Julia Koschitzky, Malcolm Lester, Boris Brott, Rabbi Benjamin Friedberg, Alex Eisen, Marcia Koven: these are just some of the many prominent Jewish Canadians who passed away in the first few months of 2022.

As we kick off Jewish Heritage Month, we decided to introduce a new recurring segment: The CJN Daily Dead Beat, featuring reporter emeritus Ron Csillag. Each episode, we’ll give honourable mention to honourable menschen and women, many of whom he personally met long before being tasked with writing their obituaries.

Since it’s hard to sum up a person’s life in 700 words, Csillag will occasionally join the show to share some rarely heard stories about these memorable men and women. We discuss Boris Brott, a world-famous maestro without the ego; Julia Koschitzky, dubbed the foreign minister of Canada’s Jewish community; Malcolm Lester, who detoured a rabbinic life for literary publishing; Rabbi Benjamin Friedberg, who brought both unity and division to Toronto’s Beth Tzedec Congregation; and the tireless Alex Eisen, who founded the Shoah Scroll, and Marcia Koven of the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum.

What we talked about:

• Marcia Koven’s obituary
• Remembering Malcolm Lester
• Rabbi Benjamin Friedberg’s obituary
• The CJN Daily episode on Boris Brott
• The CJN Daily episode on Julia Koschitzky
• Alex Eisen’s obituary

Credits
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.