Friday, 15 December. They say a lot of people are leaving Łódź, but we
haven’t seen any wagons all day. Not until nightfall, when we had finished
praying kabalat shabbat⁹⁰⁵ privately at home, did we hear that people were
arriving. A woman came from Łódź and asked to be let in. In spasms and
faint, she tells us she was beaten at the border and has left behind a child of
5 months. We manage to find out from her that her husband is called Najman,
that he worked at Popowski’s in Łódź and that she left the child with her
mother-in-law at the border post. We give her tea and rolls and, as we are talking,
in comes Toybe Rokhl, Aryeh’s sister, with the child. We make kiddush
in a tense atmosphere and hear that more people are arriving on wagons and
are being put up in all the houses.
[30a] It’s not very long before Volf Plamiak’s son comes in and puts his
packages down. Plamiak’s brother-in-law Mr Grynbojm from Brzezińska
Street 32 also arrives with a lot of packages and I have to find them a stable
for the horse. I buy him some oats from Yehezkel Golenberg. It was half past
nine before Mr Grynbojm prayed kabalat shabbat and made kiddush. In the
meantime, Mrs Winter from Nowa Street arrives with the children and her
brother Sieradzki, and they sleep at my place. I don’t get to bed till half past
ten, but at half past eleven more people from Łódź knock on the door and
I have to get up and give my bed to Toybe Rokhl and Sheyne. I can’t get back
to sleep in any case and drag myself around all night. Yoel and Shmulik sleep
in the small bed. Pola sleeps on the sofa. Soreshe from Zgierz and Ita’s daughter
sleep on the floor. Day breaks and it’s
Saturday, 16 December. At my place, there are now Avrom Goldberg and
Ita, Abel’s daughter, and 4 children. He keeps urging me to find him lodgings.
I go and rent him a 4-room flat at Israel Avrom’s for 50 zlotys a month.
When we try to hire a driver to take his few things to [Nowe] Zakopane, Oren
Kalcman wants 100 zlotys. With difficulty, we find a cart for 30 zlotys, and
I go with him to Zakopane to help him move in. Then I pray and make kiddush.
Meir Brejtsztejn comes looking for me, asking me to buy a little merchandise
at his place. I buy something and let Meir earn 25 zlotys. I don’t eat
a midday meal until 3 p.m.
The street looks as if a disaster has hit it. People are still travelling to
Łowicz and Warsaw and arriving from Łódź. They say Zgierska Street has
905 (Hebrew) “Welcoming the Sabbath”, the Friday evening service.
