Recently, a Canadian women's magazine, Chatelaine, removed an article from the digital version of its website for including a photo of the author sporting a red triangle—which is only a subtle gesture if you didn't know that the red triangle is a symbol of Hamas. The author, a pro-Palestinian chef and activist in Nova Scotia, describes baking challah to connect with her Jewish heritage. But the ensuing political fallout across social media (and some traditional media, including this one) caused more headaches than the editorial staff at Chatelaine were likely anticipating.

The debacle exemplifies an ongoing shift in the culture-wars landscape: women shifting to progressive spaces, men shifting to conservative ones. (See: the re-election of Donald Trump.) But the cost of this broadstrokes realignment has ramifications on how political cultural spaces become, ranging from women's magazines to television, film and cuisine.

Here to discuss these issues is Shayna Weiss, associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. She joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy and Avi Finegold to discuss representation of women in Israeli culture and society, the evolution of cuisine as a cultural signifier, and the role of media in shaping perceptions of identity.

Credits

• Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz)
• Production team: Michael Fraiman (producer), Zachary Kauffman (editor)
• Music: Socalled

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This week, president-elect Donald Trump has confirmed several planned appointments for next year. Aside from numerous cabinet members was the incoming ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas. While there's no rule that American ambassadors have to be Jewish, it's unusual for a president to nominate one so evangelical in their Christian beliefs. Trump has promised Huckabee will bring "peace to the Middle East."

But if you ask the hosts of Bonjour Chai, they're skeptical. Huckabee exemplifies the Christian Zionist viewpoint of being intensely pro-Israel—not for the sake of Jews, but for the sake of bringing about the return of Jesus and, in turn, the death of Jews and Muslims alike while believers in Jesus ascend to heaven. With that in mind, should Jews be celebrating or worrying about Huckabee's appointment?

And before that, Avi and Phoebe break down the recent violence in Amsterdam that erupted in the wake of a soccer match between visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv and AFC Ajax.

Credits

• Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz)
• Production team: Michael Fraiman (producer), Zachary Kauffman (editor)
• Music: Socalled

Support The CJN

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• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Canada's broadly left-wing literary community took aim at the Giller Prize, Canada's foremost award for fiction, for its title sponsorship coming from Scotiabank. The financial institution, they have argued, has millions of dollars invested in an Israeli arms dealer—leading to backlash from pro-Palestinian writers who began boycotting the Giller for taking $100,000 as prize money, withdrawing as entrants and judges.

The controversy has taken a lengthy, convoluted road since then, involving past winners speaking out critically of the Giller Prize; Elana Rabinovitch—the executive director of the prize and daughter of its founder—taking to traditional and social media to defend her organization's actions; and various half-measures by Scotiabank and Giller that have decreased (but not eliminated) their association with the Middle East conflict. Meanwhile, the competition is still going on, with a winner set to be announced on Nov. 18.

With Avi Finegold in Canada this week, he joins his Bonjour Chai co-host, Phoebe Maltz Bovy, in her living room to unpack this mess and discuss whether the criticism is legitimate or yet another example of antisemitism, framing big-money Jews as string-pulling villains.

They're joined by Michael Inzlicht, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and writer of the newsletter Speak Now Regret Later, who also happens to live in Phoebe's neighbourhood of Roncesvalles. Their community has seen a surge of pro-Palestinian signs in storefront windows over the past year, prompting the question: What do you do when controversial geopolitics come to your local coffee shop?

Credits

• Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz)
• Production team: Michael Fraiman (producer), Zachary Kauffman (editor)
• Music: Socalled

Support The CJN

• Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack
• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)