The Bais Yaakov Journal

The Bais Yaakov Journal

The Bais Yaakov Journal was a publication of Bais Yaakov and the Agudah. It was edited by Eliezer Gershon Friedenson, from his office in Łódź, and it appeared monthly (or sometimes more often) from 1923 to 1939. A Polish supplement accompanied the Yiddish journal beginning in 1924. The Polish supplement was discontinued in 1929, when Bais Yaakov embraced Orthodox Yiddishism (see bio of Solomon Shlyome Birnbaum). Below are links to selected issues, digitized and presented here with generous permission from YIVO. (Some issues are missing from the YIVO archives.)

We have provided summaries of the highlights of each issue, but along with these were regular features, including:

  • reflections by Sarah Schenirer on the parsha, Jewish holidays, and Bais Yaakov topics in nearly every issue
  • letters to the editor
  • a column by ELiezer Gershon Friedensohn called “From Month to Month”
  • an advice column called “Sister to Sister”
  • book reviews
  • announcements about Bais Yaakov events
  • reports from local Bais Yaakovs and Bnos chapters
  • announcements of births, engagements, marriages, and deaths
  • advertisements.

Some of the regular journal topics came and went. For instance, in the late 1920s, Bais Yaakov published Yiddish translations of poetry by Rabindranath Tagore in nearly every issue, participating in the general European passion for his poetry.

As part of the ongoing nature of the Bais Yaakov Project, we will finish uploading the print runs of the Bais Yaakov Journal though 1939, and add the print runs of the Bais Yaakov Ruf (Lithuania), Bet Yaakov (Israel), and Beth Jacob (United States).

We also plan to translate the Yiddish, Polish, and Hebrew journals. If you would like to contribute your time and expertise, please contact us

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 43 (1929)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 43 (1929)

  • Report on the successes and resolutions of the Second Bnos conference
  • Partial list of the delegates and where they came from
  • Official greetings from distinguished Agudah leaders
  • Photos of the event
  • Records of the major speeches
  • Minutes of the discussions and resolutions
  • Aside from resolutions involving the organization of Bnos, the conference also resolved to encourage the use solely of Yiddish in Bnos, and ...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 44 (1929)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 44 (1929)

  • Focus on the “Jewish girls’ holiday” of Tu Be’av
  • Article on teaching by the Seminary teacher Chava Landsberg
  • List of the 100 Bnos representatives elected at the conference
  • Text of the speech on style Sarah Schenirer delivered at the conference
  • Text of a speech on Bnos’s socioeconomic goals delivered by Rayzel Roze at the conference
  • A brief notice outlines requirements for applicants to the ...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 45 (1929)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 45 (1929)

  • The front page announces that, due to the lack of good Orthodox literature, a contest for the best original work will be held, with a first prize (donated by the Vienna Bais Yaakov office), of 1000 zlotes.
  • Among the categories sought are a retelling of the fight against the Haskalah, stories and poems for children, plays suitable for Bais Yaakov performance and a Bais ...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 46 (1929)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 46 (1929)

  • “Bais Yaakov at the Second World Congress of Agudath Israel!”
  • The issue describes the participation of both male and female Bais Yaakov activists at the Congress, the excitement at the founding of Neshei Agudath Israel, and a visit to the Bais Yaakov of Vienna (where the Congress was held).
  • What may be the text of Sarah Schenirer’s speech at the Women’s Congress (although it ...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 47 (1929)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 47 (1929)

  • Continuation of the coverage of the World Congress
  • Photos and reports from both the main event and the women’s conference
    • See the photo of the dais at the women conference, with the figures identified, here.
  • Literature contest is announced again
  • Three plays, suitable for Bais Yaakov performance, are advertised at the back of the issue
...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 48 (1929)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 48 (1929)

  • The efforts to raise money for the Kraków Seminary building are a major focus of this issue.
  • Further entries from Sarah Schenirer’s diary,
  • Poems, legends, and short stories, in keeping with the journal’s new focus on literature
...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 49 (1929-1930)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 49 (1929-1930)

  • Article about ongoing fundraising efforts for the Bnos movement, and a fundraising advertisement by the central office of Bnos Agudath Israel in Poland
  • Entries from Sarah Schenirer’s diary  
  • Various texts for the holiday of Hanukkah: An article by R. Yehuda Leib Graubart, two poems by Eliezer Schindler and Ben Peles, a short story by M. Feigenbaum, and an article by Moshe Tzinovitz about women ...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 50-51 (1930)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 50-51 (1930)

  • A special double issue celebrating the 50th issue of the journal. Various contributors congratulate the work of the Bais Yaakov journal on this occasion: Sarah Schenirer, Eliezer Gershon Friedensohn, A. B. Ackermann, A. M. Rogowy, Wolf Jacobson, and Esther Shoshana.  
  • Pictures of the staff of the Bais Yaakov journal
  • Stories by: L. Schiff, Yechiel Feiner, Ayal, Leib Feingold, Shmuel Nadler, and B. Sokolow. A ...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 53 (1930)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 53 (1930)

  • Announcement by "Bais Yaakov" Press in Lodz of a new anthology of Orthodox writings: on Orthodox ideology, different movements and parties, Torah and Talmud commentary, and essays about literature
  • Further entries from Sarah Schenirer’s diary (continued from issue 49)
  • The first chapter of The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln (continued in issues 53-69)
  • Articles on Passover by Yehuda Leib Tsirelson, Rabbi Chaim ...
Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 52 (1930)

Bais Yaakov Journal Issue 52 (1930)

  • A report on the first Bais Yaakov Conference in Warsaw, including photographs; and a resolutions made in that forum’ and reports on two Bnos conferences, in Pułtusk, and Bełchatów
  • Short stories by V. Leichter and Benjamin Mintz, Benjamin Zusman, Yechiel Feiner, and Eliezer Schindler
  • An essay by R. Avraham Eisenberg on the figure of Esther
  • An essay by Mordechai Baumberg on Torah study for ...