Lodz, 7 February 1932

To my beloved and precious brother, as well as nephew,

I have received your dear letter of January 12, and have read it
with pleasure.  Even though I expect a bit of a balance sheet
from you at this time every year as to how the past year turned
out as far as business is concerned, etc., nevertheless I was
happy to read your humorous letter in which you commented that
we have already become accustomed to the crisis.  Slowly but
surely, people have adjusted to the current situation, and most
important I am pleased at your writing me that you opened a new
store in partnership with your father.  You also wrote me all
the details and the arrangements respecting your new
partnership.  Yes, devoted Sol, I sense in your letter that you
want to please your uncle; you want to show him that your father
is still very dear to you, even though...  

Yes, Sol, it's always that way.  When one meditates and reflects
upon his life, one really recognizes (the importance of) no one
other than someone close, a friend, a relative, a redeemer.  If
your father stretched his hand out and needed your participation
in a material way and you accepted the association with him, you
have fulfilled your obligation with respect to your father.  I
am also certain that your new partnership that you have just
agreed upon will proceed on a straightforward, business basis. 
At home, you can be the same son you were before.  However, in
the business, you should be a proprietor, a partner, although I
know your father very well and understand very well that he
would put his life at risk for a child of his.  In any event, I
will be pleased to hear that your partnership prospers and goes
on for many years.  The most important thing is that no one from
your (respective) families mixes into your business affairs, not
your family and not his family.  In case, at some point, you
have a charge against your father, accept it without complaint. 
And in the event your father has a charge against you, your
disagreements should be worked out by only the two of you.  Both
of you have a single goal, to work industriously and
energetically in the business.  And I, from my vantage point,
give you my blessing, and I wish you success in your new
undertaking.  May G-d grant you success.  May you have good
fortune in your partnership so that at the beginning of 1933 you
will send me your financial statement showing several tens of
thousands of dollars of profit!

To go on, dear and devoted Sol, I thank you sincerely for
writing to me.  Believe me, Sol, if you knew how much pleasure I
have from a letter of yours, you would write a letter to me
every three days.  I understand from your letter that you want
to convey everything to me, all the details, every particular,
everything that takes place with you there, and I on the other
hand can't get enough of your letters.  I read (a letter) once,
a second time, and think to myself, "Ah, how fortunate I would
be if I had the opportunity to convey my impressions personally
to my nephew, my devoted brother."  Sometimes one is so unhappy,
one feels so helpless, so forsaken by those near and far, and
one wants to confide in someone.  One feels cornered, pressured.
 So when my thoughts begin to turn to relatives, friends, those
near, those far away, among all of them I find no one other than
you, devoted Sol, with whom I can  bemoan my fate on a mutual
basis, e.g., as we bemoan our fates to each other. 

After all, let's face it, what sort of consequence can result
from a letter, e.g., in which you write to me about an
undertaking of yours, a partnership, a family problem,
occasionally something that takes place in (your) life, or what
sort of consequence can result from a letter of mine in which I
write occasionally that my arm or leg hurts, aches, throbs...or,
for example, that Aunt Malke doesn't feel well, or, chas
v'cholilah , that Rifkele is not well?  If one were to examine
without a great deal of study the letters that make up our
correspondence, isn't it ridiculous?  Really, where is the logic
in what we write?  How can you, little Shloyme, help with my
ailing arm or leg, etc.?  Or does your sighing make my wife or
daughter feel better?  Similarly, can I here in Lodz provide
assistance for you, my devoted Sol, and your father so that your
business will thrive there in Chicago?  Certainly not.  However,
my dear one, while we can't prove it logically, we know from
experience that nothing other than death will separate us...    

And everytime that something is upsetting or pressuring one of
us, he is forced to unburden himself in writing, and there is an
improvement.  One feels better, happier.  I don't know what sort
of impression my letters make on you, but I swear to you that
your letters have an effect on the state of my health, on my
senses.  No matter in how critical a situation I might find
myself, no matter how exposed to danger I might be, when I come
home from a day's work and find a letter of yours, I feel like a
fortunate person.  I feel like I'm talking to you for a few
minutes, face to face.  And for a long, long time, I am not able
to forget the sweet phrases, the sweet words, in which you
express yourself to your uncle.  Something like a magic, a sort
of magnetism, pulls at me and makes me feel that, except for
you, my devoted Sol, I have no one in the whole world.

Further, dear Sol, you surely want to know something of the news
from Poland.  So what should I write to you?  We are having a
very mild winter this year, with very little freezing weather
and with almost no snow.  Today the talk is that a war is
brewing between Japan and China and that America will also be
dragged into the war.  The evidence of that is that the navy has
been sent to help China.  While I am far from being politically
sophisticated and don't believe that, after the war of 1914,
anyone has the desire to risk a war, yet the situation is not
peaceful there in the Far East.  In any event, now people will
have a new excuse.  Up to now, Lodz had an excuse that we have
no work because of the world crisis.  Now the excuse is that we
have no work because of a war in the Far East.  Whatever the
reason, the situation is not good.  There is very little work
and even less earnings.  We accustom ourselves to the
difficulty, as you yourself have written.  We hope for better
times, but years pass with just hoping.   

Further, Aunt Malke still doesn't feel well.  She spends more
time in bed than she does being up and around.  Rifkele is not
learning a trade because her health doesn't permit it.  Joseph
goes to school; he's not a bad student.  I myself work two or
three days a week.  

Aunt Esther was in Lodz three weeks ago to see a doctor.  Your
cousin, Moshe, works at a job in Lodz.  Everyone sends heartfelt
regards to you, as well as to your wife and dear son, sisters,
father, in-laws, uncles, family, et al.  With respect,

        Your uncle,

         Wolf Lewkowicz

Please answer promptly.  Baruch Marianka, of Kinsk, Chaiml's
father, has also passed away, at a very old age.     


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