Lodz, 12 March 1928

To my devoted and beloved brother, as well as nephew, and niece,

 Sol and Esther Zissman,

I have received your letter of February 20 and read it with much
pleasure.  Dear and devoted Sol, I want to relate to you here
the circumstances under which I received your letter.  It
happened to be Purim.  Arriving from the synagogue, where I had
heard the whole historical megillah about Esther and Ahasuerus,
I sit at home and wonder why there is as yet no letter from my
devoted one.  According to reckoning, there should have been a
letter by Sunday, and today it's already Tuesday.  Each day is a
year.  I know that you are punctual, and if I don't get an
answer in accordance with my reckoning, I become disturbed and
begin to imagine whether, G-d knows, something has happened
there.  Due to boredom, I go out into the street and see how
people are rushing...to eat, to the Purim feasts.  They pass by
carrying a variety of tortes and wines and sweets.  This they
observe...giving gifts to friends...and they ignore giving gifts
to the poor....just as if there were no poor people in Lodz... 
But all this is of little interest to me.  Perhaps I was more
interested thirty years ago in the gifts that I carried to the
Rabbi or to my grandfather in a bowl covered with a red
handkerchief.  Underneath lay an orange, a lemon, a few candies,
a piece of cake, etc.  

However, Sol, what's the use of talking about this?  If you were
here, perhaps I would carry on a lengthy discussion with you on
this theme, but on paper I will merely tell you that that same
day of Purim I had you on my mind all day long, and I missed you
and my heart ached so.  And at that very moment, the postman
brought me a letter and gave a loud shout, "Chicago-America." 
You know, Sol, the postman is no fool.  When he sees with what
sort of pleasure we open the letters from Chicago, he really
doesn't want to leave until we  favor him with twenty or thirty
groschen.  I read your letter once, and then again, and I paused
at two subjects, one concerning my trip to Toronto and the
second concerning your coming to Europe.  We still have much to
discuss respecting my trip to Toronto.  I will only pause at the
second, respecting your coming.  

Dear and devoted Sol, in your earlier 24-page letter you made it
very clear that your coming is bound up with great difficulties,
such as money (and) time, and work plays a role.  My devoted
one, I understood your letter very well and well understand that
to come to Europe is not like traveling from Lodz to Opoczno. 
But, but, it is bound up with great difficulties, with money,
time, etc.  Therefore, my devoted one, having read through your
earlier 24-page letter, I did not find it necessary to respond
to such a delicate question.  With your letter, you so backed me
up against the wall that I decided that it's better to remain
silent because what can I respond?  The best response would be,
if I had the means, for me to make a visit to you and meet you
and your family there.  I don't know whether I have the moral
right to require you to keep your promise to come to Europe. 
Yet, in any event, my devoted one, I would like to see you again
before my eyes with your 
worthy wife while I am alive.  I would like to clasp to my heart
my closest and most beloved brother who more than once saved me
from going under...  

Therefore, dear and devoted Sol, your last letter concerning
coming has prompted great joy in me and in all of us here!  And
as to your writing that to this end you have decided to move in
with your in-laws, I can write that you surely know what you are
doing.  You don't do anything that is not logical.  From my end,
I can only add that when your coming is certain, i.e., when you
already have the tickets, etc., bring along an automobile just
as a fellow formerly from Lodz did.  He came from New York,
brought along his wife and daughter, drove around with the
automobile for three whole months, visited Paris, Berlin,
Danzig, Warsaw, etc.  Later, he sold the machine, bought two
Persian lamb coats for his wife and daughter for $600, a few
diamonds and, by this means, earned the entire travel cost which
he had paid for the trip from New York to Lodz...  Ah, you will
have a laugh there, Sol, at your uncle's projects.  So, I write
that you have the alternative of not paying attention to me, but
I am only writing about what one person did who came from New
York to Lodz for a trip last summer.  

I also write that if you are preparing to come, do not come
alone but with your worthy wife, Esther, because I won't let you
in if you come alone...  

Most important to me is that I want to see you not as a child
nor as a youngster, but as a man.  I also want to see whether
you can use the proper etiquette with your wife.  I also want to
hear from her own mouth whether you treat your wife well,
whether you please her, etc...  Furthermore, it will be
worthwhile for you to become acquainted with your wife's family
in Piotrkow, Berszyn, etc.  

However, Sol, it seems premature to me to talk about it.  We can
only lick our lips (in anticipation).  However, it will take
time, particularly when I hear that you want to come in proper
style.  So, at every opportunity, see that you bring it to
completion.  Get rich quickly,  obtain the large stomach of an
American lord with all the trimmings, and come as quickly as you
can.

Now, my devoted one, as to your writing that I should do what I
can as far as Toronto is concerned, for example if it gets to
the point of groveling, I should do that too, all in order for
them to send for me, so I write you, my devoted Sol, that I
never had very much confidence in them and don't have any now. 
You know why this is.  It's because I can't communicate with
them.  I know them for 21 years, and I haven't begun to know
them.  Something is lacking in their writing, a little salt. 
From one letter to the next letter, they forget what they have
written.  They do everything in such a crazy way, so illogically
that it's a pity to repeat.  Even my wife does not have great
confidence in them; she has already become convinced that they
are not (reliable) and their letters are not (reliable).  And
the main problem I must tell you, my devoted one, is that Shia
and Berish don't live in peace, that they fight with each
other).  And I'm sure that the in-laws don't have any pleasure
from this...

At the same time, Sol, I am in search of a way to extricate
myself from my difficult situation, i.e., so as not to be
dependent on work with no substance because, really, if someone
were to come to ask me today, "What do you deal with, Wolf," I
can answer, "With air..."   Nothing solid, nothing concrete, can
be found.  One gets up early; one goes out into the street early
in order to earn a little something, sometimes involving the
negotiation of deals, sometimes involving clothing, sometimes
involving a small loan.  And if one earns fifty or seventy-five
cents a day, one is fortunate.  What is one to do?  If one is
not a tradesman, he can't get a position because the market is
filled with young people.  So one gets along as best he can, so
long as it's respectable.  If my daughter, Balcia, is able to
work, she earns about $3 a week.  We have reduced our living
expenses to a minimal level.  For example, we took in a boarder
to sleep in order to reduce our expenses.  I don't know, Sol, if
I will make some improvement after Passover.  If not, I would
still like to test the waters by going elsewhere in the world,
either to Canada or to Argentina.

In any event, my devoted Sol, don't take advantage of my words,
and don't think, chas v'cholilah, that I am asking anything of
you.  I am writing to you about the way it really is.  One's
whole life here in Poland passes with worry.  We become
prematurely gray.  Our past is tragic, and our future is
miserable, and that's it...  I had the same conversation
yesterday with Uncle Lazer.  He was here to see how Bruchele was
getting along.  Thank G-d, she is now better.  It has cost him
about $150 and me a great deal of effort.  However, thank G-d,
it was only a matter of money.  With the help of G-d, next week
on the eve of the 1st of the month of Nisan, the anniversary of
my (mother's) death, I will be in Opoczno.  Perhaps I will be
able to take Bruchele home.  Shloyme, write me exactly what the
date of the anniversary of your mother's death is, and the day,
month and year of her death because I need to know it exactly,
and not to forget it. 

So, regards and kisses for you, for your wife, sisters, family,
et al.  I wish you all a kosher Passover.  My wife and children,
Uncle Lazer and Aunt (Estherl) send their best  regards to all.

		With respect,

		Wolf Lewkowicz

My son, Joseph, sends his own separate regards to you.  He is a
fine boy.

Bruchele is, thank G-d, much better.  She should be completely
recovered in two or three weeks. 


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