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Eleanor Bessen - 11 Apr. 2006
- Name
- Eleanor Bessen
- Material Format
- moving images
- Interview Date
- 11 Apr. 2006
- Source
- Oral Histories
- Name
- Eleanor Bessen
- Number
- OH 291
- Subject
- Recollections of the Beach Hebrew Institute
- Interview Date
- 11 Apr. 2006
- Quantity
- 1
- Interviewer
- Eliana Busheikin and Ellen Scheinberg
- Total Running Time
- 60 min.
- Conservation
- Copied November 2006
- Biography
- Eleanor Bessen was born in Toronto in 1924. She was the second youngest of five children born to Maurice ("Morris") and Tillie Wolfe. The Wolfes were founders and active members of the Beach Hebrew Institute, though they usually attended Saturday morning services at the McCaul Street Synagogue in downtown Toronto.
- The Wolfes lived in the Beach area and owned the wholesale Ontario Produce Company downtown. Eleanor attended Balmy Beach Public School and walked every day after school to Hebrew classes at the Beach Hebrew Institute. She took dancing lessons and piano while growing up and was very friendly with other children in the Beach area. She also went to Young Judaea and joined Jewish clubs downtown and attended Sunday School at the McCaul Street Synagogue.
- The Wolfes moved away from the Beach area around the late 1930s. Eleanor still lives in Toronto today and makes the occasional visit to her old neighbourhood in the Beach.
- Material Format
- moving images
- Original Format
- Digital videocassette
- Copy Format
- DVD
- Source
- Oral Histories