Background
Sarah Schenirer was born in Krakow, Poland on July 15, 1883 to Bezalel Schenirer (born in Tarnów) and Reizel. In her memoirs, she describes herself as the unassuming and withdrawn daughter of Belzer Hasidic parents.
Sarah Schenirer was born in Krakow, Poland on July 15, 1883 to Bezalel Schenirer (born in Tarnów) and Reizel. In her memoirs, she describes herself as the unassuming and withdrawn daughter of Belzer Hasidic parents.
She attended school until the age of thirteen, but could not continue because her family was poor.
In 1917, she established the Bais Yaakov (lit "house of Jacob") school network in Poland. She became a seamstress. When one client was unusually particular about the measurements of her dress, Schenirer wrote in her diary: "People are such perfectionists when it comes to clothing their bodies.
Are they so particular when they address themselves to the needs of their soul?" After the outbreak of World War I in 1914 she moved to Vienna.
There she learned from the weekly teachings of Rabbi Moshe Flesh in shul, he recommended Sarah to learn also from the teachings of Rabbi Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, which she did. She returned to Krakow early the next year, where the inspiration she received in Vienna led her to organize a group of girls and teach them Jewish studies.
Furthermore, she instilled in her students a love for the Torah and excitement to do mitzvos. Her sensitivity and care for others were something her students strove to emulate.
She succeeded in overcoming initial resistance against this new type of school and saw rapid development of about 300 schools in pre Holocaust Europe.
Her initiative was approved by the leading rabbis of the times, such as the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter and Rabbi Yisrael Meir Hakohen (known as "the Chofetz Chaim"). In 1923 Schenirer set up a teachers" seminary to train staff for her rapidly expanding network of schools. The main goal of the schools was "to train Jewish daughters so that they will serve the Lord with all their might and with all their hearts.
So that they will fulfill the commandments of the Torah with sincere enthusiasm and will know that they are the children of a people whose existence does not depend upon a territory of its own, as do other nations of the world whose existence is predicated upon a territory and similar racial background." When she died in 1935, more than 200 Bais Yaakov schools were teaching approximately 35,000 girls.
In her will, she wrote: "My dear girls, you are going out into the great world. Your task is to plant the holy seed in the souls of pure children.
In a sense, the destiny of Israel of old is in your hands.".
She was intelligent and had a strong desire to learn.
