Space traveller pays homage to his Jewish roots

By Stacy Shaikin

A Canadian Zionist has boldly gone where few people have gone before.

Henry Wolfond was inspired by William Shatner’s Blue Origin trip in 2021 to travel on Jeff Bezos commercial space travel company on November 22, 2024. “Captain Kirk was my idol,” he told the National Post.

Wolfond used this platform as an opportunity to shine a light on the plight of Jews in the world today.

Although many people have taken these space tours, he is the first to wear a yellow ribbon above the earth as well as bring a whole host of personal items, pictures to keep his family history in his heart for this momentous occasion.

“I have a photograph of my grandparents, who fled antisemitic violence and persecution in Russia and Ukraine,” he said. “And they came here. My grandfather literally had witnessed his cousin hanging from a lamppost after a pogrom in a small town in the Ukraine. They came here for a better life.”

Another memento, and a stark reminder of the horrors of antisemitism, is a picture of Saul Reichert, his father-in-law, and a prlongtime prominent member of the Alberta Jewish community, who was a survivor of Auschwitz. “He arrived on a cattle car train with his mother and his five sisters. After they were separated on the platform at Auschwitz, he never saw them again.”

Wolfond is chairman and CEO of Bayshore Capital in Toronto, and chair of the Confronting Antisemitism Committee of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. He also moonlights as a professional pilot on charter, medevac and organ retrieval flights around the world.

Wolfond has roots in Edmonton; his wife, Rochelle, grew up in Edmonton and Wolfond went to Law School at the University of Alberta.

“It made sense [for us] to stay in Edmonton we had friends and family there and a community…Rochelle’s father, Saul is a Holocaust survivor. Wolfe and Seda Margolus adopted Saul in 1948 when he came to Canada as an orphan.”

“Saul, who will be 94 this month has an incredible outlook on life. He always finds the silver lining in every situation,” Wolfond says. “When I signed up for this trip in 2022, antisemitism was building but I wasn’t thinking about this.”

But now…“synagogues are being burned in Montreal and Jewish day schools are being shot at in Toronto. I think antisemitism has reached a crisis point in the world. My mission in life is to turn antisemitism into a fringe part of society again,” Wolfond says.

Wolfond has established himself as very committed to Jewish advocacy by participating in UJA, CIJA, CJPAC and other organizations with his volunteerism and philanthropy.

“I think we are in a crisis, it has never been this dire,” he told CJN’s Ellen Besner after returning from space. “We are seeing an escalation in antisemitism starting with words and moving towards violence in our communities.”

“It’s a horrible situation,” he said. “I think nothing could be more important than people with influence speaking out on this violence and the fear being provoked in our campuses.”

He believes Jewish people with non-Jewish friends must have conversations about how Jews are feeling and what they are seeing.

He continued: “Hatred of Jews became normalized. Hateful words escalate to violence, to harassment, to intimidation, to blocking businesses, and ultimately to murder. I hope that’s not the path that we’re on, but I’m very frightened that we could be.”

“So, my hope in connecting that to this mission is that I can reach out to people, responsible Canadians who see that the same way that I do, will be aligned with us, and will speak out against antisemitism and speak out against all hatred. I don’t think any hate should be accepted in our society, and people need to recognize, if it’s hatred against the Jews today, it can become hatred against them tomorrow.”

He added: “I’ve never been bungee jumping. I’ve never been skydiving. Those things truly scare me, because I don’t really see an end or purpose in mind. But as I’ve become more immersed and more afraid of what’s happening in the world with hate,” the more important it is to be mindful of what this planet is all about, and to speak out about it.

Wolfond goes on: “If it weren’t for this crisis, I wouldn’t have done all these interviews. I have got to amplify this message and speak out about what’s happening in the world,” he says with disappointment in his voice. “That perspective of seeing how small the planet is, we are one human species. We have become divided and it’s hurting us. It’s hopefully something we can turn around.”

This article was prepared with files from The National Post and CJN. Stacey Shaikin is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.