The Piano
As our journey of discovery continued, another object owned by Dr Chaim Kobrin was discovered - the piano. It was stored for many years by his granddaughter Orna in Haifa. It also went through quite a journey, until it was re-united, renovated and returned home.
Looking back, we do not know where Chaim Kobrin bought this piano. Did he bring it with him from Lithuania or maybe from Italy, or perhaps he bought it in Tel-Aviv? This exact detail will never be known for sure. What we do know is that throughout my father’s childhood the piano stood proudly in the family living room in Tiberias. A beautiful Austrian upright black EHRBAR piano, that had a wonderful sound.
The piano in Haifa, before restoration.
The family atmosphere was always surrounded by music. Both Isaac and Gila, learned to play the piano as children. They loved sitting and playing all kinds of music together along with their father who accompanied them with his violin. The piano was always the centre of family gatherings during holidays and birthdays. When family members from Tel-Aviv came to visit, it was a great occasion for musical celebrations where Gila and Isaac played the piano and Chaim Kobrin played the violin. They mainly played jazz, folk and Neapolitan music together. On Friday evenings Chaim Kobrin would gather two or three of his musician friends in the living room to play classical music for many hours.
The piano after renovation.
In 1978 Chaim had a heart attack and moved for several months to Natanya to recover. Isaac replaced his father in the clinic in Tveria for almost half a year, taking care of the patients until his father was strong enough to get back to work. After this time period, the family moved back to Jerusalem with the piano. Both my brother and I learned to play the piano and practiced regularly on our grandfather’s piano at home. In 1982, our family moved to New Orleans and the piano was left behind in Jerusalem. It waited for us when we were back three years later. In 1988 we moved to a house in the outskirts of Jerusalem with the piano, and in 1989 when we moved to Switzerland, the piano was moved to Haifa to Orna, thinking that her children might want to learn to play the piano as well. Unfortunately, they did not, and like the violin, the piano was not taken care of or played on for many years. The piano stayed in Haifa for 25 years.
The piano after renovation.
In 2014 my father decided that it was time to bring the piano back home. At this stage the piano was quite neglected. Not only was it out of tune but also in very bad shape. It required a great deal of reparation and was sent to a specialist for restoration. While the piano was at the repair shop, the piano specialist called my father telling him that the the original color of the piano was not black but actually wooden brown. He asked for permission to remove the black color in order to restore the piano to its original form. We always thought the piano was black. This was quite a surprise for all of us.
A few weeks later the piano was ready. It was fully repaired, re-tuned and restored to its original color. The piano specialist sent some photos of the restoration and we were completely stunned. The piano looked so different and beautiful.
The Piano in Tel-Aviv, after restoration.
The journey of the piano back to Tel-Aviv was an emotional one for my father. Like the violin which was a part of Chaim Kobrin, now another object that he owned, the piano, has been restored. It was back in its original form and it felt so good to have a part of Dr Chaim Kobrin back at home with us.
The search continues…
