Last Spring, I finally got to meet my second cousin once-removed, Morris' son. He brought along all the correspondence and my hostess in the D.C. area, Mary-Jane Roth (scanner and blogger extraordinaire!), used her flatbed scanner to copy all the cards and letters for me at high resolution. I have embarked on a project to translate all the correspondence.
I do not know Yiddish. I understand from several Yiddish translators that Levi Yitzkhak's handwritten is difficult to decipher. In addition, Russian words are scattered here and there, lines are written upside down (between previously written lines) and sideways, and some of the cards and pages have been damaged or stained. These cards and letters present a huge translation challenge. Nevertheless, I have found more than one game translator and we have been plowing through. [Translation is an art and benefits from "crowd-sourcing." If you are a Yiddish speaker and have some thoughts/comments that may add to our understanding of this postcard and the ones to follow, please leave a comment.]
Over the next few months I plan to post images of the cards and letters and their translations. In addition, I will annotate the translations with additional clarifying information. If I determine additional clarifying information, I will update this post at a later date.
For now, in order to clarify relationships, I have posted a small family tree at the bottom of this post.
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Addressee
Mr. J. Simberg55 Broom Str.
N.Y.
Postmark: Polonnoe, Vol. Gub. [Volhynia Gubernia]
10 December 1910 [the month is represented by the Roman numeral XII]
Translation
Translated by Esther Chanie Dushinsky[footnotes are mine]
With the help of God, Thursday, Vayeishev, English date December 22
My dear and beloved son Moshe'leh. Yesterday I received your letter, as well as ____ sent me your closed letter that you wanted to send. I wanted to tell you that I only received one card from you and I came here to tell you that the letter was lost and I only received the card. I guess the letter got lost on the way. About mama, I wanted to tell you that it affects her mood greatly when you write letters often.[2] Understandably, she is sadly so lonely now. No one is here. She is sadly so worried, what pleasures she has from Zeidel, who is sitting on her head.[3] And so, I am asking that you write very often to her and bring her pleasure. From home, they write that your photo hasn't arrived yet.[4] It shows that it's still somewhere on the way, perhaps lost if you don't have the right address. Nachum's brother in law still hasn't arrived.[5] I was there and they told me that he was caught at the border, and he is going with the Etap.[6] The brother in law that lives here ran to [transliterated as Valtchusk] to him, but he came back without him because he didn't find him.[7] They took him away already with the Etap. Write about David and Rechel[?] ____, and if you had ____ [contact] with him. Where was the ____ taken from? Did you ask him first and he answered you? ____, what can I say? My prayer is that you should have success in all your ways. You should be pious, kind, and happy, healthy. And you should see nachus from everyone, amen.[8] Regards to my brother in law [?], to grandmother [?] and all the children should live. Greet Reuven, Perel, ____[Rivka?], Mottel.[9] Your father that loves you.
[upside down]
I don't have any news, so I don't have much to write. I send you letters almost every week, or maybe a card [photo]. Mother writes from home that they send you one every week, God should help that I will only write good letters. And from mother you have nothing to worry. Simply, she ____[Rechel'n] she sits entire days and entire nights alone at home and she has no one to talk to. Zeidel'n you know. Sarah'n is the same.[10] She simply is missing [everyone]. What has an affect on her is indeed that you should write more often. At least give her the pleasure and the photo. It is silly that you didn't send the ____. What if indeed they got lost [or fell] somewhere on the way? If you still have ____, perhaps you can send another one? Moshe'leh, did you go to Yisrael Weisberg? Also, what's going on with Hershel Kluger[?] do you get together with him?[11] What ended up happening to the mountain of promises that he promised you and I? Bottom line, most importantly, I am asking that you write to mother. From Feiga![12] Since I am here, I had 1 letter only, but I get regards. Thank God for their health. The income is the same as usual. To our Moshe'n the ____[Polonnoe] I go often. To Yitzkhak Meir'n, to uncle Yitzkhak - almost always when I am in the city, as time allows. I go visit him.
Dates on the postcards and letters
First, a note about the dates associated with these letters and cards. Today we operate with a civil calendar that is known as the Gregorian calendar. The British and their colonies changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar on Julian date 3 September 1752. 3 September became Gregorian date 14 September 1752.[13]The Russian Empire was one of the late-comers to the Gregorian calendar and did not change from the Julian calendar until after 31 January 1918. 1 February 1918 in the Julian calendar became Gregorian date 14 February 1918.
Therefore, on several of the postcards there are three dates (or indications of dates):
- the Russian postmark in the Julian calendar
- the U.S.A. Gregorian calendar date written by Levi Yitzkhak
- the Hebrew date represented by either the date month and year or the associated parshat (reading from the Torah).
The Hebrew calendar equivalent of 22 December 2010 is 21 Kislev 5671. Parshat Vayeishev was read during the week that included that date.[14]
J. Simberg
This letter and several after this one (through about May 1911) were addressed to (or in care of) Jacob Simberg. He was a brother of Morris' mother, Frieda Simberg Lederman and, therefore, Morris' uncle and Levi Yitzkhak's brother-in-law. It is likely that Morris lived with Jacob, his wife Anna and their children during his first few months in the United States. We have no record of his residence except these letters.The 1910 U.S. Census enumerated Jacob and his family (wife, Anna/Hannah; children: Harry, Benjamin, Abraham Jacob, Sarah and Rose) at this 55 Broom Street address.[15]
Jacob was born about 1864 and immigrated about 1899. His wife Anna/Hannah Prulman was born about 1870 in Lyubar (today Ukraine), 17 miles southeast of Polonnoe. Jacob worked as a presser and a tailor. He passed away at about age 50 on 10 July 1915.
Notes:
1. Manifest, S.S. Noordam, Rotterdam to New York, 29 August 1910, sheet 15 (stamped), Moris Lederman, age 19; images, Ancestry; NARA microfilm publication T715, roll 1542.
2. "Mama" was Morris' mother (Levi Yitzkhak's wife, Frieda Simberg Lederman).
3. Zaidel (sometimes also called Zanvel) was Morris' older brother who remained in the old country. "...who is sitting on her head..." - likely an expression meaning something like weighing on her.
4. At this point "home" is likely Annopol, Ostrog Uyezd, Volhynia Gubernia. When Morris left for the United States, his passenger manifest identified both his last residence and place of birth as "Anopol, Wolh."
5. Nachum is likely Nachum Garber (who later became Nathan Garber in New York City), Morris' first cousin. Nathan immigrated a few weeks before Morris Lederman on 18 June 1910. He was the son of Avraham Abba Garber (Levi Yitzkhak Lederman's brother). Nachum was already married to Yetta Chaitman when he immigrated. She and their two daughters, Ruchel (Ruth) and Leja (Lillian), arrived in New York on 2 September 1912. I have no information so far regarding any of Yetta's siblings. It would seem that this "brother-in-law" was one of Yetta's brothers or the spouse of a sister.
6. Etap was a method of prisoner transport that involved harsh conditions and transfer to prisons far from home. See further discussion here. From this and note 7 it seems that Nachum's brother-in-law may have been caught trying the leave the country.
7. The community of Volochysk. See also the JewishGen Kehilalinks site for the town: https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Volochisk/Volochisk.html
Volochysk was on the east bank of the Zbruch River, which was the boundary between the Russian and Austrian Empires. According to the Kehilalinks page, there was a train station in the community that often served as a point of departure for those heading to the United States.
8. Nachus is a Yiddish word meaning pride in accomplishment.
9. I am still trying to determine the identities of most of these people. His "brother-in-law" refers to Morris' uncle, Jacob Simberg. Mottel was Max Garber, brother of Nachum and first cousin of Morris. Mottel immigrated to New York on 29 December 1907. Morris listed Mottel as his contact in New York on his passenger manifest. At the time, Mottel (Max Garber) lived at 123 Suffolk Street, NY, NY.
10. Sarah was one of Morris' two sisters. Zeidel was his older brother - see note 3, above.
11. Gersh Kluger, also from Annopol, traveled on the same S.S. Noordham voyage as Morris. He and his wife Beile were heading to Gersh's father Mordechai Kliger in New haven, Connecticut. Gersh and his wife became Harry and Bertha Kliger and did settle in New Haven where they had a store. Harry's store in 1920 was a bakery. In later census records, he sold dry goods. For passenger list, see: Manifest, S.S. Noordam, Rotterdam to New York, 29 August 1910, sheet 2 (stamped), Gersh Kluger, age 23. For the 1920 census, see: 1920 U.S. census, New Haven Co., CT, pop. sched., New Haven, e.d. 311, sheet 2A, dwell. 14, fam. 27, Harry and Bertha S. Kliger; images, Ancestry; NARA microfilm pub. T625, roll 191.
12. Feiga was Morris' older sister, Feiga Lederman Grinfeld. The first part of a multi-part research project starting with Feiga was posted here.
13. Steve Morse has provided a nice tool for ascertaining and cross-referencing dates within each calendar. See: https://stevemorse.org/jcal/jcal.html .
14. "Daily Torah Study," Chabad.org (https://www.chabad.org/dailystudy/default.asp?tdate=12%2F22%2F1910 : accessed 5 March 2020).
15. 1910 U.S. Census, New York County, NY, population schedule, Manhattan, enumeration district 781, sheet 10A, dwelling 11, family 188, Jacob and Anna Simberg family; images, Ancestry; citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1029.
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| Morris Lederman Relatives (click to see in larger format) |
Posts in this Series
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 December 1910"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 18 January 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 4 February 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 21 February 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 8 March 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 18 January 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 4 February 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 21 February 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 8 March 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 25 March 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 April 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 April 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 28 November 1911" "Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 December 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 13 August 1912""Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 28 November 1912"
It seems to me your first missing word in Yiddish is "chabure" which refer to a group of friends. It's very in use among Chassidim. Each chassidic man was used to having a chabure with whom he would gather every week to share words of chizuk (encouragement) based on the teachings of the Torah.
ReplyDeleteTsiporah Trom
Thank you, Tsipora! Your knowledge and understanding is greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWhat a project! And I agree about the crowd-sourcing, though I've never had so much Yiddish to try to have translated.
ReplyDeleteEmily please contact me
ReplyDeleteDee: I do not have a way to contact you. You may send me a message at extrayad(at)gmail.com
DeleteEmily