Culturally Jewish

On December 1, 2023, Charles Officer passed away at age 48. The award-winning filmmaker was revered in the national arts community, having directed documentaries such as Invisible Essence, about the cultural impact of The Little Prince, and The Skin We're In, a film adaptation of author Desmond Cole's popular essay on racism in Canada. His movies were purposeful and personal, tackling topical issues with incisive commentary and deep research. The 2024 Hot Docs film festival in Toronto will be commemorating Officer's life with a tribute screening of his 2010 film Might Jerome on May 4, including a Q&A panel with some of his industry colleagues. Two friends and collaborators join Culturally Jewish to describe Officer's unique life as a Black Jewish arts worker in Canada: Jake Yanowski, who cofounded the production company Canesugar Filmworks with Officer, and Michael Levine, one of Canada's foremost literary agents. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Irena Gut Opdyke was a Polish nurse who, during the Second World War, was forced to become a housekeeper for a high-ranking German officer. At some point, she was offered the chance to save a dozen Jewish lives. She agreed, hiding them in a space nobody would think to look—in the German officer's basement. Later honoured as a Righteous Among the Nations, Irena's story is not very well known. But a group of Quebecois filmmakers is about to change that. Irena's Vow, being released in theatres across Canada on April 19, is a historical drama that marks a rare Canadian-made entry into the Holocaust film genre. Lead actress Sophie Nélisse joins Culturally Jewish to discuss what filming was like and what she hopes audiences will take away. And before that, hosts David and Ilana explain—with good reasoning—why neither one of them actually watched Irena's Vow... or, in fact, almost any other Holocaust movie. (Hint: it involves generational trauma.) Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

When a member of the Jewish community in London, Ont., recently decided to go through with medical assistance in dying (MAiD), it sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community. Some were angry and confused, others were sympathetic and supportive—and others felt mixed emotions, including the father of Jordi Mand, a playwright and screenwriter. Mand discussed the topic extensively with her father (and then her brother, and others), and soon came to realize how controversial the idea of medically assisted death was within Judaism. The emotional scenario set the stage for her latest play, In Seven Days. It tells the story of a woman who returns home to learn that her father has decided to end his life via MAiD in a week's time, leaving her, their family and even the local rabbi scrambling to try and change his mind before then. The production debuted at the Grand Theatre in London, and will come to the Meridian Arts Centre in Toronto by way of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company from May 4-16, 2024. Ahead of the play's Toronto debut, Mand and director Philip Akin sat down with the hosts of Culturally Jewish for a frank talk about death, life, comedy and the nature of choice. And before that, the hosts discuss recent controversies in the Jewish arts world, including the poorly worded Oscar acceptance speech by the director of The Zone of Interest and the cancellation of next month's Hamilton Jewish Film Festival. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

On March 5, the biggest comedy festival in the world, Just for Laughs, announced it was cancelling this year's events in its hometown of Montreal and filing for bankruptcy protection. The news shocked international comics and local Montrealers—but Andy Nulman, who co-founded the festival in 1985 and spearheaded its expansion through the 1990s, wasn't entirely surprised. Though he took a step back from the company in 1999 and left entirely in 2015, he'd been hearing of JFL's financial troubles in the media, just as most in-person events had taken a hit since the pandemic. And yet, as he recounts on Culturally Jewish, The CJN's podcast about Canadian Jewish arts, seeing that the enormous summer festival would be cancelled entirely still blindsided him—and hit him emotionally. In this in-depth conversation, Nulman discusses the global shifts that led to JFL's recent troubles, the way Montreal's Jewish community supported the festival from its earliest days, and why he's optimistic that Just for Laughs hasn't truly had its last laugh forever. Hear in this episode: Milton Berle in 1991Tim Allen's set in 1990Home ImprovementHowie Mandel in 2002 Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Eric and Erin Warner's grandfather lived to the admirable age of 103. And in that time, the Jewish immigrant to Canada saw Toronto change in innumerable ways, from the migration of Jews out of the Ward and Kensington Market to mass communication shifting from the radio to the internet. It's a life's story that Eric, who's worked in music promotion and production since he was a teenager, wanted to tap into—in part to help his own young children understand where their family came from. He roped in his sister, Erin, to sing on the album, and his longtime friend Jason Craig to help write the songs. The result is a concept album, A Song for Ira, released in February 2024, which debuted with a live show at the Miles Nadal JCC on Family Day. The concept is that two grandparents, Harold and Ruth, are gifted songwriting classes, which they use to write eight folksy tracks about growing up in a bygone Jewish Toronto. Writing about mid-20th century family vacations and longstanding Jewish institutions, the album paints a picture of the past for the benefit of the future. The Warner siblings and Jason Craig join Culturally Jewish to describe the songwriting process and why they believe writing music is an ideal way to speak to younger audiences. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Seth Zosky is a massive fan of Kanye West. He owns the shoes, has heard all his songs, and—as a drummer—dove deep into Kanye's innovative use of the retro 808 drum machine. So when Kanye started coming out as an unhinged antisemite in 2023, making ridiculous comments on podcasts and social media about Hitler, spouting conspirary theories and tweeting about going "death con 3 on Jewish people", Zosky was heartbroken. He decided to transform his emotions into a new production. Working with his close friend, the rapper CJ Capital (who is not Jewish, but also a major Kanye fan), as well as Dan Petrenko and Tracey Erin Smith, both of whom are Jewish theatre creators in the Prairie provinces, Zosky spent a year developing a new play. Pain to Power: A Kanye West Musical Protest debuts at the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre on Mar. 9, about a month after Kanye's latest album, Vultures 1, which was just released this week. Pain to Power adopts Kanye's music and reclaims it into a work of art that Zosky believes the multimillionaire rapper would absolutely hate. He and Petrenko, the artistic director of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, join Culturally Jewish to discuss the origins of the show and their artistic process—which included a trip to Israel in early October 2023 that ended up being cut short when they got caught in Hamas's terrorist attack, hearing missiles exploding over their heads from inside Ben Gurion airport, moments before they caught the last flight out on Oct. 7. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Ari Gross has never written a comic book before. But when he decided to try making one, he found his background came in handy. A machine learning engineer by day with a background in data science, Gross completed his PhD on the history and philosophy of science and technology—a perfect fit for writing a comic that brings 20th-century Toronto and Kabbalistic ideas onto the printed page. Add in the math required to map out a comic book by word count per panel, then panels per page, and you have a passion project that's coming to fruition after years of prep and planning. His forthcoming comic debut, Wardens, follows a 20-year-old Jewish woman living in The Ward, the popular immigrant neighbourhood in downtown Toronto. After a tragedy befalls her family, a creature called "The Schmata" rises to cause chaos. The comic is peppered with Yiddish, deeply nostalgic and steeped in Jewish ideas, based on significant research into life in The Ward. Having recently launched his Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to complete the project, Gross joins our Culturally Jewish podcast to discuss the origins of this supernatural tale and what research went into its creation. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

On Jan. 9, a group of Jewish Hollywood entertainers—among them David Schwimmer, Amy Schumer, Debra Messing, Jason Alexander and Michael Rapaport—published an open letter, signed by hundreds of Jewish media industry professionals, that slams the Motion Picture Academy for ignoring Jews in its "Representation and Inclusion Standards", unveiled in 2020. The standards call for representation from underrepresented groups throughout the cast and crew of film and TV productions, clearly defining "underrepresented groups" in a list of identities that include Asian, Indigenous, Hispanic, Hawaiian, LGBTQ+, women and people with cognitive or physical disabilities—but, notably, not Jews. The open letter is the latest splash in the ongoing conversation about how Jews are represented in the arts. Jewish roles routinely go to non-Jews, and while Jewish stories are more common today than they were 20 years ago, many still feel superficial, sometimes off-the-mark and written by non-Jewish writers. Given the rise of antisemitism and assumptions about Jewish people in a post-Oct. 7 world, media representation matters more than ever. But how easy is it to always cast Jewish actors in Jewish roles? Not as easy as you think, according to Jess Greenberg, head of the Montreal-based Greenberg Casting agency. As she explains, productions are bound by budget constraints, physical geography and sometimes the financing company's own goals. She joins Ilana Zackon to pull back the curtain on casting Jewish on The CJN's arts podcast, Culturally Jewish. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

On January 2, the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, B.C., announced it is cancelling a forthcoming production of The Runner, a one-man play—created by a non-Jewish theatre artist—that tells the story of an Orthodox Jewish volunteer who decides to help a young Palestinian woman instead of an Israeli soldier. The decision to cancel the production came after weeks of protests from anti-Zionists, including graffiti sprayed on the theatre's walls and a disrupted public meeting that was set up to facilitate a community dialogue about the play. While The Runner is still set to run as part of Vancouver's PuSh Festival (alongside a Palestinian work called Dear Laila), the Canadian play has disappeared from the archives of CBC's podcast about Canadian theatre, PlayME, opening up the question of whether art that tackles controversial subjects should be outright cancelled because of public outcry. In the opinion of the hosts of Culturally Jewish, The CJN's arts podcast, the answer is firmly "no". In our first episode of 2024, we take a deep dive into the play itself, the controversy surrounding its deliberately racist characters, the slippery slope of cancel culture and how this damages the relationship between Jewish arts workers and broader Canadian institutions. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

If you've heard of Gila Münster, who bills herself as "Toronto's cross stitching, cross-dressing Jewish American Princess," it's probably because of her drag queen storytelling events. After the height of the pandemic, she began partnering with public libraries across Southern Ontario, hosting story hours for children to supplement nighttime performances. Then came the protests. In the summer of 2023, for the first time in her life, protesters began showing up outside libraries where she was scheduled to perform. Around the same time, Münster found herself at the centre of a city-wide debate, as she became the only drag storyteller approved to come into Toronto District School Boards classrooms for drag storytime—and the school board refused to give parents the option to opt their children out. And then, after facing months of right-wing backlash in-person and online, Oct. 7 happened. Suddenly, Münster—who is Israeli, and has worked for the UJA Federation and Hillel in Toronto—found herself being verbally attacked by her queer friends on the left, too, who strongly support the Palestinian cause and skew anti-Zionist. All this has forced Münster into a unique space, navigating a thin line between two increasingly unfriendly political sides. She joins The CJN's arts podcasters on Culturally Jewish to describe her controversial year, explain the Jewish history of drag and discuss her upcoming annual variety show, 8 Gays of Hanukkah, happening Dec. 17 in Toronto. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Ruth Rakoff had only written one book before, a memoir based on her cancer diagnosis. That was in 2010. Two years later, her brother David Rakoff—an acclaimed writer and storyteller—died of Hodgkin's lymphoma. That traumatic period, in part, inspired her to spend nearly a full decade writing her second book, Untethered, a novel published in Sept. 2023 by Cormorant Books. In Untethered, two siblings branch off into different Jewish worlds, one marrying into an ultra-Orthodox community while the other tries to fend off depression on a kibbutz, eventually reuniting to confront their shared generational trauma during a time of crisis. Rakoff spoke with the hosts of Culturally Jewish to describe her writing process, how her own time in an ultra-Orthodox Israeli community influenced the story, and how its themes resonate even stronger in the wake of Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Also in this episode: Ilana recounts the Jewish Futures arts salon in Toronto last week, plus she and David give a rundown of the most exciting Hanukkah events happening in the next couple weeks. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

The story of Chiune Sugihara has become relatively well known among the Jewish community. The Japanese diplomat, known as "Japan's Schindler", wrote transit visas for thousands of European Jews, helping them flee Nazi persecution and the concentration camps. Among the many families saved by Sugihara visas was the Bluman family, which wound up in Vancouver, B.C.—but the story didn't end there. Even two generations later, the family's trauma still lingered, just as Sugihara's own children and grandchildren suffered from the aftermath of the Second World War. Those cross-generational stories, and their empathetic parallels, form the spine of a new chamber opera, I Have My Mother's Eyes, premiering Nov. 18 at the Chutzpah Festival in Vancouver. The improvised opera, composed by Rita Ueda, will explore the emotional core behind both the Japanese and Jewish families, which has created a unique bond filled with tragedy and hope. And as Ueda tells us on Culturally Jewish, The CJN's arts and culture podcast, to tell an emotional story onstage, there's no better medium than opera. Ueda and George Bluman join to share how they transformed Bluman's remarkable family history into an international opera show. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman (reach him by email at mfraiman@thecjn.ca), and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

When Niv Shimshon woke up to the horror of what happened in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he immediately contacted his friends and family back in his home country. The Israeli-born photographer—who moved to Canada 10 years ago, now living in Hamilton with his wife and two young children—could only donate a bit of money to his family's kibbutz and offer words of support. Feeling helpless, he decided to take action. He began contacting Jewish and Israeli photographers across Israel and North America, inviting them to contribute to a fundraising project, wherein they would sell prints of their work and donate all proceeds to the kibbutzim attacked near the Gaza border. Word quickly spread, and soon Shimshon had assembled a collective of more than 20 photographers on the website Photographers for Israel. In less than a week, they've raised $1,500 in net profit for their cause. Ilana Zackon sat down with Shimshon and one of the project's Canadian contributors, Brant Slomovic, a emergency physician-turned-photographer, about their initiative and how Jewish artists from afar can help Israel in these difficult times. Show notes photographersforisrael.comon his websiteon his websiteJewish Futures: An Arts and Culture Salon Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

It's no secret that the arts industry—theatre, film, music, visual arts, dance; pick your favourite—is mostly filled with left-leaning individuals. Unfortunately for Jewish artists, that means the arts community is also largely anti-Zionist (or pro-Palestinian), and given how big a role networking and affiliations play in booking gigs and landing shows, publicly voicing opposing political views can risk their friendships and careers. It's a tightrope upon which many Jewish artists have to balance every day. But in times like these, with Hamas and Israel engaged in a bitter war that's resulted in thousands of innocent lives killed between both sides, that balancing act becomes even trickier. Today, three artists from across the country join Ilana and David to pull back the curtain on what life has been like these past two weeks, how they're navigating relationships suddenly tainted with politics, and how social media is making everything so much worse. You'll hear from Jordan Nahmias, a coach, consultant and artist in Toronto; Tracey Erin Smith, a theatre creator in Calgary; and Sam Mogelonsky, a visual artist and the director of arts, culture and heritage at the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

In Matthew Jocelyn's ideal world, audiences would look at upcoming programming from the Koffler Centre of the Arts in Toronto and ask, "Really? The Koffler is doing that?" Ruffling feathers isn't new for the artistic leader, who spent 28 years in France, where he worked in some of the nation's top opera houses and was awarded as a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. After returning to Canada, he took the helm at Canadian Stage, Canada's largest not-for-profit theatre company, which drew mixed reactions and a minor outcry from supporters expecting a more traditional direction for the acclaimed theatre. By 2016, a profile in Maclean's described him as "one of this country's most brilliant creative forces—and one of its most controversial." On Oct. 2, 2023, he took over full-time as the general director of the Koffler Centre, Canada's most prominent historically Jewish arts institution. How will he balance Jewish programming with the centre's broader mandate? How will he handle the inevitable calls from BDS supporters to divest from Jewish artists and funding sources? And what can visitors expect to see from the centre in the future? Jocelyn joins Culturally Jewish, The CJN's arts and culture podcast, to answer those questions and more. Jewish Futures is a conference for Toronto’s Jewish artists and cultural workers exploring the future of Jewish cultural and artistic life. What future do we want to create together? How can the past and presentation of memory help to inform our present? How do we share our stories to guide our futures? Learn more and buy tickets here. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Sarah Segal-Lazar's momma never actually wanted her to be a doctor—nor did becoming an artist really shock her. But the Canadian musician and actor nonetheless drew inspiration from that common trope, where the offspring shunts the professional expectations of their parents, to write the hilarious theme song to The CJN's arts and culture podcast, Culturally Jewish. Not that the jingle is Segal-Lazar's biggest achievement this calendar year. She just released her latest album, Valleys, a folksy, emotional record that bounds between foot-thumping country bar tunes and delicate odes to broken relationships. The Montreal-born musician and actor wrote it between her home city and Prince Edward Island, where she spends chunks of the summer embracing her rustic side in what feels like one of the least Jewish parts of the country. Listen to Valleys here, and hear her explain her artistic process and personal journey on today's episode of Culturally Jewish. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Most Canadians have never heard of Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld, a woman who left early 20th century Russia and wound up in Barrie, Ont., where she cultivated her love of sports into Olympic glory—including a gold medal. In some ways, hers is a standard turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrant story, portraying a woman who succeeded by sheer force of will in a new country against her traditional parents' wishes. On the other hand, it's an unconventional tale, given her pioneering feminist attitude and how few people today even know Bobbie's story—including in her hometown of Barrie. But if you're in the city this week, you can catch a new biographical play about her life, simply titled Bobbie. The goal of the show, its creators say, is not just to raise awareness about this forgotten Canadian Jewish icon, but also to analyze how antisemitism seeps into mainstream culture and ask what Canadians—Jewish or not—can do about it. Director Lynn Weintraub and playwright Trudee Romanek join Culturally Jewish to share Bobbie's life story and describe how, and why, they made this creative new theatre production. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

There's a certain type of Jew, usually Ashkenazi, sometimes Israeli, with a mop of curly hair, an acousitc guitar and an affinity for marijuana, who will inevitably love bands like The Grateful Dead and Phish. Those groups are collectively known as "jam bands", which play lengthy, musically complex songs, often in concert, always with a hefty reliance on improvisation. Once synonymous with psychedelic drugs, the jam band scene has gone mainstream in recent decades—and for a myriad reasons we'll dissect on today's episode of Culturally Jewish, Jews are buying front-row tickets. This summer, the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto is putting on its first-ever summer jam concert series. Producer Michael Fraiman visited the first show to ask concert-goers why they felt Jews loved jam bands; after that, Ashkenaz artistic director Eric Stein joins Ilana and David for a discussion about the surprisingly deep connections between Deadheads and Yiddishkeit. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. Additional music this episode by La Banda Morisca and The Other Ones. Special thanks to everyone who spoke to us at the Ashkenaz concert: Jason, Don, Howard, Isabella, Aviva, Max and Sam. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

When Bobbi Goddard travelled to Mexico in February 2020, she planned on staying just a couple months. But when the pandemic began, locking down borders and economies, she was happy to stay longer, practice Spanish and catch an opportunity to kickstart her dream career as a country music singer. It wasn't the first time she'd chased a dream—and accomplished it. Born in Kindersley, Sask., she grew up in the Northwest Territories, Medicine Hat and Calgary before converting to Judaism (and moving to Israel for a stint, teaching herself Hebrew) and ultimately winding up in Mexico. She's currently on tour with her band, Bobbi and The Others, across Western Canada. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.

Jacob Balshin didn't take a conventional route to stand-up comedy. The Thornhill native majored in philosophy before working a string of random jobs—at Pizza Pizza, a pet store, Costco, Bulk Barn—all while honing his craft. Now he's releasing his debut comedy album, 30 And Breathing Funny, which he recorded in downtown Toronto on his 30th birthday, filled with stories of dates, drugs and dentists, all delivered in his giggly deadpan style. After that, David Sklar sits down with director Kevin McKendrick in Victoria, B.C., about their new show, The Guardsman, by Ferenc Molnár, and the surprising Jewish connections that both the playwright and McKendrick have. Credits Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.