Lodz, 11 June 1929 My beloved and precious brother, as well as nephew, You will surely be angry with me for my making you wait for an answer after receiving two letters. You know very well, my devoted one, that it is not my nature to make you wait for an answer. However, for some reason recently I am in such turmoil over the letters that I receive from Toronto that I simply don't know what to do. In your second letter, you write me that you are ready to cover the $200 security that we need to furnish in order for my Balcia to be able to go to Canada. Dear Sol, you know very well that I am not able to do anything here. I do not want, I do not demand, that you send me money. My request of you is only that you engage in a correspondence with my brothers-in-law, with Shia as well as Berish. I am enclosing their address, and you yourself must come to an agreement with respect to this matter. You alone, without them, may perhaps not be able to accomplish anything, and they as well, without you, are not able to get anything done... The problem is that Shia and Berish are not in agreement and, up to now, there is little of substance in their letters. Even Aunt Malke is now convinced from their letters that they neither can, nor want to, help us in any way. The simple matter is, dear and devoted Sol, that you clearly understand that I will not risk traveling on "paper bridges." Until you write me that you have come to an understanding with my brothers-in-law concerning the matter, we are not agreeable to sending our child to Canada. Although you have made clear to me in an earlier letter that you don't see my brothers-in-law as the appropriate mentors for my child, so my devoted one, what solution is available to me? After all, if we parents are not able to provide for the child, what can I expect from uncles...? However, what consoles us is that, at the start, she'll be with the in-laws, and later when she acclimates a bit, she will surely be able to set something up for herself. Furthermore, we don't know, after all, what time might bring. Perhaps she will even bring us over in a very short time, and we'll all settle down there. After all, thousands of people a week are going to Canada, some to brothers, some to relatives. I am not familiar with how things are there, but I know one thing. Whoever leaves (here) never returns. The result, dear and devoted Sol, is that we have decided, i.e., I and my wife have come to the conclusion that rather than to be tormented here and to live out our few years unable to achieve anything, we have decided to send our child away to a foreign country with an unfamiliar language to establish a path to the future for us. I hope that our plan will be completely successful, particularly when you, my devoted one, are keeping watch and are ready to help your uncle whenever he calls for help. I also think that the $200 which you will deposit there as security will surely be returned to you after two years because you will know into whose hands you are putting the money. However, I don't know how you will manage the matter when you write that you don't have the opportunity to go there, and you don't want to send the money directly to them. So, (it should be) only through a bank in your name or through H.I.A.S., as you write. In any event, dear Sol, I have complete confidence in what you write, and Aunt Malke is fully convinced of your devotion to us, and we rely completely on you. After you have corresponded with my brothers-in-law, you will be able to write the results. I also wrote to my brothers-in-law as well as to my in-laws. However, I expect nothing from my in-laws because they themselves are helpless and reliant on their children. I also received a letter from them yesterday, but it is without substance. They would very much like all of us to come, but they can't help at all. Well, dear Sol, for now I have nothing more of importance to relate. Everyone, praise G-d, is well. No one is doing business in Lodz these days because the crisis is intensifying from day to day. My Balcia has been out of work for two months already. Let me know how you are feeling, how business is, how your wife is feeling, how your only son is. Is he a fine youngster? Heartfelt regards for you, for your worthy wife and for your dear son from me and from my wife and from my children. My Balcia sends additional regards for you and your family. In addition, the whole family sends regards for all of you, including your sisters, father, in-laws, uncles, et al. With respect, Your uncle, Wolf Lewkowicz This is the address of my brother-in-law, Shia: Mr. Sam Smith 692 Queen Str., East Toronto, Ontario Canada This is the address of my brother-in-law, Berish: Mr. B. Smith 623 South Main Str. Crowland, Ontario Canada This is the address of my in-laws: Mr. G. Rotberg 145 Augusta Ave. Toronto, Ontario Canada Enclosure Dear brother, as well as nephew, You will surely wonder about my having written you one letter three days ago and today I am writing you a second letter, and the contents are almost indentical. So, I will explain to you, dear brother, that I wrote you the earlier letter without my wife's knowledge, i.e., I didn't want her to know what I was writing to you about her brothers. For this letter, my wife is sitting and monitoring what I am writing to you. She still doesn't have confidence in what I write. She doesn't know that unless her brothers are willing to do something, a bubble will emerge from the whole matter. I must explain to you for the tenth time that they are very poor people...as their letters indicate. Don't send any money directly to them but (rather) as I wrote you in my earlier letter or, perhaps, you will be successful in doing something through an immigration office so that you could eliminate them altogether. In any event, I rely on you entirely. Whatever advice you give me, I will follow. If it were possible that I and my Balcia could go together, it would be most desirable. If not, she should go alone. Handle it in whatever way is possible. With respect. Heartfelt regards for all. Wolf All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.