This post continues translation from Yiddish and analysis of letters sent by Levi Yitzkhak Liderman to his son, Morris, who was settled, initially, in New York City in 1910. For further background, see the first post in this series.

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

As noted previously, translation is an art. Any comments or clarifications by Yiddish speakers/translators are welcome.

=====MECHANICAL=====

Cast-iron foundry

"Shuriev"

Polonnoe, Volinskiy Gub.

Wednesday, 9 August English 1911

[This letter was sent inside an envelope that has not survived.]

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.]

[Side 1]

My sweet and loving son Mr. Moshe-Shalom-Mordekhai

My dear and loving son...

I received your closed letter from 19 July English on the 4th of August English. I was very happy to read your _____ words that you will give thanks that you are starting seeing _____ in life and Tachlis.

And what is this, my son, that you found some pressure in the slur word that I wrote in my previous letter that I wrote the word "Busiuk."[1] God forbid that I should write such a negative word. I asked what the reason was that you needed to leave [or ruin] your apartment with your uncle, and that according to my opinion, your actions weren't good. But curse words, God forbid...

My son, in your previous card, before this one, you write some words that contradict every single one of your previous letters. You wrote these words: "It is a year since I am in America and I didn't accomplish anything." The entire time before that, you wrote that it is very good for you there. Do you know ____ [why]?

You write that you have given Avraham Abba's letter to Mottel'n.[2] What is going on with that? Why can't you send Mottel's address? I have asked you to send his address, and I will give Avraham Abba's, as _____ [they?] were emphatic that _____ the address isn't correct. They write and write and do not get a response.

Moshe'leh, I am sending you an address of someone Shalom Shechtman. He is in New York already, and is traveling home. I happened to have been these days at his father's, "Abba [?] Schechtman." They know me very well in their home, _____ [we come over to complete prayers?]. They told me that their son Shalom is in America and is traveling home already, and one of these days he will be traveling from New York. Find him and go

[Side 2]

ask him if it is true. I gather that you might know him. I also saw his wife and she even told me that she will write to him about it.

From our Zavle'n I haven't heard any news to write. I haven't received any letters from him. That's because he still doesn't have anything to do. It is time that God should have mercy on him and life his mazel [luck].

There is thank God no news from us. Mother, should live, is alone in Anipoli with Sarah'n, in Anipoli.[3] I am here. There is no buyer for the home yet. There is one buyer from the"Maladekes," but wants to pay half price.

Two weeks ago, I traveled through Baranovka to Faiga'n, and I stayed there overnight. She is complaining a lot that you don't write to her. I can't thank God about their health. Indeed, I can't understand you, and what happened to you that you don't write to her? Bottom line, she is _____ [sad?].

You write to me that the uncle and aunt have complained why I haven't written to them.[4] I believe that in every letter I sent greetings, and I haven't received a single good response from them. I sent a card to him not too long ago and I did not get any response. I will write to him again.

There is no more news. From your father who worries about you, and is asking for your success.

Notes:

1. босяк [bosyak] in Russian and Ukrainian means either "tramp' or someone who is down and out. Several Yiddish translators have told me that Levi Yitzkhak's handwriting is difficult to read. In addition, he sometimes included Russian words written in Hebrew letters. Apparently, Moshe must have misunderstood something his father wrote in his letter of 21 June 1911 regarding Moshe's move from his uncle, Jacob Simberg's, home.

2. This is a continuation of a discussion about my great uncle, Mottel (Max) Garber, and his parents (my great grandparents, Avraham Abba and Khana). Avraham Abba and Khana had been sending letters to Mottel but had not been receiving letters in return. See correspondence of 21 June 1911 and 5 August 1911.

Lol! I have had trouble locating Mottel during this time period, too! Motel arrived in NY in 1908. I have located him with his wife Mary, whom he married in 1914 (in 1914 living at 201 E. 2nd Street), and his brother, Jacob (my grandfather) at 171 101st Street, NY, NY, in the 1915 New York census. He has escaped detection in the 1910 U.S. enumeration, I think. I have located a 1910 census record for someone recorded as Max Langer (or Lauger), a 22 year old egg candler and immigrant from Russia. He was a boarder at 377 E. 10th Street, NY, NY in the 1910 Census. Except for the surname (which might have been copied over incorrectly by a census superviser), this fits with what we know of Max Garber: he'd arrived before the 1910 census, was born about 1889 and was an egg candler at this point in his working career. He was living with the Max Weisser family. More research is needed to determine if this was my Max (Mottel). 1910 U.S. Census, NY County, NY, pop. sched., Manhattan, e.d. 1671, sheet 16B, dwell. 18, fam. 297, Max Langer; images, Ancestry.com; NARA microfilm pub. T624, roll 1012.

3. The family lived in Annopol, Ostrog Uyezd, Volhynia Gubernia.

4. Uncle and aunt were Jacob Simberg and his wife Anna Prulman Simberg. Jacob was the brother of Moshe's mother Frieda Simberg Lederman. Jacob was from the community of Lyubar and arrived in the USA in 1899. Manifest, S.S. Konigin Luise, Bremen to NY, arrived 30 July 1899, page 225 [stamped], line 28, Jankel Sinberg, age 35; images, Ancestry.com; NARA microfilm publication T715, roll 76.