- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- Interview with Shirley Berman
Interview with Shirley Berman
Description only — contact the archive8
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- May 24, 2005 (indexed as 2005)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- When reflecting on the impacts of the Jewish community, Shirley expresses philanthropic and economic contributions that the immigrant population was able to provide. She believes that when you come from oppression in your home country, you have a certain drive and desire to make things better for yourself and your children when given the opportunity. Shirley believes that since there was so much pressure and emphasis on economic contributions within the Jewish community, they did not have time or interest to engage in the arts. She asserts how the time period also plays a large role, as the Canadian Dream of having a job and buying property became much more attainable after the war, even without an education. Shirley explains how this economic shift, along with the availability of new household technologies, allowed for more leisure time, and hence, more social and cultural expression. She then recalls the Friemans’ influence in the city, and believes that Lawrence Frieman became so involved with the creation of the National Arts Centre because he wanted to be a stage actor. Shirley also mentioned how at her arrival in Ottawa in 1957, the city was “devoid of culture”, except for imported Jewish theatre from Montreal, and the odd youth group production, until the creation of the NAC in 1967. She also mentions the AZA Youth Group, B’nai Brith Camp, the Young People’s Jewish Theatre, as well as the creation of the Talmud Torah by AJ Freiman, and the day school by Rabbi Kravitz as being instrumental in the education of the arts. She explains how the education there is very orthodox, but became more reformed over time due to the influence of certain board members, such as Harvey Lithwick. Some of the changes included not having to pray at school, and offering a French language option for students. Shirley also gives the example of the Ottawa Modern Jewish School, which was a more reformed afternoon school that taught Yiddish. She explains how reformed Judaism became popular from German immigrants, and how it existed in Toronto and Montreal, but took a long time to be embraced in Ottawa, where Rabbi Powell eventually established a more reformed ethos at James Street Shul. Shirley then discusses the support of the Jewish State, and how there was a rift between labour zionists and general zionists when it came to the details of the cause, but there was a strong labour zionist movement in Ottawa overall. She explains how community members were often very involved in the movement, including belonging to groups such as the Pioneer Women. However, after the creation of the state in 1948, the different sects of the movement gradually amalgamated to support Israel together. Shirley also mentions the lack of growth in the Jewish community in Ottawa because many children move to bigger city centres for university and do not return. She states how the Jewish Community Centre’s activities and programming were suffering in the 1970s, as people only went to synagogue or to the administrative offices there. Finally, Shirley reflects on the major changes that occurred within the community between 1945 and 1975 overall. These included a change from a small group of prominent men running the community to a more democratic approach; becoming a wealthier, more giving community that focuses on education, philanthropy, and economic success; as well as women becoming more represented and having more opportunities.
- Location
- rue James · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “James Street”
Where
More details
- Genre / form
- sound recording
- Format
- Audio
- Language
- English
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn