a successor to Sash's successful 2024 campaign, in which she organized a sex strike in support of Malky Berkowitz , a 29-year-old agunah . Hasidic women in Brooklyn withheld sex from their husbands on Friday nights, and after they went to the mikvah, to recruit men and women alike to the cause. After six months of the campaign, Berkowitz received a gett . Will Sash's efforts work for Adeena Kohn? And what are the broader effects of these massive digital campaigns in Orthodox circles? Our rabbinic podcasts discuss on this week's episode of Not in Heaven . Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

On Monday, Pope Leo XIV (an unusual place for us to start, but bear with us) released “Magnifica Humanitas,” or “Magnificent Humanity,” a letter to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on how to preserve human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence. Genesis’ story of the Tower of Babel is a touchstone throughout the document, outlining the Church’s desire to protect human dignity and agency as the tech industry races to build an all-powerful superintellegence: “I ask everyone to abandon the construction of yet another Tower of Babel and to join forces in building up the common good, so that humanity will never lose its beauty, and the world once again will come to recognize the human heart as the place where God desires to dwell.” And the Pope is not alone. Around the world, a surge of religious groups have begun organizing working groups and conferences, public and private, as communities come to fully understand that whatever script they’ve used in the past to address technological change simply won’t cut it in the age of AI. Some Jews, like Rabbi Zohar Atkins, argue that AI bots will lead to a renaissance in Jewish learning and the democratization of Jewish wisdom. Others are less sanguine. R. Eliezer Simcha Weiss, the representative of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to the Vatican said that, in high-level discussions on AI ethics with the Holy See, he urged the Church to think of AI less like the Tower of Babel and more like the Golem of Prague . This week on Not In Heaven , our rabbinic podcasters argue whether religious communities should be getting out ahead of AI or taking a more deliberative, wait-and-see approach to the technology. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Ask most Jews what their favourite holiday is and you’ll hear Hannukah, Passover, Purim, Sukkot—maybe even Yom Kippur for some diehards. But despite being one of the big three holidays in the Hebrew Bible, the upcoming festival of Shavuot doesn’t usually make the cut. Which is a shame, because some of its themes feel more relevant than ever. Today, Shavuot is about nationhood, covenant and belonging. It’s a time to commemorate the biblical revelation at Sinai, when the Israelites were forged into a national collective through an eternal covenant with God. It’s also the festival when Jews read the Book of Ruth, which tells the story of what it means to be part of the Jewish people in a very different way. Today on Not in Heaven , we discuss a new white paper from the Shalom Hartman Institute called “Building Communities of Belonging: Jewish Identity, Conversion, Intermarriage, and Adjacency.” Its goal is to help empower Jewish communities to speak openly about, and set policies around, Jewish status and affiliation in a way that feels aligned with a community’s norms and values. According to the Pew Research Center, among Jews who married between 2010 and 2020, 61 percent are intermarried; when Orthodox Jews are omitted, that rate jumps to 72 percent. Contrary to historic assumptions, many families of mixed heritage remain committed, active participants in Jewish community life. One implication, the paper proposes, is the emergence of a whole new population of individuals we might call "Jewish adjacent"—including the networks of spouses, grandparents, family members, and others who are deeply involved in the Jewish community, but who neither identify as Jewish nor have Jewish status conferred upon them by the community. Nonetheless, they may be raising Jewish children, serving on synagogue boards or teaching in Jewish institutions, attending seders and shiva, and regularly dedicating their personal resources, time and labour to Jewish communal activities and causes. How can Jewish communities have open and honest conversations about competing notions of identity, status, membership, and belonging in the Jewish community? Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Most parents share concerns about rising rates of depression, anxiety, and social disconnection among younger generations, especially how those issues intersect with increased time spent on smartphones and social media platforms. But what's the solution? Countries around the world, including Canada, are attempting various models of school cell phone bans. But evidence of their effectiveness has been mixed. Just last week, the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research released the largest study ever of school cell phone bans, looking at data from about 4,600 schools across the country. While teachers did report fewer distractions in class, researchers found only a small impact on academic achievement among students, and no measurable impact whatsoever on rates of online bullying, school attendance or student attention spans. Here in Canada, at the provincial level, Premier Wab Kinew recently announced that Manitoba will soon be the first province to ban youth from using social media and AI chatbots, with ministers in Ontario and British Columbia pledging to follow suit. On the level of individuals, some young people are finding success through imposing their own restraints—timers to lock out apps or limit access to websites—or embracing "digital minimalism", buying flip phones, MP3 players and analog cameras to limit their digital engagement. Another model may be trying to enforce restraints through social and community pressure, as in the Haredi community, where community norms around "Kosher phones" and appropriate internet access have limited many members of community’s engagement with the online world, for good and for ill. On this week’s Not in Heaven , we ask what role rabbis and Jewish community institutions have in this conversation, and what would a Jewish ethic look like that seeks to maintain the health and wellbeing of our young people—and all members—from the harms of digital life. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Sitting on a bus surrounded by Jews carrying rifles was once an exotic quirk of visiting Israel. But that may be changing. Last month, the American National Rifle Association announced it was teaming up with Lox & Loaded, a national Jewish gun club, to help in the fight against antisemitism. It’s one of several Jewish gun groups serving a growing cohort of newly gun curious American Jews since Oct. 7, 2023. Chicago’s Gayle Pearlstein, who launched Lox & Loaded in March 2025, says the group already has more than 1,000 members and 49 local chapters across the country. And that was before the partnership with the gun lobbying behemoth. Bullets & Bagels membership, based in California, has skyrocketed by about 20%, to 1,000 members, and numerous interviews with gun range operators and firearms instructors across the U.S. revealed similar upticks in interest from Jewish community members. Not everyone is as sanguine on the new turn of events. As the number of Jews arriving at synagogues with a firearm on their hip or in a tallit bag increases, rabbis are reckoning with the place of firearms in their most intimate communal spaces, and trying to balance congregants’ - sometimes diametrically opposed - conceptions of safety. In September, the Secure Community Network - the organization that coordinates security for Jewish institutions across the US and Canada - urged synagogues to only allow congregants to carry weapons if they are part of an “organized, vetted, and well-regulated safety and security team.” Others who are wary of the intensifying situation cite well replicated data showing personal guns in the US are far more likely to be used in suicides, domestic violence, or accidents than in fending off an attacker, both for an owner and their family. In Canada, Jewish schools and synagogues have been shot at in at least 8 separate incidents in the past three years. These incidents have sparked calls from some Jews in Canada to allow private security guards to carry firearms , something that is largely illegal under the federal government’s strict gun laws. On Sunday, Not in Heaven sent our very own Avi Finegold to join his local Lox & Loaded chapter’s shmooze and shoot in Chicago to get a better understanding of this new phenomenon in North American Jewish life. We hear about what he learned and what this shifting relationship to guns means for our communities. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

This month, the province of Quebec passed Bill 9, a law that bans employees at publicly subsidized daycares from wearing religious symbols—including kippot, tzitzit, hijabs, turbans, and Stars of David—while also phasing out subsidies for religious private schools; banning prayer rooms in public institutions such as hospitals and universities; and compelling institutions like the Jewish General Hospital, which serves patients only kosher-certified food, to also offer equivalent non-kosher food. It is the most recent salvo in Quebec’s ongoing campaign to suppress and push out Judaism, among all religions, from the public square. And while Montreal’s Jewish community has expressed some concern over the measures, the response has been somewhat muted. Many understand the true target of these laws to be the province’s Muslim population—which can be construed as being in the interest of the Jewish community. One Montreal rabbi told The CJN that the Jewish community must balance its principles with its interests, saying, “Right now, we have to focus on where our interests lie. It’s in our interest to see radical extremism tamped down. This is not targeting us. This is a reaction to extremism within the Muslim community.” This week on Not in Heaven , rabbi podcasters Avi Finegold and Matthew Leibl discuss what this means for the future of Jewish life in Quebec. They also compare the situation to the ongoing one in the southern half in of our southern neighbour, where a series of American states have recently mandated the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Yom ha-Atzmaut is in the air: circle dancing, falafels, inexplicable inflatable squeaky plastic hammers and, of course, Israeli flags galore. But this year’s Israeli Independence Day may be the final time the old kachol v’lavan is hoisted up the flagpole in front of Toronto’s City Hall. Ceremonial flag raising began as a way for public institutions to spotlight local communities’ heritages and celebrate the bonds of friendship between nations. But, like all good things, it didn’t last. For years, the questions of which local politicians did or did not show up to which particular flag raising grew into a perpetual fuel for outrage, purity tests and catalyst for demonstrations. Then, last November, Jewish organizations and activists across Canada strenuously campaigned and mounted legal challenges against municipalities raising the Palestinian flag in the wake of recognition of the state by the federal government. Now, municipalities are throwing up their hands. Calgary and Toronto have both passed legislation ending all ceremonial flag raising; no Palestine, no Israel, no Brazil, no one. This week on Not in Heaven , our rabbi podcasters ask: Should this be seen as a win? Was it worth it? What do we get when public institutions celebrate our particular nationalities, and is it worth the trouble? Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

What moral lessons should we take from the Holocaust? In 1998, the late Israeli Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer told the Bundestag about the three additional commandments the world had learned in the wake of the Shoah: “Thou shalt not be a perpetrator; thou shalt not be a victim; and thou shalt never, but never, be a bystander.” The first, "never be a perpetrator," was embraced most strongly by the Jewish left. The second, "never be a victim," became a raison d'etre of the Jewish right. But the message with the largest purchase on civic institutions—within and beyond the Jewish community—was the third, "never be a bystander," underlying school curricula, public museums, and national monuments. How Holocaust education shapes young people’s views on Jews and Israel was ignited in recent months by the author and former White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz. “Holocaust education is absolutely essential," she said onstage at the opening session of the General Assembly of Jewish Federations of North America. "But I think it may be confusing some of our young people about antisemitism, because they learn about big, strong Nazis hurting weak, emaciated Jews.... So when on TikTok, all day long, they see powerful Israelis hurting weak, skinny Palestinians, it’s not surprising that they think, ‘Oh, I know the lesson of the Holocaust is you fight Israel. You fight the big, powerful people hurting the weak people.’” Today on Not in Heaven , our hosts discuss the messages of Holocaust education, whether the moral lessons we draw from the Holocaust are too binary—powerful vs. powerless, oppressor vs. oppressed—and if Holocaust education should be seen as a tool for advancing a modern social agenda at all. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

For some reason, the number "five" feels particularly weighty—and so it's with great pride that we bring you the fifth annual Great Canadian Seder. For those new to this tradition, every Passover, the team at The CJN collects stories, memories, musings, songs and reflections about the holiday from notable, fascinating and well-known Canadians. This year, you'll hear from: Jordi Mand, writer for theatre, TV and film Jared Lindzon, CJN podcaster and author of Do More in Four: Why It's Time for a Shorter Workweek Alicia Richler, editorial director, The CJN Ayelet Tsabari, award-winning author Rabbi Carnie Rose, senior rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Winnipeg Martin Rutte, international speaker and consultant Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, dean of ALEPH Ordination Program Ben Carr, Member of Parliament, Winnipeg South Centre Jess Grossman, founder of Uncover Ostomy Yafa Sakkejha, CJN podcaster and leader of Canadian Friends of Standing Together Niki Landau, conflict management specialist Miriam Borden, scholar and researcher of Yiddish Studies Lorie Wolf, musician and band leader, Queen Kong Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Outside of orthodox communities, there’s a trend of boys and men increasingly disengaging from Jewish institutional life. A new article in the winter 2026 Sapir Journal called “Boyz II Mensches” by Adam Teitelbaum sparks the question: does the retreat of boys and men from Jewish communal life mirror a broader societal pattern of male disengagement from civic and religious institutions? On today’s episode of Not in Heaven , our rabbi podcasters debate Teitelbaum’s proposal to reimagine the bar mitzvah as a multi-year process of growth through age 18 as one of the ways to reclaim meaningful male identity within Jewish life. Then, the rabbis turn to one of synagogue life’s most beloved and controversial institutions: the Kiddush club. Is it a harmless break and opportunity for male bonding and community-building — or a boozy affront to the sanctity of prayer? Related stories: Read Adam Teitelbaum's article "Boyz II Mensches" redits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

Last week, three Toronto synagogues were hit with gunfire in overnight shootings. Shocked and exasperated, the city’s Jewish community demanded that action must be taken to keep them safe. They’re angry at public officials for not offering sufficient protection, and many have voiced their frustration with community institutions for what they perceive as an ineffective use of community security funds. But, after all the sound and fury, what practical solutions are available to Canadian Jewish communities? What type of security spending could actually reduce the likelihood of these events, and when is it just throwing good money after bad? Are efforts for more security the most effective way to address these incidents, or would other interventions — like pushing for more municipal street lighting or for stricter gun control laws — be the thing that actually makes a difference? Comments by influencers like Tucker Carlson saying that Chabad is directing the Iran War may only serve to fuel further attacks. Anyone can have their own TV show and broadcast to million of followers from their phon — does that mean that we need to take the microphone away? As the Jewish community’s calls for action came to a crescendo last weekend, they coincided with the reading of parshat “Ki Tisa,” which tells the story of the Israelites being gripped by fear, dismay, and abandonment after Moses fails to return after weeks on Mount Sinai. The people come to Aaron and demand that he take action, do something, to save them. On this week’s episode of Not in Heaven , our rabbinic podcasters ask: when community leaders are faced with demands for action, how should they respond? Which solutions are real, and which are, as it were, simply a false idol? And quite apart from solutions, how can we respond and comfort very real fear within a community? Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )

The story of Purim is well known: in ancient Persia, a wicked royal vizier plots to wipe out the Jewish people — but he didn't count on Queen Esther, a courageous Jewish woman who revealed the plot to the king. The tables were turned for the Jews as the powerful are victimized by their intended victims; those who were once low are brought high, those who were once high are brought low. When Israel and the U.S. launched a joint military campaign on Iran on Shabbat Zachor, just days before the festival of Purim, it was almost inevitable that politicians, rabbis, and Jews around the world would see themselves in the Book of Esther. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the connection explicit in his first statement announcing the strikes: “Twenty-five hundred years ago, in ancient Persia, a tyrant rose against us with the very same goal, to utterly destroy our people,” Netanyahu said. “Today as well, on Purim, the lot has fallen, and in the end this evil regime will fall too.” Each week, rabbis stand before their congregations and find connections and explanations about how the Torah portion speaks to their modern lives. They try to give structure and meaning to a world that often feels chaotic. On this week’s episode of Not in Heaven , our rabbi podcasters ask: what do we risk when we draw these connections too tightly? Avi Finegold and Matthew Leibl discuss what may be lost in understanding the modern day when we look through the lens of Purim and what is lost in understanding Purim when we look through the lens of the modern day. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here )