Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement

‘Naomi Seidman is uniquely qualified to write the definitive biography of Sarah Schenirer… Seidman portrays Schenirer as a learned, charismatic educator, worthy of being taken seriously in the field of modern Jewish thought… I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Jewish women’s education or allied fields.’
Debbie Weissman, Nashim

‘Naomi Seidman’s book fills a void in the study of modern Jewish history… This book is a building block in the future research of Orthodoxy and opens new frontiers for scholarship.’
Ilan Fuchs, The Lehrhaus

‘Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement, which so many have been waiting for, does not disappoint. Only after seeing how significant Sarah Schenirer was can we both wonder why it took so long for a rigorous study of Bais Yaakov to appear, and realise how appreciative we have to be to Seidman for removing the veil of hagiography from this subject.’
Marc B. Shapiro, Shofar

‘An extremely valuable aspect of the book is its broad context, which allows the reader to see Schenirer’s work against the background of the changes taking place at that time not only within Orthodox Judaism itself but also in the emergent feminist, socialist, Zionist, and Yiddishist movements.’
Joanna Lisek, Shofar

‘By combining her thoughtful monograph with a full translation of Schenirer’s available Yiddish writings, Seidman has made these important documents widely available in English for the first time… her nuanced portrait will only encourage other scholars to delve further into the many unanswered questions surrounding a movement that she has amply and subtly shown to be “a revolution in the name of tradition.”’
Eliyana R. Adler, Shofar

‘Seidman’s study brings women’s voices back to the centre of the history of Orthodoxy. Much of the reason that women have been overlooked in the study of Orthodoxy has been the subjects that scholars and fields of study define as worthy of attention. As Seidman’s study reveals there is an abundance of data and archives to present a full—not simply a male—history of Orthodoxy.’
Eliyahu Stern, Shofar

’[Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement] serves as an important first major study of a figure and a movement that marked a significant shift in the position of Orthodox women… Seidman writes with passion, scholarship, and lucid prose.’
Jackie Rosensweig, Tradition

‘Professor Seidman recounts stories, legends, and myths about Schenirer. Here is a towering figure, a revolutionary who changed Jewish Orthodoxy, but who also embodied the values that tradition associated with femininity: simplicity, humbleness, and maternal care… We have empirical proof: Bais Yaakov gave birth to many ethically engaged, Jewish-educated women, among them, Naomi Seidman, author, scholar, and feminist.’
Brian Horowitz, H-Judaic

Fascinating new book … Seidman is one of the most interesting scholars working in Jewish studies today.’
Rokhl Kafrissen, Tablet Magazine

Naomi Seidman is the Chancellor Jackman Professor in the Arts at the University of Toronto. She was previously the Koret Professor of Jewish Culture at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016. Her previous books include Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation (2006) and The Marriage Plot; or, How Jews Fell in Love with Love, and with Literature (2016).

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