In the temple

The company gathered at the main book of the Jews - the Torah. Among the young people is the author himself, «a shy provincial who does not really know how to speak either Russian (Soutine’s native language was Yiddish), or, even more so, French, he seemed to many illiterate ignoramuses. Clumsy, unkempt, with «the eyes of a hunted animal» (Ilya Ehrenburg), wearing a worn coat over his naked body...  «An absolutely wild man», was how one of Soutine’s contemporaries described him. And all those gathered are so different, with different destinies, thoughts, but all came to the warm house of the soul, to restore spiritual strength, but also, perhaps most importantly for little Chaim, he came to remember how he walked hand in hand with his father, brothers and sisters of his numerous family in this warm and always open house, a house that will forever connect with his small homeland – with Belarus.