Opoczno, 20 February 1930 My devoted and beloved brother, as well as nephew, and niece, I received your letter three or four weeks ago. The reason for my not answering you promptly, you can understand, wasn't because of anything pleasant... Reading my letter, I am sure you will utter a sigh and ask, "Master of the Universe, why have you chosen to harass our family in general and our frail uncle in particular?..." Believe me, dear and devoted Sol, if I were now to relate to you the sort of winter I am living through this winter, I would surely have to sit for two months and write an entire book of 1,000 pages. However, I have no desire to cause my dearest one, closest to my heart, any pain because I know very well that you can be of no help to me. You see, if it were a question of social assistance, I would ask it of you, perhaps even demand it. But it's not a question of social assistance that is the issue. My recent silence should have indicated to you that it's no ordinary matter that causes Uncle Wolf not to answer... So, devoted brother, as you already know from my previous letters, I left Lodz six months ago and came to Opoczno. I came, as you know, with great prospects, e.g., to enter into a partnership with Uncle Lazer, to construct a mechanized oven, to make a living for the balance of my years, etc, etc. However, dear brother, it appears that the Master of the Universe hadn't forgotten about me. He has a great love for me and, because of His love, He punishes me with the sort of pain that even the greatest hero could not bear. Believe me, Sol, you as a youngster did not know very much about your uncle at that time because, after all, you have already been separated from me for fifteen or sixteen years!!! However, if you were to glimpse the circumstances in which your uncle works in Opoczno, you would surely weep. This is not the place or the time for me to portray everything for you in detail. It's better to save it for another time. However, dear brother, I can write you that your uncle is not made of iron, but of steel, if I can endure all this sorrow. I know very well that you will console me. You will say that others also suffer, that it's no better for others. But how am I helped by the suffering of others when my suffering is not diminished by a hair, but on the contrary increases in severity from day to day? The world is closing in on me. I would like to escape, but where can one go?... In a letter of yours to me, you once wrote that I should take things in stride and make the best of things; perhaps, at long last, the sun will begin to rise after all. My devoted one, hope is gone. I have resigned myself completely. I am too weak to be able to bear up under everything, ill and forlorn. (My) strength is gone. It's difficult to convey everything on paper. I will only briefly describe my recent suffering. You already know that I work eighteen hours a day for $2.70 a week. My Balcia is seriously ill and has been in the hospital for two months already, the second time, and the doctors say that they don't know whether they will be successful in saving her. The illness has to do with her lungs, water on the lungs; she can't digest anything, vomits; she has lost fourteen kilograms in weight; she weighed 48 kilograms and now is 34 kilograms. May G-d watch over her and send a perfect healing for my child. She was, after all, my co-worker in making a living. Then, seven weeks ago, my sister became ill. She had a pain in her side and leg. A number of remedies are being attempted. It's a strange pain. Nothing can be seen, but the pain is indescribable. It stabs; it throbs. She received treatments. It kept getting worse. To be brief, after five to seven weeks of exhaustion, we had to go with her to Lodz. At the beginning, the doctors in Lodz frightened us; they said that it might perhaps be a tumor or cancer, G-d forbid. The X-ray showed that she had an abscess on her side, and she had to be operated on at once. It turned out to be an abscess. How an abscess developed on the side, no one knows. We think it might be from fright of the governmental agencies, from the chasing about that the bakers have experienced for three years already. She became frightened, and the blood flow stopped and it became an abscess. The operation was two weeks ago. I was at the operation with Lazer. Lazer was there last week, i.e., on Saturday. Tomorrow, if G-d wills it, I am going again. In any event, the fifth changing of bandages has already taken place, and I think she is now out of danger. I do not know how much longer she will have to be in the hospital. I will certainly write to you when she has recovered. In any event, you can imagine how the house looks here without a housewife... May G-d, blessed be He, help so that she will at least be home by Passover. As if this were not enough, I received a telegram this Sunday saying that Malke is ill and that I should return. Arriving in Lodz on the first train, I entered and found that she had had a heart attack. The doctor ordered her to stay in bed. So, I had to let everything else at a standstill and become a medical attendant. I have to be in Opoczno because Lazer works at night and has to sleep during the day and has no one to sell the bakery goods. I have to be in Lodz because there are three sick people in bed, a wife, a sister, and a daughter. Ah, you will say that my sister is in the hospital, as is Balcia. However, I have to go there everyday to take something, to find out how they are, etc., etc. Now, my devoted one, I am confused. Tomorrow, if G-d wills it, I am going to Lodz. It's possible that I will write you a cheerful letter from Lodz. However, whatever else happens, I reminded myself that, as of now, I have already made you wait four weeks for an answer, and my heart is full, and I feel forsaken, and this time I have no one to whom I can unburden myself with a single word. And if I do occasionally go to my mother's grave to talk myself out, to cry myself out, I find relief only until I return home and once again am confronted with all the trouble and problems that the Master of the Universe inflicts upon us. Be well, devoted brother. I will be traveling to Lodz at night and hope to be able to share better news with you from Lodz. Write me what's happening there as far as your health and business are concerned, how your wife is, how your dear son is, your sisters, family. Are they all well? From me, Your devoted brother, Wolf Lewkowicz Everyone sends heartfelt regards, including Uncle Lazer and Esther. For the time being, write and address your letters to Opoczno as you have up to now. However, if I change my address, I will let you know. With respect, Wolf L. Chmielnicki Kaluzna 11 Opoczno, Poland Att'n: W. Lewkowicz All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.