Wolgelernter utilizes biblical stylistic devices to frame the careful choice of words, emanating from his private moments of torment. When he receives news of the deportation of his 3-year-old daughter Alte’le, he writes a mournful poetic elegy: “My heart is searching in the east; my spirit roaming the world. Alte’le my beloved daughter, I sought you but could not find you. Oh how I yearn for you – will I merit seeing you again?” The elegy is written in an acrostic use of language; the single letters of Alte’le’s name begin each line of the poem. Ancient tradition identifies Jeremiah as the original author of this style, wherein great despair (the destruction of Jerusalem) finds relief in adopting a highly stylistic form of representation for the lamentation. Wolgelernter writes more poetic and acrostic elegies when hearing of the murders and deportations of his parents, beloved sister and brother-in-law and teachers. He himself did not survive the Holocaust.
Chaim Yitzchock Wolgelernter’s descriptions of everyday life, his lamentations and enduring faith, despite all tribulations, define the essence of what is understood today as the Orthodox perspective of the Holocaust. The faith-based diary, as a unique and expressive sub-genre within the general Holocaust diary and memoir coterie exemplifies the best of Menachem-Mendl’s refrain, worth quoting once more: “Man is the language of God.” Chaim Yitzchock Wolgelernter’s diary shows us what a manifestation of that expression would read like.
