Irving Matlow, 96, a well-known member of Toronto’s Jewish community, is about to become one of the oldest people ever to immigrate to Israel (make aliyah).
Later Tuesday Jan. 2, he’ll board a flight that will help the widower fulfil a Zionist dream he’s held since 1948, when he fought for a year in the Israel War of Independence. Now, 75 years later, Matlow’s symbolic personal gesture of support for the country he helped found comes as Israel is engaged in a similar existential war of survival, although Matlow is long past the days of putting on a uniform.
Israel’s government says 45,000 new immigrants came to live in the Holy Land in 2023, including over 720 alone who landed since Oct. 7–when Hamas terrorists attacked and slaughtered 1,200 Israeli residents and took 240 others hostage.
On today’s Canadian Jewish News (The CJN) Daily, we’ll speak to Matlow just before his plane lands in Tel Aviv, plus you’ll meet some other Canadians who’ve permanently moved to Israel in recent weeks–despite the war, or maybe, even partly because of it: Montreal schoolteacher Laurence Ittah, and Victoria B.C. bakers Moshe Appel and Leah Appel and their children.
What we talked about
- Learn more about Irving Matlow’s service in the Israel War of Independence in 1948, in The CJN.
- Moshe and Leah Appel ran the only kosher bakery on Vancouver Island until a few months ago, in The CJN.
- How the Canadian parents of Israeli lone soldiers are surviving the war after Oct. 7, in The CJN.
Credits:
The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman 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 subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.
