Just over a month ago, the Jewish world lost one of its last links to the world of Sarah Schenirer and prewar Europe. Author Pearl Benisch painted vivid pictures of spiritual triumph through Auschwitz and beyond,
CARRYING THE TORCH Through her epic books To Vanquish the Dragon and Carry Me in Your Heart and throughout her life author Pearl Benisch a”h carried her teacher Sarah Schenirer’s immortal lessons forward for future generations
T urn the pages of one of Pearl Benisch’s works — To Vanquish the Dragon and Carry Me in Your Heart — and you’ll find an account that reshapes and transcends the conventions of Holocaust literature. Pearl Benisch’s powerfully sketched memoirs are far more than the account of an eyewitness. They are testimony to the triumph of spirit and goodness over unimaginable monstrosities and encroaching evil. To read them is to touch a world that has vanished forever.
Until her passing last month Pearl Benisch lived and conveyed the essence of that world. A student of Sarah Schenirer she cradled her teacher’s immortal lessons through Auschwitz and beyond. And her very person reflected these values; Pearl exuded life courage hope and inspiration.
“My mother lived with me for the past 15 years” relates Frieda Schwartz Pearl’s eldest daughter. “As we live near the hospital she moved in to be able to visit her second husband more frequently after he fell. She ended up staying and all kinds of people were constantly asking to interview her. Once two non-Jewish students visited from NYU a young Greek student and a Chinese girl from the sociology department. They had originally said they’d be coming for an hour but they ended up talking to my mother for over three!”
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