Author/Advocate Jonny Daniels is coming to Alberta for a ‘Deep Dive’

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – Next month will bring an influential – and sometimes controversial – individual to the fore as the Jewish Community welcomes former IDF paratrooper, Knesset staffer, and longtime internet influencer Jonny Daniels to Calgary (October 20) and then Edmonton (October 21) for what is billed as a “Deep Dive.”

Born and raised in the UK, Daniels made Aliyah to Israel in 2005 at the age of 18. These days he does not spend much time there; his work as a speaker, Holocaust educator, Israel advocate and Jewish Pride ambassador frequently takes the father of two abroad.

The Calgary event, supported by a lengthy list of sponsors within and beyond the Jewish community, will honour one ally in particular, Calgary entrepreneur and philanthropist W. Brett Wilson.

In a recent interview, Daniels said he plans to take his Alberta audience behind the scenes in Israel and Gaza while busting myths about the conflict. He is also expected to address Jewish identity and the fight against antisemitism.

“I’m proud as a Canadian to celebrate Calgary, the West, and the friendships I’ve built in the Jewish community. I’ve partnered, invested, and shared the stage with many, and I’m truly delighted to be part of this event,” Wilson told the Calgary Jewish Federation last month.

The genesis of the UJA event – which will take place at Beth Tzedec Congregation – underscores what has long been a part of Calgary Jewish Federation’s tag line: The Power of Community.

In an interview last month, event co-chairs Melissa Mendelman and Tamar Zenith described themselves as the least likely duo to chair a UJA event, explaining that while they are proudly Jewish, they have not previously engaged much within the organized community.

But the story of these women reinforces the adage that it takes a village. They are now stepping up to benefit both the local Jewish community and the people of Israel.

Mendelman, a restauranteur, and Zenith, co-founder and director of the Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art, became friends in kindergarten at the school now known as The Calgary Jewish Academy, a Jewish Federation/UJA partner. They rekindled their relationship a generation later when they brought their toddler sons to the Calgary JCC – also a Federation/UJA partner – for Time for Twos.

Close ever since, Mendelman and Zenith’s relationship deepened in new ways following the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel by Hamas terrorists. “Post October 7 we were very devastated, and I, for one, was feeling helpless. I just felt a real pull to go [to Israel],” said Mendelman. “People thought I was crazy because it wasn’t the safest time to even be thinking about it.”

A friend who had just come back from a volunteer stint told Mendelman about Sar-El, a program that deploys volunteers in civilian capacities on IDF bases to free up soldiers from tasks that can be done by other helping hands.

“That’s just the call I’m feeling,” Mendelman thought. Over coffee with friends, she announced her intention to sign up. “Both Melissa and I were 54 years old and had never been to Israel,” recalls Zenith, who grew up in a proudly Zionist family.

“There were always excuses and there were always reasons why we couldn’t,” said Zenith, who told Mendelman, “Well, you can’t go to Israel without me!”

Accepted by Sar-El, the friends booked and rebooked multiple times as airlines cancelled flights to Ben Gurion Airport due to multifront hostilities. Wondering if it was wise to stick with the plan, Mendelman received encouragement from Daniels, whose Instagram page had been brought to her attention thanks to Zenith’s son, Zen Laven.

Already following Daniels at the suggestion of friends who had heard him speak in Poland during a March of the Living trip, Laven encouraged his mother to follow Daniels. Soon Mendelman took the lead, posting online questions to Daniels, who encouraged the duo to continue with their plan.

They did two one-week stints with Sar-El, one at an air force base in the Negev Desert and the other at a base near the border with Gaza. The latter was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.

“It’s an amazing experience, and an amazing organization,” Zenith said of Sar-El, adding that a highlight was meeting volunteers from around the world.

During some R and R in Tel Aviv, Mendelman and Zenith discovered that Daniels was also there. They invited him to coffee together with a few other Sar-El volunteers. To their surprise, Daniels showed up, and he was receptive when they asked him to consider visiting Calgary.

With the support of Holocaust and Human Rights Remembrance and Education Co-Chair Marnie Bondar, and Calgary Jewish Federation Director of Development Diana Kalef, the October 20 UJA program—co-chaired by Mendelman and Zenith—was born.

“We’re thrilled that Melissa and Tamar came forward with a great idea and agreed to co-chair this event,” said Kalef. “The fact that they have inspired the support of many of their non-Jewish friends speaks volumes, allowing us to engage not only members of Jewish Calgary but the community at large.”

“Melissa and I are very honoured that a lot of our really close friends have stepped up,” Zenith said.

Mendelman and Zenith share deep concern at the normalization of antisemitism in the wake of October 7 and the continuing war in Gaza.

“Melissa and I lived for 54 years without encountering antisemitism…. Both of us have been in situations in the last 12 or 18 months when we’ve had to personally deal with it here in Calgary,” Zenith said.

While Daniels will speak to this and other daunting challenges in both Israel and the Diaspora, he promises an uplifting evening.

“The truth is that we are going to be okay…. We’re going to get through this,” Daniels said.

Edmontonians will have the opportunity to take their own Deep Dive with Daniels on October 21 when he addresses the community in the third of four events comprising Jewish Federation of Edmonton’s 2025 UJA Speaker Series.

During his trip to Alberta, Daniels will also be meeting with Holocaust survivors in both Calgary and Edmonton who have been invited to participate in one of his favourite initiatives, the restoration of a Torah scroll discovered by volunteers in Poland.

“The Torah is itself a survivor,” Daniels told AJNews. “This is a Torah that was hidden by a Polish shepherd in what, unfortunately, turned out to be the final wish of his neighbour, who was the Rabbi in the town of Filipow,” Daniels added.

The vast majority of Jews who lived in Filipow prior to the Holocaust were murdered at the Treblinka death camp, and nobody came back to claim the Torah, Daniels said. As time passed, the shepherd began using parchment from the Torah to make insoles for shoes, a handbag for his wife, and even rags. When Daniels first saw the scroll, only about half of it remained.

“Rather than burying it or putting it in a museum, I saw the need to bring it back to life…to restore the missing parts of this Torah, one letter at a time, each with survivors of the Holocaust,” Daniels said.

The Torah will eventually have a permanent home in the Synagogue at the official residence of Israel’s president.

Through his From the Depths Foundation, Daniels has partnered with other organizations in the restoration of Matzevot (Jewish tombstones) and cemeteries in Poland.

His other passions include sharing the stories of Righteous Among the Nations and supporting both Holocaust survivors and non-Jewish heroes who today live in poverty. From the Depths partnered with the Jewish Agency to help ease suffering in Ukraine early in Russia’s war of aggression there, Daniels told AJNews.

In the aftermath of October 7, Daniels has ramped up his focus on Israel advocacy and Jewish pride.

When Daniels spoke to AJNews, he was in Italy, where he attended a tribute to Catholic citizens of Assisi who, under the leadership of the Bishop of Assisi, Monsignor Giuseppe Placido Nicolini, helped to save the lives of 300 Italian Jews during the Shoah. (Bishop Nicolini was posthumously recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations in 1977, an honour similarly accorded clergy who worked with and for him in the humanitarian effort.)

“It is really very, very important to keep this memory alive…especially at a time where we often wonder who and where our allies are.” Daniels said.

Fittingly, allies will be front and centre in Calgary. Organizers hope that the Deep Dive event will also draw younger members of the Jewish community who are engaged in social media, which has become an increasingly toxic environment for supporters of Israel and Jews around the world. At the same time, the internet has become an important front in the fight against antisemitism.

“Melissa and I would have never found Jonny Daniels by ourselves,” said Zenith.

It took the next generation to put Daniels on Zenith and Mendelman’s radar, and they now want to share him with as many friends and allies as possible.

Their next mission? A second tour of duty with Sar-El in Israel, beginning just a couple of days after Jonny Daniels’ Alberta visit.

Tzeitchem l’shalom…may they go toward peace!

A Deep Dive with Jonny Daniels takes place Monday, October 20, 7:00pm, at Beth Tzedec Congregation. To purchase tickets ($54/$18 student) and/or donate to the 2025 UJA Campaign, go to jewishcalgary.org.

Calgary Holocaust survivors will participate in the Survivor Torah Project at a by-invitation daytime event on October 20. For more information or to register for this event, contact Marnie Bondar and Dahlia Libin at holocaustedu@jewishcalgary.org.

 Daniels’ Deep Dive in Edmonton takes place Tuesday, October 21 at 7:00pm, location TBA. For more information go to jewishedmonton.org.

 For more information about the Survivor Torah event in Edmonton go to jewishedmonton.org or contact Jennifer Magalnick at  magalj@edjfed.org.

Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.