Despite the obvious and stark differences between Sara and her father, the quality of life Sara seeks after running away from home parallels that of her father’s. The light and spiritual elevation Rabbi Smolinsky finds in learning Torah, Sara finds in studying to become a teacher. Both Sara and her father’s determination in seeking salvation, economically and socially for Sarah and religiously for her father, lead them to isolate themselves from their neighbors and peers. Isolation is essential for learning, but equally selfish.
When Rabbi Smolinsky isolated himself in his lone room on Hester Street, he selfishly proclaimed a room for his books despite the fact that his family was bordering starvation. Sara similarly isolates herself in filthy, darkness to independently work on her studies which keeps her from her mother, who is burdened with the man Sara ran away from.
Sara and her father’s behavior is, perhaps, better described as zealous rather than selfish because what each is trying to do in essence is better the world. Rabbi Smolinsky believes he is “living for…[the] people” and is a small representation of God’s Light shining on Hester Street (90). Sara’s studies, on the other hand, are toward a degree in education which would allow her to help the girls she once resembled.
