For Grandma Rachel, schooled though she was to pious contentment, probably had her moments of human pettiness like the rest of us.
My father distinguished himself for scholarship from the first.

Five years old when he entered heder, at eleven he was already a _yeshibah bahur_--a student in the seminary.

The rebbe never had occasion to use the birch on him.

On the contrary, he held him up as an example to the dull or lazy pupils, praised him in the village, and carried his fame to Polotzk.
My grandmother's cup of pious joy was overfilled.

Everything her boy did was pleasant in her sight, for Pinchus was going to be a scholar, a godly man, a credit to the memory of his renowned grandfather, Israel Kimanyer.