Lodz, 25 July 1925

To my devoted and beloved nephew and his worthy wife,
   E. M. Zissman,

I have received your dear letter of June 28.  I'm not in a
position, with my steel pen, to answer your wise and good
letter.  I write you only this, dear Sol, that I can not
identify in the whole world, among all my nearest and
farthest friends, another person such as you.  I have already
studied you very carefully.  I have acknowledged (this) to
you when, in distress.  I called to you for help when I was
held in prison, and you promptly answered all my letters.
You did everything that was within your power to do.  You
exerted all your strength in order to help a person, a
friend, an (uncle) of yours; and perhaps you again did what
was beyond your ability.  May I not one day be punished only
because I overburden you, a person with a tender nature, with
a good heart, who sees in Chicago what's taking place in
Lodz?  Others live close, very close, and are blind, or
pretend to be blind.  And you, dear Sol, you have such a keen
eye with such a sharp sense of power that you actually
involve yourself with whomever you choose to involve
yourself.

In your most recent letter, dear and devoted Sol, I see that
you have dedicated yourself to your uncle body and soul and
want to do something thoroughly beneficial in order that the
world might recognize that "menschen" still exist.  As much
as you, dear and devoted Sol, want your uncle to be well
established, I am 100% more anxious to write you pleasant
letters, that I am well off, that I am making a living, that
I am content, that I am healthy, that I feel fortunate, etc.,
etc.

But what turns out to be the case, dear Sol, is that both of
us are making the same prayer and both of us are making one
request, but it appears that very little attention is paid to
our pleas...  I'm convinced that I dare not ask any serious
questions of the Master of Heaven because there were times
when I lost my patience and boldly put the questions:  Why do
I deserve this?  For which sin?  And how long will this
endure?  I ask for a review of my past.  I've suffered
enough, compromised myself enough with relatives and
strangers.  I'm prepared to clear my space for another person
if I can't make it and if I don't have the wherewithal to
live and exist.

And what sort of a response do you think that I received?  It
was last winter when I was working out in my mind how to
pull myself out of debt, how to protect my household from
collapsing, how to ensure a basic education for the children,
etc., etc.  The Master of Heaven reflects, "I'll send you a
trivial item in order to silence you at once."

And so it happened, early one pleasant morning, my hip began
to hurt me...a nothing.  Well, at first, I didn't have time
to be concerned about a hip.  But it took on a more serious
character, so that when I was lying in bed I pictured how the
situation would look after I was absent...I realized that it
doesn't pay yet, one has to see to saving himself.  As to
money, don't ask, Shloyme.  Illness doesn't require planning.
Doctors came.  One said this; a second said that.  I sought a
cure for the illness myself.  I became convinced that the
illness was due to aggravation.  Some attributed it to
gallstones, others to sand on the kidneys.  In short, dear
Sol, it cost a little time, a little money, and a little
patience.

Thank G-d, it's now a lot better, not completely (normal),
but 90%.  I feel better; I'm up and about; I don't have any
pain; I'm not yellow.  And the most important thing is that
it turned out that the Master of Heaven taught me that
shouting doesn't make any impression on Him.  If you want
something from Him, then come, beg, request, have
patience...because I'm not the only one He's responsible for;
it appears that He has (more than) enough candidates such as
I...  However it might have turned out, it was a good lesson
from His point of view.  I don't complain now; if someone
asks how I'm doing, I say, "May the Almighty be blessed for
my lot, as long as one is healthy."  And, truthfully, I
realized that one can't accomplish anything when he is ill;
for example, one also can't praise the Creator of the
universe when one is ill.  So, I've decided from now on
to take things as they come, as long as I'm healthy.

I examine your clever letter in which you write that one has
to experience a little suffering, a little joy, a little good
luck, a little pain; one has to taste a bit of everything.
But, dear Sol, it seems to me that too large a dose of
suffering was administered to us.  We have to be healthy and
strong enough to swallow all the bitter drops of medicine.
Don't think, dear Sol, that I sit here in Lodz and think,
"Oh, do I have a nephew in Chicago...a lord, a billionaire,
as rich as Ford."  No, my dear child, I think of you as a
humble person with great responsibilities, a person who
is clawing your way up the ladder and wants to crawl ever
higher, a person who has suffered and suffers still; you're
interested in every small detail; you agonize with your
ailing sister, you try to find a vocation for another sister,

you seek a means of saving your uncle; you also don't forget
(to help) your grandmother once in a while.  And I ask a
question, "And you, Shloyme, how are you getting along?"
You're so busy with everyone else's concerns that you don't
even have time to write a word about yourself.  How do you
feel?  How is your wife?  How is your business going?  How
are your in-laws since they closed their store?  How is your
father, your uncles, your grandmother (i.e., your father's
mother), etc.?  And how is Dave's wife feeling?

Your mention of the fact that your father-in-law is coming to
Europe surprised me.  I feel fortunate to be able to receive
regards from such a close person, related through marriage.
There is a saying: "Ich bin doch a gantzen mechiten mit
eem...I am related to him by marriage through-and-through."
Write and tell me when he is to arrive and the purpose of his
trip.  Is he coming alone or is your mother-in-law also
coming?  As to your writing that I should make every attempt
to come back with him, so my dear child, I want to make it
clear to you that I clung to your words as does a drowning
man who exerts all his strength to save himself.  I want to
save my remaining years, and I want to live.  It's only a
question of whether I will be successful in achieving the
plans that you have worked out.  If so, it would be one of
the most valuable achievements for me and for my existence.
Write me in detail how and under what circumstances he could
take me along because it's possible that you there have a
better understanding of how to interpret the entire
immigration law.

I'm also enclosing a newspaper article in which I read that
the processing will no longer take place in Ellis Island, but
in the European ports.  In short, dear and devoted Sol, do
what you can for your uncle and may G-d Almighty help you to
be successful in all your efforts.

And with respect to your writing that you want to send me a
weekly subsidy and that I should write you how much I need
per week, so dear child, I have written to you several times
and write again that I request nothing of you.  While I know
very well that you think constantly of your uncle,
nevertheless, you must always have yourself in mind.  I mean
your wife who is closest to you, and so on.  Furthermore, I'm
not a person who would burden another.  May G-d help me so
that I can repay you what I already owe you.  As of now, I
don't foresee that in Poland there can be an opportunity for
me to live and, nevertheless, I live...not because I want to
live, but because I have to live.  You know, surely, how a
Jew lives: a little with miracles, a little with hope...and,
in this way, one's few years pass with nothing.  The children
grow up, not as I once imagined.  We spend our lives, not as
I once imagined.  And we write letters to a nephew in
America, not as I once imagined...

So, I end my letter with heartfelt regards to you and your
dear wife and your dear sisters: Ruchel, Bryndl and Rifchele.
Heartfelt regards to your father.  I also send heartfelt
regards to your in-laws.  Heartfelt regards to your whole
family.  My wife and children send their heartfelt regards to
you all.  We impatiently await your father-in-law's arrival.
Regards from my mother, from my sister from Opoczno, from
Lazer...he has it in mind and is making plans to go to the
Land of Israel.  It depends only on whether he'll have the
cost of travel...  Aunt Dina Raizl, Uncle Emanuel and their
families send their best regards.

                              With respect,

                              Wolf Lewkowicz

Regards to Foreign Minister Skryznski (Count Alexander
Skryznski).  He is in Chicago today.  Try to be helpful to
him so that he can get a loan.  Perhaps I'll also get
something out of it...  Please answer promptly.


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