28 May 2023

Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 8 July 1913

This post continues translation of letters and postcards in Yiddish (and, sometimes, Hebrew and a little bit of Russian) sent to Morris Lederman, who immigrated to the United States in 1910. Most of the correspondence, such as this one, were sent by Morris' father Levi Yitzkhak. For further background, see the first post in this series.

For links to other posts in this series, please scroll to the bottom.
 
Translation

Translation by Esther Chanie Dushinsky.

[Notes in blue as well as those at the end of the post are mine. For ease of reading, I have added paragraph breaks in the translation.] 

Postmarked:

Grayevo [?] [1], Kiev Gubernia, 9 July 1913 [Russian date; the equivalent date in the United States was 22 July 1913]

Addressed to:

Вг.Амирику [in America]
Mr. Morris Liderman
9 Olsen Place
Lynn - Mass  off
Shepard St.

[side 1]

8/21 [2] July [июль], Parshas Matos [3] _____ Zhary [4]
 
My dear and beloved son Mr. Moshe'le, Should live. We received your cards. 
 
What's the story, why are you complaining that we don't write to you? I think that not a week passes that we don't write from home to you. 
 
You also don't have what to complain about Faiga'n and Shakhna'n, simply because they are busy and overwhelmed with work. You think it's a small issue? They need so much. _____ from _____ [Leon's] about teachers at home, from Zaida'ns (or Baba's), from Reich's, about every single thing _____. Bli Ayin Horah, there are many expenses _____. [5] 100 a month is enough, but you shouldn't think that we have forgotten about you. 
 
My dear son, you are allowed to believe me that not a minute or second pass that we forget about you. Here in the forest, I keep your card in my small Siddur in which I daven [pray] and when I take out th Siddur'l, I see you and tell you good morning, good evening, good Shabbos. 
 
Bottom line, my dear son, let's talk practically. How are things there for you? What are you thinking? What do you say? Who do you talk to? Write to me, my child, write something to me. I read in your card, you write - I am writing to father in the forest today - but I didn't see and didn't hear anything, no photo, or word, except for the cards that you sent to our home and from there, they sent it to me.

[side 2]
 
You wrote something to Shakhna'n that you are thinking of traveling to Detroit where Michel [?] Bashka's [?] is located.[6] What is your reason for traveling, and what is your goal? Bottom line, write to me, my son. Write to me about everything clearly and precisely.
 
Your father who wants your good, your happiness and your well being.
 
_____ _____
 
Send regards to everyone that I know in you neighborhood. What does Zona Kona'n do there? Send letters from _____ brother-in-law from New York, from Nakhum, from Mottel.[7]
 
Your father _____.
 
Notes:
1. It is not clear from which community Levi Yitzkhak mailed the postcard. The Russian letters clearly spell out раево (rayevo). The first letter may have been Г. If so, the town name was Граево (Grayevo). I have not located a community of that name in Kiev Gubernia. We do know that Levi Yitzkhak had been working in the forest near Zhary, west of Baranovka (see note 1 in this post for a location map). To be located in Kiev Gubernia, Levi Yitzkhak would have been more than 100 km east of Baranovka.
2. Levi Yitzkhak wrote the date in both the Julian (in use in Russia) and the Gregorian (in use in the USA and much of the rest of the world) calendars. It was 8 July 1913 in Russia and 21 July 1913 in the USA.
3. The Torah reading that week was Matos (or Matot) which means tribes and is from Numbers 30:2-32:42. Moses negotiated with the tribes of Israel regarding portions of the Promised Land. See, Chabad.org: https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/296691/jewish/Matot-in-a-Nutshell.htm 
4. Levi Yitzkhak had been working in the Zhary forest in Volhynia Gubernia for over a year (see blog post linked in note 1, above). Why his postcard was mailed from a community well east in Kiev Gubernia is unknown. 
5. Bli ayin hora: Yiddish saying used with a positive statement. The concept was to ward off the evil eye.
Faiga (Moshe's older sister) and Shakhna Grinfeld (her husband) had three children: Laya, Wolf (called by the nickname Baba in another post) and Raya (Reich/Reichl). All three were excellent students and attending school or cheder (religious school). That, in itself, would have been costly for a family.
6. By April 1914, Moshe/Morris was on his way to Detroit and remained there for the rest of his life.
7. The brother-in-law in New York was Jacob Simberg, Levi Yitzkhak's wife's brother. Nakhum and Mottel were Nathan and Max Garber, Levi Yitzkhak's brother Avrum's sons who had immigrated in 1910 and 1908, respectively (Nathan and Max were my great uncles).

 

Posts in this Series

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 28 December 1912"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 29 March 1913"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 1 June 1913"
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

09 April 2023

Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 1 June 1913

This post continues translation of letters and postcards in Yiddish (and, sometimes, Hebrew and a little bit of Russian) sent to Morris Lederman, who immigrated to the United States in 1910. Most of the correspondence, such as this one, were sent by Morris' father Levi Yitzkhak. For further background, see the first post in this series.

For links to other posts in this series, please scroll to the bottom.
 
Translation

Translation by Esther Chanie Dushinsky.

[Notes in blue as well as those at the end of the post are mine. For ease of reading, I have added paragraph breaks in the translation.] 

Postmarked:

Baranovka, 1 June 1913 [Russian date; the equivalent date in the United States was 14 June 1913]

Addressed to:

Mr. Morris Liderman
9 Olsen Place [1]
Lynn - Mass
oft Shepard St
America

[side 1]

June 13, 1913 [June is written in Russian (Июнь). The date is in the Gregorian calendar, i.e., the calendar used now and in the United States at that time.]
 
My dear and beloved son Mr. Moshe - Shalom - Mordekhai, should live. We received your cards and we thank you that you write often. And we wish and ask God that we should hear good news, and you should write something good. 

Everything here is as usual. Thank God for our health. God should hear the same from you.

From Zavel'n we received a letter on Erev Shavuos.[2] He also doesn't write any news, everything is as usual. He asks what happened to the $20 that Mikhoel [unclear -  possibly Mikhel or Mirel] sent you for expenses. Nu, where is the money? What can we tell him? He asks that I should write to you and ask what this is about. About him, I can't write more than that he does not have a kopek of his earning. It seems he stays with nothing. He had sent me 20, and he barely managed to send 10 and for the second 10 he apologized with the reason that he is stuck now. It isn't surprising. 18 rubles goes towards _____ [stahl], _____ [kamtiamen], shoes, _____ [dumerga], _____ [vinterga] and so on. One by one, he stays with nothing. He writes to me that he changed the regulations, and added to the _____ [zhavania], because it is very little.[3]

I stayed in the home for Shabbos, since Yom Tov, and will travel to the forest on Sunday.[4] Yes, from Zavel'n, that we collected 100 to put away for percent 
[following text is around the outside of the card] bond, you already know that it was done, as we wrote to you about it.[5] I think mother, should live, wrote to you about it. And since then, it is indeed a bit more manageable. As long as he gives me great regards, thank God. The bosses are very, very pleased with him. God should help that the blessing should find grace with everyone. 

[side 2]

Now my dear son, I am asking you in my name, in mother's name, she should live, and the name of everyone, Feiga, Shakhna, Sarah, Zavel.[6] We are all inquiring about you and want to know and hear what's going on with you. Do you remember, Moshe'la, you once learned King David's song in Tehillim [psalms]. If I forget you...if I don't remember...if I do not rise... [7]

This is true for us. We don't forget about you, we don't let it slip our mind. Who is even discussing mother, should live, and so my dear and beloved son, write to us, write to us.

Feiga and I bought a sewing machine. 
 
I am ending my writing and greeting you and greeting you in the name of everyone. A warm greeting to everyone we know. As an example Zuna Kona'n and in the family of Yisrael Pesakh's, and the family of David Wallach. _____

Notes:
1. 9 Olsen Place ("oft Shepard St") was a new address for Morris. The last postcard in this collection, from December 1912, showed that he lived at 92 Blossom. No listings for Morris Lederman have been found in any Lynn city directories (1911-1914). And no listing for Olson Place has been found in Lynn directories from 1912 or 1913. The 1914 directory (viewed in Ancestry's "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995" collection) included three residents of 9 Olsen Place: Samuel Brenner (clerk), Charles Gould (plumber), and Joseph Savio (shoemaker). Olsen Place was a stub of a street that started near 134 Shepard Street. 
 
The 1938 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps showed 9 Olsen Terrace as a three-story, frame building (see map 54, image 63 of 80). Morris' previous residence on Blossom Street was only about a block away.

 

The red marker on the following map shows the approximate location of 9 Olsen Place within the broader area of Lynn and close to the ocean.

2. Zavel (or Zanvel) was Morris' brother. Shavuos (or Shavuot) is the anniversary of the Jewish people receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai. It starts on 6 Sivan each year. In 1913, the eve (erev) of the holiday fell on 10 June (Gregorian calendar, used in the United States) and 28 May in Russia (Julian calendar).
 
3. The words in brackets are likely in Russia. I have not been able to determine their meaning. If any reader can identify the words and their meaning, please provide a message, below. I will appreciate any expertise in this matter.
 
4. Yom Tov: literally, good day. It refers to a Jewish holiday - in this case, Shavuos.
 
5. The meaning of this "percent" or "bond" is not clear. In previous letters, Levi Yitzkhak was concerned about the family raising the 300 ruble fine required because Morris was in the United States and would not report for the Russian military draft when he was called at the age of 21. It is possible that the 100 cited was put away for that purpose.
 
6. Feiga (Morris' older sister), Shakhna (Feiga's husband), and Sarah (another of Morris' sisters).
 
7. These are lyrics from Im Eshkakhekh Yerushalayim: http://hebrewsongs.com/?song=imeshkachech. They are from Psalm 137:5-6.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her cunning.
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
If I remember thee not...
 

Posts in this Series

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 28 December 1912"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 29 March 1913"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 1 June 1913"