** Webmaster Note: The following translation was generously provided by Diane Moore.  We have presented it here exactly as it was translated for us.

BELOVED COUNTRYMEN

A letter from Chaim Meir bar Yaakov ha-Cohen Kanunitz
 
 Beloved Countrymen, from Vladimirets and its vicinity!
 
 I am sorry that I cannot share in your holy work, of publishing Sefer Vladimirets. It is truly a pity that not every landsman can lay a hand to the sacred labor. As is known, the work always falls on individuals; always and everywhere there are the few "sick with love" and on their shoulders falls the whole burden. I wish them all blessing and success in the work of their hands!
 
 Every Jew who was killed is a martyr, whether he was a rabbi or a tailor, a shoemaker, or a coachman. All Jews, especially those of our Vladimirets community, are sacred and dear to me.
 
 Writing these few words chokes me, and tears fall from my eyes. To me there is no one day, for the yartzeit of our martyrs is every day; even at work I say Kaddish in my heart for every man, woman, or child who died, in such innocence, at the hands of the murderers, may their names and memories be blotted out.
 
 Of all the murdered, I say, "Alas for the lost who cannot be replaced. May their souls be bound up in the bonds of everlasting life". To the workers on the holy book in particular, and all the Jews of Vladimirets, and all Jews everywhere, I wish only -- blessings and success.