The book Letters From Rifka is a collection of letters that Rifka, a young girl escaping religious persecution, sent to her cousin, Tovah. In the letters, you learn about how brutally young Rifka and her family, Mama, Papa, Saul, and Nathan, are being treated. They all want to start a journey to America for a better life. They did not know how hard it was going to be. They did not know all the hardships and troubles that they would have to go through. They did not even know if they would make it across.

On their escape they have to go through the humiliating scrutiny of doctors and soldiers, and deadly diseases. They all have to get across. They all have to stay alive. In the book, you learn about all the places the family traveled, you learn how they beat the hunger that tempted them all. On their journey they have to scavenger through rough cities, where they would be hassled by citizens. They had to get enough money to get across.

In one of the chapters alone, Rifka, almost dies in the time period of only three or four days. In that adventure she realizes how cruel people really are. How far they would go to vanish you from existence. In this world she had to forget about it to keep going on, she could not punish people for what they did to her. She was just a small Jewish little girl, in a big world.

Rifka dreams of a life in America, but she may never get there.

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