Out of the Shoebox by Yaron Reshef Page B

received after returning to
Palestine.  Chortkow had already been under Soviet rule for a year when the
postcards were sent.
    The
return address had changed after the family business was expropriated and they
were cast out of their home and had to move to Szkolna St.  The letters are in
Yiddish and Polish. Mendel Kramer wrote in Yiddish, and Selka, my mother's
sister, wrote in Polish. Here is the translation of the Polish:
    January
1940: "My dears, since our dear father left
me no space I simply send kisses. Sela"
    March
1940: "Dearest ones, last week we received
your postcard and we were delighted. Thank you. We are grateful that you are
well. We are the same. Our lives continue and that is all. Why do you not
write? Tell us whether Junio has work and what kind of work it is? Is he making
any money? How is our dear Ilana? Does she miss us as we miss her? Write to us
at length and tell us all about it. Wishing you a happy holiday and sending
kisses. Sela. Have a kosher Passover."
    The
last postcard from July 10th 1940: "I thank
you for the photos, thank the lord... we are lucky... you are lucky that you
made it to Palestine. We are all healthy. Junio, I ask that you write to us
about everything, how Ilana is growing, and what she says. She is our great joy
and comfort. Kisses. S Kramer. Chortkow."
    This
partial translation was enough to make the family's feelings abundantly clear.
The despair they felt, trapped under a hostile Soviet regime that saw them as
enemies of the revolution. These were the last words from Chortkow. Then there
was only silence. Infinite silence.

    My parent's visit to Chortkow with
Ilana 1939, from right to left: Ilana, Rivka Finkelman, Dr. Sima Finkelman,
Mom, Selka Kramer
    ***

The Lot, Part II
    On
April 25, 2012 I received a letter from the office of the Custodian General:
    Re:
Property registered to Shlomo Zvi Finkelman
    The
authorized committee in our office discussed the release application submitted
by you and decided to grant your request and release said property.
    The
property, half of parcel 40 in block 11398, was transferred to the State’s
hands in 1996 – attached is a copy of the order.
    In
order to release the property, you must apply to the Israel Land
Administration, Acquisition & Expropriation Department, 15 HaPalyam Blvd,
ground floor, P.O.Box 548, Haifa 33095.
    For
your information, the number of the parcel was changed several times, and at
present it is part of parcel 197 in block 11398 (it was combined with another
parcel, and its area is 3,121 square meters).
    Sincerely,
    Shira
Gordon, Atty.,
    Attorney
for the Custodian General
    I
felt great. I succeeded in doing the impossible. I completed the circle; an
action begun by my father and Mordechai Liebman in 1935 has been completed by
me. Part of the lot purchased by my father is being returned to its legal owners.
My euphoria was somewhat dampened by the fact that Mordechai Liebman apparently
had no beneficiaries. I still hope that when this story is published, it may
lead to finding any remaining relatives of Mordechai’s.
    The
first thing I immediately did was try to locate the lot. With the help of my
partner, Hanan, and the Land Administration website, we located the lot within
minutes. The original lot had been combined with other lots in this block and
re-divided, but the actual location had not changed: in Kiryat Haroshet
(“industrial town”), an area of Tivon on the southern slopes of the hills
facing Mt. Carmel along the Kishon River. Just coming across the name Kiryat
Haroshet set the bells ringing – it was so similar to the name I recalled from
my mother’s stories and my childhood memories. I’d remembered it as Kfar
Haroshet (“industrial village”), as I wrote in the declaration submitted to the
Custodian General, but it turned out the accurate name is Kiryat Haroshet.
Also, from my mother’s stories, I remembered the character of a crook; as it
turned out, there was a rabbi involved in the history of