'My Dead Mom' Gives The Nagging Jewish Mother Trope A Haunting Twist Culturally Jewish podcast

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Daniel Pelton hadn't felt much of a musical connection to his Jewish heritage before Oct. 7. But after reality changed for Jews around the world—including his hometown of Calgary—Pelton decided to learn more about both the Holocaust and its artistic representations. He read The Tattooist of Auschwitz , which inspired him to adapt the tattoo numbers used in the book—34902-32407—into musical notes, using their 12-tone counterparts. The result evolved into a 11-minute epic, which Pelton supplemented with two other tracks to create a new trio of songs , released on Jan. 27 for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. To record the three works, Pelton teamed up with Calgary's National Music Centre and successfully applied for a grant to record with the "Violins of Hope", authentic violins once owned by Holocaust victims and survivors. Hear all the three works and learn how he embarked on this journey on this week's episode of Culturally Jewish , The CJN's podcast spotlighting Canadian Jewish artists. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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See the world through the eyes of an autistic poet in a new exhibit by Adam Wolfond and Estée Klar 23:48

8 weeks ago23:48

23:48

When Adam Wolfond was in his primary school years, the public education system wasn't giving him the support he needed as a nonverbal autistic student. So his mother, Estée Klar, along with other educators and allies, created their own kind of classroom, where neurodivergent kids could feel more free to learn in their own ways, pacing around the room or sitting in bean bag chairs. For Wolfond, using a text-to-speech device, he was finally able to respond in full sentences at his own pace—and discover his own poetic voice. This month, he is debuting an art exhibition at the Koffler Arts Centre in Toronto, " What If My Body is a Beacon for the World? ", running from Jan. 9-26. The exhibit includes video installations and projections, along with bean bag chairs and sticks laying around the ground, which are central to Wolfond's way of living and communicating. Wolfond and Klar join Culturally Jewish , The CJN's arts podcast, to describe their artwork and journey to get here. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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Erez Zobary dives into her Yemenite heritage with R&B soul 35:25

10 weeks ago35:25

35:25

Erez Zobary spent a long time downplaying her Jewish identity in her music career. Her earlier work—a blend of R&B, pop, soul and jazz—dealt with issues relevant to her audience of largely twentysomethings: love lives, quarter-life crises, feeling stuck and aimless. It may not be surprising, then, that a woman whose songs so often looked inward would eventually turn to her heritage. As she tells Culturally Jewish , The CJN's arts and culture podcast, her songs began feeling increasingly disconnected from who she really was, and she wanted to try something drastically different. The result is Erez , her new album, which dives deep into her Yemenite family history—specifically her grandmother's escape from Yemen to Israel as part of Operation Magic Carpet. Zobary joins the show to explain her process and backstory, and to share how she feels releasing an album with Middle Eastern musical flourishes, covered in Hebrew writing, just one year after Oct. 7. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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'My Dead Mom' gives the nagging Jewish mother trope a haunting twist 34:23

15 weeks ago34:23

34:23

After Wendy Litner's mother passed away, Litner was surprised that she still heard her voice—felt her presence, even, looking over her shoulder... often judging her. The feeling inspired Litner to write a new web series called My Dead Mom , released on Crave earlier this month. The show gives a modern, distinctly feminist twist to the stereotype of a Jewish mother ceaselessly nagging her daughter. And, as Litner explains on the latest episode of Culturally Jewish , it's less about saying goodbye than accepting the evolution of a relationship with those who've passed on. Also in this episode, co-hosts Ilana and David discuss their own history of using art to process grief and trauma, and give their biweekly round-up of Jewish art events across the country. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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Yosl and the Yingels balance classic klezmer with modern jazz in their debut EP 30:53

17 weeks ago30:53

30:53

This podcast is a proud media partner of Jewish Futures , a day-long arts and culture salon for Jewish arts workers, hosted by the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto on Nov. 24. The 2024 program emphasizes networking, communal learning and the exploration of Jewish artistic identity, providing a foundation for building resilience and leadership for Toronto’s Jewish cultural community. Learn more and get your tickets here. Joseph Landau didn't grow up speaking Yiddish—but something about the language compelled him. Whenever he spent time with his grandfather, Landau would ask him to translate certain words, slowly building a vocabulary. He joined WhatsApp groups that communicated in the language, sought out secular Yiddish-speaking communities and eventually began speaking Yiddish to his own young son. That journey, not coincidentally, has dovetailed with Landau's musical career. As the driving force behind Yosl and the Yingels , Landau writes original songs—entirely in Yiddish—that blend jazz and folk melodies with classic klezmer motifs. Their debut EP, Zikhroynes , releases Nov. 15, 2024._ Landau joins the hosts of Culturally Jewish to discuss life in the Yiddish-speaking arts world, from the politics of klezmer retreats to the reaction of non-Jewish audiences across the city of Toronto. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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Live from the Toronto Holocaust Museum: Talking zombies on Halloween Eve 36:50

19 weeks ago36:50

36:50

Last month, The CJN Podcast Network debuted its first original fiction podcast, Justice: A Holocaust Zombie Story . The seven-part audio drama is a work of subversive Holocaust education designed for the digital age, with many of its gruesome facts grounded in truth. Any shock value from merging zombies with Holocaust education was a deliberate attempt at turning heads, particularly among younger, non-Jewish audiences. That's according to the show's creator, Michael Fraiman—who also produces _Culturally Jewish—_and sits in the guest chair for the first time. He and Ilana Zackon were invited by the Toronto Holocaust Museum to record a live conversation about the show, its origins and its intentions, hosted on the night before Halloween. Listings Learn more about Jewish Futures , Toronto's day-long conference for Jewish arts workers, and register for the event happening Nov. 24 See what the Toronto Holocaust Museum is doing for Neuberger Holocaust Education Week 2024 , including a conversation between Maclean's editor Sarah Fulford and author Tobias Buck Show Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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Jacob Samuel wants audiences to know he's Jewish—and to make that tension funny 31:25

22 weeks ago31:25

31:25

Jacob Samuel has a couple references to his Judaism in his stand-up routine. In the past, whenever he brought it up, it usually created a moment of tension before a laugh. But in the year since Oct. 7, especially in his hometown of Vancouver, he's noticed a shift. It's harder to talk about his Jewish identity onstage. He brings it up later, or takes out a couple jokes if the laugh isn't big enough. Yet Samuel, who won a Juno award for his debut comedy album in 2021, is determined to keep telling audiences he's Jewish. As he tells The CJN's arts podcasters on Culturally Jewish , that visibility is important, even with antisemitism on the rise. And getting people comfortable enough to laugh along with him is critical. Samuel is will be hitting the road this month , performing in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal before returning to B.C. for a headline show at the Chutzpah! Festival in Vancouver. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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A new exhibit of dreamlike family portraits recall bygone Jewish life, tinged with trauma 22:05

24 weeks ago22:05

22:05

Arnie Lipsey has spent decades working in animation. But on the side, years ago, he began painting on canvas, using archival family photos for inspiration. He began colourizing and adapting them, eventually reinterpreting them entirely through a modern lens. That often resulted in jarring, traumatic scenes quietly unfolding behind his smiling family members: spiralling tornados, fiery trains, even the barbed-wire fences of a concentration camp. The result is an unsettling, engrossing new series of 30 paintings in a new series on display at the Museum of Jewish Montreal until December 2024. The Past Is Before You blends fond memories and childlike innocence with a traumatic family story of escape from Nazi Europe. Lipsey joins The CJN's arts podcast, Culturally Jewish, to explain his process and share some of the real-life history behind the art. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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A new Winnipeg staging of 'Tuesdays with Morrie' brings the menschdom 34:54

26 weeks ago34:54

34:54

When Tuesdays with Morrie was first published in 1997, it elevated Jewish author Mitch Albom to a level of literary stardom that reverberated beyond the book world. The story—which detailed Albom's frequent visits with his former professor, Morrie Schwartz, who was dying of ALS—has since been adapted into a TV movie and an off-Broadway production in 2002 before a New York City revival earlier this year. And now, a new staging is bringing this two-hander play to the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre—starring The CJN's own arts podcaster, David Sklar. David took a few moments out of rehearsal to sit down with his director, Mariam Bernstein, to talk about the Jewish themes inherent to the story. But before that, Ilana Zackon catches us up on her busy summer, which included a stop at the KlezKanada retreat in rural Quebec and the Ashkenaz Festival in downtown Toronto, and later offers up some nationwide arts listings, including a couple controversial films about the Middle East debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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Talia Schlanger spent years interviewing professional musicians—then became one herself 36:10

32 weeks ago36:10

36:10

You may have heard Talia Schlanger's voice on CBC Radio or NPR, where she has spent years hosting music programs and interviewing artists. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she was taking notes, planning for her own eventual leap into the music industry—a leap she finally took this past February, with the release of her debut album, Grace for the Going . But while she credits her years as a broadcaster as helping with her creative process, as she admits on The CJN's arts podcast, Culturally Jewish , she was surprised at how unprepared she would be when it came to the business side of things, such as marketing, grant writing and distribution. Hear Schlanger describe her personal journey and Jewish identity—including the inspiration she drew from her grandparents who survived the Holocaust, and why she began wearing her Magen David necklace after Oct. 7. Credits Hosts: Ilana Zackon and David Sklar Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Sarah Segal-Lazar Support The CJN Get free emails from The CJN Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Culturally Jewish (Not sure how? Click here )…

Culturally Jewish

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'I could not stop crying': Holocaust survivor Maxwell Smart on his life story being made into a movie 23:10

35 weeks ago23:10

23:10

At the onset of the Holocaust, after Maxwell Smart's family began being targeted and killed in Nazi-occupied Europe, he became separated from his mother, who made one final request of her young son: "Please run away." He did as he was told. He ended up spending one and a half years living in the cold, desolate woods of Eastern Europe, meeting and making friends with other young Jews until liberation. As one of Canada's best-known living Holocaust survivors, Smart—who moved to Montreal after the war—has told his story many times before to schools, museums and journalists. Now it's the plot of a new film, The Boy in the Woods , which premiered in late 2023, and this month became widely available digitally on-demand through many streaming services. Smart joins The CJN's arts podcast Culturally Jewish to share his story and feelings about bringing his story to the silver screen, while filmmaker Rebecca Snow explains how she met Smart and why she decided to make the leap from documentary to narrative film with such heavy subject matter. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar . We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network . To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here .…

Culturally Jewish

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Danila Botha's new book of short fiction wants to break the mold of Jewish Orthodoxy 23:08

37 weeks ago23:08

23:08

Danila Botha wants you to know something about her writing: it's not autobiographical. She pulls ideas and themes from real life, from the media and history, from current affairs and what she sees in the world. She is not personally a glitter-strewn closeted lesbian Orthodox woman, nor is she a drug addict who once met Anne Frank in a dream. But these are the kinds of concepts—distinctly Jewish stories with shades of halachic heterodoxy—that are packed into Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness , her new collection of short stories, released April 2024. Botha joins The CJN's arts podcast, Culturally Jewish, to discuss her new collection and offer a glimpse into life as an openly Zionist author in an industry that has become infamously inhospitable to Zionist authors. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar . We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network . To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here .…

Culturally Jewish

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Meet the singer who performs Yiddish opera from Holocaust survivors—and also Wagner 30:32

41 weeks ago30:32

30:32

When Jaclyn Grossman was an 18-year-old opera student, her teacher heard her soprano voice and informed her she'd sing the music of Richard Wagner. Grossman didn't know much about the German composer, but quickly fell in love with his music. She was not particularly phased by the fact that Wagner was infamously antisemitic, included offensive Jewish stereotypes in his works, and is even de facto banned in Israel. Years later, she began researching operas written by Holocaust victims and survivors. She co-founded the Likht Ensemble to perform their works and toured the continent singing these nearly forgotten Yiddish pieces. And only then did she realize that her two passions existed within an extremely controversial space. This week, opera fans can hear Grossman in the Edmonton Opera's production of Das Rheingold ; then, in July, she heads to Ontario's Festival of the Sound to sing in Yiddish in Postcards. In advance of these contrasting shows, Grossman sits down with our arts podcast, Culturally Jewish , to explain how she reconciles these two worlds—and why Jewish fans shouldn't cancel Wagner. Relevant links Learn more about the Edmonton Opera's production of Das Rheingold Learn more about Postcards at the Festival of the Sound Visit the website for the Likht Ensemble Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar . We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network . To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here .…

Culturally Jewish

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How a class of Dawson College theatre students are incidentally workshopping a controversial script about Zionism and campus politics 26:33

43 weeks ago26:33

26:33

During the pandemic, David Sklar—an actor, playwright and co-host of The CJN's arts podcast Culturally Jewish —wrote a theatre script called Vial. The plot focuses on a college professor who feels conflicted when one of her far-left-wing Jewish students writes an extreme essay about Israel; the professor, who starts off adamantly pro–free speech, begins to reconsider her stance when the essay sparks wider outrage and fierce debates on campus and beyond. In 2023, a colleague of Sklar's—a drama teacher at Dawson College, a CEGEP in Westmount, Montreal—reached out to see if Sklar had any unpublished work she could bring to her students for a month-long workshop. Sklar offered Vial : it wasn't especially relevant at the time, but she was free to use it. Then Oct. 7 happened. That's why, this month, a group of theatre students—with only two Jews among them—are studying this controversial script about campus politics and free speech, while pro-Palestinian activists stage tent-in protests literally blocks away. Sklar flew to Montreal to spend a few days speaking with the students in person, and now he reports back on what those conversations were like—while also playing clips of what Dawson students Dalia Leblay, Rachel Bruder-Wexler and Bram Lackman-Mincoff thought of the script. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar . We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network . To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here .…

Culturally Jewish

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Remembering filmmaker Charles Officer, who 'cut through the ideology' with incisive storytelling 36:09

45 weeks ago36:09