Life in the Shtetl: Scenes and Recollections
Ilex Beller (1914-2005) is a native of Grodzisko Dolne. In April of 1983, at the age of 69, he returned to Grodzisko Dolne and found nothing there, everything had disappeared, except a headstone three- quarters buried, that by chance was the grave of his grandfather Aaron Yehuda Beller.
He returned to Paris and decided to preserve his memories of the shtetl by painting scenes he remembered from his youth in Grodzisko Dolne.
Below we display a collection of photos of his paintings with the kind permission of his son Bernard Beller.
 Nostalgia |
 My Hometown |
 A Beautiful Winter's Day
|
 The Birth of Jeremia
|
Old Lady and the Crib |
To Cheder on a winter's day |
At the Cheder |
Potato Soup |
Water Carrier in Winter |
The Shtetl in Summer |
The Schoolmaster |
Ladies in the Veranda |
My Grandfather Aaron Yehuda |
Motele |
A piece of herring for two groshen [pennies] |
Off to School |
Sleep my baby |
The Festival of Purim |
Bar-Mitzwah |
The Melamed and the Talmudim |
Lag - Baomer |
Couple in Love |
A Wedding |
Klezmers |
 A Mitzvah Dance |
 Miriam's Birth |
 Pesach |
 To Town in time for Shabat |
 Blessing the Shabat Candles |
 To Shul on Friday Evening |
 A poor man invited as Guest for Shaba |
 A Poor Shabat |
 The Shabes Goy |
 Reb Duvidl Goes to Shul |
 The Craftsmen Praying |
 In Shul After Prayers |
.jpg) Tikkun Chatzot (Midnight Prayers) |
 Shabat Afternoon |
.jpg){kind=spacer} The Farmers at the Rabbi's (for a letter translation) |
 Muddy Street |
 Itze, the Village Fool |
 The Street of the Craftsmen |
 Meyer the Coachman |
 Old Friends |
 Two Traders (Dealers) |
 Binem the Carrier |
 Traders With No Goods |
 Before the Judge |
 Traveling Trader |
 Buy a Radish |
 Buy a Bagel |
 A Wagon with Potatos |
 The Farmers |
 Sholem the Smith |
 Moredechai the Taylor |
 Israel the Shoemaker |
 Yankel the Knife Sharpener |
 Abraham the Milkman |
 Simon the Carpenter |
 Departure to New Horizons |
 The Socialist Bund |
 Zionist Youth |
 The Communists |
 Saying Goodbye |
 Remaining Alone |
 A Letter From America |
 The Shamash: Waking People for Slichot |
 Gathering Brushwood |
 The Grandfather Blessing the Grandson |
 Rosh Hashanah |
 Simchat Torah |
 Dancing Chassidim |
 Sukkot |
 When the Messias Will Come |
 Blessing the New Moon |
 Chanukah |
 Angst - Fear |
 A Funeral |
 At My Grandfather's Gravesite |
 Shoah – Holocaust |
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