Sarah Schenirer: 90th Yahrzeit

Tomorrow (March 26) the Jewish world marks Sarah Schenirer’s 90th yahrzeit, 26 Adar (I). Sample this relevant content in the TRADITION Archives:

Sarah Imenu – as she was known within the Beis Yaakov movement she founded – is celebrated today by the traditionalist rightwing as well as the feminist left. That’s a good indicator that there’s more complexity underlying her life and educational initiative than we usually think. Jackie Rosensweig spelled it out for us in her review of Naomi Seidman‘s important book, Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement : A Revolution in the Name of Tradition (Littman Library), in our Winter 2020 issue: “What made the [Bais Yaakov] movement revolutionary was the way in which it rewrote the script for Jewish girlhood, and prescribed that Orthodox primary education, including in Torah studies, was to be the standard experience.” Read it here.

When it comes to schooling, is the primary mission to transmit content (which in our day we see this being done by remote), or is their central purpose to provide social stimulation, experiences, and a sense of community, none of which can be replaced by a Zoom session? The question applies to historians of education as well. When studying a school or educational movement, how much focus should be on the educational content, and how much on the community and experiences created by the school system? In a TraditionOnline column Channa Lockshin Bob explored this question through the prism of a trove of early Bais Yaakov student notebooks housed at the National Library of Israel. Explore the archives here.

In The Rebellion of the Daughters (Princeton University Press) historian Rachel Manekin performed a brilliant work of detection, revealing to her readers the inner lives of Beis Yaakov students in pre-World War I Habsburg Galicia who left their traditional Orthodox homes for life in the Catholic Church. In an episode of the Tradition Podcast we brought together Manekin and Beverly Gribetz, who had reviewed the book in our pages. Together they discuss the book, the world it explores, and its meaning contemporary Jewish life and education. Listen here.