Menschwarmers

The CJN Podcasts
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The world’s biggest Jewish sports podcast. Join Gabe and Jamie for laid-back interviews with pro athletes, executives and athletes; global commentary on Jewish and Israeli sports; and surprisingly in-depth investigations into whether athletes whose names sound Jewish actually are. Follow us on Twitter @menschwarmers. Brought to you by The Canadian Jewish News Podcast Network.

  1. 3D AGO

    Jack Hughes, Team Israel, and a Jeopardy champion: a big few weeks for Jews in sports

    The 2026 Winter Olympics ended on a very Jewish note with an overtime goal scored by NHL star Jack Hughes. Brother Quinn Hughes, also a member of the gold-medal winning American team, has a legitimate chance to lead his team, the Minnesota Wild, to a Stanley Cup this year. With the Winter Olympics behind us, there’s so much more to catch up on in the world of Jews and sports. The World Baseball Classic kicked off last weekend, and Team Israel secured its spot in the next tournament — which will happen in a few years — with a 5-0 win over Nicaragua. The bats are solid, but pitching depth remains a challenge in a pool led by powerhouse Dominican Republic, as well as Venezuela. Team Israel was eliminated from the 2026 tournament, with a record of 2-2 and finished a respectable third place in Pool D. Daniel Berger narrowly lost the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour, and in the NBA, Deni Avdija returned from an injury. The Menschwarmers are back together after Jamie’s appearance on Jeopardy — where he won three games and gave the podcast a national shout-out. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    29 min

  2. MAR 3

    [From North Star] Toronto’s James Hirsh says winning ‘Jeopardy!’ was the ‘thrill of a lifetime’

    Last week, millions of people watched one of our own stand behind a podium on Jeopardy! — and win. Toronto lawyer James Hirsh, co-host of The CJN’s long-running Menschwarmers podcast, became the latest Canadian contestant to compete and succeed on the iconic American game show. Hirsh says it was “the thrill of a lifetime” to be selected, to fly down to the Alex Trebek studio at Sony Pictures in Culver City, near Hollywood, where he taped several episodes of Jeopardy! It all happened about three weeks ago, but he’s had to keep quiet about how he fared. Until now, as the episodes started airing this week on millions of television screens across North America. Hirsh had decades of practice to prepare for his small-screen debut: as a teenager, he was reigning champion at his summer camp’s version of the game show, over four seasons. The prize money back then was enough to buy some beers. This time, his actual Jeopardy! winnings will help the father-of-three pay off his family’s mortgage. He also won a custom Jeopardy! hat and a tote bag, but he says the best prize is a coveted tagline to his bio: he can now say “I was on Jeopardy!” On today’s rebroadcast of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner chats with James Hirsh about what it was like under the bright lights, what questions stumped him and how he regrets wearing the wrong shoes. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    24 min

  3. FEB 23

    Mensch for $400 Please

    What is a very special announcement from Jamie? Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    1 min

  4. FEB 17

    The true story of Alfred Nakache, who went from Olympic swimmer to Auschwitz survivor—and back to the Olympics again

    Alfred Nakache is a famous athletic icon within France—but outside the country, his story is not well known. Born in 1915 to a Jewish family that fled Iraq for Algeria, Nakache rose to become one of France's top swimmers, breaking records and competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany—he even finished fourth, beating the German team. By 1944, however, Nakache, his wife and their young daughter were taken and thrown in the Auschwitz concentration camp. His wife and daughter were killed there—but he survived. Emaciated and traumatized, Nakache returned to France after the war and did something few thought possible: he resumed training, reclaimed national titles, and competed in the 1948 London Olympics. Now, decades after he passed away, his story has become the subject of an emotional new film, Butterfly, which has been nominated for the Academy Award for best animated short. The 15-minute movie, tenderly painted frame-by-frame by director Florence Miailhe, follows the ebbs and flows of Nakache's life, from his childhood fear of water to the loss of his family and his remarkable Olympic comeback. Producer Ron Dyens, who previously won the Oscar for animated feature for Flow, joins the Menschwarmers to explain more. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    20 min

  5. FEB 3

    2026 Winter Olympics preview: Israeli skeletons, USA hockey, Jewish curlers and more

    The 2026 Winter Olympics start this week, taking over northern Italy from Feb. 6-22. But while Jewish sports fan might be eager to root for their fellow members of the Tribe... there just aren't that many this time around. Canada isn't sending any Jewish athletes that we could find (having snubbed some key hockey players), which leaves the United States and Israel as the only visible representatives of Jewish athletics in this year's winter games. Fortunately, there are still some unique stories to watch. A.J. Edelman, who was recently profiled for Scribe Quarterly, has been on a years-long mission to qualify for Olympic sliding sports; he will lead his bobsleigh team—dubbed "Shul Runnings"—after coming 28th in the skeleton competition in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. American curler Korey Dropkin will look to hold Team USA's reigning gold medal in mixed curling. Israel is sending a sizeable delegation of nine athletes, including a brother-sister alpine skiing duo, a nationally celebrated figure skater, and a Floridian lawyer looking to break new ground in skeleton racing. Hear all about them and more in the latest episode of Menschwarmers. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here ) Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    23 min

  6. JAN 21

    Olympic hockey snubs + golf in January

    The Menschwarmers return after a lengthy winter break! In this mid-January catch-all catch-up, Gabe and James get started looking at arguably the biggest trade of the NHL season last, involving two Jewish players—Quinn Hughes and Zeev Buium—who were swapped with predictable results. Then they start looking at Winter Olympics rosters, starting with Olympic hockey: which Jewish players got snubbed? After that, a glimpse at Deni Avdija's odds at being the first Israeli NBA All Star and an obsessive look at golf in the dead of winter. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    29 min

  7. 2025-12-12

    'Marty Supreme' could be the best Hanukkah movie that doesn't take place around Hanukkah

    As far as Jewish filmmakers go, the Safie brothers could well be the GOATs (Greatest Of All Time) when it comes to Jewish sports cinema. One of their earliest collaborations was a 2013 documentary on high school basketball star Lenny Cooke; their breakout feature, Uncut Gems, was a sports-adjacent thriller featuring a Passover Seder with Adam Sandler and Idina Menzel; then younger brother Benny Safdie went on to star in Sandler's Happy Gilmore sequel—another sports film with a Jewish lead character. Now, in late 2025, the brothers (who are great-nephews of architect Moshe Safdie, for those wondering) have gone their separate ways, each directing their own sports movie. Benny directed The Rock in a biopic of MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, while older brother Josh Safdie tapped Jewish actor Timothée Chalamet to play table tennis champion Marty Reisman in Marty Supreme. While Marty Supreme is slated for a Christmas Day release 2025, the Globe and Mail's film editor, Barry Hertz, just published a review of the Oscar contender, in which he says the story "burns with the relentless, fight-for-your-life spirit of the Maccabees.... With apologies to Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights, Marty Supreme is, thematically and spiritually, the greatest Hanukkah movie ever made." Hertz joins the Menschwarmers to explain his reasoning and how this ping pong epic fits into the larger canon of Jewish cinema. And before that, the boys chat about Jake Retzlaff leading the Tulane Green Wave to success, and get to the source of an incorrect rumour about the Toronto Blue Jays' Eric Clement being Jewish. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    38 min

  8. 2025-11-19

    Getting nachas from Deni Avdija, Zach Hyman and Jake Retzlaff

    It's taken the Menschwarmers several weeks of mourning to get over the Toronto Blue Jays' World Series loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and no amount of broadcast cutaways to 89-year-old Sandy Koufax in the crowd during that intense seven-game series can help. But now, weeks later, after the shivas have ended for that miracle run, The CJN's sports podcasters are back—and they have a lot to look forward to. In this episode, they take note of Deni Avdija, the Portland Trail Blazer who's having a breakout season that could make him the first Israeli to ever make an NBA All-Star team. Then they turn to Zach Hyman, who triumphantly returned to the Edmonton Oilers and immediately logged a career-high 11 hits in a game, after getting injured in last season's Western Conference Finals and missing the Stanley Cup Finals entirely. After that, they look south to college football, where Jake Retzlaff has lead the Tulane Green Wave to tie for first place in the American Conference. There are plenty of accomplishments worth celebrating for Jewish athletes—catch up on what's happening with this week's episode of Menschwarmers. Credits Hosts: James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver Producer: Michael Fraiman Music: Coby Lipovitch (intro), chēēZ π (main theme, " Organ Grinder Swing ") Support The CJN Follow the podcast on Twitter @menschwarmers Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Menschwarmers (Not sure how? Click here )

    33 min
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4.9
out of 5
31 Ratings

About

The world’s biggest Jewish sports podcast. Join Gabe and Jamie for laid-back interviews with pro athletes, executives and athletes; global commentary on Jewish and Israeli sports; and surprisingly in-depth investigations into whether athletes whose names sound Jewish actually are. Follow us on Twitter @menschwarmers. Brought to you by The Canadian Jewish News Podcast Network.

Information

  • Channel
    The CJN Podcasts
  • Creator
    The CJN Podcasts
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    134
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Menschwarmers

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