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Bais Yaakov (Hebrew:בית יעקב,romanized: Beit Ya’akov, alsoBeis Yaakov,Beit Yaakov,Beth Jacob orBeys Yankev;lit. 'House [of] Jacob') is agenericized name for full-timeHaredi Jewish elementary and secondary schools for girls worldwide.
Bais Yaakov, started bySarah Schenirer in post-World War IKraków, was at the time a revolutionary approach to Jewish women's education. The schools have risen to prominence in Haredi communities withinOrthodox Judaism, with branches located worldwide in every Jewish community with a significant population.
While many of these schools carry the Bais Yaakov name, they are not necessarily affiliated, though they may be for other reasons.
The Bais Yaakov movement was started by seamstressSarah Schenirer in 1917 inKraków, Poland.[1] The first school building survives as apartments, and is marked with a bronze plaque.
While boys attendedcheder andTalmud Torah schools (and in some casesyeshivas), at that time, there was no formalized system ofJewish education for girls and youngJewish women.
Schenirer saw that there was a high rate of assimilation among girls due to the vast secular influences of the non-Jewish schools that the girls were then attending. Sarah Schenirer concluded that only providing young Jewish women with a thorough, school-based Jewish education would effectively combat this phenomenon. She started a school of her own, trained other women to teach, and set up similar schools in other cities throughout Europe.
She obtained the approval ofYisrael Meir Kagan (author ofChofetz Chaim), who issued aresponsum holding that contemporary conditions required departing from traditional prohibitions on teaching women Torah and accepting the view that it was permitted. Following the Chofetz Chaim's approbation, the Bais Yaakov Movement in Poland was taken under the wing ofAgudath Israel. Additionally, Schenirer sought and received approbation fromHasidic rabbis as well, most notably theBelzer Rebbe and theGerrer Rebbe.[2]Judith Grunfeld was persuaded to assist Schenirer. The original Bais Yaakov was a seminary of sorts, intended to train girls to themselves become teachers and spread the Bais Yaakov movement. Grunfeld would lead the seminary from 1924 to 1929.[3]
Girls who were taught in the Bais Yaakov movement used their education as psychological support to survive World War II andthe Holocaust.[4]
Besides elementary and high schools, there are also post-secondary schools in the Bais Yaakov system, usually referred to as 'seminaries'. These run various courses, generally lasting between one and three years.
The name Bais Yaakov comes from a verse in theBook of Exodus in which the expression "House of Jacob" is understood byJewish commentaries on the Bible to refer to the female segment of theJewish nation: Moses is instructed to "say to thehouse of Jacob, and tell thechildren of Israel", where the parallel expressions are interpreted as referring respectively to the female and male segments.[5]
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The educational policies of most Bais Yaakov schools worldwide is generally that ofHaredi Judaism and theAgudath Israel movement. In accordance with the differences between the Israeli and Diaspora Haredi communities, there are slight variations in outlook and philosophy between Israeli, American, and European Bais Yaakov schools. Israeli Bais Yaakov schools tend to de-emphasize the secular content of the curriculum, whereas in North America and Europe, the girls frequently receive a more diverse secular education. Large cities may have several Bais Yaakov schools, each with small variations in philosophy, typically over the importance placed on secular studies and/or accommodations made to secular values.
Students are required to uphold a dress code or wear uniforms which conform to the rules oftznius (modesty). Uniforms differ from school to school, but typically consist of a long pleated skirt,oxford shirt, and sweater or sweatshirt.
The schools' primary purpose is to prepare students to be contributors to family and community, as good Jews, wives, professionals, and mothers.
Secular studies sometimes reflect government proficiency requirements in such subjects as math, science, literature, and history in their respective countries. But extracurricular activities have, since the movement's earliest days, reflected a careful willingness to adopt and adapt secular practices that could enhance the educational experience, e.g., community theater, albeit tailored to Haredi values and mores.[6][7]
Most non-Hasidic Bais Yaakov schools in America teachJudaic studies in the mornings and a college preparatory program of secular studies in the afternoons. Judaic studies usually include study ofChumash (Pentateuch),Nevi'im (Prophets), and other parts of theHebrew Bible; and instruction in theHebrew language, inJewish history, and the study of practicalhalakha (Jewish law), sometimes directly from the text, and other times as a summary of classichalakha sources.
One of the tenets ofOrthodox Judaism is that it is impossible to fully understand the writtenTorah without the Jewish commentaries; so, Bais Yaakov girls are taught theTanakh through this approach. A major focus is onRashi, considered the foremost Torah commentator.
The curriculum of Bais Yaakov differs from that of male-only yeshivas, where the core component of study is theTalmud. Girls in Bais Yaakov schools do not typically learn law from the text of the Talmud itself, but may study its non-legal portions ofaggadah (homiletics). This contrasts with the approach of manyModern OrthodoxJewish day schools, which increasingly teach Talmud to women.
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Branches exist in most North American cities with largepopulations of Orthodox Jews, including New York City, Boston, Montreal, Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver,St. Louis, Toronto,Lakewood,Passaic,Monsey.
Bais Yaakov-type schools exist in most Israeli cities, and are also found in major Jewish centers in Europe, such as London,Manchester,Antwerp, Paris,Aix-les-Bains and Moscow, and in several other Jewish centers around the world, includingJohannesburg, Buenos Aires,São Paulo andMelbourne.
Pre-war locations included over 260 towns and cities in Poland, with its central teachers' seminary in Kraków.
Schools for girls within the Hasidic world generally share much of the same values, outlook, methodology, and aims of the non-Hasidic Haredi schools. However, they may place a greater emphasis onthe teachings of their individual HasidicRebbes, and the instruction of religious subjects may be conducted inYiddish, which is still the home language for most Hasidic families in New York today.
In Israel, nearly all of the Haredi schools for girls operate within one of three educational systems; these schools utilize the Israeli Ministry of Education's core curriculum, and most take the requisite Bagrut high school matriculation exams.[8][9]
Schools for young Hasidic girls which are not part of the Bais Yaakov movement take names such as:
These schools (excepting Chabad) follow a different curriculum of Judaic studies, which is less text-based, and more focused on practical knowledge, than the curriculum in other schools. Within their communities, these schools are usually referred to as offering educational pi taharas kodesh, roughly translating as "holy, pure education".
Several Hasidic groups, also, extend their program to the"Seminary" level, where women train for two years to certify as teachers, in parallel with furtherTorah study.
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