- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- Interview with Ariel Aroni
Interview with Ariel Aroni
Description only — contact the archive8
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- May 2, 2005 (indexed as 2005)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Date: May 2, 2005 *cursing and some inappropriate language used* Interview is being conducted by the OJHS for the archives. Ariel was born in 1930 in Ottawa, and left at age 19 to go to Israel for 4 years. He came back at age 23 and has been here since. He went back to Israel at age 50 for a few weeks, and goes to Florida regularly. His father met his mother in England, and they eventually moved to Montreal where his older brother was born, before moving to Ottawa where Ariel was born on Cobourg St. His brother is two years older. Both his parents were born in Russia. His father visited Israel as a youth, and knew many members of parliament who were in charge when Israel became a state. His dad was very active in the Zionist community. His father died in Israel during a visit while Ariel was still in school in Ottawa. Ariel went to school for mechanics, and was a mechanic in the army in Israel. He returned to Ottawa and opened his own shop. He learned electronics as a hobby, and eventually opened his own TV repair shop. Ariel’s father was fluent in Hebrew, and Ariel could speak it but not write it. His father was a principal at the Talmud Torah for many years. He eventually got a job with the RCMP and was principal translator for the RCMP. He knew 27 different languages. Ariel’s father was involved in the labour Zionist movement in Ottawa, but Ariel was too young to really understand at the time. Ariel didn’t go to Talmud Torah, but his father taught them Hebrew and other lessons at home. Ariel’s father was Moshe Hassin [?] Aroni. Ariel is unsure of the origin of his family name. His father’s family name was Hassin [?] but he added Aroni later on after a river in Israel. Ariel’s mother was a music teacher, and he learned the piano and accordion. He still enjoys playing. Ariel’s parents eventually divorced, and his mother remarried when he was 15. He has a half brother and half sister from his mother, who died when she was 87. *disruptive noises during the audio* Ariel recalls [?] S[?] Hass’ir [?] meetings on Rideau St. It was a group run by Hyme Gunner [?] and Moshe Brown. Ariel recalls there were other boys involved too. The Swartzmen brothers and others. Ariel recalls getting fond memories of the group and trips. Ariel recalls a story of his brother being smuggled into Israel prior to its creation for liberation. Ariel was too young to go at the time. Ariel went to Lisgar Collegiate and Ottawa Tech for his schooling, where he took auto and welding and was able to accelerate through the program. After graduating he went to Israel. He recalls how difficult it was to communicate because he didn’t know Hebrew at the time He work there as a mechanic, working on big diesel trucks and trailers. His brother was already out of the army, and he recommended to Ariel to volunteer sooner rather than later to avoid the training period during a heat wave. Ariel was originally a driver so he could see Israel before becoming a mechanic After leaving the army, Ariel had his own garage. Ariel got sick while in Israel, and became underweight, so the doctors advised him to go back to Canada to try and recover. He came back to Canada in 1953 and recovered. Ariel’s father went to University in Brussels. He was offered the job at the principal of the Talmud Torah and that’s why the family came to Ottawa. Ariel went to Osgoode St School, York St School, Lisgar and Ottawa Tech growing up. He never went to any Jewish school. After leaving Israel, Ariel worked as mechanic in Halifax to make enough money to come back to Ottawa. When he returned he was told he had to do an apprenticeship which he tried to challenge since he was already a trained mechanic. Ariel speaks fondly of his father. He knew several languages including: Russian, the Slavis languages, the romance languages, Arabic and Hebrew, some Asian languages. The family lived on Charlotte St. near the Russian embassy. Ariel bought his first car at 17, and he recalls driving his dad to work. Ariel won a chess tournament at age 16 and his name was put in the paper. He still enjoys playing chess Ariel volunteered and taught chess at Sarasota[?] Ariel is also a fan of woodwork and anything that involved working with his hands Audio ends 46:05
- Location
- avenue de Cobourg · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “Cobourg St.”
- rue Rideau · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “Rideau St.”
Where
More details
- Genre / form
- sound recording
- Format
- Audio
- Language
- English
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn