Bonjour Chai The Jewish Living Lab and The CJN Podcast Network

This week, the hosts of Bonjour Chai are digging into the explosive world of U.S. politics. It began with President Joe Biden announcing on July 21 that he would, after significant pressure and plummeting poll numbers, drop his bid for re-election as the Democratic nominee for president. The next day, Vice-President Kamala Harris all but secured her spot as his replacement, raising historic amounts of money for her campaign within 24 hours. Immediately, questions were raised about her stance on Israel and Palestine, as well as her possible VP pick, Josh Shapiro.

Then, on July 24, Israel's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, happened to be in Washington, D.C., for a visit. He met with Biden for 90 minutes and Harris for 40, all while angry crowds protested outside, raising effigies and Israeli flags slathered in painted blood. Netanyahu himself gave a mostly predictable speech to Congress, ensuring politicians how closely aligned Israeli and American interests are.

To help dissect the chaos, including ramifications for both American and Canadian Jews, Avi and Phoebe are joined for a second time by Gabby Deutch, senior national correspondent at Jewish Insider. Read her coverage here and follow her on Twitter.

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.

Last week, two very different sex-related 1980s icons passed away: Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the 4'7" German-born Holocaust survivor, who was 96; and Richard Simmons, whose mother was Jewish, and who rose to fame as a sweat-focused TV fitness guru whose personal sexuality was famously ambiguous .

So, clearly, the hosts of Bonjour Chai had sex on the brain. What sexual-education lessons remain for Jews in different religious communities? What are the stigmas and secrets still hindering progress? What legacy does Dr. Ruth leave the world? To discuss these these themes and more, we're joined by Dr. Laurie Betito, a Montreal-based clinical psychologist with a specialty in sex therapy, who has also spent decades broadcasting on the radio and currently hosts the podcast Passion with Dr. Laurie Betito.

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.

This month, two major elections have changed the European political landscape. In both France and the United Kingdom, progressive parties have overcome significant right-wing counterparts, overthrowing 14 years of British Conservative power and staving off Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party in a surprising result. Jews, as they often are, find themselves caught in the middle. Should they be celebrating the victory of left-wing parties more likely to harbour anti-Israel members, or would a more pro-Israel right-wing result have been better—despite, in France's case, the National Rally having roots in Holocaust denial and hate speech?

Some have argued that Jews should simply pack up and move to Israel. (Canadian-born Israeli politician Sharren Haskel made this exact point on The CJN Daily earlier this week.) But Avi and Phoebe disagree: people can, and should, live wherever they like, and Israel is not exactly safer. The hosts of Bonjour Chai break down the Canadian takeaways and Jewish lessons from a tumultuous week in overseas elections.

Then, they take a lashon hara lens to the shocking revelations about the late Alice Munro's neutral stance toward her husband's abuse of her own daughter, and cap things off with a breakdown of all the hate mail that Phoebe "Matzo Ball" Maltz Bovy got for writing a column in the Globe and Mail questioning the statistics of modern-day bisexuals.

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.

It was true before Oct. 7, but especially afterwards: an increasing number of progressive-minded people are viewing Jews as settlers in Israel. "Go back to Europe," some especially antisemitic ones chant at rallies. But it begs the question: if Jews are settlers in Israel, where aren't we settlers?

Ben Wexler, a writer and academic who recently graduated from McGill University, has been thinking about this question a lot. He recently published an essay in the French Jewish magazine K. Les Juifs, l'Europe, le XXIe siècle, titled "The Eternal Settler". In it, Wexler discusses the troubling rise in antisemitic violence, often carried out under the guise of decolonization and conflated with criticism of the Israeli government.

To explore the topic more, Wexler joins to discuss colonization, settler identity and the perception of Jews as settlers. And after that, he joins hosts Avi and Phoebe in talking global political trends: the rightward shift of France, the United States and Canada may be good for Israel... but is it good for the Jews?

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.

What does Palestine have in common with climate change, gender equality and indigenous rights? The Omnicause, that's what. In the modern era of left-wing protests, these issues become conflated—think queer Palestinians, viewed as indigenous to their homeland, fighting climate change with organic farming practices. Or something.

Perhaps something not so cartoonish: indeed, there are clear links between, say, First Nations rights here in Canada and the fight for climate justice, given the First Nations' connection to the land and how their reserves are often disproportionately affected by climate change. Racial justice and police reform go hand-in-hand. But the ties that bind such progressive causes start to weaken when you add Middle Eastern politics to the mix. Would any member of "Queers Against Apartheid" actually visit Gaza after coming out? Is Hamas interested in climate justice?

It's a conflation that struck writer Hadley Freeman, who returns to Bonjour Chai to chat about all things Omnicause and the eternal plight of progressive Jews. Read her piece, "Welcome to The Omnicause, the fatberg of activism", in the Jewish Chronicle.

And after that, Avi and Phoebe discuss Israel's new court ruling insisting Haredi men serve in the army, and the centre-right shift in North American politics following electoral upsets in Toronto and New York.

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.

The trope of Hasidic women leaving their communities—particularly during a journey of queer self-discovery—is not exactly unique. And yet, memoirs and documentaries continue to come out, the latest being Kissing Girls on Shabbat by Sara Glass, who is now a therapist. After Phoebe Maltz Bovy reviewed the book for The CJN, she had more questions—so we invited Glass on to ask them directly. The three discuss the nature of choice in a world dictated by authority figures, queer spaces in Judaism and how the community can change in the future.

After that, Phoebe and Avi discuss whether the trend of attractive "rat-like" men is antisemitic, as well as a problematic essay about motherhood recently published in Tablet, "How Babies Are Made".

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast's Substack.