The culture war comes to a deli review
Plus more hot topics of the week in Jews
Act British, eat Yiddish? Phoebe Maltz Bovy defends eating deli food regardless of what Netanyahu’s up to
“Could I really write about a Jewish restaurant given the current political turmoil?”
So went the thought process of Guardian restaurant critic Jay Rayner. This is in his March 31 review of Freddie’s “a New York-style non-kosher Jewish deli” in Hampstead, London, England. As he explains, “this review almost didn’t happen.” Why? Was Freddie’s closed the day he went? No.
But the exact nature of his concern is hard to parse…
How bad are smartphones for our kids, really?
Do your young kids have a smartphone? Most do. And parents have been witnessing the repercussions firsthand for years. This week, the subject came to the forefront when Jonathan Haidt, a Jewish writer, penned a piece in The Atlantic warning of the “terrible costs” of raising children with phones. A new mental health crisis, higher suicide rates, ever-more screen time: much of the ailments of modern youth can be attributed to smartphone use. Jewish kids are no exception, as this week’s guest, Rabbi Eric Grossman, knows well; he is the head of the Akiva School in Montreal and agrees with much of Haidt’s thesis.
Before that, we’re joined by Ronit Novak, art director for The CJN, to discuss the ethics of a gruesome photograph of the corpse of Shani Louk, who was murdered on Oct. 7, winning a prestigious photography award. As you’ll hear, even Shani’s family and friends are split on whether the now-infamous image is a good thing or not.
Next guest on the podcast…
Look for a new episode of Bonjour Chai in your podcast feed Friday morning, if not before—and let your people know about these conversations for a new generation from The Canadian Jewish News. (Coming next week: The Great Canadian Seder v3.0.)