Irving Aaron was the son of Sarah and David Aaron, and had a brother Jack Aaron. In his youth, Irving was an accomplished public speaker who won numerous trophies including the"Moses Bilsky Oratorial Troph" in 1944. He won the Regional Oratorical championship and received this trophy at a convention in Montreal, which qualified him to go to New York to represent the Dr. Maurice Brodie Chapter of A.Z.A. Irving married Ruth Feinstein on June 2, 1953, at B'nai Jacob synagogue on James Street. Irving would later serve as president of Beth Shalom congregation from 1974 to 1977, and Jack Irving and his brother Jack Aaron donated land in the Craig Henry area for the construction of Beth Shalom West synagogue. His brother Jack Aaron was also president of Beth Shalom. Both Irving and Jack were on the executive committee of the State of Israel Bonds organization in 1970. Irving was a contributor to the Holocaust Memorial erected in 1978. Ruth Aaron was Chair of Beth Shalom's 18th Birthday gala celebration and participated in"Group of 3" activities concerned with the freedom of Soviet Jewry (see 8-005). She was an active member of Hadassah-WIZO and for 25 years organized the hosting program for rehabilitated Israeli soldiers visiting Ottawa. She served on the board of the Jewish War Veterans of Canada-Ottawa Post and was a member of the Ottawa Chevra Kadisha. Irving and Ruth have three sons; Stanley (b. 1956), Jeffrey (b. 1959) and Leslie (b. 1963), and one daughter Carol (Sussman) (b. 1954) and 13 grandchildren (as of 2013).
Beth Shalom congregation fonds; Bilsky Oratorical Trophy OJHS 4.86.01 (vault)
1 file textual records; 7 photographs : b&w Individuals Boxes
Fonds consists of photographs of Ruth Aaron and Irving Aaron as well as a small amount of material relating to the Chanukah Ball in 1989 and the gala (18th) birthday party for Beth Shalom which was held on April 21, 1974. An invitation to Benjamin Feinstein's (Ruth Aaron's father) 100th birthday party is also included. In October 2010, Ruth Aaron celebrated 25 years as the co-ordinator in Ottawa of events for visiting Jewish war veterans. A speech that she made is included along with OJB article about the event. Article regarding marriage of Carol Irving to Gordon Sussman. Invitation to CHW Annual Spring Tea, June 9, 2013, in honor of Ruth Aaron (invitation contains information regarding Ruth's contribution to CHW.) Book, prayers, blessing and hymns, presented to Ruth and Irving Aaron on their wedding day June 2nd, 1953, and a second copy of the same Prayer, Blessing and Hymns book, presented to Stanley Gary Aaron on his bar-mitzvah, February 1st, 1969.
Irving and Ruth Aaron fonds