Studying Torah 9

Sarah Schenirer (1883-1935) brought about a total reassessment of Torah education for women. A seamstress by profession, she was devastated by the growing secularism in her native Poland. Jewish girls and women, especially, with little or no Torah education, were leaving in droves for what they perceived to be greener pastures. Making far reaching changes in the Jewish community always upsets many, but she felt it was essential to establish elementary and secondary Torah education for girls. She founded a school, known as Beth Jacob (or Beis Yaakov), where students could learn the basics of a secular education, plus gain an in depth Torah education, that would keep them both Jewish and observant in a rapidly changing world. Most rabbis were scandalized at this innovation. According to the usual narrative ArtScrroll and the like),  she received the approval and support of three major figures; the Chafetz Chaim, the leader of most non-Hasidic Jewry in Europe, as well as the Hasidic Rebbes of Gur and Belz. This is in keeping with the doctrine of Daat Torah (concerning which I have another series), that nothing may be done without the approval of the "Gedolim" ("great ones") of the generation.  Recently, I learned that this was totally untrue. She had NO support.The above mentioned rabbis only gave her their approval several years later, when her program proved to be a success. I am astounded by this woman's bravery and foresight. Soon, Beth Jacob schools opened across Europe, as well as spreading to America. These schools remained generally independent, their only unity being in their devotion to the model created by Sara Schenirer. After a while, seminaries of higher learning were set up in the Beth Jacob model. Teachers for other Beth Jacob schools were being produced. It is not an exaggeration to say that she saved Judaism. Many Hasidic groups produced their own schools following the same basic structure, but usually de-emphasizing secular studies, keeping them to the minimum required by law in their countries, but educating the girls well in the ways of their own communities. All girls' schools were careful NOT to include Talmud in their curriculum, bearing in mind the warning against teaching women "subtlety". Even halachah was not taught from sources. Rather, the girls learned only those halachot that were seen as applying to them, from pages of "Dinim"; lists of rules and regulations. Despite these limitations, Beth Jacob schools represented, and remain, a great leap forward. In the Chabad movement, the Rebbes emphasized that since women are also commanded to love and fear G-d, this is virtually impossible without the teachings of Hasidism (Chassidus). Therefore, Chabad girls' schools delve deeply into Hasidic texts, which, of course, include much of the Kabbalah. This can be seen, albeit to a lesser degree, in many other Hasidic girls' schools. The schools of the Stoliner Hasidim, put the emphasis on character development rather than other Jewish studies. A major innovation in Modern Orthodox education for girls came at the insistence of  J.B. Soloveichic, that in the present-day situation. anyone who does NOT teach his daughter Talmud and halachah, teaches her "tiflut". She will not survive "out there", without a complete knowledge of Judaism. His own Maimonides School in Boston is coeducational, with boys and girls studying Talmud together, as well as studying halachah from written sources, not from a list of some educator's opinions. This pattern has, to varying degrees, been accepted in Modern Orthodox schools everywhere. Although this was not what Sarah Schenirer envisioned, none of this would have been possible if not for her vision and fortitude. While there is still a long way to go, Orthodox Jewish women are no longer in the shadows. Torah belongs to all Israel, regardless of gender.