On the night of February 10-11, 2002, at 03:25, in a small but very cozy Ukrainian town of Artemovsk (now Bakhmut), a charming boy was born. He greeted his parents and the obstetric staff with a loud “And I, And I, And I…”. And everyone was happy to see and hear the newborn and wish him and his parents “mazel tov”. And everyone who hugged the wonderful boy on his first birthday, to this day remember the color, smell and texture of his skin, hair, remember the amazingly beautiful color and shape of his eyes, remember the tenderness of his large “aristocratic” palms… Dad had no doubt that his son’s name was Syoma — Semyon. Syomochka turned his parents' lives 180 degrees — filled it with the most pleasant worries and troubles, missions and duties, roles and responsibilities.

Syomochka easily and boldly studied and explored this world: very soon he appreciated the advantages of walking, preferred a potty to diapers, and used speech as the main means of communication. As early as at the age of 2 years and 6 months, he could read properly (we mastered reading with the help of Masaru Ibuki’s early development method “After Three It’s Too Late” for pre-nursery/nursery children), at the age of 1 year and a half Syomochka followed his mother with a notebook, pen, and the phrase “write and read” and they wrote and read, put letters into syllables and words, and words into sentences. Our house was always full of books, which Mom and Dad first read to Syoma, and then he read them himself. When he was already an adult, in order to observe Shabbat, Syoma bought paper books to read.

Syomochka was in a hurry to know and be able to do many things, he preferred to see the picture of the world as a whole: one day Syoma (at the age of one year and a half) was talking to his mother about animals and at the same time drawing them in his favorite notebook with the following comments: “body, head, eyes, nose, mouth, horns, legs, tail, penis, testicles (forgive the details) — a bull.” 

Syoma knew how to admire the amazing uniqueness of our Creator’s creations: when he was 11 months old, one winter evening he was walking around the house and chatting with his parents. Suddenly he stopped by the window, in which huge snowflakes were swirling in a blizzard round dance against the background of a street lamp. With a drawn-out “A-a-ah” Syoma froze in quiet delight, watching a new miracle in his life… Syomochka was growing up as a very understanding, tractable, brave and resistant to difficulties boy, he did not know how to cry and be peevish. There were no problems or tasks unsolvable for him in his life. Syomochka was the most loving and devoted son and friend. It was always safe, cozy and calm with him. 

Syomochka had an amazing sense of humor, inspiring optimism even in a hopeless situation. Here is one of the stories: Syoma was 12 years old, he and his parents were having rest in a hotel complex in the middle of the estuary forest, and one day, while walking through the forest, they got lost. While looking for the way to the hotel, they picked several fruits from a wild apple tree and found the carcasses of two huge stag beetles (Lucanus — the most beautiful specimens for natural history lessons). When they finally succeeded in trying to find the hotel, Syoma with an ironic smile encouraged his tired parents: “I had already started thinking that we would have beetles for dinner when the apples run out;)))”. 

Syoma accepted the world and those around him with love and kindness; from his early childhood Syoma was kind and non-confrontational, sociable and peace-loving, his main “tool” was a dialogue.  At the age of two Syoma called himself a “knight of peace”, and the knight of peace always had the most devoted friends. Syoma was very passionate and thorough, he was not satisfied with facts, he needed causes and effects: Senya’s teachers in the kindergarten admired his coherent speech, perception and understanding of many things, for example: his explanation of the concept of pride (a flock of African lions). And what about the collections Syomochka gathered and his knowledge about them: cars from different times and countries, the armies of Napoleon and Kutuzov… 

As early as the preschool years Syomochka wanted to develop in all directions: he was engaged in dancing, drawing and modeling, attended a literary club, was interested in the history of the country in which he lived, studied English in depth in elementary school. Syoma strived for high quality knowledge and skills — year after year he finished the academic year with honors. In elementary school (since 2009) he studied judo and won prizes in city and regional competitions. He won prizes in the all-Ukrainian school olympiads “Kolosok” (2010-2013) in English and history.

In 2013, Syoma’s family decided to repatriate. Syoma began to learn Hebrew with interest. And he was familiar with Jewish traditions and holidays thanks to the city organization of chesed “Zikaron”. In 2014, a war broke out in the Donetsk region and the repatriation process rapidly accelerated. On July 16, 2014, Syoma and his family landed on the Promised Land, “full of milk and honey.” The first years were very hard: it turned out that the Jews were not only the Ashkenazi. The process of accepting the Eastern and the African cultures took time, but it was successful. Syoma made new friends and got new opportunities. Syoma stayed the same, he did not change — from year to year (except for the last 2019) he finished each school grade (in Kita Madait) with honors and eventually had an excellent bagrut. During his school years, he got interested in classical art (music, painting, sculpture), philosophy and history. Syoma had his own well-founded point of view on everything, that was why he was nicknamed “Ledaati” in his class, he loved discussions on historical topics and Tanakh topics.

After the trip to Poland — to the tragic sites of the Holocaust — with his classmates, Syoma firmly decided to serve in the combat troops of the Israeli army. Day after day, he devoted himself to intensive physical training, the result of which was profile 98 and service in the tactical unit of YAMAS. For this service, he was awarded a distinction — a Letter of Thanks and a medal for his contribution to the fight against terrorism and organized crime.

During his service in YAMAS, Syoma matured greatly, changed his name to Simon and took the surname of his great-grandfather on his father’s side, Vigdergauz. Externally and in character, Simon was similar to his glorious great-grandfather David Vigdergauz, who collected all the data and published a Book in memory of 3 thousand Jews of Artemovsk (now Bakhmut), immured alive by the Nazis in an alabaster mine. One of the copies of this book is in the Israeli museum “Yad Vashem”.

The most important miracle had already happened in Simon’s life — Syoma met his first and only love, the best in the world, the most beautiful, the most talented and the smartest girl Margarita. Simon understood at first sight that Ritochka was the girl he had been waiting for all his life. From the moment they met, these two angels became inseparable, they knew everything about each other, they breathed each other, as if their destinies were connected in heaven. Simon’s family clearly saw that he was happy and inspired. Syoma officially introduced Ritochka to his family. Simon and Rita spent all their free time together: traveling, meeting sunrises, seeing sunsets off, dancing and having fun, preparing for the psychometric exam, enjoying music and painting in the art studio where Ritochka created her masterpieces, dreaming together of studying medicine and dedicating themselves to the career of doctors… Simon and Margarita were inspired by each other, tenderly took care of each other… and passed together, leaving behind bright memories.