Lodz, 20 June 1935

My devoted and beloved brother, as well as nephew, and niece,
Sol Zissman,

I received your letter the second day of Shavuos.  It happened
to be the same moment that I returned from synagogue where I
said the memorial prayers for all the departed, among them my
young, deceased, unforgotten sister, i.e., your G-d blessed
mother, may she rest in peace...  

Reading through your letter, dear Sol, I see that the battle
between you children and your father has not yet ceased.  It's
true, Sol, that you intervene on behalf of your sisters and
demonstrate your heroism and want to prove your justification to
the world.  However, there is a saying that one should not seek
justice from a cossack.  No one understands you as well as I. 
Believe me, although I am not there on the spot with you in the
house, nevertheless I empathize with you and well understand
with my own common sense that you children are being wronged by
your father.  Worst of all is that you don't permit yourselves
to be taken advantage of as you express your feelings about your
father's wife there...  Don't think, Sol, that I consider her to
be a genius...  If she were smart and had enough brains, she
would seek a way to cope with you; she wouldn't have thrown oil
on the fire so that the fire would flare up...  However, since
she wants to show her husband that she is a cossack, a heroine,
a tough woman, it turns out that the husband is a "prize sap,"
hen-pecked, an ignoramus.  Evidently, (she assumes) the children
will follow the example of their father.  There can never be a
settlement with such a wife.  She will always be an accuser; she
will always seek to evoke a battle with her husband, with the
children, with the family, with neighbors, et al. 

Yes, Sol, what you write really doesn't cause me any pleasure,
and I recognize from each of your letters that the moment you
lost your G-d blessed mother, may she rest in peace, you also
lost your home.  Everything died for you.  You feel forsaken and
abandoned even though you are in the largest country in the
world, even though you have somewhat of a family there, such as
a father, grandmother, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. 
Nevertheless, I sense your loneliness.  I am also amazed at your
heroism, Sol, as you are watchful and make sure that your
sisters are not taken advantage of and wronged.  

As to your being irritated because Bryndl went to your father's
home on a holiday, I would point out that it turns out in many
situations that a sister betrays her brother, but only for a
short time.  In the future, she may realize that she shouldn't
have acted that way.  Moreover, Sol, even the smartest woman can
occasionally do something foolish.  I am not going to condemn
her here for the what she did.  I want merely to point out to
her, although I have no right to do so, that it is very much to
be desired that you children be unified because your loneliness
has no bounds...  When you lost your late mother, you also lost
your home, and even though Bryndl still goes home and still
gains some benefit from home, she ought to be careful about
enjoying the "spices" there...because one can easily be made ill
in a home where one is not welcome...

I don't want to introduce any hatred here between you all and
your father, but to the extent that I have heard about all of
you there, I can only write you, Sol, the same thing that I have
already written to you...that a terrible drama is being played
out in your home, and the spectacle is far from being over; the
curtain has not fallen; however, the whole affair makes a
terrible impression on me...so that I can't bear to watch what
is taking place there among you...  Therefore, dear Sol, as well
as dear Ruchel, Ruth, and Bryndl, don't take it too much to
heart, and don't let it aggravate you too much.  Avoid your
one-time home and, even more so, the people who once treated you
cruelly.  To your father's "Good morning," answer "Good year." 
For his regards to you, thank him, for in the final analysis he
has been victimized and has been influenced by some sort of
"genius" there...  I suspect that he is helpless and can't help
himself.  I am not terribly envious of him, chas v'cholilah.  He
will trudge through the rest of the years allotted him in
trouble and suffering.  Truly, such a person, who permits
himself to be controlled by a "horse," is to be pitied...

I think, Sol, that that will be enough for today because I
really took some liberty at someone else's expense.  Yet, just
as you and I know, when one unburdens himself, one feels some
relief...

Now, Sol, you surely want to hear something about me.  So, I
myself really don't know what to write to you.  As to work,
things are far from being rosy.  This time (of year) has always
been the height of the season here; now there is work for no
more than two days a week.  There is talk that if the month of
July isn't better, the factory will have to close completely. 
Meanwhile, the situation is not good, although I don't want to
groan and wail for you, Sol, because you know your uncle and his
bitter situation too well.  In addition, I suspect that you are
well informed about the circumstances in Poland by the
newspapers that you read there.  From my perspective, I can only
add that the situation in Poland is deteriorating from day to
day.  I am not referring to the whole population.  I refer only
to the working class and the poor.  Naturally, I have no inkling
as to the wealthy.  Imagine, Sol, a laborer works for two days
and earns 8 gulden, i.e., $1.50, a week.  We have to live and
eat on that amount for seven days a week, pay rent, light and
heat.  

Then, in addition, G-d has punished me with a sick wife as well
as with a weak daughter.  The doctor prescribed that Rifkele
must leave for the country immediately for fresh air.  Imagine
how difficult this was for me to manage, Sol.  I borrowed
wherever I could, put together a few gulden and carried out my
paternal duty and sent her away for a month.  Further, aunt is
far from well.  She has a weak heart, and is in bed more than
she is up.  I have become so accustomed to her groaning that I
think that it has to be that way...  Further, Joseph is still
learning to prepare cotton, i.e., for hosiery.  He is a fine
child and empathizes with my situation.  He has been in training
for three months already, and he will apparently have to be in
training for another two or three months before he starts to
earn something.  I have obligated myself to pay 200 gulden,
i.e., about $40, $20 before, and I will have to pay $20 when he
begins to earn something from his salary.  He is satisfied with
the trade that he is learning and, although he is still
young...he will be 15 years old on July 20...he is mature enough
to understand what a lifetime career means.

Now, Sol, you will certainly want to know how your uncle is
feeling, etc.  So, I write you that I have not been feeling well
lately and, while I don't work more than two days a week, I am
very weak physically.  Recently, I have had terrible headaches. 
I went to the doctor last week; he said that I have arthritis of
the head; my arm and hand also bother me recently so that life
becomes disgusting...  However, what can one do?  As long as one
is alive, one has to be tormented.  It's already closer to the
end than to the beginning...  I had my 49th birthday this week,
i.e., I am almost entering the fifties.  And when one enters the
fifties, one has to register...  At sixty, one is already in
line.  At sixty-five, one is a candidate every day to pack off
to the next world...  I believe that I can expect nothing good
in the future from this little world.  Even though I have
benefitted so little from it, nevertheless it won't be any sort
of disappointment for me to leave it...and to pack off for the
other side and to leave everything behind, the whole "kit and
caboodle," for someone else, someone stronger than I, because my
strength is failing.  Sol, don't be angry about what I write or
about my jesting.  In each of my jokes lies a trace of
seriousness...

So, nothing else of importance.  Heartfelt regards for you, your
worthy wife and dear son, Leonard, from me and from dear aunt,
as well as from Rifkele, Joseph and the whole family.  Regards
to Ruchel, Ruth and Bryndl and family; write me how their little
store looks.  I have only received one letter from David Skorka.
 I answered him immediately.  He hasn't written again; I don't
know why.

Now, Sol, in each of your letters, you write and encourage me
that you will one day come for a vacation.  Yes, this is a
shining dream of yours, but what steps have you taken to make a
reality of your plan???  Aunt Esther and Uncle Lazer and
children send you heartfelt regards.  Wolfche writes good
letters from the Land of Israel.  Moshe has completed a trade
school; he has already gone home to Opoczno.  Please answer
promptly.  Heartfelt thanks for your sending the newspapers
regularly.  With respect, 

		Your brother, as well as uncle, 

		Wolf Lewkowicz


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