Lodz, 31 May 1934 To my dear and devoted brother, as well as nephew, Sol Zissman, The day before yesterday, i.e., Tuesday, May 29, I received your dear letter and two pictures, one of Ruth and one of your darling Leonard. And today, Thursday, I am promptly answering your affectionate letter to me. I have so much time that I would like to write you about everything that has been going on with me recently. I also feel relieved and better when I send a letter off to you and unburden myself to you. However, where does one get the material, the subject matter, to be able to answer your wise letter to me? I don't know, Sol, whether there are two other men who understand each other as we do, whose opinions coincide as ours do. Recently, I was quite apprehensive over not having received a letter from you for such a long time. I didn't know what to think. However, your sending me the newspapers regularly, which provide your uncle with much pleasure, stilled my concern. Besides that, I thought that, after all, there in America your President wants to uproot the crisis and to bring about prosperity; perhaps your furniture business there is thriving already. And before Passover, everyone will surely get rid of his old furniture and immediately go to your stores to buy new furniture. Therefore, I didn't make any inquiry or comment about your silence. If you knew, Sol, how much anguish and pain you cause your uncle with your silence, you wouldn't make me wait for an answer. I experience a real spiritual pleasure reading your poignant letters to me. I can under no circumstances be satiated with your letters. It's wonderful how you write me all the details, all the events, that take place with you, just as if I were wise in worldly matters... As to your in-laws, don't be too angry; it's good to know who your competitor is. There's an old adage: "May G-d protect me from my friends because I'll protect myself from my enemies." It's hard to believe that your father-in-law would not deal with you tactfully. To the extent that I am familiar with him, he's certainly far from being a fool. Doesn't he understand that, in the final analysis, you are, after all, his children! In any event, Sol, I understand that it aggravates you; there must be arguments; there must be (questions of) "Why?" Don't cause your Esther any pain, just absorb it. Accept it all like a hero. Show your wife that you, as a bad son-in-law, know how to conduct yourself better than they do as good parents-in-law... As to your partner there, you yourself write after all that he doesn't even want an accounting from you. So, make the accounting yourself at home and send it to him by mail. In this circumstance, I can rely on you because you are a better businessman than I am!!! Further, dear Sol, you surely want to hear some news from me, so I write that, whatever the case may be, up to now my pen has scribbled, but, but, when it comes to tell about me, my household, my life...my hand feels like it is paralyzed and under no circumstances does the pen want to relate everything to you...because you don't deserve that I, your uncle, should cause you so much pain in your lifetime...particularly (since) there's no solution as to helping with or easing the trouble...because the times and the circumstances are so complicated that one person can't help another, even with advice... First of all, we are at such a distance from each other even though our hearts feel close; secondly, I myself don't know what my first question, my critical question, should be, what I need to ask. And perhaps all my questions are critical questions. However, I'm not going to dissect every detail for you, every minor matter, and describe everything that upsets me and oppresses me... Therefore, I have merely selected three critical questions which oppress me and drag me down to the depths. The first question is whether I should completely abandon the work (that I do) or whether I should wait until things improve because under the current circumstances that exist in Poland there is no basis for expecting better times to come... How can I live and provide for a household when I work only two days a week? Believe me, Sol, even though I am ill, suffer from rheumatism and, at times, my hand seems to be paralyzed so that I am not able to work, nevertheless I would consider myself fortunate if I were to have at least five days of work a week. Even though the wages are minimal, from $.90 to a dollar for a day's work, we wouldn't have to go hungry, and I wouldn't have to worry every morning about how to secure a loaf of bread. And the landlord wouldn't be wailing for nine months' rent, and I wouldn't be bathing in a sea of indebtedness...etc., etc. But we have a G-d who cares for us few Jews; He sends a crisis down to this little world so that things will become slack, so that unemployment will occur, in order that political parties will grow like mushrooms after a rain... Communism-racism-nationalism- Hitlerism-and anti-Semitism. The capitalist, seeing that he is surrounded by so many enemies trying to devour him still has enough capital to be able to sit and eat. These days, no manufacturer is willing to risk his remaining capital in the climate that presently exists in the world. Everyone is looking for a place to which to flee with the few hard-earned gulden he possesses. Beyond that, all the countries conduct themselves in accordance with the expression, with the system of: "Come, let us outsmart it..." Hitler's program is one of "purification," slaughter: "...for all Jews to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish..." In Poland, Jews are driven out of business, they suppress us, they don't permit us to work, government jobs are completely out of the question. Hitler's agents are moving about, foot-loose and fancy-free, sowing hatred between Jews and Poles. In a word, the economy is paralyzed, manufacturing is limping along. Jews are falling closer to ruin from day to day, and the government is powerless to put up a battle with all these hoodlums... Well, Sol, you'll be able to visualize the first critical question on my daily agenda. The second critical question is also a question which neither my common sense nor my intelligence can grasp, and I ask you, Sol, how to cope with such a question. As you already know, Sol, Aunt Malke has been ill for several years. Well, my common sense tells me that a person who is ill should go to the hospital for a cure, should give due heed to eating, proper clothing, etc. However, your aunt, i.e., my wife, is unique in this respect. She tells me to go to the hospital; she says I have enough time for that. For her to give due heed to eating is also not necessary; to come down with a cold is natural. And, quite simply, who will she torment if not me? Well, Sol, I ask you: "How long can your uncle be tormented in this way, and will this question ever be solved during my lifetime?" My wife doesn't want to hear of, and doesn't want to empathize with, my situation. I can more or less deal with a day that I work at the factory. However, I spend the balance of my days reading a newspaper or in the street in search of a charitable loan to cover an old debt, or I am in the street simply in order to calm my mind, and this doesn't please my wife. She wants me to be her nurse day and night, her servant to clean and wash her!!! When I make it clear to her that she would be better off using Rivkele (since) a girl has more patience to clean, to wash and to do the housework, the answer I get is that I have to serve her in this way (since) I am the husband. Rivkele is ill; Rivkele doesn't look well, shouldn't work and ought not to work. However, I as the husband and father am responsible, from my two days of work a week, for supporting the whole household, the ill as well as the healthy. Well, Sol, I now ask you a question: "How long? How long more will your uncle have to be tormented and plagued in this way?" How much strength does a person have altogether to bear up under all of this? What do you think, Sol, won't my strength be completely spent??? Won't I collapse one of these bright days, powerless and unconscious. I sense that I won't be able to continue to stand up to these difficult circumstances for very long... And I also see no source from which any remedy, any restoration, any help, might come... Now, the third critical question. This is perhaps the most important question in my life at the present moment. It's possible that another father in my situation wouldn't be concerned about it. However, I as a person who have already gone through a variety of things in my life and have already learned a few things about the world am compelled by my common sense to (recognize) that if one brings children into the world, one must give them a (proper) upbringing. In spite of the fact that one can't provide them with an education, it is nevertheless the responsibility of the parents to set the children on a path which will permit them to proceed unimpeded, not blindly. Believe me, Sol, if you were to penetrate to the depths of my heart and see how the question preys on my mind... I become more gray from day to day. I feel helpless. At this time, I have no one with whom I can discuss these matters. Yesterday, I had a visit with Joseph's teacher and consulted with him about his future. However, I didn't get a firm answer from him. It's true, the teacher says Joseph is a fine lad, a good student; he can be considered to be an average student. To my question of what sort of avenue is available to a father who wants to provide an education for his only son and doesn't have the financial wherewithal for it...he answered that at present there is still no way in Poland for a poor worker to be able to provide a free education for his child. And then again, as to learning a trade, no matter what trade he learns, one can't be sure these days of earning a living with it. In any event, some sort of trade is better than nothing. You can tell from my writing the extent to which the teacher's response left me dissatisfied, and I go around for days on end thinking about what will eventually become of Joseph... He will complete public school in another three weeks. What will become of him? He is already dreaming about a Zionist organization; he will sign up there and spend half the day or all day there. For food and clothing, he'll come to his father. After a while, he'll go to a preparatory camp, live in a kibbutz like a Gypsy or become a Communist. I am very concerned about all of this, and I have no solution and don't how to deal with this critical question, this question in my life. I feel worst of all, most unhappy, when my Joseph lies down in bed to sleep with me and begins to ask me blunt questions, the sort of questions to which I have no answers and can give no answers. For example, he came home this week with a new idea; he learned about a high school, i.e., an intermediate school, at which he can get a grant, i.e., half the cost. The cost is sixty gulden a month, i.e., $12, and he can enter for 30 gulden a month, i.e., for $6 a month. After three years, he will have learned the basics of a trade and will also have graduated from intermediate school. Well, I ask you, Sol, how can I undertake during these times to pay $6 a month tuition when my wages in the factory are $8 a month. Then again, as to learning a trade out on the street, there is the question of what trade to teach him when what I propose doesn't appeal to him. My suggestion was a baker, a confectioner, a sweater or hosiery worker. However, he has no desire for any of these trades. He would like to stand by a motor-driven machine. Furthermore, I can tell you that his youthful common sense doesn't lead him to any decision as to which trade to select to satisfy his requirements. And another thing. I know that in this situation I will give my son the full right to select a path that he wants to follow to make a livelihood, as our Torah provides: "...Therefore, choose life..." The whole problem is that the children today are too smart, too logical. My Joseph continues to present arguments, examples, that if one is trained it's easier to achieve something; it's easier to have opportunities to achieve something. However, the result is that his words are like a voice in the wilderness; they merely stab me and lacerate my heart since I don't have the wherewithal to attend to his needful requests for his life. Now then, as to Rivkele. My daughter is a girl of nineteen years of age who it's not appropriate to permit to be embarrassed. She needs shoes, dresses, a coat, etc. She began to learn to be a seamstress, but she is so weak that the doctor told her to abandon the trade because she would become even sicker. She used to go away to my sister in Opozno for two/three months every summer. This summer she doesn't want to go away. First of all, she doesn't have the proper clothing. Second, she has to tend to her mother. Third, she doesn't have anyone in Opoczno to dote over her because an aunt is not a mother. And I, as a father, stand and observe my household with objectivity and think to myself, "If there were a man in the world who could peer into and examine my heart to see what's doing there..." Then it would be discovered that I am made of steel and iron if I can bear and withstand everything... Well, Sol, what do you think? I think that will be enough for today because I have given you an accurate picture here of me, of my household, of my children, of my life. The main thing, Sol, is that if you have the opportunity, you should reflect upon your uncle's problem. If you have the means, help me with advice in my predicament because, after all, you are my one and only brother and friend in whom I confide, and I conceal nothing from you. Well, I am closing my letter somewhat relieved because I have shared with you everything that has put me under a strain... I end my letter with heartfelt regards for you and for your dear Esther and darling Leonard. Thanks again for the picture. Please give your son a kiss on the head from his uncle. He is, without an evil eye, an unusually beautiful child. His picture is as dear as gold to me. Regards to your father, sister Ruchel and Bryndl and family as well as Ruth whom I don't know. Thanks for her picture. She greatly resembles your mother, may she rest in peace. I wish her the best on her engagement. Further, I send regards to the whole family there, yours as well as your wife's. Further, Aunt Malke, my daughter Rivkele and my son Joseph send heartfelt regards to you. I am also enclosing herewith their picture taken last year that I borrowed from a friend of theirs. Don't let it aggravate you that I ask you to return the picture. First of all, it's signed on the reverse side. Second, it's not particularly nice. Third, I swore on my honor to return it. Fourth, if there is any opportunity, I will have a picture taken of me and the children and send it to you! Joseph really wanted to enclose a short letter to you; however, since his writing didn't satisfy me, he has left it to me. He sends you heartfelt and loving regards. The whole family also sends heartfelt regards to all of you. With respect, Your uncle, Wolf Lewkowicz Please don't make me wait for an answer. Aunt Poria and Pinya Lewin send special regards to you. They always read your letters. All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.