From “To Lottie”   by Joseph V. Kahn

The answer to the question was in you

And in the lives of those like you

Who toiled and suffered for a greater good.

You could not see it through the tears

Or feel it through the sweat of the travail

That was your chosen lot.

To do the mitzvah, the good deed,

Of your conscience and your creed

At whatever cost to self was ever on your mind.

"Damn the profit," "Don't profane the Sabbath,"

"Join the union or leave the job," and "Never scab"

Were all of one piece to you.

And never once forgot the kinfolk overseas,

Writing to them often, giving news

Of joys and struggles, always making plans

To see each other some day soon.

but in the meantime sending hard-earned money

Which they needed most for bread, and then for clothes,

Or dowry, or to help aa child or husband

Make the grade.

It was a thankless task to be a goad

Keeping after brothers and your sisters

Cajoling and reviling them to do their part

For those less fortunate abroad awaiting help,

Never yielding or relenting for a moment

Till at least a promise of assistance was secured

Then laying out the funds in hopeful expectation

that the sum would some day be repaid.

And was there ever a "landesman" who arrived

Who was not harbored for a while

Until he got his bearings and his tongue

to cope with living as he found it,

But ne'er without your lesson on the need "to be a man,"

To do the same for others still to come,

Never to forget those left behind,

And put a bit aside to help them take the leap.

feed the hungry wayfarer who might chance to knock

And seat him at your table

And share with him your humble

Bread and tea....

Can we do less in this shrinking world

When stranger, and foreigner in distant lands

Is closer to us than ever any blood-kin was.

To do less is a blindness to the compass of your life--

And a denial of a priceless heritage.