Lodz, 18 April 1931 My beloved and precious brother and dear niece, Sol and Esther Zissman, I must wonder about you, devoted brother, because I haven't received a letter from you for six weeks. In the last letter from you, that I happened to receive during Purim, you wrote that you had become ill with diptheria and were in bed several weeks. I immediately wrote an answer to you the following week in which I asked that you respond to every detail. However, unfortunately, up to today I have received no answer from you, and I don't know what to think. I know very well that it is not your nature to make your uncle wait months for an answer... And, therefore, devoted brother, I am terribly worried. In addition, Sol, you wrote in your last letter that you are sending me $10, not by check but through the mail so that I would receive Polish zlotys. So, I write you that up to today, April 19, I have received nothing, and I don't know what could have happened. If you didn't send it, there was no cause for you to write that you were sending it. If you did send it, what happened to it? So, dear Sol, you will have to take the time to go to the bank to inquire about it because I don't know what to do about it here. Further, dear brother, I ask you to write me about the state of your health and also how your dear wife is feeling. Write me how your dear son is feeling, whether he is growing up as a good looking, healthy child. Further, write me how you spent Passover. Do you visit your father? How is he doing as far as health and making a living are concerned? Also, what's new with Bryndl, her husband, and their dear son? And how is our dear Ruchele; is she well; where is she living; is she working; what work does she do, and for whom? How is Rifkele? Is she still going to school or is she working? In a word, dear and devoted Sol, I am anxious (to know) and want you to write about every detail that has taken place there with you recently with respect to health and making a living. I also request of you, dear Sol, that your long lasting love for your uncle be rekindled and that you write me a letter every two weeks. And you should write long letters to me as you used to do in the old days because I learned a great deal from your letters. We both used to unburden ourselves (to each other) and, for a while, it seemed that we felt better...!!! In your last letter to me, you ask how my Rifkele is feeling. So, I write you that she came to Lodz for Passover and right now she is still in Lodz. Dear Sol, there is much that I should write to you about Rifkele. However, my heart is broken, and I am not able to convey everything on paper. I will only write, briefly, that my Rifkele is an unusually ideal child, beautiful as gold, mature and bright. However, she is lacking one thing...luck, because she has a poor father. She is weak, probably as a result of being born during the war. She needs a lot of fresh air and good nourishment. She is not able to get these two things from me in Lodz. First of all, Lodz is a city with polluted air. Secondly, we are grateful to G-d if we are able to afford bread and salt, not nourishing food. However, since I am a father who has already been "burned," and my child is very dear to me, I took her out of school, and she is not learning any more. She is also not able to go to any kind of work because of her weak condition. I consulted with a doctor. He advised me that the best thing would be for her to leave Lodz immediately because the air in Lodz is not suitable for such a weak child with such a weak heart. So now, devoted Sol, l am completely confused. I don't know what's going on with me because my whole purpose in wanting to move to Lodz, as you know, was for the sake of the children because my whole life was dedicated to the goal of raising the children with my outlook, with my beliefs, as my intellect dictates. And my intellect dictated that, first of all, we have to make menschen of the children and, afterwards, secure a bit of an existence. Unfortunately, dear Sol, I was unable to succeed in either respect. A year ago I buried my older daughter, nineteen years of age, who had already begun to earn something that eased somewhat the need in our home. Believe me, Sol, that we are so depressed, Aunt Malke and I. Since our daughter passed away, we really have not gone outside because we are embarrassed to be seen by people. Until we became so poverty stricken, someone in the family used to visit us occasionally or for a holiday. And now, and now, we are so lonely that we don't see the light of the world before our eyes. It's worse than if we were sitting in prison. No one visits us, and we don't visit anyone. Is this the result of our poverty? Certainly it is. Now then, Sol, I would like to have intelligent counsel from someone who would advise me what to do since, as you already know, during recent years I have not been able to earn a livelihood in Lodz because what sort of living can I make from two days (of work a week)? In addition, I can see that things are getting worse at work from day to day; Malke, may she be well, is not a healthy enough woman to be able to help make a living; further, I can't expect any great news from our Rifkele for the time being...since I expect warm weather soon. Up to now, we have had very nasty weather, snow, frost and simply cold weather. It would be appropriate for the first of (the month of) Shevat, not the first of (the month of) Iyyar. As soon as the sun comes out, I expect to send Rifkele back to Opoczno. Ah, dear brother, you will ask what her purpose there in Opoczno will be. So, devoted Sol, at this point I dare not think about it, and I dare not make calculations as to what the future will bring. I must only do that which the doctor advised: send her away from Lodz's polluted air. And she will get better nourishment there, and this can have a significant impact on her well being. My Rifkele is adding a short note here in her own handwriting. She learned how to write Yiddish in Opoczno. She was there for four months during winter. I don't know whether my sister and brother-in-law are anxious to have my child there with them... Quite simply, I don't want to conduct a political debate with my sister and brother-in-law. I know only one thing, i.e., I have no other alternative. If I had another alternative, I would very much prefer to have my child remain in Lodz and go to school or learn some sort of trade or work in a shop and earn something for herself. Then I would be encouraged, and she would be encouraged because she is already a child of seventeen, and we have to begin to give some consideration to a goal, a (path for) the future, etc. Well, dear and devoted Sol, I have written you enough about my Rifkele. Now then, I am back to the question of what I myself should do. I am also not in a good position because it's impossible that I will be able to make a living, pay rent, etc., from working two days a week. I plan to make a change this summer, i.e., I am forced to make a change. I go deeper in debt from day to day. I already owe rent for four quarters, and the landlord already has a court order for me to pay. The evidence that I am working only two days a week was inadequate to prevent him from evicting me from the apartment. I asked only that he should let me stay until July 1, and if I don't take care of everything I owe him by July 1, he will throw me out into the street. So, dear Sol, I am thinking about moving away to a small town. However, I myself still don't know where or to which town because I haven't made a final decision to move out of Lodz, a city which tens of thousands of people from the rural areas are storming into. And I have to move to the rural areas? If I still had some money, perhaps I would speculate on something, perhaps a shop, perhaps a stand to sell coal or a soda water stand, etc. However, since I have no money, how can I begin to speculate? I think that Lazer will be in Lodz within the next few weeks. I will talk everything over with him. For now, Sol, things are not good. Whatever may happen in the future, for now things are bad. There was a time when I relied on my devoted nephew for assistance so that, if a small business became available, I was sure that my dear Sol was standing beside me and would not let me fall; he would assist me to the extent he was able, as long as he had the wherewithal... However, now, G-d knows what's going on with you there, how you are doing in general, and how business is going in particular...? So, I have already written everything to you about all my "successes"...sad to say. Furthermore, don't you read any newspapers there, and don't you hear about all the Polish success stories in general and those of your uncle in particular? So I end my letter with heartfelt regards for you and for your dear wife and also for your dear only son, Mendel Leib, from me and from Aunt Malke and from my dear son, Joseph. Heartfelt regards for your father, sister Ruchele, sister Bryndl and her husband and son. Heartfelt regards for your in-laws and uncles and grandmother. Write me whether you see them and whether you visited them during Passover and whether they visit you. In addition, our whole family sends regards to you and your family. With respect, Your uncle, Wolf Lewkowicz Please reply promptly. All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.