Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement: A Revolution in the Name of Tradition
Naomi Seidman
Abstract
Sarah Schenirer is one of the unsung heroes of twentieth-century Orthodox Judaism. The Bais Yaakov schools she founded in interwar Poland had an unparalleled impact on a traditional Jewish society threatened by assimilation and modernity, educating a generation of girls to take an active part in their community. The movement grew at an astonishing pace, expanding to include high schools, teacher seminaries, summer programmes, vocational schools, and youth movements, in Poland and beyond; it continues to flourish throughout the Jewish diaspora. This book explores the movement through the tensio ... More
Sarah Schenirer is one of the unsung heroes of twentieth-century Orthodox Judaism. The Bais Yaakov schools she founded in interwar Poland had an unparalleled impact on a traditional Jewish society threatened by assimilation and modernity, educating a generation of girls to take an active part in their community. The movement grew at an astonishing pace, expanding to include high schools, teacher seminaries, summer programmes, vocational schools, and youth movements, in Poland and beyond; it continues to flourish throughout the Jewish diaspora. This book explores the movement through the tensions that characterized it, capturing its complexity as a revolution in the name of tradition. The book presents the context which led to its founding, examining the impact of socialism, feminism, Zionism, and Polish electoral politics on the process, and recounts its history, from its foundation in interwar Kraków to its near-destruction in the Holocaust, and its role in the reconstruction of Orthodoxy in subsequent decades. A vivid portrait of Schenirer shines through. The book includes selections from her writings published in English for the first time. Her pioneering, determined character remains the subject of debate in a culture that still regards innovation, female initiative, and women's Torah study with suspicion.
Keywords:
Sarah Schenirer,
Orthodox Judaism,
Bais Yaakov schools,
traditional Jewish society,
socialism,
feminism,
Zionism,
Polish electoral politics,
Orthodoxy
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2019 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781906764692 |
Published to Liverpool Scholarship Online: February 2021 |
DOI:10.3828/liverpool/9781906764692.001.0001 |