Was Sarah Schneirer divorced?

RN613

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 12:43 pm

I've always been curious about Sarah Schneirer, since I've found very little written about her life other than that she was the founder of the Bais Yaakov movement and she never had children. I recently heard that the reason she never had children was that she was divorced and remarried later in life. Does anyone know if this is true? Also where I can read more about her? I find her very inspiring and mysterious.

May

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 12:47 pm

Very little is written about her personal life. The book "Carry me in your heart" is a good resource, but still doesn't go into depth about her personal life.

Ema of 5

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 12:51 pm

She was divorced, although I don’t know when. According to Wikipedia she founded her first afternoon school in 1917, and she passed away in 1935. It says she was born in 1883, but I don’t know for sure. I believe she remarried, but I think it was later in life, and it could be by then she was “too old” to have kids. She died in 1935, at the age of 51, but I’m not sure how long before that she remarried.
I think there’s really not much written about her.

ra_mom

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 12:55 pm

She was married to s/o Nussbaum for 3 years. 20 years later she married s/o Landau. They were married for about 4-5 years before she unfortunately died of cancer at the age of 51.

Last edited by ra_mom on Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:01 pm; edited 2 times in total

RN613

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:17 pm

Thanks! Which book is that? I have read carry me in your heart, but it hardly mentions her life. The Wikipedia page was interesting too but I am always a bit skeptical of Wikipedia... the left wing makes her out to be a super anti-patriarchy feminist, but according to my own Bais Yaakov education she was a tznuis activist that only founded BY out of desperation when girls started hemming their skirts too short. I find her facinating and would to learn more about her in context.

watergirl

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:27 pm

Dr. Leslie Klein is a known expert on the life of Sarah Schneirer and the Beis Yaakov movement itself. She is flown all around the world to speak on these topics. She is also the dean of WITS Baltimore (formerly Maalot). I highly recommend learning what you can from her. https://www.lesliegklein.com/

dancingqueen

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:40 pm

RN613 wrote:

The truth probably lies in the middle.

It’s surprising, is there really no ArtScroll or similar biography of her?

lkwdlady

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:43 pm

ra_mom wrote:

She was married to s/o Nussbaum for 3 years. 20 years later she married s/o Landau. They were married for about 4-5 years before she unfortunately died of cancer at the age of 51.

That’s so interesting. How do you know?

ra_mom

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 1:50 pm

lkwdlady wrote:

That’s so interesting. How do you know?

From different biographies, googling and conversations with people (dh is a history buff). It was interesting to me that she was Belz, received haskama from the Belzer rebbe, but then he didn't allow his followers to join the school at the end. So I soaked up whatever info I could find on the topic.

applesbananas

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:03 pm

I’ll be honest- as a product of the BY system, I find this information shocking and a bit disappointing in the whole system.
Why wasn’t this shared with us? Her name came up countless times in my 12 years in school. We all knew she didn’t have kids, yet they omit critical info as to why she may not have had children. Makes me think even more of her that she must have been thru a lot and look what she made of herself ...

Raisin

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:04 pm

RN613 wrote:

Lol I don't think she was anti-patriarchy but you could probably call her a first wave feminist.

Raisin

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:06 pm

applesbananas wrote:

Yes I agree it is a huge pity that this aspect of her life is glossed over. Nothing shameful about being divorced, but when you hide it from her life, it makes it sound shameful. OTOH maybe so little is known about her first marriage since she herself probably didn't talk about it much.

ra_mom

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:06 pm

applesbananas wrote:

As a product of the BY system, I always knew she was divorced but not much else - and that info was glossed over. There was much more emphasis on we are all her children since she didn't have any.

ocean blue

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:11 pm

This is such an interesting question, op. I have also always wondered about her life before she founded the bais yaakov movment. There must have been some difficult moments in her life that made her into who she was. I also always wondered how she amassaed so much knowledge and pedagogy. I wish a biography had beeen written about her by those who knew her well but are no longer alive. From what I read about her, it seems that she was extremely discreet about her personal life and might have specifically requested from her talmidos not to speak about her life even after her passing.

b.chadash

Wed, Dec 08 2021, 2:19 pm

As a product of the system, I also always knew and I'm not surprised her divorce is not spoken about because it isn't really relevant.

The only relevance I can think of is that, as a single woman not tied down to a husband and family, she was able to be devoted to her movement and students 100%.

Similarly, several of the gedolim post WW2, such as the Satmar Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Chazon Ish were childless. Hashem's ways are unfathomable, but it has been suggested that perhaps He withheld children from these giants so that they could be devoted 100% to the rebuilding of Klal Yisroel.

BTW, did you know that the there are numerous other gedolim, both in the past and present, that were divorced? It's not usually relevant to their legacy so it's not discussed much.