Content Warning: This source material contains themes of patriarchal control and misogynistic treatment of women. This source material also contains derogatory language towards people with disabilities and mental illnesses.

Sara Smolinsky is a ten-year-old Polish Jewish girl who lives in an apartment with her family on Hester Street in New York City. Sara’s older sisters, Bessie, Mashah, and Fania, arrive home, unable to find work. Despite their economic situation, Mashah spends her extra money on new hats and clothes, which infuriates Sara’s mother, Shenah.

Sara’s father, Reb Smolinsky, tells his wife and their daughters that women can only get into heaven if they serve men. At dinner, Shenah complains to Reb Smolinsky about their lack of rent money. She blames their poverty on him because he does not work and studies the Torah all day. Shenah convinces him to move his books out of one of the rooms so that they can rent the room. The next day, Shenah and Sara hear Reb Smolinsky reciting the Torah. Suddenly, the landlady rushes in and demands rent. She interrupts Reb Smolinsky’s prayers, and he tells her that they do not have the rent.