Fighting antisemitism—and loving Star Trek—were Henry Wolfond’s rocket fuel to reach outer space

The CJN Daily with Ellin Bessner

It lasted just over 10 minutes, but on Nov. 22, Henry Wolfond became an astronaut. The Canadian business executive is still processing what it means to have fulfilled his lifelong dream, having flown out as a paying tourist aboard a commercial spaceship operated by Blue Origin, owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. During this journey—which took Wolfond and five others roughly 106 kilometres into the sky—Wolfond pinned a yellow ribbon for the Israeli hostages onto his space suit, and carried “Bring Them Home Now” dog tags and other Jewish gear with him, (as well as his granddaughter's Taylor Swift bracelets.) While blasting off on the Blue Origin program, Wolfond reflected on his own family’s origins—how his ancestors escaped pogroms in Tsarist Russia, and how members of his wife’s family perished in the Holocaust. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Wolfond explains how he returned to terra firma with a reinvigorated mission: to help end modern-day antisemitism in a post-Oct. 7 world.

Related links

• Watch the whole Blue Origin New Shepard NS-28 mission carrying Toronto’s Henry (Hank) Wolfond, on YouTube.
• Read about Wolfond’s son Adam, a poet living with autism, in The CJN.
• Learn how Henry Wolfond’s father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, commissioned a new Torah in memory of his lost family, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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