The BBC Broke Her Because She’s a Jew
A divorced, childless seamstress in Krakow watched Jewish girls drift away from their heritage. While rabbis debated solutions, she opened a classroom in her tiny apartment and started a revolution.aa
Born into a Chassidic family in Krakow, Poland, in 1883, Sarah Schenirer grew up in a society where girls received no formal Jewish education. For eight years, Sarah attended a Polish public school, as was required by the country’s compulsory education law. Once or twice a week, the school was visited by a rabbi, who gave the Jewish students some basic lessons in Judaism. This did not satisfy Sarah’s thirst for knowledge.
Naturally inquisitive, Sarah read, in her native Yiddish, every Jewish book she could get hold of. Her father encouraged her learning and bought her a book of stories from the Talmud translated into Yiddish.
As a teenager, Sarah, like most girls in her community, was faced with the necessity of earning a living. She became a seamstress and eventually started her own successful dressmaking business.
In her personal life, Sarah did not see as much success. She remained single until age 27, when she gave in to societal pressure and married a local Jewish man with whom she did not have much in common. The marriage was unhappy from the start, and Sarah initiated the divorce proceedings a year later. The divorce was finalized when Sarah was 30 years old.
One of the only photographs of Sarah Schenirer, from her Polish ID
As a seamstress, Sarah encountered many girls and their mothers. She wrote1, “When I saw how concerned people were with the smallest detail when I was cutting and measuring their dresses, I would think to myself, ‘And what do the “garments” of their souls look like?’”
This spiritual crisis unfolding in Poland was publicly discussed at the Rabbinical Congress in Krakow in 1903. Drawn to intellectual stimulation available in the secular world, hundreds of Jewish girls were leaving Judaism. Their connection to Judaism was so superficial that some readily converted to Christianity, whether for social acceptance or for marriage. In addition, too many Chassidic girls, lured by exciting promises, naively fell victim to human trafficking and were forced into prostitution2.
At the Rabbinical Congress, rabbis and community leaders bemoaned the plight of Poland’s Jewish girls. As a solution, they discussed opening Jewish schools for girls and providing them with authentic Torah education. They encountered some opposition, along with practical difficulties. Though the conversation continued in the ensuing years, no one actually took the first step of opening a school.
As a woman, Sarah did not participate in any public discussion, nor did she have a husband to speak up for her. However, the disconnect she observed pained her immensely and she was eager to share her own love for Jewish texts with other women. In 1910, she wrote in her diary3:
When I open my books on the Sabbath and discover there the words of Torah and Midrash and so on – I forget everything else in this world and float above it in a higher realm of pure delight… The hearts of young girls are captivated by propagandistic lectures on secular subjects… I doubt very much that any girl in the gymnasium could possibly be as happy as I am during those hours when I immerse myself in sacred books.
At the same time, Sarah doubted that she could change anything. She wrote4, “[M]aybe, at some point, I will have the courage to speak these thoughts aloud. But can this really happen? I, who am shy to let out a word…”
In 1914, World War I broke out and Sarah fled from Krakow to Vienna with her family. The first time she attended a local synagogue, she was astonished to see the rabbi step up to the pulpit and address both men and women. Sarah recalled5:
Riveted to my seat, I listened with great fascination to the fiery, spirited words of the rabbi.
In his sermon, he depicted the greatness and sublimity of the historical figure of Judith6, and through her, he eloquently and passionately called upon Jewish women and their daughters to act according to the model of this Jewish heroine… Even as I was caught up in the spiritual description of the character of Judith, it occurred to me: ah, if only all those women and girls in Krakow were here now to learn who we are and where we come from.
The rabbi Sarah met in Vienna was Rabbi Moses David Flesch, who had studied in Frankfurt, where Jewish schools for girls already existed. He was accustomed to teaching women and was happy to recommend books by German Jewish thinkers to Sarah. Later, these books, along with the notes Sarah had taken at Rabbi Flesch’s weekday lectures, formed the basis of Sarah’s school curriculum7.
In the summer of 1915, Sarah returned to Krakow, determined to bring Jewish education for girls to her hometown. She recalled8, “On my first day back I presented my proposal to a small circle of well-known religious women… who listened to me with evident joy.”
But Sarah’s idea faced many practical challenges, from lack of a suitable location to skepticism from potential students. Sarah wrote9, “Nevertheless, I persevered, and by that Sabbath had prepared a lecture for a gathering of 40 girls.”
Despite Sarah’s eagerness and passion, the girls were not impressed. “I could see the ironic smiles on many of their faces, and without a fare-thee-well, some of them just disappeared,” recalled Sarah10.
Seminary Students in Krakow
Filled with self-doubt, Sarah had to persuade herself not to give up. She wrote11, “I kept coming back to the same idea: We must open the eyes of our sisters, so they will see the great light of Israel! Forget any doubts, ignore all the obstacles! What do I care if people smile at me and mock my plan?... If the intentions are true and the goal is noble, will they not bear fruit?”
Sarah continued teaching, slowly gathered an interested audience, and founded a Jewish lending library. But she found that inspiration did not last. Girls enjoyed her lectures but did not commit to Jewish observance. Sarah reflected12, “[M]ost were young women already, and it wasn’t easy to persuade them to take on a new, truly Jewish life, with all its customs and traditions.”
Thus, Sarah came to the conclusion that she had to begin educating Jewish girls at much younger ages.
In November 1917, Sarah wrote in her diary13, “Finally, finally, the goal has been reached! I’m sitting now in my very own schoolroom.” Her first class consisted of 25 girls, “most of them children I sewed dresses for, and now I ask their mothers, Will you also allow me to provide them with spiritual clothing?” wrote Sarah14.
Sarah Schenirer with her students
Pearl Benisch, one of the early students, wrote that Sarah “resolved to start with these innocent little girls like me. She would tell them about the great love that our Father [God] has for His children, His concern for their well-being, the beauty of our heritage, Jewish history, and the truth of the Torah15.”
Sarah’s tiny apartment served as the classroom. It had old benches and no blackboard, but the girls’ eyes sparkled, and Sarah was overjoyed. One of her first students, who came to attend the school from a nearby town, recalled16:
We were crowded in that room during the day, but we were happy, indescribably happy, as our revered teacher opened new worlds for us… We prepared our simple meals in her kitchen… and ate at the same table… At night, we slept in the same room on the floor, and if we were lucky, we had a straw bed.
Later, Sarah would define her school’s mission: “to educate Jewish girls so that, with all their strength and with every breath, they will serve the Creator and fulfil the commandments of the Torah with seriousness and passion17.” She described the Torah as “a holy fire from the One God that gives sustenance to the Jewish soul18.” Sarah’s own passion was contagious, and her students appreciated and absorbed it.
The news of the school spread, and it grew quickly. By November, Sarah had 40 eager students. Others, especially parents of young girls, volunteered to help. Sarah found herself busier than ever.
The building of the first Bais Yaakov school in Krakow. קובץ על יד, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
In 1919, at another rabbinical gathering, the members expressed support for Sarah’s school and offered to undertake financial responsibility for the growing project. By then, they understood that Sarah’s school was only the beginning of what would soon become a movement for Jewish girls learning Torah and developing a solid foundation in Judaism. They named the movement Bais Yaakov, after a Biblical verse in the account of the giving of the Torah, where the women are referred to as “Bais Yaakov,” the House of Jacob19.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s school was quickly outgrowing its capacity. The rabbinical organization helped Sarah move her school to “a perfectly fine apartment with eight large and fully equipped rooms20.”
In addition, more teachers were needed. Sarah responded to the need by opening the Bais Yaakov Teachers’ Seminary. Older girls studied both Torah and pedagogy. Students came to the seminary from all over Europe. Despite their diverse backgrounds, Sarah “succeeded in creating an unusual atmosphere of love, respect, and harmony,” recalls Mrs. Benisch21.
Many rabbinical and lay leaders had heard about Bais Yaakov and offered their help. Teachers, both men and women, came from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and taught various subjects to the seminary students. Some stayed for a month or two. Others stayed for years, sacrificing personal comfort for the greater goal of teaching Torah.
With the financial support from the Jewish community, similar schools sprung up, first in nearby towns and then farther afield. Sarah was personally involved in each of these schools, where her students became teachers.
Mrs. Benish wrote22:
Frau Schenirer went from city to city and from town to town to town to organize Bais Yaakov schools. On her first trip, she took along Gittel Teitelbaum, dressed in a long skirt with a mature hairstyle to make her look older, to be the first teacher in one of those towns. The whole community attended the gathering, and Frau Schenirer introduced Gittel to the women. Gittel stood up, her dark eyes sparkling as usual when she got excited, and addressed the audience.
Impressed by the young speaker, the women responded with a resounding ovation and enthusiastically invited Gittel to teach their daughters.
Similarly, the seminary’s graduates established Bais Yaakov schools in other locations. Sarah continued to visit them, bringing books, curriculum materials, and most importantly, support and encouragement.
Miriam Lubling, who grew up in a small city in Poland, recalled23, “[T]he most important and most exciting events in our lives were Frau Schenirer’s visits. We awaited them impatiently. I can still see her face light up with joy whenever she heard ‘her’ little girls answering her questions correctly… Then she expressed her joy by dancing with us and singing her favorite songs.”
Mrs. Benisch recalled Sarah’s unexpected visit to a special evening program in Krakow24:
Suddenly, the door opened and Frau Schenirer entered. Even today I picture her vividly… She was tired. She had just come from the railroad station after a week of traveling… visiting Bais Yaakov schools… Her shoes were dusty, her clothing wrinkled. She placed her heavy black briefcase on the floor… [S]he came. Not to give a lecture at the seminary, not even to teach a class… just to join [her girls]—to listen to them and take pride in their accomplishments.
Sarah loved her students, and they responded in kind. Mrs. Benisch explains “the secret of Frau Schenirer’s success” as “the joy and enthusiasm that she instilled in her students” for Torah observance and serving God. “Her every action, her every mitzvah, filled her with such delight that her entire personality radiated enthusiasm and joy. The thought of doing God’s will—to help the needy, to care for the sick, to encourage the downtrodden, to give and give without limit, and to do it all with joy—simply made her ecstatic25.”
Mrs. Benisch carried her beloved teacher’s ideas and ideals through the horrors of the Holocaust and derived much strength from the memory of “Frau Schenirer with her outstretched hands and uplifted face, singing and praying26.”
Тhe second graduating class of the Bais Yaakov in Lodz, Poland, in 1934. Jewish Women's Archive. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In 1931, at age 47, Sarah married Rabbi Yitzchak Landau. Her second marriage was much happier than her first. However, it was not to last.
Towards the end of 1934, Sarah’s family and friends realized that she was very ill. Even though she did not complain and pushed herself to participate in Bais Yaakov events, she was growing weaker and thinner every day. Sarah traveled to Vienna to undergo surgery, but it was unsuccessful. When she became bedridden, she expressed her sorrow at her inability to join her Bais Yaakov students in person but continued to write to them, urging them to serve God with joy, until her passing on March 1, 1935.
Mrs. Benisch recalled that she and her friends felt “alone, orphaned27.” At the funeral, “people from all over Poland transformed the roads into a mass of black… Young and old, congregational leaders and lay people, they all came, grieving deeply, to pay their last respects…28”
In her short 51 years in this world, Sarah left a lasting impact. By the time of her death, the Bais Yaakov movement had spread throughout Poland and beyond, with 225 schools and about 36,000 students total. In the following years, it would spread beyond Europe to America and Israel. Today, there are hundreds of Bais Yaakov schools all over the world.
Sarah Schenirer's tombstone in Krakow. CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Sarah did not claim original ideas or invent anything new. Jewish schools for girls existed in Germany a generation prior, and other people had discussed opening Jewish girls’ schools in Poland. However, no one else took the practical step of opening the first school.
Mrs. Benisch recalled Sarah quoting the Ethics of the Fathers, “In a place where there are no men, try to be a man29.” Sarah would tell her students that sometimes, “there are no men to care. Then you must stand up and be the ‘man’ who takes responsibility into his own hands30.”
That is precisely what Sarah did. By taking responsibility for solving a problem that others would only bemoan, Sarah Schenirer changed the course of Jewish history and ensured that Jewish girls grow up deeply connected to Judaism.
Wonderful!
In Europe in Sarah Schneider's time the girls and women , did not get a formal Jewish education, and they drafted away from their heritage and Yeshiva boys had a problem finding a suitable shidduch, it is a miracle that some Rabbis supported her vision, this made her idea a reality, and now what she created became very big in our day and age
Beautiful article. I learned a lot I did not know. Thank you!
Wondering how. Bais Yaacov came to the states
With the Bais Yaakov students who moved to America. Look up Rebbetzin Vichna Kaplan. There is a book about her.
Thank you for writing such a wonderful and informative article about Sara Schneirer. What an amazing woman. My father A”H knew her husband. I also knew Pearl Benisch. She was was also a very amazing and wonderful woman. She wrote two books. One is called to Vanquish the Dragon and Carry Me in Your Heart.
What happened to her husband? Did he survive the Holocaust?
Though her passing at an early age was a tragic loss for her family and the Jewish people, it was, in a sense, a mercy for her. While she was doubtless familiar with the antisemitic atmosphere prevalent in Europe at the time, she was spared seeing the ultimate attempt to exterminate the children of Israel that was already brewing in Nazi Germany.
I doubt she would have deserted her community and such a proudly visible, vocal Jew would almost certainly have been swallowed into the maw of Hitler's monster when the new Teutonic barbarians swept into her country..
Sarah Schenirer saw the need and filled it. For her it was a simple concept but not an easy one. This article makes me feel like a graduate of Bais Yaacov! Thank you for sharing her story.
Rabbi Noah Weinberg, zatzal, spoke frequently about Sara Schenirer. He was tremendously inspired by her. She literally saved the Jewish people by starting a movement to educate Jewish girls.
There is a woman in our generation who has likewise changed everything.
Her name is Chana Rochel Twerski and she has created a brilliant Jewish school in Lakewood, NJ, called Bnos Bais Yaakov.
However, the Jewish boys are still being taught the old way, with many going off.
The question is: With the TU convention a week away: Will they rise to the occasion? Will they take all the funds raised and buy every single curriculum from Mrs. Twerski, grades P-8, Judaic and Secular, and inculcate it in every boys yeshiva?
Or will the boys continue to suffer in misery and ignorance?
Wealthy Jewish men pour millions into boy's education. You're wasting your money building buildings. It's meaningless. You could keep the boys in trailers. The buildings help noone. You're throwing your money into the street.
Instead, spend a day in Bnos Yaakov. Sit it on every class, Judaic and Secular. And ask yourself one question: Why isn't this exact learning going on in every single boy's yeshiva classroom, Primary - 8th grade? (Including the gorgeous toys in the Primary classrooms. Are our yeshivas orphanages that our children are treated like that?)
And the daycamps? Compare them. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
The answer is silence.
Who will be the one Askan, Menahel, Rebbi, to turn the tide? To make the call.
So we could say, if not for you, nishtakcha Torah....
Secular studies, "gorgeous toys," etc. are not the raison d'etre of yeshivah education.
Those (unfortunates!) who don't want to or can't continue putting primary emphasis on learning Torah in their youth have the option to pursue programs designed to train them for a specific career or trade anytime after high school age.
Some yeshivah students (who didn't sleep through shiurim!) even become entrepreneurs in the business world.
Far from being restrictive, solid Torah education develops sound minds.
It's unclear what axe you're grinding, but the Torah world is b"H going from strength to strength despite your gloomy prediction!
I sincerely hope your son's / sons' problems are solved within a Torah-true framework.
Thank G-d, my sons are extremely successful and remarkable students. They are smart, popular, with beautiful midos, the best of the best. (Thank G-d.)
But it saddens me that they know nothing of:
Beur tefila, the gorgeous meaning of the prayers the girls are learning. (One speaker said that girls' souls are closer to Hashem. There are lipstick stains in the siddurim but the boys whiz through the prayers. Actually, the girls are taught beautiful, deep, amazing Beur Tefila from Primary through 12th grade.)
Chumash
Navi
Parsha
Yehadus (holidays)
Gedolim (Rabbis through history)
Jewish History
And all the secular studies.
Yes, the Rabbis are amazing. But the curriculums are not.
And Mrs. Twersky's curriculum is there for the buying. No need to reinvent the wheel.
The curriculum you described above is exactly what I wanted as a child and did not get. I can't turn the clock back but I can take advantage of what is available to me right now. Believe me, I am continuing to make up for lost time. By the same token, a man can do the same thing imo.
Of course you can make up for lost time, just look at Rabbi Akiva! It's amazing that Hashem set things up that the person who did the most to keep the Torah alive through the brutal Roman persecutions, and who set the stage for the spiritual survival of the Jewish people in exile, only got started READING at age 40! It must be to teach us that it's never too late to start now. It was also his wife who "discovered" him and his potential, so apropos Sarah Schenirer.
This is not about the Rabbis and teachers who teach in the yeshivas. They are wonderful, exemplary people who work really hard. Hats off to them.
If someone would buy the whole curriculum from Bnos Yaakov, that would be ideal.
Or:
Send a letter out to the parents that the school is embarking on a new, exciting curriculum and each parent needs to send in $300 (either with one cc or 3 checks).
Then begin:
1. Teach the Ani Maamin songs
2. The Shir HaMaalos songs
3. Beur Tefila curriculum, P-8
Three Months Later, add:
4. Parsha program
5. Yehadus program
Next Year:
6. Chumash Curriculum, P-8
7. Lamed Tes Melachos
8. Brachos program
Everything is extremely teachable and broken down into simple steps. Everything is taught with songs, chants, etc. Learning is alot of fun.
It may well be chillul Hashem (desecration of the Name) to declare that learning His Torah makes yeshivah boys miserable and ignorant!
You apparently have no idea about the holiness of Torah learning nor, moreover, how the give & take of Talmudic analysis develops critical thinking and sharpens minds.
Are you even aware that many non-Jews try to learn Gemara because they've discerned that's the source of the enviable success of Jewish endeavors in every area of knowledge?
Sure, there's always room for improvement in education, as in any field, and that's what Torah U'mesorah conventions are all about.
So if you have a constructive idea, go ahead and present it. But kindly refrain from rudely attacking a system you don't understand or appreciate.
Yes, Gemara learning is indescribably unbelievable. But are you aware that chinuch.org has flashcards of the 300 most common words in Gemara?
Do you know what it would do for struggling students (and non-struggling students) to learn these flashcards with their Rebbe for 10 minutes a day?
Do you know what it would do for Mesivta and Bais Medrash students to learn Chumash with all tge mefarshim, Navi with Mefarshim, Halacha, Berta Tefila?
It wouopen their eyes to a whole, new world.
In all fairness, most boys (yeshiva) elementary schools and many high schools do, although not as much as the girls (for girls this is the Judaic curriculum.) You are right that at the Beis Medrash level it isn't official, but there are and always were boys who pursued such studies on their own after seder, and there are Yeshivos that even encourage it to some extent, such as Torah Vodaas for example. Additional help for struggling students is far more common in Yeshiva elementary schools today. A lot depends on which school you send your kids to.
Personally, as a Bais Yaakov graduate, I had a great experience in school. yet with 4 brothers under me, I often feel jealous of the breadth of knowledge in Torah the boys receive, and in the Hebrew, yiddish and aramaic skills they acquire in school. The skills they learn enable them to access the vast world of torah on all different topics. and also allows them to communicate with many jews.