"We have reached the end of our tether and there is no one to rescue us. Satan is raging in our abandoned field … ...

"We have reached the end of our tether and there is no one to rescue us. Satan is raging in our abandoned field … and there is no one to face Him. What will happen in the end? God knows. The situation is bad, very bad" – Unknown, Touching Letter of the Distinguished Poet M. Lusternik – Poland 1936
Letter from the Yiddish-Hebrew Writer Malkiel Lusternik to his friend the poet Gabriel Yosef Talphir (1901-1990), July 1936.
Lusternik writes from Lodz, Poland to his friend in the Land of Israel during the 1936 Arab Revolt in Palestine and in face of the situation in Germany and Poland – shocked by it and fearing the fate of the Jewish nation in Israel and the Diaspora.
The letter indicates that Lusternik, the idealist Zionist poet listened attentively to the voice of history. Due to his sensitivity, he succeeded in reading between the lines and understood the meaning of the events. He perceived, three years before the Holocaust, the existential threat to the Jewish nation in Europe and the Land of Israel. He is surprised by the fact that in Israel too there are bloody clashes between Jews and Arabs. He describes the Jewish nation as standing shocked, his words correctly describing the terrible situation while subtly criticizing it.
Malkiel Lusternik (1911-1942) was born in a Lodz to an educated Zionist family. He was a student of the educational institutions of Yitzchak Katzenelson and the Hebrew-Polish high school in the town. He was a member of the "Gordonia" youth movement and even wrote its anthem. In 1927, he started publishing his poems in Hebrew journals in Poland ("Ba'Derech"). He edited the journal "Reshit" for literature and science (Warsaw, 1933-1934). He was also one of the ditors of the quarterly "Techumim" (Warsaw, 1937-1938).
The letter indicates that Lusternik had wanted to immigrate to Israel yet could not realize his dream. He writes: "Of course I would have accepted your invitation to come to Israel if it depended only on me and my free will. However, it is not so simple. For now, I must remain in Poland and be satisfied with dreaming of the Land of Israel. My coming to Israel - No time soon!"
With the outbreak of the war, he escaped to Warsaw and was culturally active in the ghetto. In the summer of 1942, he tried to escape the ghetto and was shot to death by the Nazis.
Unknown, touching letter!
Written on the official stationery of a textile factory in Lodz (which might have been owned by the Lusternik family).
Condition: Very Good. Folding marks. Slight tears at the head of the page.