Sarah Schnerer- she is an inspiration

disneyland

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 1:32 am

Just wanted to make a thread on the wonderful Sara Schnerer
Are there any plays your school did on her?
We love her. How can we learn more about her and be the best students of her that we could be.
What do you think she would want this generation to do?

amother

Silver

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 1:47 am

Have you read the book about her “carry me in your heart”? It’s beautiful!

disneyland

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 3:23 am

That's very special

Raisin

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 4:58 am

I like how she just went around doing what she believed in despite so much opposition, and eventually won everyone over. What is interesting is that she is not the first person who tried to do what she did, but she succeeeded on a much larger scale.

Also, this is really interesting - originally she wanted to inspire the young women of Cracow who were going OTD. So she started lectures and so on to inspire them. But she saw she wasnt going to change them, it was too late. Then she decided to start a school for little girls - but she needed teachers, so started training the older girls to teach. Ultimitely it was these young teachers whose lives she ended up changing so much and inspiring so deeply.

What I learn from Sarah Shenirer:

1. You can accomplish so much in life even if you never marry or have children, or perhaps, espcially if you never marry and have children. But I am happy to live in an era that you can marry, have children AND change the world (outside your home) for the better. From what I understand, S.S. never really wanted to marry. Here is an extract from a book about her, quoting her diary. 'In a 1910 diary entry described as ‘the last daybefore my wedding’, she laments the bitter fate that will keep her from acting on her long-cherished dream: When I think about that, I just can’t stop crying. But maybe I should be brave enough to say: ‘No! I don’t want to!’ Only you, you my diary, allow me to express it all, even as you keep silent, stubbornly silent. And my ideal, somewhere in my soul, is only to work for my sisters! Oh, if I could only persuade them one day what it means to be a true Jewish woman, who doesn’t do things just because of her mother or because she’s afraid of her father, but only out of true love for the Creator himself, who has elevated us above all of the nations and sanctified us with his commandments. Ah! If I could manage to do that, I would be so happy, a hundred times happier than any millionaire. Have I lost my mind? Now, in this era of progress, I dream about something like that.'

2. Change comes from within. Do you want to change your community? Solve the agunah issue? Improve educational standards? Do it from within. Leaving the community and writing OP-Eds in the NYT is less likely to acheive change then staying within it.

PinkFridge

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 9:25 am

disneyland wrote:

I saw a play based on Sarah Birnhack's novel Promise Me Tomorrow.

Yes, there are wonderful books. I'd also had Rebbetzin Feldbrand's children's bio, as well as books about Rebbetzin Dr. Grunfeld, such as The Queen of Bais Yaakov.

There are so many lessons in her life:
1. Yes, we can be servants of Hashem and do great things in our lives regardless of our marital status. And we're not all doing the big stuff. The ordinary lives of kiddush Hashem are remarkable too, and Sarah Schenirer would be proud to call such women her talmidos.
2. Curiosity about life and love and appreciation of Hashem's Torah. She was inspired by the divrei Torah of a rav - Rav Hirsch - given by a rav not of her community. We should be open to Torah from all authentic sources.
3. Humility. She knew she would need help and surrounded herself with people who were from a different culture, with more book learning and education, and they were full partners in getting Bais Yaakov going.

Besides the girls who were going OTD, if you read the serial Rocking Horse you know about the horrific white slave trade going on. Girls were so vulnerable, in so many ways. Strong Jewish education kept their Yiddishkeit fresh and empowered these girls. Let's learn from Frau Schenirer to be mechazek each other in uplifting ways.

disneyland

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 2:55 pm

thank you so much for these inspirational posts. It is so special. I love hearing the inspiration she is still giving today B"H

disneyland

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 3:05 pm

This means so much to me that you posted. I will read and reread these posts. thank you.
feel free to keep posting on this topic. As a Bais Yaakov graduate it is very special to me.

wiki

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 3:40 pm

Sarah Schenirer wrote essays constantly in the Bais Yaakov Journal about how luxury and materialism turned girls away from real Torah values. She wouldn't recognize the community that now venerates her name.

That aside, she's a super inspiring figure. She managed to make being counter-cultural cool and really shifted the cultural paradigm for teenagers.

Anyone who can do that is pretty amazing.

SuperWify

Fri, Apr 30 2021, 6:09 pm

She is very inspiring to me because she did what she believed was right going against many rabbis at that time. I can’t imagine anyone doing that nowadays!

Chickensoupprof

Sat, May 01 2021, 6:06 pm

I loved the book Carry me in your heart. She is an inspiration and we should carry her in our hearts.