The Jewish Nomad: What I loved about going back to Montreal for two months
As I sit here on the patio of my Mile End sublet apartment, I can’t help but think about all the things that make my hometown so wonderful. In my very first column, I gave a whole spiel about Toronto’s hidden gems and idiosyncrasies. But after about eight weeks back in the city I grew […]
The Jewish Nomad: Zooming about Judaism with first-time filmmaker Mayim Bialik
Just before Passover, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jewish TV celebrity, neuroscientist and Jeopardy co-host, Mayim Bialik, about her feature film directorial debut. The initial seed for As They Made Us came about a year after the 2015 death of her father. Full of emotions to release, Mayim began writing in prose. A close […]
The Jewish Nomad: There’s never been a better time to figure out how the future of community should work
It’s been a year since I first got behind a microphone with Avi Finegold and (the future Member of Parliament) Melissa Lantsman for the debut episode of an audio experiment called Bonjour Chai. And so, we marked this anniversary with a discussion topic at the core of what we’re all about: “If our existing Jewish […]
The Jewish Nomad: Yoga has given me a story worth sharing (and much more)
It’s no secret that many Jews struggle with anxiety. All of the displacement, persecution, trauma we’ve faced… Plus, all that good stuff can affect the nervous system, rumor has it. (Not to mention science.) I’ve done a lot of research on intergenerational trauma—I recently recommended a book on the topic—and it makes a lot of […]
The Jewish Nomad: Let me tell you what it’s like when ‘performer’ is your profession
I’m one of those rare humans who knew what they wanted to do from a very young age. I remember being in the bathroom at my grandparents’ house (too much information?) aged five or six. I believed in reincarnation (probably still do) and remember thinking to myself: huh… maybe, in my next life, I’ll be […]
The Jewish Nomad: Notes on a flight from Toronto to Florida that failed to launch
Have you ever spent 12 hours waiting in an airport because there’s a massive snowstorm outside—and then never even make it to the plane? Reader, it happened to me. Picture this… You have a trip booked to sunny Florida to visit your partner’s family. It’s your first international trip after 22 pandemic months and you […]
The Jewish Nomad: Travel journalism for folks feeling stuck at home
You probably don’t need me to remind you that you’re spending way too much time inside right now. Here in Toronto, restaurants are back to take-out—though you can legally eat on a patio, if you know one that’s heated— theaters have shut down, and there’s generally not much going on. So, I thought I’d take […]
The Jewish Nomad: Ilana Zackon’s favourite cultural things of 2021 (and the best podcasts she co-hosted, too)
Read on for five year-end picks from the co-host of The CJN’s weekly current affairs show—a podcast, a TV show, a book, a restaurant and some music—plus, check out some of the Bonjour Chai conversations Ilana Zackon thinks are worth your time to catch up on: Adventures with Dead Jews with Dara Horn Darkly comic […]
The Jewish Nomad: Playing the field when talking about politics is a tricky game
On the latest episode of Bonjour Chai, the weekly current affairs podcast I co-host for The CJN, we discussed whether gentile actors should play Jews, the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics and the aftermath of a Toronto school board scandal sparked by antisemitic teaching materials. It was an eclectic bunch of topics, for which […]
The Jewish Nomad: How hosting a podcast helped Ilana Zackon find her voice
As a child, I was constantly getting into trouble at school… for talking too much. But then, I’ve always been a talkative, quirky gal with a big personality. I was the one who liked to raise my hand and contribute to what we were learning, just as much as I liked to whisper (albeit loudly) […]
