Thank God, I have had a lot of good fortune in my life, but what I consider myself most fortunate is in being one of the first students of Sarah Schneirer. I was meritous to sleep in the same building as her with only one wall separating my room from hers. I saw her day and night, her everyday actions. She was a piece of perfection in her devotion and love to God, the Jewish people, and the pure souls of Jewish children.

The year I went to Bais Yaakov Seminary in Cracow was 1929, a terrible year. The winter was the coldest in many decades. Even the old generation could not remember such a harsh winter. The trains could not run because the tracks were frozen. In cities large and small there were food shortages because many fields had frozen over, ruining valuable crops. There were also difficulties in transporting available produce from farms to cities.

Through all the towns, hamlets and large cities of Poland there were long bread lines. We had to stand in the bitter cold and snow to get bread. Compounding the cold and famine was the depression. Rich people, who had owned property and businesses and were accustomed to a life of luxury, found themselves penniless. They could not pay their mortgages or bills and many committed suicide.

It was at this time that I was supposed to journey from Mir to Cracow. It was extremely difficult to find anyone willing to make the 12-kilometer journey by sled to the station, and consequently my parents had to pay double the standard price. I arrived in Cracow to find the cold was just as bitter there as in Mir. People were unable to heat their homes, so the government set up iron ovens in the main streets for them to warm themselves.

That winter I became sick for the first time in my life. I had a very high fever that kept me from sleeping. As I lay awake in bed, light from a keyhole caught my eye. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was 4 a.m. I was amazed that someone was up at that hour. Although I knew it was not a nice thing to do, curiosity got the best of me. I got up and peered through the keyhole. In the midst of oceans of paper sat Sarah Schneirer. Her hand held a pencil on which she rested her forehead, eyes closed. I stood still, my feet glued to the floor. I could not understand why she was not in bed at this hour. After about ten minutes she lifted her head and glanced at her watch. "Oy vey," she exclaimed, "I slept ten minutes and I have so much to do!"

I returned to bed but was unable to sleep as I was so impressed with what I had seen. Her table overflowed with letters, papers and books, and she just sat and wrote without stop. There were no published teaching manuals or books, and she had to fill notebooks by hand with her lessons. She was sending information and teaching plans to alumni of the seminary with positions in schools of their own.

A half-hour later I saw Sarah Schneirer walk into the bedroom. What will she do now? I puzzled. She walked from bed to bed, untangling jumbles of bedclothes and picking up fallen blankets. Lovingly, she covered each girl as a mother does for her child...

Not one of us ever wanted to do wrong or disappoint her in any way. The hurt in her eyes was the most effective discipline. We knew she actually hurt inside when one of us acted badly and we loved her too much to intentionally hurt her. It warmed our hearts when we saw her appreciate something we did well. Her eyes, her face, her whole being would grow alight with the joy of our accomplishments. She tried to teach us love and patience by example. We saw how she never raised her voice or lost her temper, and we desperately wanted to emulate her. She taught without giving lectures of punishment, but with love, devotion and praise.

The apartment we lived in was one of many in a tenement. Our accommodations were cramped because Sarah Schneirer wanted to have as many students as possible regardless of the lack of funds. There were no separate classrooms and bedrooms. During the day we would sit on crates and chairs to learn our lessons, while at night we cleared the room and unfolded the beds to sleep on.

One very cold night, it took many hours for us to fall asleep. As a result, the next morning we overslept. In order to start classes on time we hurriedly put away our beds with less care than usual. One girl accidentally pushed a bed into the door, breaking the expensive glass. We were afraid of Sarah Schneirer's disappointment in us, that she might be angry at our carelessness. Nervously we all stood, silently staring at the glass shattered on the floor. Sarah Schneirer broke the silence and asked, "Is anyone hurt?" At our negative reply, she sighed and said "Thank God." Without another word she calmly proceeded to sweep away the fragments of glass.

Her concern was not for the expensive glass but only for the welfare of her girls. She gave us no rebuke, but her concern made us determined to be all she expected of us. In every minute of her life she was completely under control. Her good-heartedness was apparent in every deed. How lucky we were to have had such a teacher from whom we gained not only "book" knowledge, but knowledge of how to live...

Bais Yaakov was a unique institution. It was not only a place to learn Scriptures, Psalms, Judaism, etc., but a place to perfect one's character. Everything taught was supposed to become a part of us, not just a sentence in a notebook.

Sarah Schneirer emphasized several themes over and over. God is constantly with you. You must serve him with happiness. You must fulfill all the commandments having to do with relationships between people. Honor your father and mother, and greet every person with a friendly face. These phrases were part of our everyday lessons, conversations and, more important, actions.

Before lessons we said a prayer. We begged God to have mercy and give us wisdom to understand and glean knowledge from one thing to another. We must learn, and we must also teach. We must fulfill the commandments with love for God. We must rejoice in being Jewish daughters and having the Torah. We must try to be near God and feel that He is with us and is always watching. This is how we prepared ourselves for learning every day.