Lodz, 26 March 1925

To my beloved and devoted nephew and niece,
     Shloyme and Esther Zissman,

I have received your letters of March 3, of March 10 and of
March 11.  I long anticipated and impatiently awaited word
from you.  However, I knew that you would not remain in
arrears in answering.  After all, I've known for a long time
that you're an honest man.  Another letter is on its way to
you in which I wrote that I had sent you mushrooms.  I'm sure
that I'll receive an answer to that letter.  I've
really regretted causing you a headache with mushrooms
because I'm sure that you're not short of headaches there.
But what can I do?  I try my best; I search for something; I
experiment.  I'm not sure what it is I'm looking for, just
like Mottel the groceryman, Mottel the iceman, Mottel the
milkman, etc.  The article which you enclosed can serve not
only for you, Shloyme, but for a lot of people who were born
without luck...!

Now, to the point.  I'm very thankful for your having
informed me about everything that took place there on the
most important and interesting day of your life.  Dear Sol,
the sort of letter that you composed could only be put
together by a person with the appropriate talent, for
example, a poet, a bard, an artist.  What was I not able to
find in your letter?  Poetry, lyric, satire, artful and
humorous description.  So, for example, you write that, after
the ceremony, there were so many kisses that, at merely one
cent a kiss, one could have become a millionaire.  My
reaction is that that's really not the time to do business.
So, you took advantage of a few thousand kisses.  And what am
I to do, I who did not even get a single kiss?  And whose
kiss was dearest to you that day?

To continue, dear Sol, I devour the news in your letter.  But
you made such a deep impression on me with your reference to
a bolt of electricity that...a torrent of tears ran from my
eyes.  And I did not weep alone.  No, also crying were my
wife, my children and a cousin of mine who happened to be
visiting us.  In a word, dear Sol, I want to underscore that
the capacity that your words had to make me weep convinces me
that you had an awesome experience on your wedding day.

To go on, your Uncle Akiva (Carl) Freundlich I remember as if
he were standing before me right now.  I was then twelve or
thirteen years old; it was about 25 years ago.  I remember
him; he lived at Itche Pshednovek's.  Of medium height, he
had a small mustache and a blond beard; I think he wore
glasses too.  He was an ardent Zionist in those days.  He was
an intellectual.  You may be proud, Sol, to have acquired
such an uncle in your wife's family.  I knew your father-in-
law's family very well, and now that I have become aware of
your mother-in-law's family too, I recognize, Sol, that you
have not, Heaven forbid, been "unsuccessful" on all sides.

Further, you write that everyone was there and catered to you
and that your father conducted himself in a very dignified
way.  I'm pleased.  Your pleasure is my pleasure; your pain
is my pain.

My dear Sol, I read your letter so analytically that I
grasped the meaning of every word, every implication, every
nuance.  I'm also pleased that you read my letters and
(grasp) my implications with full understanding and
care.  I urge you, dear Sol, as a nephew, as your most
intimate and best friend, to share with me in writing all
your experiences, painful, chas v'cholilah, and joyous,
because I share everything with you.  Perhaps good times will
come for both of us...

You'll have to forgive me, dear Sol, for my failure to react
to each word of yours.  It's true that your words are set
down like matched pearls, but your letter didn't find me in
the best of spirits; perhaps I'll write more in another
letter.  Don't be concerned and don't imagine the worst
because it will pass.  The cause is illness.  Don't write
about it to my mother because she doesn't know.  It's not
terribly serious, chas v'cholilah; but, let's face it,
illness is not the same as good health.

There's nothing more to write.  I close with heartfelt
regards to you and your worthy wife and your dear in-laws and
family.  From me, your uncle, Wolf Lewkowicz.  Heartfelt
regards from my dear wife and children, from my mother, my
sister and brother-in-law and family, uncles and aunts.  All
of them send heartfelt and loving regards.  Please respond
quickly.  We wish you a happy and kosher Passover.

                              With respect

                              Wolf Lewkowicz
                              Lipowa 44
                              Lodz, Poland


All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.