- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- Interview with Joseph Lieff
Interview with Joseph Lieff
Description only — contact the archiveO0045
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- August 28, 2003 (indexed as 2003)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Subject: Joseph Lieff Interviewer: Sylvia Kershman Interview Location: Ottawa, ON Length of Time: Tape 2 35:26 Tape 1: Born in Ottawa; March 2, 1917. Youngest child of Bernard Lieff and Ester Malka? Born at 34 McGee street in Lowertown He had 5 brothers. 1 sister; Abe- March 5, 1903 born in Antopol, Russia- now Belarus. Louis- may 1, 1907 born in Ottawa on Clarence St. where his family was then living with the Meyer Levitian family; they were shoemakers. Hyman- October 3, 1908- living in Hintonburg, Ottawa (Wellington St and Sherbroke). Max- december 19, 1910- Hintonburg, Ottawa. Bess and Morris- born on York St. Ottawa In 1923 the family moved from 34 McGee Street to 55 Daly Ave, sold to them by Sophie Levinson, where they would rent to Jewish borders His parents met after his dad had done 1 term in the Russian army, and he was recruited by his future father in law to teach his future wife and her sister Shiva, because they couldn’t attend schooling. Reverend Baker, who read the Torah at the Maziki Hadas, and Joe’s mother were in the business together. Nat Levitan And Joe were friends. They grew up together, and remained friends until the 40s, when the war interfered Joe enrolled at York St. Public School for kindergarten Attended until grade 3- he broke his leg playing a game. Julius Goldberg drove him home, after seeing Morris trying to pull him in a wagon Dr. Harry Dover put his leg in a cast on his dining room table, after getting an x-ray The following year attended Osgoode St. Public School, starting in grade 4 Morris was still at York St. School- at age 11 he was able to write entrance exams to gain admission to Lisgar Collegiate. In grade 5, the inspector of schools Dr. Putman came into Joe’s classroom and recommended that Joe and Meyer Epstien skip grade 6 and go to grade 7 Moved from Osgoode P.s. to Lisgar Collegiate. In his first year of high school he got the mumps and couldn’t take the final exams. Got the mumps from a neighbour; Leo Levinson. In third year of high school, November 18, Joe came home with a fever. Dr. Danby (Rideau and Waller) came to see him and he had a pneumonic fever. The cure was to feed you aspirin and bicarbonate soda and an ice pack on the head- no penicillin yet, which would have been useful He had to repeat 3rd year of high school- his teacher was Stanley Blake, the same teacher he had in first year. Joe was a member of the debate team. Audio cuts Mr. “Fuzzy” Blake was coaching the debate team. Mr. Tenant was teaching the other team They would have dinners for the historical society, and Mr. Blake would get them to practice their debate material Mr. Blake lived on Patterson Ave. They beat the other debate team and Joe was invited to join the intercollegiate debating team, which represented Lisgar against Glebe collegiate. There was not a lot of work in the “dirty thirties”. There was anti-semitism- companies only hired 1 Jew a year, and schools didn’t accept a lot of Jewish people In 1936, the Bureau of statistics was hiring after the 1935 census.There were over 90,000 people across Canada who wrote an exam for one of 300 jobs. Joe wrote this exam, and was hired and worked at the bureau, at the post office in the money orders division. He was there a month before transferring to the bureau of statistics. Other people working there included: Donald Snipers went on to become a lawyer and WWII hero, Lionel Metric the dentist, Matt Keifers, and Abe Cohen, later secretary treasure at the Vaad, was a principal clerk there. Joe worked on a machine, and there were competitions to see who could get the most work done. They would put the score on the wall to encourage people to work to keep their jobs. Joe was fortunate to be one of the few who were hired after 3 months to run the cards through a machine. After he was let go, Joe got a job as a lamb helper- at the department of agriculture (summer job) and then he was out of work for a while He then got a job with National Pensions and National Health Treasury as a grade 1 clerk, in the daly building. (Rideau and Mckenzie and Sussex). There was working on dependent allowances and soldier pay, during the war. Joe passed the grade 2 exams, and got a contract in the National Defence branch because it was during the war. He worked his way up in National Defence, and had 30 or 40 people working under his supervision, including Lion Glasman? And some other Jewish people and WWI veterans Joe was 4F- not eligible for service because he has the fever which left him with a heart condition. However in the mid 40s, he was re-examined and deemed eligible for service. Joe enlisted in the Navy. He left Ottawa for Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, before being sent to Lunenburg, until the end of the war. Joe returned to Ottawa, working with the Navy at Dow’s lake, before discharging. Joe went to Toronto to work in a law office and study law at Osgoode Hall. In 1923, Joe and his mother went to Carlsbad Springs, the resort outside of Ottawa Joe’s mother and his aunt Rose Palmer found and rented a cottage near Carlsbad. Rose and her son Louis stayed there. End of tape 1 Tape 2 Discussed the borders they had at the cottage, and called it “Lieff’s Carlsbad Lodge”. After they bought the cottage, they expanded it for customers. Discusses the construction of the sulfur bathhouse. Sold it to another family, who further expanded it Joe has fond memories of Carlsbad Springs His mother passed away in December of 1936. They continued to live with their father on Daly Ave until 1941, when he passed away Joe applied to St. Pat’s college, which he did not attend He also applied to University of Ottawa, but it was a Christian institution so he did not attend. So he started in Government Jobs, and worked part time at A.J. Freiman’s. Joe went to Osgoode hall in September of 1946, and continued working in firms in Toronto, because of his brother Abe’s connections A program was created- time served in the army counted as being under article, reducing Joe’s time at law school. Discussed how difficult and competitive law school was. In 1949 Joe graduated and went back to work. Joe met his wife Evelyn at a Saturday night dance. They married in 1953. Audio ends mid sentence. 1. PARTIAL interview summary: On Lowertown: Older brother Louis Lieff was born in 1907 on Clarence Street, where the family lived with the Levitins. Meyer Levitin was a shoemaker at that address, downstairs. Older sister Bess and older brother Morris were born in 1910 on the south side of York Street, just west of the Max Beilin home. Joseph was born in 1917 at the family home at 34 McGee Street. The house was purchased from Sophie Levinson whose husband was in real estate, for "$700 cash paid in installments, plus a $1200 mortgage." McGee Street in summer was a tar and sand covered road. Joseph and his friend Nat (Nathaniel) Levitin (son of Myer - they also lived on McGee) would run around barefoot. The family raised chickens in the backyard. The Leviting's had a grocery on the corner. Mondon's (?) Bakery was next door. Herman Mabler (?), the butcher, was across the street. In 1923 the family left the Lowertown area and moved to 55 Daly Street.
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- 2 tapes
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- sound recording
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- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn