Letters from Rifka

Rifka writes to Tovah of how nice the ship is. She has a pleasant room but spends most of her time on the deck and in the ship’s lounge. She befriends a sailor named Pieter. The weather has been good, but Pieter tells her that sometimes “[T]here are storms so fierce I think the ship will break apart” (76). Pieter dotes on Rifka, who writes to Tovah that he “treats me like a little czarina” (76). They talk about family, and Pieter tells Rifka, “You are a treasure to your mama and papa. And to your brothers” because she is their only girl (77). He also compliments her ability to learn languages, and her bravery for making the voyage alone. Rifka responds that her Jewish family and friends in Berdichev are brave for staying there, because there, “[Y]ou must be clever simply to stay alive” (78). Pieter shyly kisses Rifka, and then she goes to her room and reads Pushkin, looking for a poem that describes her feelings. She also writes to Tovah that in “America, maybe, I will write poems” (80).

The ship runs into a terrible storm, and the passengers are ordered to go below deck. Rifka is at the edge of the deck because she feels sick. A giant wave hits the deck and nearly washes her away, but Pieter pulls her away just in time. Rifka writes, “If he had not been there, Tovah, the ocean would have claimed me. He saved my life” (84). Down in the ship’s hold, everyone feels sick and scared. When the storm is over, the deck has been ripped apart and several sailors are injured. Pieter has died in the storm, and Rifka is distraught. As the ship waits for another ship to come and tow them to New York, Rifka writes, “Tovah, suddenly I feel how defenseless we are—not just Jews, all of us” (87). She knows she will not be there on the day she was scheduled to arrive in New York, and wonders how her family will find out what happened.

Rifka arrives on Ellis Island, and can see the Statue of Liberty. She looks forward to seeing her family but knows there will be another screening where she will be asked many questions before she can enter the United States. “Until I cross that line,” she writes, “I am still homeless, still an immigrant” (90). Rifka is anxious for the interrogation on Ellis Island, but she is overall hopeful about her chances of entering America. She looks forward to the moment in which she can depart from Ellis Island and “truly be in America” (90).

Rifka is crushed to learn she cannot leave Ellis Island because there are concerns that her ringworm is still contagious despite the clearance she received in Antwerp. She is held in a hospital for contagious diseases and cannot see her family. A woman from HIAS explains that the immigration officials are concerned because Rifka still has no hair, and they want to ensure that she is really cured. “It’s not just the ringworm that concerns them,” the woman says, “It’s your hair” (95). The woman tells Rifka that the officials are concerned she will be a social liability if allowed to enter the United States, because they think she will never find a husband if she does not have hair. Rifka protests the decision but is resigned to it.

Rifka discovers that conditions in the hospital are not so bad. Saul tries to visit her but cannot find her because she transferred rooms. A nurse named Bowen takes an interest in Rifka, who begins helping at the hospital, writing to Tovah that “I have been able, even, to interpret a little for the Polish and Russian patients” (98). She also takes care of a Polish baby whose mother died of typhus, and she looks after a Russian peasant, Ilya, who is on hunger strike because he wants to return home. As a Russian peasant—a member of the group who persecuted Jews like her family in Russia—Ilya first seems to Rifka an enemy of sorts, “[t]he reason Uncle Zeb was dead” (100). Rifka also thinks it is ironic that Ilya wants to go back to Russia when he is permitted to stay in the US—and she will be killed if she returns but is not allowed to enter the US. Nevertheless, Rifka convinces Ilya to eat a little by saying that if he doesn’t, the officials will never send him back, or he will die before he gets home if they do permit him to leave. Ilya begins following Rifka around.