I am afraid I misread the date on this one when I was sorting them chronologically for posting in this blog. My last post was a postcard from April 1912. This one is from a few weeks earlier in March 1912. I should have posted it before the previous post.
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 postcards, 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, scroll to the bottom.
Translation is an art. Any comments or clarifications by Yiddish and/or Hebrew speakers/translators are welcome. Despite the best efforts by a talented translator, there are always places where the handwriting is challenging or the meaning confusing.
Company name printed on address side [side 2] of the card:
контора Office
Жарской Лесной Дачи и Лесопильн Завода Zharskoy Forest Dacha and Sawmill
Addressed to:
America
Mr. M. Lederman
Lynn, Mass.
108 Blossm Street [Blossom Street]
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.]
Zhary forest, which is close to Polonnoe, 20 verst, close to Baranovka, 16 verst [1]
Tuesday, Vayikra, 6/19 March 1912 [2]
My dear and beloved son Mr. Moshe - Shalom - Mordekhai, should live. My dear and beloved son, I knew _____ _____ that holding back the fruits of my pen, it's because _____ but the honest truth is that I am not guilty. You know, my child, that I am here at a new job and there is a lot of work, from sun up, until evening. I am very busy and at night I have to write down the details of my job. So, since I came here, now that the way is clear, as it is spring, I am a bit more free. Not entirely, but at least I can take a break and write a card to you.
I don't have news to write. Thank God we are alive and in peace and may God help that we should hear from you in peace and tranquility, and calmness.
Zavil came home already.[3] Most likely they wrote to you about it from home. _____ my luck, I had to send him 15 once, and then 20 a second time. But I am thinking about bringing him here to me, in Zhary, in the forest as a bookkeeper. I happen to have an opportunity to give him a job here in the winter. But I wasn't sure whether he had a job there.But don't tell him this secret. He only wrote to me about his luck in the last while. That's when I sent him 20 and wrote to him that he should come. But now it's before Pesakh and the ways are very bad and the work here hasn't lessened, he sits at home meanwhile, in Annopol.
Moshe'le, most likely they wrote to you from home that the house sold for a decent amount and the Polish Rav bought it. And they had to give him the home, so they moved to the house of Gershon Vidro.[4]
[sideways]
The job is of course more pleasant than _____ in _____. And I get paid more. I will receive 40 a month, _____ _____.
[side 2]
I plan to move after Pesakh to Baranovka.
My son, you asked me in the letter _____ that you wanted to send, and I didn't send it to you, because I thought that mother, should live, will write to you. And now, I also don't know _____ the mail. Meaning, to Polonnoe, or Baranovka, or Annopol for Pesakh. I will be home for Pesakh, and we will discuss it and write to you. Bless and wish us, my child, that whatever we will do should be with blessed luck and we should be well and strong. We should hear from you, and you should hear from us. I am wishing you and blessing you, my child, from the depths of my heart. Blessing you, your father that loves you _____ _____.
Notes:
1. Levi Yitzkhak kindly told his son,Morris, where the Zhary forest, in which he was working, was located. A verst was a measure of length in the Russian Empire. It was equivalent to .66 miles or 1.1 kilometers. So, the forest was about 13.2 miles (22 kms) from Polonnoe and 10.6 miles (17.6 kms) from Baranovka. While Levi Yitzkhak did not specify the directions from the two communities, I noticed that there is a placed identified as Zhary on a current map (below). It seems to be in about the correct location. So, the forest must have been east of Baranovka and NNE of Polonnoe.
2. Levi Yitzkhak wrote both the Julian and Gregorian calendar dates here (6/19 March). He wrote the postcard on March 6 in the Julian/Russian calendar and March 19 in the Gregorian calendar already adopted in the United States and much of the world.
Vayikra is the 24th weekly Torah portion read in the yearly Jewish cycle. It is in the first book of Leviticus 1:1-5:26.
3. Zavil (or Zanvel), Moshe's brother, had been trying to get work in Ekaterinaslav (today called Dnipro).
4. I have been transliterating and indexing several district Duma voters lists published in the Volinskiy Gubernskiy Vedomosti (a local newspaper) in 1906 and 1907. The 1906 Duma voters list for the Ostrog district included Gershko Vidra (entry 324), a homeowner in Annopol. I do not know if Gershon/Gershko was a relative.
I have not found Levi Yitzkhak Liderman in this same 1906 Duma list that includes homeowners from Annopol.
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"
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