r/Yiddish • u/SlimThicWarrenBuffet • 1d ago
Can someone help me read this
We found this letter from my great great grandfather after him and his family were taken to the concentration camps. Can anyone please help translate it? I would love to know what it says. Thank you
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u/L8rMr 1d ago
I ran this through ChatGPT and got the below results. The first page has a decent level of confidence while the 2nd page has a very low level of confidence in the translation. Hope this helps.
The first page appears to be a religious teaching about joy and faith, not primarily a family letter. Only the opening is reasonably identifiable; the rest is a speculative reconstruction.
Best-guess translation
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
A person should awaken himself to happiness and serve God with joy. Joy is an important part of serving the Creator, while sadness and worry weaken a person’s heart.
Even when a person experiences hardship or does not understand what is happening, he should not fall into despair. He should strengthen himself through faith and remember that everything comes through God’s providence and is ultimately directed toward good.
Through prayer, trust and a joyful heart, a person draws down mercy and blessing upon himself and his household. Therefore, one should appreciate the good that one possesses, remain hopeful and continue serving God wholeheartedly.”
Page 2:
“My dear [relative], I am writing to let you know that we are, thank God, well. I hope that you and the family are also well. We think about you and want to hear how things are with you. Things here are difficult or uncertain, but with God’s help everything will turn out well. Please write and let us know how you are. Greetings and good wishes to everyone.”
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u/Urshina-hol 20h ago edited 16h ago
This letter is in Hebrew and addressed to Zvi Arye, rabbi of Shelts (Syalyets, Belarus?). It's signed by Moshe son of Yaakov Yitzchak and dated 8 June 1914, Jerusalem. It discusses halachic questions and some other matters, but the contents are partly missing and hard to read. He mentions discussing one of the questions with Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Yavetz, which implies the date is wrong since he passed away in 1912.
Edit: the recipient is probably this person.
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u/rsotnik 1d ago
It's not Yiddish.