Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov schools she founded in interwar Poland. Bais Yaakov had been controversial among Orthodox Jews at the outset. Even after it had become a fait accompli, discussions about its legitimacy continued, and continue to the present day. Sarah Schenirer was seen by some in the Orthodox community as a dangerous innovator, and had thus faced opposition, which she turned into support. She was a brave and determined pioneer who stood up to elements within her own community, and may even be seen as having saved Orthodoxy by making a place in it for girls and women. This book deals with the interplay and tensions in the Bais Yaakov movement between tradition and innovation, radicalism and piety. This tension manifests itself not only in the question of the character of Bais Yaakov, as a new phenomenon devoted to Jewish tradition and continuity, but also in the role of its founder.