How A WOMAN saved Ultra Orthodox Judaism: The fascinating story of Sarah Schenirer

Picture a seamstress in Krakow, Poland, in the early 1900s, watching young Jewish girls drift away from their faith. That was Sarah Schenirer, born in 1883 to a Hasidic family. She saw a problem: girls had no access to Torah education, and secular schools were pulling them toward modern ideas, away from Orthodoxy.

Instead of standing by, she started the Bais Yaakov school system, giving girls a place to learn Judaism and stay connected to their roots. Her work did more than just help Ultra Orthodox Judaism survive; it gave women a central role in keeping it strong.

Schenirer grew up in a religious home where boys studied Talmud, but girls like her got little formal Jewish education. She went to Polish elementary school and read Yiddish religious books from her father, always wishing she could learn like her brothers. During World War I, her family moved to Vienna, where she heard Rabbi Moshe Flesch speak about the importance of Jewish women in history. His words stuck with her. By 1917, back in Krakow, she knew she had to do something.

At the time, Ultra Orthodox girls were caught in a tough spot. Secular schools offered knowledge but often led them away from tradition. Movements like Zionism and socialism were gaining traction, and without a strong Jewish foundation, many girls left Orthodoxy.

Schenirer, then a divorced dressmaker, decided to act. She started small, teaching a few girls in her apartment after school. Using Chumash, Tanakh, songs, and stories, she made Judaism feel alive and meaningful, focusing on pride and connection, not strict rules (although she taught those, too).

Her classes caught on fast. By 1923, Agudat Israel, a major Ultra Orthodox group, saw the value in her work and helped her grow. With support from educators like Leo Deutschlaender, Bais Yaakov became a network of schools across Poland and beyond.

By the 1930s, over 300 schools taught tens of thousands of girls, with teacher training programs, a journal, youth groups, and summer camps. Schenirer’s vision created a whole world for girls, mixing Hasidic warmth, structured learning, and even bits of the era’s feminist and socialist ideas, reshaped to fit Torah values.

Her schools changed everything. Girls who might have left Judaism stayed, finding purpose and community. Students called her “Sarah Imeinu,” Our Mother Sarah, because she guided them like a parent. In 1933, she published Gizamelte Shriftn (Collected Writings), one of the first religious books by a modern Jewish woman, showing her influence as a thinker. She stepped back from leading Bais Yaakov that same year and died of cancer in 1935 at 51, but her work lived on.

The Holocaust destroyed many Bais Yaakov schools, but survivors carried Schenirer’s vision forward. After the war, they rebuilt in Israel, the United States, and elsewhere, using her model to educate Ultra Orthodox women. Today, Bais Yaakov schools are a cornerstone of Haredi life, and places like the Sara Schenirer Institute in New York continue her mission, helping Orthodox women pursue higher education.

Not everyone loved her ideas at first. Some Ultra Orthodox leaders worried that educating girls would weaken tradition. Schenirer proved them wrong, showing that teaching girls strengthened Judaism. She wasn’t trying to be a feminist; she wanted to protect Orthodoxy. Still, she gave women a bigger role in religious life, quietly changing a male dominated world.

Her schools were about joy and love for Judaism, not control. She gave girls the tools to live their faith proudly, showing that tradition could adapt without breaking.

In 2005, when her tombstone in Krakow was restored, a Bais Yaakov leader in Jerusalem said her memory wasn’t just in stone; it was in the hearts of those she inspired. That sums up Schenirer’s legacy: a woman who, with faith and determination, made sure Ultra Orthodox Judaism thrived by empowering its daughters.

The Bais Yaakov movement educates hundreds of thousands of young women, even today, as her memory and her teachings shine s so bright.