Two weeks ago, I wrote about the rare artifacts that survive from the post-war period in Europe. One of the…
An Object: Among the few items my parents brought with them from Europe when they emigrated to America is a…
“Whatever strategic impulses may have led Schenirer to avoid discussing what Rabbi Eliezer may have thought of her enterprise, she helped construct an alternative value system that shaped my own attitude to the Jewish library…”
Confession: My area of specialization is not Bais Yaakov. My knowledge of Bais Yaakov’s history comes from my work on…
“But what if the effect is not entirely negative?
What if gender segregation was also an engine for spiritual energy and community cohesiveness for girls, as it seems to often be for boys and men?”
“Sources like student publications, class notes, and teachers’ lesson plans are equally as important. They demonstrate what happened in schools in great detail, while official documents tend to provide a much broader picture.”
“We now have a photo of Sarah Schenirer, one she would have fought to keep away from prying eyes. What are the ethics of showing it?”
It was no surprise that the intellectuals my father described, who inhabited the margins on the Agudah, are also the ones most likely to show up in the history of Bais Yaakov.
“…I was pretty surprised to read a report in a 1933 issue of the Bais Yaakov Journal about a girls’ camp commissioning a Torah scroll.”
After a summer hiatus during which we strategized and brainstormed (and wrote grant applications), we’re back with more material from…