Dear sister Cesiu,

On your Wedding Day, I wish you best of luck from your sister. If I could, I would wish you in person with a kiss to make it better, but it is hard and we have to do it this way. It is hard to express my wishes on paper but I wish you will feel it in your heart what I mean from this one word “Mazal-Tov.” Stay Happy.

Rose Besser (Cypora’s sister), unknown day in 1939.

With God’s help,

Saturday night during the week of Torah portion Shelach, 1939, here in Warsaw.

To my dear, esteemed son-in-law, Mr. Aryeh, and dear daughter, Tzipora-le, we received your letter today when I returned from praying. I made a Kiddush for 15 people from Shtibl, only good friends. They wished Mazel-Tov. I am very glad, Aryeh, that you are happy with the present you received in getting my Tzipora-le as a wife. The blessed Lord should help that you age until 120 years with great abundance, and I should have Jewish joy and pride from you.

Kalman Besser, 10 June 1939

On the 4^th of June 1939 in Tel-Aviv Israel, a very unlikely event occurred, the marriage of Aryeh (Leon) Olej to Tzipora (Cypora) Besser.

Both were ~4000 kilometers from the home they grew up in. Away from most, though not all of their family. They both also had very different backgrounds. However, and most striking was the different paths that they took getting to Israel. Cypora, with the support of her family, and a tutor was able to pass a grueling Hebrew test allowing her to gain acceptance to the University of Jerusalem. Leon, frustrated by rising antisemitism in Poland took the brave step of sneaking into Palestine on an Italian ship called Jerusalem. He arrived in 1934 and Cypora in 1935.

Their journeys allowed them to escape an unthinkable catastrophe that would soon engulf their families, friends and millions of other Jews across Europe. In many ways, this journey was a microcosm of all the trials and tribulations of their ancestors who were seeking survival and hope for themselves and their families. Many of you who are reading this have different ancestors that took different journeys to Israel, Canada, the United States and many other countries. This book is for all of our ancestors who made the fateful decision to start a new life. It is also dedicated to all of their siblings, aunts, uncles, parents, cousins and friends that they lost.

Now, join me as we unravel our ancestors’ remarkable tale as they took their varied paths which allowed us to stake out our own paths.