Note on Content:

The articles assembled here represent stories about Bais Yaakov in various publications.

The newspapers and journals in which these stories appeared represent the wide range of the interwar press, from serious journalism to lowbrow sensationalism, and spanning from the Orthodox to secular (or anti-religious) segments of Polish Jewish society.

While the Orthodox press ordinarily spoke of Bais Yaakov with enormous enthusiasm and respect, that is less true for the popular daily press, where Bais Yaakov was often taken as an object of curiosity and amusement.

In at least one case, the 1933 Heyntige nayes story of Sarah Schenirer writing a movie script for Bais Yaakov production, the “report” seems to have been either a fabrication or a transparent joke.

For a brief description of each newspaper mentioned, see the JPRESS website. We thank JPRESS for permission to present material from their searchable digitization of the historical Jewish press.

June 9, 1941

June 9, 1941

See on JPRESS ...
July 29, 1941

July 29, 1941

See on JPRESS ...
August 1, 1941

August 1, 1941

Report on Tel Aviv Bais Yaakov: The article describes the history and character of Bet Ya'akov in Tel Aviv, and in Palestine more generally ...
January 8, 1943

January 8, 1943

<strong>93 Choose Suicide Before Nazi Shame</strong>: News about a letter said to have been written by one of 93 Bais Yaakov girls who martyred themselves rather than be taken as prostitutes by the Nazis ...
October 25, 1943

October 25, 1943

In Memory of the 93 Holy Martyrs: Fundraising effort in honor of the 93 martyrs of Warsaw, organized by Bais Yaakov in London. Money sent to Palestine, with half dedicated to the Tehran orphans ...
August 9, 1945

August 9, 1945

Call from the Bais Yaakov Teachers in Bergen-Belsen: A powerful and moving letter, on the front page of the organ of Po'alei Agudath Israel in Palestine, signed by Rivkah Horowitz, describing the plight of Orthodox women in the hell of the Holocaust and asking for help, "not out of pity," for the Bais Yaakov teachers among the survivors in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp. Among the things they need are religious texts ...
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