Opoczno, 8 October 1926 To my most beloved of all beloved nephew and also worthy niece, Esther Zissman, I found your letter of September 8 when I arrived home in Opoczno from Lodz; in addition, I received your letter of September 19 today. However, dear and devoted nephew, whence does one take material and words in order to express to you in a letter (a response) to your wise and heartwarming letter? When I read your letters, I think to myself, "Ach, G-d, if I had my beloved here close to me, how strongly I would embrace him to my heart." It often happens that we read your letter, perhaps for the tenth time, and my sister looks at me, and I look at her, and we both sob, just like two small children. "Ah," you will ask, "what's the uproar, what's the crying for?" Are then your letters so horrible that one must cry because of them? No, dear Sol, the crying is simply due in part to joy and in part to suffering. On the one hand, we are sad that our dear sister was not deemed worthy to see you as a mature individual, and at the same time we are happy to hear that you and your worthy wife and sisters are well, that you are more or less "all right." In your first letter, of September 8, you write that you can see that I am taking great pains to make you happy and that I write you jokes and jest with you. Yes, Sol, this is a weakness in our family. I remember my mother, may she rest in peace, always loved to be happy. Perhaps you remember the piles (of people) that we used to form when the family got together at a party. And how about your mother, may she rest in peace; no matter how difficult things were for her, you couldn't see it on her face. Always happy, with a smile on her lips. They still repeat her witty comments to this day in Kinsk, to her credit. And now you, Sol, are also not deficient in joking. You like to toss in a few witty comments in every letter that smack of jesting. In any event, what I do should not seem strange to you. Furthermore, what is there to say? In fact, I don't remember what caused me to jest with you. Perhaps I happened to eat a good lunch that day or perhaps, by chance, I had some easy income! Sol, don't think that your uncle doesn't want to write you pleasant letters and good news all the time. After all, enough already of crying, enough already of complaining. You know your uncle too well. Although you saw your uncle fourteen years ago as a young man, energetic, smiling, you would not recognize him today. These were not simply ordinary years. During recent years, I have lived through the most difficult years that a person can live through in his lifetime; so I am now gray, weak and broken, ruined. And, nevertheless, a witty comment bursts forth from me that brings pleasure to another person! I also want to remark that there are all kinds of times, a time to laugh, a time to cry, a time to sing, and so on. So, for example, we have suffered through all the sad days. Remember well what we have prayed for and begged for, so that we are certain that this year will be a better one for us all than last year. For some reason, during the memorial service on Shemini Atsereth, I stopped and asked a question of the Master of Heaven. "Perhaps it will have been enough. I already have a whole list to say the memorial prayers for: a father, a mother, a sister, a grandfather." Yes, it's gruesome. All of these people are gone, and we miss them. However, daily events make one forget all these things that happen in a person's life! Further, as to the question I asked about your wife... So, I can write that I anticipated your answer. I merely asked you on behalf of my sister. Your uncle no longer has such an unoccupied mind, and it no longer operates so well that he should assume responsibility for who is making...and who is preparing to make..a bris. This is no business for me. The best evidence you have is that I didn't ask your father-in- law when he was here. But on that score, Sol, here in Poland it's said that in America everything moves 100% faster than here, e.g., the trains, cars, wages; and this is also related to work...and two years here is the same as four years there since your marriage, according to mathematical calculations. My sister says that one should be able to notice things there about you (both). As to you, a beard and a mustache. And your wife, she says, should look bad so that it will be a good sign...for "making a living." Enough. It's too bad for America if a Polish uncle and a Polish aunt, not to speak of their being from Opoczno, step forward to teach you Americans what you should do... America, which is more technically developed than all other countries, has not, in this field of endeavor, made any progress. To the contrary, you have regressed. You are too logical. You don't conduct yourself as did your grandfathers and great grandfathers. You are cowards. You are afraid that you will not be able to support, to rear, etc. No, first you do it...because there will come a time when you "want to do business"...and it will be too late... It seems to me, Sol, that that's enough foolishness on this theme... As to others, do as you see fit, (but) don't read my letter to your wife because it's not appropriate for me to write you such letters. It's only that I want to answer your letters, and I'm simply anxious to give you a bit of pleasure! You ask me to write you my opinion as to what will happen (with the business). So, devoted nephew, I really don't know how to answer you on your question. To the contrary, I wanted to put a question to you because you are certainly not a fool, even though it's ridiculous to inquire in Chicago about a business in Opoczno. So, I will try to make all the details clear and want to hear your opinion concerning my future. I have been in business here in Opoczno for five months and, as I have already written you, up to now I have no regrets, although it's not a roaring success. However, it provides a living, thank G-d. I have even been able to repay a portion of the loan that I made when I entered into the deal. There was a renovation this month. The competition is not inconsiderable, so that things have turned around a bit... Although the business provides chances to make money, if there is a bad month or two, one has to be able to hold out. My sister and brother-in-law are exerting all their strength in order that I should be able to make a living and, in reality, these days one doesn't easily find such a brother- in-law and such a sister who are prepared to offer as much to a brother as they do for me. I myself work and exert all my strength in order to provide a means of making a living because it seems to me that it's certainly high time. My sister and brother-in-law advise me, for example, to make a decision to move to Opoczno, but I haven't decided to do it yet, and I am anxious to hear your opinion about this. Although I will portray Opoczno and its population in a humorous way, nevertheless I beg you to take my letter seriously and to state your real opinion! Your father-in- law, Mr. Anker, remarked about the town of Opoczno that it is a cemetery with graves and there is a dead body in every grave, i.e., the marketplace and the streets are dead, like a cemetery, and in each of the stores, that is, the graves, stands a dead body, an owner. I think, Sol, that if you examined the nature of an owner, you wouldn't laugh, but you would cry at the sort of creature G-d has in his little world. All week long, not enough is taken in to buy cigarettes, but Thursday, on market day, they wait until the peasants come into town; they take advantage of them however they can. Practically everyone in town is observant; on the other hand, it's hard to find a good person. The main streets of Opoczno are named, Pudding Street, Mud Street, Shoemaker's Street, Yiddish Street. Kaluzna is also muddy where your uncle lives. The principal businesses here are lime and stones. The fields are stony; the earth is stony; even the people are like stones. They have hearts of stone. For one to inform against his neighbor is of no consequence. One of them observes what another does, and immediately imitates him. One wants to tear the bread out of the mouth of the other. If someone here earns a living, his life is not safe; they talk about him in the chapel of the synagogue, at the ritual bath, at the court, etc. You can imagine the sort of contentment in which the town lives merely from the nicknames by which they address each other, instead of using real names. So, for example, I was able to record several names on my radio memory and write them out for you. Read carefully and perhaps you will remind yourself of the sort of land you were in. Here, in Opoczno, can be found a Shmiel Pipik (Belly Button), an Avraham Maygel (Neck), a Yankel Bochenek, and a Meyer Petzke (Small Penis); a Nutan Kvoke (Rooster) and a Mordechai Hokeh (Hook); Yisroel Sralash (Defacate) and a Moishe Mik and an Avraham Bik (Bull); Mendel Yak, Shia Mooz, a Yankel Koysa (Drinker), a Nachman Dralik, a Kookeh Bosteh, a Faygel Pesses and Yente Pesses, and so on. There is not one person to be found in the town who is called by his first name; rather, it's a Moyshe Movches and a Pinya Dovches; a Chaim Latek (Patch), a Shmiel Tramze, a Yarachmiel Grapler (Grabber) and a Pyerge, and so on. It's simply terrible to live in a town where everyone has a nickname. Only I, for the time being, am called Reb Wolf. Even though I don't have anything to do with anyone here, nevertheless I have acquired a few enemies. But what do you think, Sol? It seems to me that it's better to have enemies than friends...isn't that so? Now you'll certainly want to hear my wife's opinion about her moving to Opoczno. So, I can write you that I was in Lodz for the eight days of Succoth. My wife is not too satisfied, on the one hand because I am not in Lodz together with my family; she doesn't care about a "business." I am away from her... It's really a pity on her; she doesn't have anyone to torment, to badger. I am not present; Balcia is learning a trade; Rifchele goes to school; Joseph goes to cheder. The result is that she is alone. You are responsible for everything, Sol, because you once sent dollars with which we rented an apartment; if not for you, my wife would still live with her parents and surely for my wife it would be very nice ...and pleasant... I can't forget the pleasure that my wife and my mother-in-law gave me during that period... My wife is also not agreeable to moving to Opoczno. However, since at present I have no other alternative for pulling our lives together and improving things so that it will be good for me, for my wife and also for my children, I sit here in Opoczno for the time being and conduct an Opoczno-like business and each week send home a certain sum (for my family) to live on. The business, it was agreed, is to go on until the new year. Then I will have the choice of staying further or of withdrawing from it. If I withdraw, I plan to go back to Lodz to acquire a general store, and I will run a store. If I remain in the mill, I don't know what to do: should I move everything here or should I continue as I have up to now? It's not as much of a pity on me as it is on my wife because, after all, she does remain lonely and has no one to torment and no one to chase around... And if I come home once every three or four months, she is also a good wife. I took Rifchele to the doctor during the holiday. He says that it isn't serious; she can go to school, but she shouldn't do any gymnastics because her heart is still weak. She is a fine child, learns well. Balcia is learning a trade because she is already fifteen years old; she can write and read, but she didn't complete grammar school. Joseph was here in Opoczno with me for two months. Now I have enrolled him in a cheder. He is a fine child, well mannered, very clean, takes after me a bit; it will depend on what sort of upbringing he will get in cheder and from his mother... As to your question of whether your Aunt Malke is angry with you because you wanted to take a husband away from a wife, so don't blame her. She foresaw that she wouldn't have anyone to torment. However, in any event she is not angry with you because you didn't do any harm to her, chas v'cholilah. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the ability to write better. She thinks that it couldn't have been written better because a Samaradner teacher, and a Lithuanian on top of it, instructed her to write it in this way. Although the letter never passed before my eyes, nevertheless according to the answer which you sent her I understand what sort of letter it was... However, Sol, let's forget what was. I thank G-d that I forget about all such things! You ask me to write you about my brothers-in-law. What shall I write to you? I neither hear from them nor know anything of them. However, I can assure you of one thing: Berish's wife is in Lodz with three small children and is starving to death. Occasionally, he sends her $10 a month. He writes that he is a long distance from Shia. He handles silk, and makes a living. He is estranged from Shia; I don't know why. Shia writes little, in a bourgeois style. He is going to bring his parents to Toronto; but is this his first bluff??? Hertzke, my one-time gem of a partner is in bad shape. He went bankrupt and didn't handle it according to regulations; he lives like a watchman, with two small beds. He's out of work, complains, wants to go to Toronto, but they won't assist him before the parents are there. I visit neither him nor my in-laws. I haven't spoken to them for three years. Malke and the children visit them often, practically every Sabbath because they don't live far away. They are a little aggravated because of the mistake they made respecting me, but it's already too late to cure it. I was in Kinsk the day before yesterday. I visited Uncle Yankel, once "Piszecz" (Z...i.e., a wealthy man, a Rochefeller) but now a small "Piszecz." He hasn't done well. He has a small store on the Potchiev. Not one of his children is married. Shmiel is an idler; he'd like to get married today. Perhaps you have a young woman with money; you can earn a matchmaker's fee. Wolf, an apprentice in a pharmacy, made an announcement that he is now learning to be a barber. Pinya has left to seek work somewhere in the world. Aunt Chaya Rifke has also left the arena. Sarahleh, her daughter, is poor; her husband has become a Hebrew teacher. Moshe is suffering here in Opoczno. Shmiel is a house painter; he works in Lodz and lives in Tomaszow. His wife earns enough for grits, and he earns enough for water. Aunt Breindel is very (poor)...a widow, makes a living from delivering several breads during the day and wine for Kiddush. Three daughters are maids in Lodz. Her son, Shmiel, is a shoemaker and already makes two shoes every two weeks. Feivel is a tailor. Further, as to Uncle Lazar you are already informed as to what is going on. Your uncle works hard, and your aunt works even harder. The children are still young and go to school. They should be more refined than they are. Write as to what sort of trade your oldest cousin, Wolfche, should learn; my opinion is a pastry chef. Now, as to your question as to whether it is still possible that G-d (might permit) us to see each other. So, my answer is that for G-d everything in the world is possible. I always pray to G-d that if I still have some worth in the world, may this be my plea...that I may yet be worthy to see you and to speak to you, face to face. For the time being, until we see each other, I wish you and myself as well, for now, to do good business so that it will make sense to travel to one another for business purposes, or for a vacation... So, I end my letter with heartfelt regards. Regards to you and your worthy wife. Heartfelt and loving regards to your in-laws, father, sisters, uncles, et al. Regards to all without exception. The whole family here speaks about you, so that you should be hiccuping there. Please don't delay in answering. If business doesn't permit, write at night, as I do; and write how the season was. Here in Poland, the situation improved slightly in a number of sectors, but the crisis is still great. With respect, Your uncle, Wolf Lewkowicz All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.