Girls from TAG Machon Sarah at the Sarah Schenirer yahrzeit event
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman
They were a group of forgotten neshamos. An entire segment of KlalYisrael that was neglected. No one cared about their chinuch. And, as a consequence of this wholesale neglect, many of them were lost forever to the beautiful vine that is KlalYisrael.
But then, a young seamstress from Krakow in turn-of-the-century Poland—whose yahrzeit was observed on Tuesday this week—began to turn the Torah world upside down.
Sarah Schenirer, daughter of a prominent Belzer and Sanzer chassidish family, was a seamstress. She had attended a Polish public school—a goyish public school. She didn’t know lashonha’kodesh. She studied commentaries on the Torah not in Hebrew but in Yiddish translation.
And seamstress Sarah Schenirer listened. She listened with empathy to her clients. Customers who told her tales of woe of their off-the-derech daughters. The winds of “progress” were blowing, and daughters of Israel were abandoning their birthright of Sinai—in droves.
Boys went to cheder. But girls stayed home or went to Polish public schools and were exposed to every “ism” in the world—communism, socialism, humanism, ad infinitum and ad nauseam.
She writes in her diary:
“And as we pass through the days prior to the YamimNora’im, fathers and their sons travel off to Ger, to Belz, to Alexander, and to Bobov. They travel to all those places that have become citadels of ruchniyus, led by the Rebbes.
“Yet we stay at home, the wives, the daughters, and the little ones. Ours is an empty yom tov. Ours is a fate devoid of Torah intellectual content. The women have never learned anything about the spiritual meaning that lies within a yom tov.”
Her words and actions struck a raw nerve.
How dare she? How dare this insolent woman question our way of life? How dare this upstart challenge centuries of tradition, mesorah?
Her opponents tried to stop her. It is said that when her detractors came to the Chofetz Chaim to have him sign a letter against her, theChofetz Chaimexited the room and came back with a sum of money. He responded, “She should be supported. Please give her these rubles.”
Soon her support grew. The Gerrer Rebbe stood behind her fledgling movement. Moneys were raised. Summer programs were started. Sarah Schenirer was focused, and she built.
“Frau Schenirer” was undeterred by any negativity; she had vision and a burning sense of achrayus. Reb Shmuel Deutschlander supported her efforts, as did Yehudis Rosenbaum. A building was rented at 10 Stanislawa Street. It was the top floor of a dilapidated tenement building. No matter. Soon schools were opened across the country, across the continent, and over the seas.
Tragedies struck. The Holocaust. Assimilation. Religious apathy. The Holocaust brought on some serious religious challenges to the She’erisHaPleitah—those who survived the evil that was Nazi Germany.
And yet, somehow, someway, her legacy is such that this week, 13,000 girls from 92 different Bais Yaakov schools came to pay tribute. In the Barclays Center, in downtown Brooklyn, they paid tribute to this remarkable woman on the occasion of her 80th yahrzeit.
The Bais Yaakov world that Sarah Schenirer built was responsible for the building of another world as well. It is plain and simple: no Bais Yaakov movement means no kollels and no yeshivos. The Bais Yaakov movement and the resurgence of Torah learning in our world are two remarkable legacies of Sarah Schenirer.
There is, however, an unfulfilled legacy.
Let’s reread that first paragraph:
They were a group of forgotten neshamos. An entire segment of Klal Yisrael that was neglected. No one cared about their chinuch. And, as a consequence of this wholesale neglect, many of them were lost forever to the beautiful vine that is Klal Yisrael.
There is another group of people, this time made up of boys as well as girls. They are the off-the-derech kids that are now in every one of our communities. Each community, whether it be chassidish, Litvish, or Modern Orthodox, has children who have left the fold.
Look around. They are hanging out on the street corners, at the late-night Dunkin’ Donuts—hechsher and sans hechsher—and worse. Much worse.
Our kids have issues of self-esteem, serious alcohol consumption, and even drugs. Many OTD kids have tattoos and multiple piercings.
They are everywhere—on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn and in Lakewood, New Jersey. They are leaving Williamsburg in droves. And their parents toss and turn at night worrying about them.
It is to the point where, to echo a Pesach theme, “ein bayis asher ein sham meis”—there is not a home that has not been affected.
We need a new Sarah Schenirer.
Where are the visionary leaders who can revolutionize what is not working with our systems? Where are the people who can fix things so that the off-the-derech children do not find solace in areas foreign to Torah?
We need someone with the strength and vision of Sarah Schenirer, someone undeterred by opponents. Undeterred by those who will oppose the revolution that is necessary to keep our youth enthused in their Yiddishkeit.
We must conceive of not merely a stopgap measure, but something more. We must research what the largest risk factors are. We must develop and innovate programs, plans, and ideas that will reduce these risk factors. We need to put our collective minds and our financial pocketbooks together. Torah society again needs a Sarah Schenirer who will conceive of a comprehensive solution to address this ever-widening problem. The Sefer Chassidim (308) explains that even if there is significant financial strain, we need to create separate institutions for our different types of children.
True, there are people and programs like Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, and TOVA mentoring. But we need to support them and replicate what they do on a truly massive scale.
We need a Social Security program; a Marshall Plan; a GI Bill.
We need someone to step up to the plate, someone who can make a profound change that will affect and save generations. And we need to put our moneys where our mouths are.
We sweep all of this under the carpet and do not talk about it, but this issue, hands down, eclipses all others.
How can we attend gala barmitzvahs and weddings, yeshiva dinners, and functions while knowing that there are children out there whom we have failed? We as a community must regroup and come up with a viable, palatable solution.
How can we not cry for thousands of holy mothers in KlalYisrael whose every thought and prayer centers on her lost son or daughter? How can we not cry when former Bais Yaakov girls walk the streets in halter-tops and shorts? When former yeshiva boys enter bars and abuse drugs?
And time is ticking. Let’s not kid ourselves. One or two years in the off-the-derech lifestyle almost guarantees a point of no return. Those that do make the trip back are few and far between.
Our rabbanim, our leaders, and our wealthy askanim need to hear from us. They need to hear of the heartaches that we suffer. Our voices need to be heard so that this issue will be given the prominence that it demands.
But until that Sarah Schenirer emerges, everyone can do something. We can create happier homes and happier classrooms. We need to reach out to the people we see and smile at them. There are myriad reasons why these things can happen, and we cannot challilah ever be judgmental.
We need to be that resource, that Rock of Gibraltar that genuinely cares about the neighbor’s child who has that missing or divorced parent.
We need to put our heads together to create tools, resources, and institutions that will address the issue of our ever-growing lost brethren. This all needs leadership, direction, and vision.
These forgotten souls must be placed on our agenda once again. Sarah Schenirer, where are you?
The author can be reached at Yairhoffman2@gmail.com.