A Short Tribute

He would devote his entire efforts to teaching them Torah, respect and courtesy, writing and arithmetic, and always comported himself with them in the most gentle and modest of ways. He did not treat them as his students but as his true friends, and went to great lengths for them, repeatedly explaining and reviewing their studies with them. He would strengthen their resolve and spirit without becoming embarrassed when they failed to fully understand something, and would review it with them once and again, until they understood it perfectly. He would neither be strict nor become angry with them, always bearing in mind the words of our sages, of blessed memory, "An impatient person cannot teach". He always encouraged their passion for Torah, using words of morality they found pleasant, and he served as an example to them, saying: Know, my friends and students, that I came from my city as a child with my father, and a short time after I arrived my father died and I was orphaned and left to fend for myself. Only the grace of God and my great passion and zeal for his holy Torah, which I studied day and night, supported me. I was also privileged to marry a rabbi's daughter, and am considered an excelling Torah scholar. Learn from me and do as I do, and you too, with God's help, will succeed.