Letters from Rifka

All family members recover from typhus and make their way to Warsaw, Poland. They are headed there to pick up steamship tickets left by Isaac, Reuben, and Asher. The train the family takes is crowded, and Rifka wants to get off and go to go to the bathroom, but her mother tells her the train cannot stop. She walks the train to distract herself and sees a Polish peasant holding a baby. The peasant looks sickly and comments on Rifka’s beautiful hair. Rifka offers to fix the peasant’s hair, and while doing so sees that the peasant has sores on her scalp. Rifka says that she is from Ukraine, and declares, “I will do everything” in America (38).

In Warsaw, the family must be examined by a doctor again before they can board the steamship. The doctor discovers that Rifka has ringworm, and Rifka remembers the peasant from the train who had sores on her scalp. The doctor says that the treatment can take months. The family tries to pay a bribe so that Rifka can board, but they are told that even if Rifka makes it to America, she will be examined upon arrival.