Lodz, 17 September 1930

My precious and beloved brother, as well as nephew,

I have received your letter and also a $25 check.  Now, fully
absorbed, I sit reading your letter to me.  Even though I have
already read your letter several times, I nevertheless seek
something in your writing.  First of all, I see that your humor,
your cheerfulness, your jesting have disappeared from everything
that you write.  This alone makes me think that my devoted and
beloved brother is really ill, and if a person is ill, it's very
bad.  My advice is that you should put everything else aside. 
Nothing should be of interest to you except for you to seek to
cure yourself because when you are well, you will not, chas
v'cholilah, starve to death; however, if, G-d forbid, you are
ill, I will certainly not envy you even if you are rich...

Dear and devoted Sol, am I capable with my pen of expressing my
gratitude for your consoling me???  It's true that the wound is
still fresh, and I will not soon forget the tragedy that befell
us.  But, nevertheless, I truly found consolation in your
letter.  Yes, only a truly devoted brother such as you is able
to express himself in such warm and thoroughly sensible words of
condolence.  

Dear brother, with respect to the crisis that now exists all
around the world in general and in America in particular, I read
all about it in the newspapers.  However, your letters convince
me even more of its reality.  Dear and devoted Sol, might you
not be committing a crime by subsidizing your uncle at such a
critical moment in time?  Are there some there among your
closest relatives who, chas v'cholilah, suffer because of me?  

You surely know, Sol, how your uncle likes to reason things out,
and you know your uncle very well.  I am accustomed to exist
with problems, may G-d forbid.  I calmly accept everything that
happens.  Living has no value for me anyway.  More than once I
have envied my daughter because she is not suffering and doesn't
witness my torment.  No, Sol, it doesn't pay to live and to be
tormented in this sinful world.  You may think there that your
uncle has a pessimistic attitude toward life.  But that's the
way it is.  A person doesn't want to commit suicide... 
Nevertheless, the world is no place for people who have no
benefit from it.  I always thought that even if things were
difficult for me when I was young, I would be able to able to
establish a secure existence for my old age.  Unfortunately, I
have become convinced that in my youth things were bad, in
middle age they are sour, and it appears that in my old age they
will be bitter.  

Believe me, devoted and beloved Sol, I shouldn't write and dare
not write such letters to you because there is no brother in the
world in your situation who would do what you have done for your
uncle.  And, everytime, just as it seems that the rope is
tightening around my neck and there is no way to stay alive, you
approach, devoted Sol, with a letter of consolation, with a
check, and rescue me from the situation.

It's the same now.  There is a law here that if one owes six
months of rent for an apartment, the owner has a right to throw
the tenant out on the street.  And here I had such a dreadful
year dealing, may G-d forbid, with doctors, pharmacists,
hospitals, etc.  Who was thinking about rent for the apartment? 
To be brief, it accumulated for a whole year.  And now that I'm
working three days a week and earn $2.50, you can imagine how
(far from being) enough it is for rent, clothing, light, etc.  I
won't even mention food; one pays no attention to what he puts
in his stomach.  However, on that account, devoted Sol, while I
am unburdening myself to you from from the depths of my heart,
because I now have no friend in the world to whom I can unburden
myself...your current financial assistance to me made things a
lot easier for me because I am not certain, had I not had the
wherewithal to pay any rent now, whether I might not have been
lying out in the street.

I should at least be thankful now to my devoted nephew for
rescuing the situation...  And, yet, I don't feel content
because I am not certain whether you might not have done harm to
yourself there because your letter makes me think that your
uncle is, at the present time and in the present crisis, some
sort of burden...  It's simply that your refined feelings, your
unsullied conscience, your good heart, all of these together,
don't  permit you to remain unresponsive to your devoted uncle. 
And I believe and am convinced that there is a sort of
mysterious strength we share that binds us together and makes
each of us unforgettable to the other because I see very well
that your problems are my problems and, on the other hand, my
problems are your problems...  

However, dear and devoted Sol, a New Year is approaching, and I
am not in a position to make many wishes since my mind isn't up
to the task.  However, your uncle wishes for you that this year
of curses may be ended and that a year of blessings may begin. 
May you and your family be granted the prayer of being inscribed
and sealed for a good year.  This is the wish of your uncle,
Wolf Lewkowicz.

Heartfelt regards for your dear wife and beloved son and also
for your dear sisters, Ruchele and Bryndl and her husband and
son, and also for your parents (sic) and in-laws, uncles,
family, et al.  I hope that everyone will be inscribed and
sealed for a good year.  My wife and children send heartfelt
regards to all of you.  Heartfelt regards also from Aunt Estherl
and Uncle Lazer for all of you.  Please answer promptly with a
long letter about everything and about everyone.

		With respect, your uncle, 

		Wolf Lewkowicz


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