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.
The Agudah on the Difficult Problem of Girls' Education: A thoughtful and respectful analysis of Bais Yaakov by the secular feminist Rochel Feigenberg, describing the influence of Hirschian Orthodoxy on the movement, its successes, the fascination of other women with the phenomenon, and the difficulty of allowing girls only a certain amount of access to Jewish sources ...
Sarah Schenirer in Kalisz: Description of Sarah Schenirer's visit to the Kalisz Bais Yaakov, where she witnessed the examination of the students, gave an inspiring talk to a women's gathering, and participated in a lively banquet that lasted until 2 a.m ...
From the Modern Women's World: Report on Sarah Schenirer's perspective on the recent Jewish women's conference in Hamburg (she did not agree with their perspective on the Agunah), and on her upcoming trip to the World Congress in Vienna, where she intended to speak on girls' education and other issues ...
Of Cities and Towns: Small town news about Bais Yaakov teachers in Probizhna, Ukraine: reports about the difficulties in finding and keeping good and frum teachers; one turned out to be less than ideally religious, and another "the German girl," turned out not to know any Yiddish ...
What's the Status of A Bais Yaakov School with All Subjects? Editorial on the still unfulfilled need for a full-day Bais Yaakov in Shedletz (Siedlice) ...
