Lodz,  24 January 1928

To my devoted, beloved brother, as well as nephew, and niece, S.
and E. Zissman,

You will surely wonder about the fact, my dear one, that I
delayed for so long and didn't answer your long, fifteen-page
letter of last December.  So, I write to you, dear Sol, first of
all my sister held the letter in Opoczno for three weeks until
she sent it to me.  Second, I sent you a letter from Lodz to
which I do not as yet have an answer.  Third, things are going
so "great" here...that I simply have no patience to sit down and
write a letter to you.  Yes, I would be eager to write to you
every two days because I always have something to write to you. 
As of now, I do not feel that I have a better friend in the
whole world than you.  But it turns out that I never have any
good news to report to you.  I don't know what the significance
of this is.  But I do know that, since I was born I have never
had the honor from G-d to be able to write you a happy letter,
i.e., that I am well, my family is well, I am making a living,
etc.  Believe me, Sol, even now I hesitate to write to you
because I know you too well, and you may interpret my words in a
different sense (than I intend), e.g., you will read through a
letter from your uncle that will not make you feel merry and
think to yourself there, "Well, what else can I do other than
help with a check?  Surely, if he writes, he must be believed!" 
Therefore, my devoted and beloved one, before I write I want to
make it clear to you that when your uncle writes a letter to
you, he wants to convey to you all of his goings on, all of his
experiences, because I am lonely as a stone here and have no
better friend than you.  I seek to get it off my chest, but I
ask you not to misuse my words for other purposes because I ask
nothing and request nothing of you.

As you already know, my devoted one, from my earlier letters, I
went through a liquidation in Opoczno over two months ago.  I
have been here for six weeks.  You already know how I wound up
with the mill (financially) from my earlier writings.  I feel
fortunate to be out of it, even though it's with "broken bones."
 However, I consider myself lucky that I did not wind up with
debts in Opoczno, and I also saw to it that my sister should not
remain saddled with the mill.  "Ah," you will ask, dear Sol,
"why didn't you get out sooner?"  So, I tell you that, so long
as the mill provided me with enough to eat, I didn't think about
getting out.  However, when I was not able to make a living and
things turned bad, there was simply no time to save anything... 
The best evidence is that the mill is standing idle, and I've
heard that in fact it is being sold to a gentile.  However, in
any event, it's a miracle that I got out of Opoczno alive
because if we had continued to the new year, the tax authority
would have come and dunned us for the taxes for 1926-27 and
would have taken up to $1,000 of other people's money, and it
would have been said that I took it, not the tax authority
because, after all, the businessmen trusted only me, not the tax
authority. 

And now that I returned home, my devoted one, I found my wife
ill.  The illness is not one that can be quickly cured.  The
doctors say that she is suffering from gallstones.  At present,
my sister also has an eight-year old daughter, Bruchele, lying
in the hospital who also keeps me busy running to doctors to the
extent that it has already cost Lazer around $75, and we don't
see any improvement.  The symptom of the illness is that she has
no use of a hand and a foot.  The illness is called plasawica. 
The doctors say that it will get better, but only after three
months.  Meanwhile, she is lying in the hospital, and it costs
about $2 a day.  Therefore, my devoted one, you will have an
answer as to why I delayed and did not reply for so long.  It
was because I didn't have any good news to impart because, since
I arrived, my house has become a complete pharmacy with doctors,
prescriptions, etc.

Now then, my devoted one, as you know from my earlier letters,
my in-laws have moved to Canada, to their children, and they
write unusually good letters.  I have already received several
letters from them in which they give us to understand that we
should make preparations because, in time, they will bring us
there.  The in-laws are with Shia in Toronto, and Berish has
already brought his wife and three children there.  According to
what he writes, he has progressed.  He is no longer a tailor. 
He lives in Welland, a small town in Canada.  He has a store in
which he sells silks.  In his last letter, he writes that he has
an overhead of $500 a week.  I don't know whether it's true or
not.  I am enclosing his address and his newspaper advertisement.

Dear and devoted Sol, perhaps it is worthwhile to give pause and
some consideration to their writing.  Even though their brother,
Hertzke, sends them torrents of letters asking them to have
mercy and to take him and his family (six people) out, so far
they have written him to send them $300 which they can apply to
the necessary requirements.  To me they write that I shouldn't
buy or get involved in anything because in time they will bring
everyone over.  So, devoted Sol, what do you make of their
writing?  After all, you visited with them and got to know
them...  Write whether their words have some substance or
whether they should be ignored like a fantasy!  In any event, my
devoted one, I can tell you that the parents will not rest until
they have their daughter and grandchildren there.  Six months
ago, Berish wrote that, if I wanted to send my Balcia with his
parents, he would take her out and that she could expect better
career opportunities there than in Lodz.  However, I reacted to
their writing very coolly and with distrust...because my Balcia
is working here.  When she has work, she earns about $2 a week
here.  However, she cannot have a career, and the future here
for a young woman is tragic.  Here in Poland, a woman can reach
the age of 70 years and not be married if she has no dollars.  A
pox.  How beautiful or refined she is makes no difference!!! 
And since I see, my devoted one, that my fate is fixed, that I
will live out my few years in torment and agony, the result will
be that after several years my children will provide me with a
living, chas v'cholilah.  I would like to guard against that
while I am not yet old because the talk is that in America one
doesn't need to prepare as large a dowry for a daughter as here
in Poland.

In any event, my devoted and dear one, write me a proper answer
as to whether I should pay any attention to my in-laws' letters
or whether I should completely drive (the notion of) America out
of my mind.  

Going on, I'm delighted to hear that you were at a pidyon haben
by Bryndl and that you had a good time.  With the help of G-d,
may there be an engagement and wedding for Ruchel and for you,
i.e., for your wife, a...  Sol, you know that next month,
February, it will be three years since you were married.  You
promised me that within five years, if things go well, you would
come for a vacation.  Well, how are things going???  You write
that in 1927 you made $5,000.  I don't know what "made" means,
sales or profits.  If it's sales, it's not a lot.  If it's net
profit, it is considered a lot here in Poland.  May G-d grant
that you will make ten times as much in 1928 because I figure
that your expenses are increasing, so your income also has to
increase.

Write me, Sol, whether I will once more see you before my eyes,
whether here in Poland or in America.  Write me also how Ruchele
is doing and how Bryndl is doing.  I recognize that you don't
agree with your brother-in-law, but don't let it annoy you.  In
time, he'll come to the realization that one has to hold on to a
dollar in the event of an emergency.

So, I close my letter with heartfelt regards.  Regards to you
and your wife, sisters, in-laws, father, uncles, family, et al. 
My wife, sister, brother-in-law, family and children send their
heartfelt and loving regards.  Please answer promptly.

		With respect,

		Wolf Lewkowicz


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