My Items

To my dear father, Yehuda Leib Kretzmar, and my dear mother, Beila, and my dear brother, Yaavov, and my younger brothers and sisters, may they all be blessed, and to my dear brother-in-law, Moishe Schochet, and his wife, my sister, and their children, may they all live well, and to my mother-in-law Neche, and to my sister-in-law Chana Reza, may they all be blessed.

To my wife Taube, may she live in comfort, and to my precious children, may they all live happily – my friend and wife, although I had decided not to write to you until I had a letter from you, my stormy heart will not rest and a silent force is forcing me to find excuses for you as to why I have not received any letters in time while everybody else is getting letters every week. To tell you the truth, I myself am also running short with my writing so I cannot stay with my decision. It is very difficult for me, so please write in a few words – I want to tell you that I myself am TG well – may God grant to hear the same from you.

Regarding business, I am earning a little this week, although it was less last week as it was their holidays, Christmas and New Year, I could do nothing. I hope that things will improve now. I am closing my writing as I have not much time, I must wait for your letter. When you remind yourself to write, it will help to put me at rest. In the meantime, I can’t write more, although I have a lot to write. Keep well and remember me, From me, your son, husband, and brother-in-law, Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet you my cousin Taube and the whole family in Zudgala [i], the gabbai Yehuda Leib Kretzmar – zol leben - and to receive good letters and we should make the odd few pounds in order to go home. You can say it in two words but it will take a long time until the unsettled conditions will calm down. And don’t worry, everything will come right. We don’t starve and we have money for everything, and if God will provide us with good business I could not complain. We are earning a little better than in Russia – one must not stand on dignity too much. Well, it’s enough to talk – it is time to go and earn some money with God’s help.

From me, your beste freind, Meish Katz (Rubin).

Address: 53 Boom Street, Cape Town [ii]

Notes:

[i] Zudgala is a small village 3km from Subotsh, north eastern Lithuania, near Panevėžys.

[ii] Now Commercial Street.

To my dear father – Yehuda Leib Kretzmar – and my dear mother, the chaste and modest Beila, and my scholarly brother Jaaicov Kretzmar, and my younger brothers and sisters – to all of them I wish unlimited happiness. And to my dearly beloved wife Taube – may she live happily – and to my dear children and my dear wife’s parents.

I’ve received your letter of the 8thNovember safely and also the letter dated 22nd September. I’ve read them both with pleasure. I thank you very cordially for them. I ask you not to fail in future to write regularly every week as up to November I have had to wait up to three weeks before I received any mail from you and I’ve lost patience – I cannot endure it. You can imagine that you are all at home amongst your friends and relatives, even the sky and the clouds and the climate are the same as they have been in previous years.

Nevertheless, when you miss one person, write to him that you would like to know everything about him and I believe that this is the truth. Now you can imagine how I feel when all my nearest and dearest are far from me, how I wish to hear good news from you – and when I receive a letter it is my greatest pleasure and therefore I thank you for your letter. I can say that I am ready to fulfil your wish because up to now I have had no patience to write, because I have not felt settled yet.  I was still on the move, but now I can tell you everything in detail … from Zudgala I left on Rosh Chodesh Ellul – it was a Sunday [i]. 

On Monday we arrived in Ponevez [ii]. From Ponevez I took a train to Sadorah[iii]. It cost me 51 kopeks. In Sadorah I left the train with the idea to hire a car to go to town – because from the station to the town is about one kilometre (verst), but at this moment I was approached by a man who looked very decent and asked me, ‘Young man, where do you want to go?’ As an inexperienced traveller I had a rule to be very careful. I gave him a good look, scratched my ear, and answered coldly, ‘What difference does it make? I’m going to the town.’ He however understood that the transport was going further so he said to me, ‘You are going to an agent, please tell me to whom you are going, because he is from our company. I am also going there.’ I told him that I was not a man to tell lies. I told him I was going to Hirsch Katz, so he says, ‘That’s good, as I’m his brother, so we can go together, because tonight we are leaving by train. So you can go immediately.’

I was with him and he took me in with Yaacov Kretzmar and afterwards we’d settle matters. He understood what I meant. He said, ‘Yes, you can make enquiries about me and whether you can depend on me and give me money.’ I went to Eliezer Bennanar Hirzl -father-in-law and I was a welcome guest. He asked after everybody and he told me to give his regards to everybody. I gave him the money for myself and for Yaacov Kretzmar, who was short of two roubles – I advanced him the money and that night we left. We passed through fields and forests and I was very afraid, lest we should meet with a ‘poher’ – a goy – who would ask me, ‘Where are you going tonight?’ (in Lithuanian). But as I understand he (the agent) must have taught the goyim, and  replied with the excuse that they should not ask questions. So we travelled until Abel [iv] (town where Mrs Stein [v] comes from) and we came (photograph of her father’s home??) and again (last line dim and unclear) and there were another two persons on the other side without any problems. In ‘Uitkoenen’ we were with Yaacov Kretzmar from Thursday to Saturday night and there was not much Convenience there. We were together in a house that is not very big and there were 200 men – there was no room where to sit or to stand and not to sleep, and the noise was up to high heaven. In a house without a ceiling and a draught from all the windows and doors and so I caught a cold from which I suffered for the next three weeks until I arrived at the big boats in London. May the Good Lord reward us with everythings. In ‘Uitkoenen’ my heart was sore enough. Most of the travellers were “Americans” - the women and children, big and small, where the husband has gone to America for five or six  or seven or eight years ago. And now they have sent travel tickets for the family and the children. I saw there the real picture, who grew up without a father, where the mother has such a face, she is like ‘snow in mud’, and so the children grew up wild, unmannered and know nothing of human kindness or Godliness. I was very upset when I thought about it – that I have also left children at home – and who is going to bring them up? – with character and good manners and belief in God. (last line dim and unclear)

… and when is the time? Just after the wedding? He could not live together so they separated each in a different undertaking – until after a year he managed to get rid of her officially. He just managed to get away with his life – he fell in up to his neck – but he’s still lucky to get free from her in a good way. He was lonely there and a matchmakers his head – He was brought up in America from one years of age – in any case it is superfluous to talk about it. It’s a happening finished and over. It cost him plenty in health but it is good that he is rid of her. He is a clerk in a business and finds himself lonely and not too well. It would be good if you took the trouble to write to him, but don’t remind him of this whole story. He wants to forget it – Mr W Kramer c/o T Greenberg, Beaumont, Texas, America.

Notes:

[i] Sunday, 6 August, 1899.

[ii] Now called Panevėžys, it is halfway between Vilnius and Riga and is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. On the August 24, 1941 all its Jews were shot.

[iii] Possibly Žagarė- Yiddish Zhagar. Northern Lithuania near the border to Latvia. All its Jews were killed at the marketplaceby Einsatzgruppe A on Yom Kippur, 1941.

[iv] Now called Obeliai, it is a small poor city in the Rokiškis district municipality of Panevėžys County, Lithuania. In August 1941, all the Jewish residents of Obeliai and the surrounding villages were taken into the Antanašė Forest by the Nazis, made to dig a long trench and then shot and buried. The official German army report states that on August 25, 1941, a total of 1,160 Jews, consisting of 112 men, 627 women, and 421 children were killed.

[v] Mrs. Stein,  the wife of Mr. Nathan Stein, who translated the letters for Dr Julius Kretzmar.

To my dearest wife, Taube Kretzmer, Be well and live in happiness and joy. And to my dear children, sons David and Noah and daughters Leah and Freda, be well and grow up in wealth and comfort, amen yachie ratsoun, may it be according to Your will.

Dearest wife, I have received your letter of Sunday va’eira safely, and I thank the Lord for His mercy that He grants you good health. May God always give us the same news, the one from the other. In health, wealth, and prosperity. I thank you cordially for your letter as I sense from it that you feel happier and this pleases me very much. And this is my only wish because I have written before on many occasions asking you not to be despondent as this does not help at all, only one loses strength and the will to live. Everything becomes a burden and one finds solace in nothing, and the truth is not so. One must have patience and in due course all good things will come to pass. There are thousands who are hoping, so we might as well also hope, and with God’s help it will happen. About our being separated, one from the other, usually it’s bitter enough, but that is no excuse. We have some comfort even in this.

A whole world of people have come over to Africa, and every day new ones arrive, and each one has family and friends, parents, a wife and children, nevertheless they travelled and arrived and are making a living to send money, and they were reunited – everyone wherever he settles settled himself. So let us also hope that it will be for us also as a world. We must just not be worried and develop wrinkles, it will all come right. If every young couple could remain forever under the chupah, they would save a lot on rent. And if everyone sat at home, who would have delivered the mail to you. And if no one crossed over the water, tell me how would the captain and the sailors make a living. It would be like a preacher in a pulpit preaching to an empty shul. So it shows that one had to travel, and it’s a world that is not at rest. It’s alive. So let it be alive and enthusiastic, according to our wishes and those of our friends.

About what you ask me if I am still a partner of Meish Rubin. I can tell you that we have split before Shavuot. We were partners for three months and just then times were very bad. Goods were very cheap and we were three partners, so the whole business was no good for any of us. So we separated and now each man was doing business on his own. May God grant us success and He will provide for everyone, even though they are not partners.

About what you ask about my expression ‘whatever is too expensive loses its value’, you know as they say, ‘whichever is too excessive is unhealthy’, therefore they say, ‘what is expensive is tasty, and further you may have exaggerated it’, because if the weaker can achieve it, then there is nothing to envy. If you will put my two words in my previous letter in one word you will see my meaning clearly (???). You can write me when you want, it comes to my hand – it reaches me. I must close my writing as it is late at night – the cocks are crowing and one cannot understand what they mean – one saying – but this I can understand, that it is already late. It is already past twelve, so I must go to sleep. Be well and stay in good health and give my kind regards to all, from your loving husband, Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet cordially my dear parents, Yehuda Leib Kretzmar and his modest wife Beile, and my brother Yaacov Kretzmar the scholar, and his sisters, Hinda and Chana, I greet you all cordially and wish you the best of luck as I wish myself. I am surprised that I have not had a gerus for you – I cannot justify it. Therefore, don’t get me restless and write about all happenings in a happy manner, as is the wish of your dear son, Tuvye Kretzmar

I also greet cordially my mother-in-law, Neche, my brother-in-law, Moishe Schochet, and his wife, my sister Sarah, and the children, my dear brother-in-law, Aaron Morris, and Chana Reza, all be well and happy according to the wish of your dear son-in-law, brother-in-law, and brother, Tuvye Kretzmar

Next week I hope with God’s help to send you some money. 

Don’t be impatient as it takes longer than before, Tuvye Kretzmar

To my dear wife, Taube Kretzmar, May she live well, and to my dear children…

… writing and thank God for granting health to you and the dear children, I thank you for the news that our son Noah is better from the chickenpox and you should write about every child as they develop in mind. May God help us to be able to afford good teachers and walk in Jewish paths and at the same that we should all be together and participate in their progress. Although you blame that I never ask (about the others) – only about him. It appears that I am interested as much in him as in the other children, and that is very little.

I can tell you my dear wife that I surely think as much as you with your mother’s heart can feel for the children in your presence. I can tell you that I as a father who is very far away I feel very much and every day of the time since my departure from you is always longer and longer. My heart is full of longing and impatience, but alas what can one do. One has to search for methods to control oneself and be master of your own life because one should analyse all the wounds of the heart in all detail.

… I can only wish this myself as the Lord will trust me so far. I only meant to ask how you manage with the amounts I am sending you. I would have liked to send you more but one cannot pick it up – as much as God provides must be sufficient – I don’t mean that you should economise in your living expenses, because you can really do nothing with your savings. If the Lord provides, then one can save. So don’t have any misunderstandings and write me in detail every time. Where you ask me to write more and some news of what I see in these parts, the distance between Zudgala and Cape Town is very big and one can write a lot about it. But where can you get the patience? If things would improve one could find time for everything, but at the moment it is impossible. It is good if one can write the necessary, if the Lord would show the path everything will be better. And thus I close my writing – be well and live happily and joyously. Be greeted and kissed from me your dearest and true husband who wishes you every happiness, Tuvye Kretzmar

To my parents, to my dear and honoured father, Yehuda Leib Kretzmar, and to my mother, Beila, and my brother, Yaacov Kretzmar, and to my dear sisters Hinda and Chana, and may they all live happily. Dearest parents, I want to inform you that I am well TG, may He grant that I hear the same from you. My dear parents, I have received several letters from you without signatures. I want to tell you how much joy and pleasure all of this brings me, and how thankful I am if you write even more. Of the two letters that my mother wrote, I have really derived much pleasure and I appreciate her noble thoughts. I wish that God should keep you in the best of health and strength, and may He grant you long life in wealth and comfort, and that we should be able to see each other in happiness and success. Please fulfil my request to write. And also to my dear sisters, you must not be lazy to write. I, with God’s help, am always ready to answer you with more news as has happened to me. I greet you and kiss you  From me, your son and brother, Tuvye Kretzmar

To my dear and scholarly brother-in-law, Moishe Schochet, his wife, my sister, the chaste and modest Sarah, and all of your children, may they all be blessed. My dear brother-in-law, I thank you for not (complaining about the omissions?) in the letter in which I wrote about my travels. I will tell you the truth, I have not forgotten and even from my letter you can see that the letter was incomplete. And I still intend to write about everything that happened on the boat. My watch told me that it was time for me to post that letter. If I didn’t do it, it would be delayed for another week, and therefore I was forced to stop and to leave the letter unfinished. I hope that you will excuse me. I would like to know if my things have been redeemed out of pawn. Please, my dear, try and redeem them. I will return you the money as soon as possible. I am sending here £3 sterling, and God willing, I will send more. I greet your mother and your sister, who are my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, I wish to tell them that I am very well, may I hear the same from you. From me, your brother-in-law, son-in-law and brother, who is waiting for an answer with good news, Tuvye Kretzmar

I have written a few words and so keep well as is the wish of your beste freind Moishe Rubin, I greet cordially my cousin, the chaste Taube, may she live in comfort. I greet all of you in the town of Zudgala. Also your father-in-law, who is the gabbai [i] of the town, with his honoured name Yehuda Leib. And also his chaste wife who is always praying with great concentration in the tzene ureno [ii]. And also in reciting psalms for health. And also for funds. As I understand it with her honoured name Beile and their son, your dear brother in law Yaacov, and also good friends, Lebben zohl, Meish Rubin.

Notes:

[i] A person who helps in the running of the synagogue.

[ii] Julius Kretzmar explains this reference as being “a prayerbook in Yiddish especially compounded for women. in the Russia of long ago”. Written by Jacob Ashkenazi (1 550-1628). This Yiddish translation of the Torah for women with legends and moral stories was very popular for centuries and most traditional homes had a copy.

To my dearly beloved wife, Taube Kretzmar, Be well and live in happiness and joy. And to my dear children, may they live happily.

Dear wife, I have received your letter of 7th January safely, and I do not need to tell you how much joy and courage your letter has given me. It only takes me a few minutes to read your letter, and I reply straight away. But in those few minutes I appreciate the time that I have been separated from you, and I am including them in my lifetime, and without them I find no comfort, although I am in the big city of Cape Town, which is full of life and freedom, but alas for me it is like a jail. How can one call yourself a man, or alive, when the most important items are missing? The thoughts and hearts.

There is not a second in the day or night that I can call my thoughts my own, as I am alone and my heart is torn for you my dearest and my innocent children, may they live, and my thoughts fly far and wide across the noisy and terrible world, with pictures of your faces and memories of past pleasures.

But alas, what do I see? The sad faces of my children (zollen leben), and I hear their voices as they call for daddy, and the little naughty David gets excited and I will tell him ‘you little rascal (gazlen), why are you taking this house?’

I see you my dearest wife with a sad pale face, as you accompany me from Gereltzig on the way to Riga after Pesach. I hear your voice as we part,

‘Tevye, you are already starting little by little to separate yourself from me. You are departing from the Shabbat – my heart is very sore.’

I can now still today not forget it, but alas what can I do?

I am courageous and say to myself, it does not matter:  if you have to travel, you travel. I would have cast my mind to a previous period. I would have known that I would find darker colours. So I begin to comfort myself with the thought that the Lord will in future bring us joy, to be together and live a peaceful and placid life. Because whenever there was an unsatisfactory situation it was due to bad business. Therefore, my dearest, I hope that the sun will still shine and we will enjoy happiness. So don’t worry, with God’s help everything will come right.

I am enclosing in this letter £3, and if the Lord will provide more I will send more. Buy yourself something for yourself for Yomtov, and for our son David you should tailor a suit, and then write me whether you have already paid off the loan at Webers and if not try and ask my brother-in-law Moishe to give my father the money and he will recover the goods and keep it for the winter and so that you should have it for Yomtov. I shall send the money earlier if possible. So my dearest wife, do your best to get the stuff out, and to sew if possible for Pesach, and not to be despondent and lonely. The old four kashes (questions). of course will be asked by our David, but from you I ask please not to ask any kashes. Why and wherefore? As the Lord has caused it so, I suppose it will be better so, and if I know that you are not lonely then I will enjoy the Yomtov better in this new world.

There are now seven weeks to Pesach, so I can still receive a reply about the money and news. I am afraid to ask you what news? You can write me again. Liepe Rubin has started a new shop and the (munder?) helps him. Such a joy I do not begrudge him.

I think that you should write me about our good friends – write how it is with David Michael and if he is still there, and how is it with Yudel Rubin from Arminishai, and the children, and if an engagement is in the offing. His daughter Moeshel Rubin… and  chossen? You can write me why your letters are so late to hand. I must curb my pen to you my dear, as it goes through my head. I close my writing as there is no more paper and no time. I am well, TG hoping to hear the same from you – if I could get more profit, I could be happier. Be well and stay well and write me if there was a wedding of Miss Greentuch, whether you were there also and if you enjoyed yourself. From me, your devoted husband, Tevya Kretzmar

To my well-beloved wife, Taube Kretzmar, Be well in best spirit, and to my dear and precious children, be well in much good fortune.

My dearest wife – I can inform with joy that I find myself TG well. May God give me the same news from you. And that my writing shall find you also well. This week I have not yet received your letter because the boat with the mail has not arrived yet in harbour and because the dock is occupied by other boats that must unload their cargo for the military [i]. Hopefully, I should receive your letter tomorrow. Waiting so for a letter one gets excited so that you have no patience to write. Seeing that the letter has to be posted on Wednesday, and if not it will remain over for another week, so I must force my patience to write as much as possible. In general there cannot be a big letter today because I have a feeling your letter is already there. And I am not wasting time to try and go and fetch it. Therefore, please excuse this time.

I have no news to write you now but this I can inform you, that the siege of Kimberley [ii] was lifted from the Boers and when the telegram came to Cape Town, it was Yomtov! On all the houses they hung out the British flag and everyone who drove into town, from the most expensive coaches to the cart that carried stones, each one carried flags on high and music was played in the streets. And again when the news arrived by telegram that General Cronje had surrendered with all his forces, it was Yomtov again [iii].

May the Lord grant that some good will come to us, too, and to be able to enjoy peace. I close my writing. Be well and don’t worry and look after yourself and the children in health and schooling, and wishing you good luck, From your loving husband, Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet cordially and in friendship my dear parents, my father and mother and brothers and sister, Yaacov and Hinda, I wish you all good luck as a blessing in all ways. Please excuse me for my simple writing. From me, your son, Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet also cordially my mother-in-law, honourable lady Mrs Neche, and my dear brother-in-law Moishe and his wife, my sister Sarah, and their children, and also my dear sister-in-law, Chana Reza. From me, your brother-in-law, Tuvye Kretzmar

Notes:

[i] The Cape Town harbour had been filled by an armada of ships, offloading troops, horses and supplies. Also rats, fleas and the plague. Sometimes there were over 120 ships at anchor in the bay, many waiting months before they could be unloaded. McKenzie, R (editor), Cape Journal, No 1, 1998, 8

[ii] The siege of the diamond mining town of Kimberley by the Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the South African Republic lasted for 124 days from 14 October 1899 – 15 February1900. The siege was relieved by a cavalry division under Lt-Gen John French, part of a larger force under Lord Roberts. This editor‘s grandmother was a child in Kimberley during that time and kept as doorstops Boer shells that landed near her house.

[iii] On 27 February 1900 General Piet Cronje, who had begun the sieges of Kimberley and Mafeking was defeated at the Battle of Paardeburg, surrendering with 4,150 of his command after being surrounded by Lord Robert’s troops. After his surrender he and his wife were sent to a POW camp on St Helena. Boer morale sank after his defeat.

To my dearest wife, Taube Kretzmar, Be well and live in happiness, and to my sons David and Noah, and daughters Leah and Freda, may they be well and live in wealth and satisfaction.

My dearest wife, I have today received your letter of the first of February 1900 – it’s the 20th  of March 1900. I was very unsettled, I could not hold in my impatience anymore because of the letter you wrote me on the 12thof January. Since then, until today, I had heard nothing from you – I can tell you how much it costs me in health worrying when there is no letter from you. That is why I was very happy when I received your letter today especially to know that you and the children are well.

But sadly there is not complete happiness as I see that our luck is going against us, dafke,just to make our lives bitter especially when we blame one another. May the Lord have mercy – we have enough suffering and pain until today. We have lost our own money together with ‘Marrow in the bones’ – very intensely - until we fell into debt, into the Gemilut Chesed– the Helping Hand Society – and had to pay interest on the debt, and this came from ‘Shortened Days’. To go to the Helping Hand meant ‘loss of face’ but we had to endure being caught by the coattails and not be able to move forward. It all depends on the money and we need bread. And the fact that we are accusing each other is something that we should wish on our enemies – and further is that husband and wife, the one is separated from one end of the world to the other, the only consolation being that we can still  get letters each from the other And then on top of it, we still have to suffer that the letters don’t arrive on time.

That I should unwillingly accuse you that because you have a cold winter I should think that your love for me is frozen – you, from your side, blame me and there are others who support you. To say I hate my wife and therefore I don’t write letters and send no money. The Lord should have mercy on us that we should not be embittered in such matters, only He knows how true my heart is and how  devoted to you. My only wish is that God should grant us good luck and contentment. From your side, I can tell you that you are a bit hasty although I know that you are very lonely, but nevertheless you must recognise that the letters that you write when you are cross don’t make me happy. Exchange of letters takes time, and in the meantime you are getting regular letters and even money, and when I get one sweet letter from you it is by me ‘yom ze magoobot’ (an honourable day) and then arrives a letter after five weeks – it is written when you are upset and cross – believe me – it does not look nice at all, because you know that I have written more letters to you than you to me. And it cost me a lot of health when I do not receive a letter. Nevertheless, I did not write angrily – I only asked for mercy to settle me down, but for all that I am not offended – I can appreciate your lonely situation. I pray to God and hope that He will grant us better news to write.

At the moment, I have nothing more to write. I have already written to you about my business. Making a living in Africa is not enough, now every little one makes must be enough. May God grant us good business and we should be able to manage up to now. No one forces us to do it unless we want to do it ourselves – next week, I hope to send you another £3. You must surely have received the first £3, PG you should enjoy it with good health and pleasure.

This letter should reach you, I reckon, before Pesach – Erev Pesach – I wish you a good Yomtov and a happy one. I beg of you a thousand times not to be despondent because TG I am well and I am earning money, easier and more than in the bitter days I had before, and I am not suffering anymore from debts and I hope that from now on I will PG be able to pay everything off. The only thing is that our mail is not regular but this will improve so don’t be despondent and as I console myself with the thought that in the wide, wide world everyone is concerned with himself. I have a gentle friend who thinks of me with esteem and who is happy to hear good news from me. On the contrary, you should console yourself that

I am your ever true and trusting husband, who is earnest and devoted Tuvye Kretzmar

To my dearest wife, Taube Kretzmar, May she live in pleasure, and to my dear children, may they live in wealth and comfort.

Dearest wife, I have safely received your letter of the 16th of January. I thank the Lord for His mercy that he grants good health and may he always grant us good health and prosperity. There is no news to write and no news means all is as it was. He who is at home cries that it is no good while he who is not at home says ‘Where can I get a home so as not to be a wanderer’ so in the meantime everyone is waiting for better times and everyone says that it is good wherever I am not. May the Lord grant that it may be good everywhere.

Please, my dearest wife, write me what Yankel Yosef writes from ‘Yostentch’ about Benzion Wainick, how is he? Is he making a good living? And why does he want to go to Russia with his whole family? Is it because he is rich? Or, if possible, he wants to make an impression? It would be better if he wrote himself. Tell him he does not need to be ashamed of a distant relative – possibly if he were to write himself in the ordinary weekdays, not like his brother the scholar Menachem Mendel, who only writes on Chol HaMoed, and then he has an excuse. On Chol HaMoed one may not write. So one has to wait until another Chol HaMoed when I might receive from him a very short note with a few words. Therefore, he keeps his words precious. If he were to send me another letter, I will return him this one. Therefore, please write something about them and send me the address of my brother, Eliyahu Zalman.

Adieu, be well and happy as is the wish of your loving husband, Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet cordially my dear parents, my father Yehuda Leib Kretzmar, and my chaste mother, Beile, and my brother, Yaacov, and my sisters, Hinda and Chana, I wish you all good luck. Please, my dear brother, send me Eliyahu’s address and his letter where he discusses Zionism. Please send me his address and a letter, as is the wish of your son and brother, who wishes you much luck and blessings, in all ways, Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet cordially Yehuda Rubin from Kesselshik and his family and the son-in-law Dov Meyer Shulman, be well and happy and live in pleasure and happiness as it wishes you, your friend Tuvye Kretzmar

I greet cordially my brother-in-law, Moishe Schochet, my chaste and modest mother-in-law Neche, my brother-in-law Aaron Morris, and Fraulein Chana Reza, all be well and live well as is the wish of your brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Tuvye Kretzmar