Chai Montreal

About Chai Montreal

Welcome, bienvenue and bruchim habaim to Chai Montreal: The Podcast. Hosts Lisa and Sarah are excited to introduce Chai Montreal: The Podcast. Chai Montreal was founded by Milton Winston in the 1970s and quickly grew into a platform that brought attention to various subjects of interest to the Montreal Jewish community and highlighted the beautifully diverse Jewish Montreal. Our mission is to celebrate Jewish stories in Montreal and around the world and spotlight important and interesting subject matters to the Jewish and wider communities.

Publisher

Chai Montreal

Category

religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Mar 2022

Latest episode

17 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

36 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   17 Sept 2026

   From Manitou to Levinas with Dr. Ori Werdiger

   In today’s episode, Lisa speaks with Dr. Ori Werdiger, from the Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, about his research, the remarkable Jewish intellectual world of postwar France, and specifically about the fascinating Jewish thought leaders Emmanuel Levinas and Leon Askenazi. Emmanuel Levinas transformed modern Jewish thought by placing ethics, responsibility for the Other, and human encounter at the heart of philosophy and Jewish life. Leon Ashkenazi brought Jewish philosophy, Torah, and Sephardic tradition into dialogue with modernity, profoundly influencing Jewish education and identity in postwar France and Israel. Their legacies remind us that Jewish thought is not only about understanding the world, but about transforming the way we encounter one another within it. Their lives and teachings invite us to carry Torah, ethics, and responsibility beyond the page, into the choices we make, the people we meet, and the kind of Jewish future we help create. Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: NBAHDSHWZUS28BUA

2. 

   23 Aug 2026

   Gardens & Moore: Discovering Kew Gardens and Henry Moore with Alex Summers

   In today’s episode of Chai Montreal: The Podcast, we’re taking you along with us on our little country holiday in the middle of London and exploring why Kew Gardens may be much more than just a garden. We speak with Alex Summers, the Curator of Living Collections who helped us look at Kew Gardens from another perspective and explore what this extraordinary place can teach us about nature, art, culture, and the ways we care for the world we share. Kew Gardens has gardens and landscapes to explore, of course, but also galleries and exhibitions where art and nature come together. Henry Moore sculptures, his larger-than-life works, are scattered throughout the acres of Kew Gardens to view until until 31 January 2027.The sculptures don't simply look as though they had been placed there; they looked as though they had always belonged there, as if they had grown out of the landscape and were meant to remain. Across cultures and civilizations, people have revered the natural world and created traditions to honour it. From the Jain tradition of the Indian subcontinent, with its profound respect for all living beings, to Jewish traditions that celebrate trees through Tu B'Shvat, a yearly holiday sometimes called the birthday of the trees, nature has been woven into our spiritual and cultural lives for centuries.

3. 

   18 Mar 2026

   Uncovering the Captivating Story of Souad Zaki (a Jewish Egyptian star whose legacy was nearly erased) with Alain Dancyger

   On this episode of Chai Montreal: The Podcast, Alain Dancyger, Executive Director of the Montreal Jewish Public Library, joins us to talk about the library's special screening of the award winning documentary titled Egypt: A Love Story (https://jlive.app/events/12780), which is a journey of discovery of Souad Zaki by her granddaughter, documentary filmmaker Iris Zaki. The film introduces the audience to Souad Zaki, a celebrated Jewish-Egyptian singer and actress, who rose to the top of the music scene in 1940s Egypt, and the Arab world. She sang with her Muslim-Egyptian band, which included her Muslim-Egyptian husband. Being Jewish didn't affect Souad Zaki's career in Egypt, but she fled to Israel after her husband abandoned her, the only place she knew her husband couldn’t take her son away from her. Although that meant that she left a glittering career behind, and, as you’ll hear in the interview, she became a cleaning lady to provide for her son, she did sing with Zuzu Mousa’s Arab Orchestra for Kol Israel Radio’s Arabic Service for 20 years, until she retired at the age of 57, recording around 200 songs for the radio. In an interview for The Times of Israel, Souad Zaki’s son, Moshe, said that his mother never criticised Israel, she simply did a ‘reframing’ of her life. After finding out that she had moved to Israel, the Egyptian government burned all of her musical recordings, and copies of the four films she acted in in Egypt. The only remaining copies are the small number that were purchased abroad prior to 1950. It’s thanks to those, and now her granddaughter’s film, that we can hear, see and celebrate Souad Zaki’s talent. Join the Montreal Jewish Public Library on March 26, 2026 to discover the story and talent of Souad Zaki!

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