My Items

To send it in wartime [i], it would cost too much. I believe we will have to manage without it. I have nothing more to write. I can inform you that I received a letter from Sheiken from Slobodka [ii], in answer to the money that he received from me. So it seems the money has arrived – so why are you telling me that he always complains that he does not get any money? I am far away – I sit next to a white paper and a pen and I send away by post – and so we get a letter – otherwise it’s very difficult to retrieve my words until one can communicate, it takes about two months, and after all that you see that it is nothing. So I have written a lot of letters to Slobodoka. I’m getting sent in some goods from people in the country. It is already late at night. It is about the second hour after midnight. Tuvye is snoring in his sleep so I must also go to sleep. Keep well and be happy as is the wish of your faithful husband, Meish Rubin. I also greet my mother-in-law, Rose Breina, I greet also the whole of Kolden, may they all live well and in comfort forever and ever.

Notes:

[i] Soon after Tuvye arrived in Cape Town, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State issued an ultimatum to Britain and two days later, on 11 October 1899, Britain officially declared war on the two Boer republics.

[ii] Slobodka (Vilijampole), is a village now in north-eastern Poland, close to the border with Lithuania. In 1941 Einsatzgruppe A carried out a pogrom in which 800 Jews were killed. The Slobodka ghetto contained 29,760 people. Most were killed at the Ninth Fort near Slobodka.

Greetings to Yisrael Yitzchak and Freda – at the moment I cannot say anything because lately there is nothing new, except that the two adversaries are the English and Kruger. Let us hope that in the near future that we will hear more news from the war. I send my greetings to everybody who is interested in me. Live well, as is the wish of me, L Rubin,

address given, M Rubin, 112 Long Street, Cape Town, Africa.

To my dear parents,

My father, Yehuda Leib Kretzmar, and my dear mother, the chaste and modest Beile, and to my brother Yaacov, and to my younger brothers and sisters, may you all live well, and to my dear wife Taube, may she be well and happy together with her children. And to my dear brother-in-law, Moishe Schochet, and his wife, Sarah, and the children, may they all live happily, and to my dear mother-in-law, the chaste and modest Neche, and to my sister-in-law, Chana Reza. My dearest wife, I have to inform you that I am TG well, may my letter also find you in the best of health.

Further, I want to tell you that I have received only one letter, which was written on Friday, and since then I have heard nothing more. Everybody else gets letters every week, and I also write every week. In one word, I can tell you that I am very anxious about it. I am losing my strength in waiting for the post. You reckon that there may be mail, but alas there is nothing – ‘there is no voice and there is no answer’ (quote from the first Book of Kings, 18:26). So I have decided not to write until I get a letter from you because there is no point in talking to someone and they do not reply, and I have written you in every letter asking you to write. I myself can’t help it, only I can ask, so I will ask….

…. I will tell you all my news – be well, From me, your devoted son, husband, and brother-in-law, son-in-law, Tuvye Kretzmar

This will be the correct address in Cape Town: L Rubin, Boom Street 53, Cape Town.

To my dear and honoured father, Yehuda Leib Kretzmar, and my chaste and modest mother, Beile, may they live well for many years, and to my scholarly brother, Yaacov Kretzmar, and my younger brothers and sisters, may they all be blessed with all the best. And to my dear and beloved wife, Taube Kretzmar, and my dear children, David and Noah, daughters Leah and Freda, may they live in pleasure and happiness.

My dearest wife, I have received your letter after waiting a long time because you have already received many letters from me and I have received nothing from you so I was very happy to hear about your good health – but alas, what you write me that you have been upset about me that I am in such unfortunate circumstances and that I am in a strange medinah (environment) and without a kopek of money and that I may postpone my breakfast to lunchtime, I want you to know that I have the means to manage.

My dear wife, I thank God, who feeds all his creatures, up to him I have always made my expenses and have even saved about  £2. I have sent you £1½, surely you will have received it together with the five roubles which I lent to Moishe Katz, and I wrote that he should pay you back in Russian money.

I have spent  £½ on clothes – a small pillow and a blanket and a bed I have bought. May God grant that I use it all in good health. I hope it does not get worse. We are living five men in one room, and we have utensils and a primus stove, it is the cheapest thing that I can use for cooking. Fish in Cape Town is not expensive – may God grant us the good health and good business. The £5 that I brought with me to Cape Town in order to go to Johannesburg I still have, and further I hope that God will provide. May the Lord grant good health – there is plenty of work. We just don’t make any plans and at such a time if you can manage to live and to send something to the family it is very good. Because no one has made a contract with the Lord. And when salvation will come to all the Johannesburgers, I hope my position will also become easier.

I am well TG, may God grant that my letter should reach you in the best of health and in future I ask you to write me longer letters. I will give you an instance of your own – you used to complain that when I arrived home I told you no news – now I wish that you would write me more about yourself. From your letter that you wrote c/o Lipman ‘a big blot’. Write me what David is doing, and Yehuda Zvi Rubin from Kesselshik – in one word please to write about you in particular. I am closing my writing. Keep well and stay well in pleasure as is the wish of your son and husband and father and relation and I remain waiting for your reply, Tuvye Kretzmar

To my brother-in-law, Moishe Schochet Morris, and his wife, my sister and their children, may God bless them all. Many thanks my dear brother-in-law for your letter and the signature of your daughters, each one separately, and may we all get good news from each other.

My friend, you wrote that according to your opinion, you don’t understand all the diplomacy in the Transvaal. I am very sorry that they started this without asking your advice – believe me, I’m doubly sorry about it. Firstly, if it had not been for the war, I would have gone to Johannesburg. And secondly, how can I take it quietly when the widow Victoria has all the expenses involved in it. I can only see that every day boats arrive fully packed like cattle, in their thousands, and every one of them is well dressed in different uniforms. Some of them have red clothes only, another group is dressed in white, and others in black and green, and all other colours and all new-made, with plenty of arms and ammunition and food and horses and mules by the hundreds. As it is said, ‘there is no poverty in the place of plenty’ (for war there is always money), because who can weigh and measure the enormous amounts that are being spent until all this arrives at its destination. As the posek says ‘nobody can find what is in the heart of the kings’ (query proverbs), and therefore if I don’t know their calculations and I don’t know their aims, I have to keep quiet and not open my mouth because I have to keep in neutral until peace and salvation will come. And so I remain your dear brother-in-law, Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet cordially my dear mother-in-law, the chaste and modest Neche, and my sister-in-law, Chana Reza, I thank you very heartily my dear mother-in-law for the prayers and the psalms which you say for me, because that can help a lot as here in Africa the chasan gets 100 rouble for davening three mousafs, so to pray constantly is certainly good. I thank you very much for it. And to you, my dear sister-in-law, I thank you for looking after my sons. TG he will reward our happiness, then everything will be right.

Cordial greetings to the whole family, to Yisrael Yaacov Greentuch and Schneier Zalman Katz and Aaron Katz and David Katz and Zvi Rubin and their families, and Aaron Leib and his family, I wish you all the best of everything, your friend, Tuvye Kretzmar

The letter was left unfinished and now I have received your letter, in which you write that you have received the money. I wish that God should see to it that I should be able to send more. It would be so nice if I could come home with 70 or 80 000 roubles. But hopefully God will provide as much as I need and a little more.

I thank you for your information about Shulman and his wife. Please inform me how they are getting on in business, and how Pinchas from ‘Legehl’ and also how Mahtech and Paizak of ‘Kotzen’ are getting on. Also Shmuel Rubin from Panemunė [i] although he does not write to me, I should not be writing to him – I am not writing to him. I am only asking you quietly how he is getting on because I am interested to know it, and this I am allowed to do because I am so far away from everybody – so I’m allowed to know everybody’s business. Please write to me what Yaacov Kretzmar is saying about Benzion. How does he live there? And why does he want to go to Russia? Please write to me about everybody separately as much as possible.

I am finishing my writing. – It is already late at night. – Moishe is already asleep. His letter is nearly finished and it happens that you fall asleep in the middle of writing as e.g. Pesach like the last piece of the afikomen. I would rather have finished my letter and then gone to bed.

Goodnight, pleasant rest and best of happiness as is the wish of your faithful husband,

Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet cordially my dear parents – my dear father, Yehudah Leib Kretzmar, and my mother, the chaste and modest Beila, and my honoured brother Yaacov, and my sisters, Hinda [ii] and Chana, may you all live well – Dear Parents – I have no news to write. I am well TG and wish to hear the same from you. About business if you earn more it is better of course, and if it is less you have to be patient in patience silently – better times will arrive. Keep well and make good business, as is the wish of your son, Tuvye Kretzmar. I greet my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, and his wife my sister, and also my sister-in-law, and brother-in-law, Aaron Morris, may you all live well, From your loving son, Tuvye Kretzmar

Notes:

[i] Panemunė is the smallest city in Lithuania, near Kovno.

[ii] Hinda, her husband Shlomo Nachamowitz and son, Eliyahu, were killed in Birzh on 8 August 1941, shot into two pits along with 2,400 other Jews in the nearby forest by Gestapo officers with 30 Lithuanian helpers. Starting at 11 a.m. they were shot in groups. Having completed the task by 7 p.m., the killers returned to the town singing.

I greet cordially my dear parents – my dear father, Yehudah Leib Kretzmar, and my mother, the chaste and modest Beila, and my honoured brother Yaacov, and my sisters, Hinda [i] and Chana, may you all live well – Dear Parents – I have no news to write. I am well TG and wish to hear the same from you. About business if you earn more it is better of course, and if it is less you have to be patient in patience silently – better times will arrive. Keep well and make good business, as is the wish of your son, Tuvye Kretzmar. I greet my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, and his wife my sister, and also my sister-in-law, and brother-in-law, Aaron Morris, may you all live well, From your loving son, Tuvye Kretzmar

Notes: 

[i] Hinda, her husband Shlomo Nachamowitz and son, Eliyahu, were killed in Birzh on 8 August 1941, shot into two pits along with 2,400 other Jews in the nearby forest by Gestapo officers with 30 Lithuanian helpers. Starting at 11 a.m. they were shot in groups. Having completed the task by 7 p.m., the killers returned to the town singing.

… Please write to me if you have met David Michael from ‘Starkene’ and what does he say about the ten rouble that was liened to the pawnbroker? If there is still a hope or whether it’s all finished? Please write me also if Krois has repaid the 35 roubel for the ‘sterk’ ? (bullock), as I don’t know if it has been received. Also write if Klarinsky has returned the ‘rogen’ (?) as he promised, or whether he asked you to wait until the harvest will be successful. Write what I asked you and also not asked, and maybe I forgot something you remind yourself of. For me your writing is very amusing and interesting. In one word, write, and write, as much as possible.

… Still to be endured, and when it will be possible, I will PG not delay and I will send as much as possible, as it would be nice if I would not be criticised by everybody. We owe everybody and we pay nobody! But my hopes are strong that the Lord will come to my aid, and that we will pay our debts and for ourselves we will make a better living than before. So in the meantime we must be patient and not pressurising the time.

He will give prosperity and blessings because it is such a country here that you tread on gold as the mazal, it is granted by God as He opens one’s eyes and this means as the posek says: the help of God arrives like the twinkling of an eye – the poor man can become rich in a minute, and so we must hope to God to make us successful and everything will come right and with this I close my writing I find myself in good health and spirits and I hope that God will have pity and make an end to all of this tsores [i] and reward us with good things.

I greet and kiss you heartily from me your ever faithful husband who wishes you everything of the best Tuvye Kretzmar

One must forget that we are still unsettled and in Cape Town. I did not expect to be staying in Cape Town for so long and to do such business in Cape Town. I would not have left home had I known this. So, as it has happened, so we have to thank God for his help in the meantime. And we hope that the future will be better, as it seems that the war will shortly come to an end – for better or for worse [i]. And then all the Jews hope to do better. I also hope that it will be good for me. Please write about our relations and friends. Mi yanuach who will stay put and umi yanua who will move somewhere else [ii]. Write me please about your neighbours, how they are getting on and what’s happening. I greet and kiss you heartily from me, your ever faithful husband who wishes you everything of the best. Be well and stay well, as is the wish of your ever faithful and loving husband Tuvye Kretzmar.

I greet cordially my dear parents, brothers and sisters, and to you my brother Jacob I ask if it may already be the time for counting and if they listen, tell them in my name as I am an experienced man that the more you count the better. And write me if you have mail from Eliyahu Zalman and from Yitzchak. Please write me everything. Tuvye Kretzmar.

I greet cordially my dear mother-in-law and my brother-in-law Moishe Schochet and his wife, my sister, Sarah, with the children, may they live happily, my sister-in-law Chana Reza, and my brother-in-law Aaron. I greet cordially my grandfather, Zalman Berel Yaacov Katz, and his wife, and son-in-law, and his wife Sarah and children, be well and happy, From me, Tuvye Kretzmar

Notes:

[i] As Tuvye indicated, Britain thought that the war would be won easily, but they were wrong.

[ii] The reference is to the U­netanah Tokef , a piyyut (liturgical poem) sung on the High Holy Days: “On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed – how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die after a long life and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by beast, who by famine and who by thirst, who by upheaval and who by plague, who by strangling and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But Repentance, Prayer, and Charity annul the severity of the decree.”

One must forget that we are still unsettled and in Cape Town. I did not expect to be staying in Cape Town for so long and to do such business in Cape Town. I would not have left home had I known this. So, as it has happened, so we have to thank God for his help in the meantime. And we hope that the future will be better, as it seems that the war will shortly come to an end – for better or for worse [i]. And then all the Jews hope to do better. I also hope that it will be good for me. Please write about our relations and friends. Mi yanuach who will stay put and umi yanua who will move somewhere else [ii]. Write me please about your neighbours, how they are getting on and what’s happening. I greet and kiss you heartily from me, your ever faithful husband who wishes you everything of the best. Be well and stay well, as is the wish of your ever faithful and loving husband Tuvye Kretzmar.

Notes:

[i] As Tuvye indicated, Britain thought that the war would be won easily, but they were wrong.

[ii] The reference is to the U­netanah Tokef , a piyyut (liturgical poem) sung on the High Holy Days: “On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed – how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die after a long life and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by beast, who by famine and who by thirst, who by upheaval and who by plague, who by strangling and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But Repentance, Prayer, and Charity annul the severity of the decree.”

I greet cordially my dear parents, brothers and sisters, and to you my brother Jacob I ask if it may already be the time for counting and if they listen, tell them in my name as I am an experienced man that the more you count the better. And write me if you have mail from Eliyahu Zalman and from Yitzchak. Please write me everything. Tuvye Kretzmar.

I greet cordially my dear mother-in-law and my brother-in-law Moishe Schochet and his wife, my sister, Sarah, with the children, may they live happily, my sister-in-law Chana Reza, and my brother-in-law Aaron. I greet cordially my grandfather, Zalman Berel Yaacov Katz, and his wife, and son-in-law, and his wife Sarah and children, be well and happy, From me, Tuvye Kretzmar