"Job" of Siberia

Gidon, lost his family during World War II in Lithuania at the hands of the Nazis and was placed in an orphanage. From a young age he displayed great talent in painting and music. He was so successful in fact that he managed to enroll in a prestigious Art School in Vilna.

After graduating art school, he went to Siberia where he became fascinated with the vast landscapes of magnificent Siberian nature that became a favorite topic of his paintings. Though his community appreciated his work and he participated in many notable exhibitions, he never had any financial success.

Life was not kind to Gidon: his wife became bed-ridden from complications associated with cancer and his son was senselessly murdered in an act of random violence. The last straw was when vandals set fire to his tiny art studio and burned every painting.

Gidon retired, but his pension of $45 a month was not enough to provide for both medicine and food and he often had to choose one over the other to survive. The local Hesed learned about his terrible plight and provided him with medical assistance, food, and winter relief.

Josef, a JDC Representative in the Ural Region, met him in a Siberian synagogue where he played the piano for different community cultural events and holiday celebrations. When Josef visited Gidon at his home the thing that was most striking was a piano keyboard that he had painted on a piece of cardboard in order to pretend that he played a real piano. "I have to rehearse before my appearances in the synagogue. I even dream to afford a real piano".

Josef brought his case to attention of the head of a neighboring Jewish Community who publicized it among local Jews. They purchased an inexpensive piano that was delivered as a surprise to his studio.

When he saw it he ecstatically exclaimed: "I wish I could live another 350 years because life is so beautiful, as beautiful as the faces of people I love to paint so much!"