Days after Yom Kippur, the Canadian government is doing a whole lot of repentance

After the Speaker of the House of Commons accidentally invited a Nazi to Parliament for a standing ovation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave an "unreserved apology" to Canadians, Jews, Polish people, gay people, Black people and a whole slew of other minority groups, days after Yom Kippur.

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On this week’s Bonjour Chai, we’re having a post-Yom Kippur repentance fest. We discuss the teshuva of the recently resigned Speaker of House of Commons, Anthony Rota. Is it enough that Rota stepped down and apologized for unwittingly inviting a Nazi into Parliament for a standing ovation? Special guest David Frum joins to dissect what really matters here: overlooking foreign affairs in favour of domestic politics.

But before that, Avi and Phoebe discuss the fights that broke out in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square around Yom Kippur, when attempts to make public services gender-segregated turned into a street brawl. The makeshift gender divider flew in the face of an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that explicitly forbade Orthodox Jews from doing exactly that. How can a country balance observant and secular lifestyles when the two sides can’t even coexist peacefully on a day of communal repentance?

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.