Sarah Schenirer and Bais Yaakov: A Revolution in the Name of Tradition

Book Talk & Concert Co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish History Admission: Free Watch the video

This book talk and concert will explore the emergence of the Bais Yaakov schools in interwar Poland, when it grew from a one-room school in Sarah Schenirer's living quarters to a school system with over 200 schools, 36,000 students, and an international reach. Naomi Seidman, author of Sarah Schenirer and Bais Yaakov: A Revolution in the Name of Tradition, will discuss the character of this school as a "total institution"—with summer camps, youth movements, slogans, songs, plays, and more—and as a traditionalist revolution. The book talk will include a concert of Bais Yaakov music drawn from the period, performed by Basya Schechter with her band Pharaoh's Daughter. 

About the Participants

Naomi Seidman is the Chancellor Jackman Professor of the Arts in the Department for the Study of Religion and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. Her book, Sarah Schenirer and Bais Yaakov: A Revolution in the Name of Tradition, was recently published by Littman Library. Seidman did her research for this book as a Workmen's Circle/Dr. Emanuel Patt Visiting Professor at the YIVO Institute (2012) and an NEH Senior Scholar at the Center for Jewish History (2016-17).

Blending a psychedelic sensibility and a pan-Mediterranean sensuality, Basya Schechter leads her band, Pharaoh's Daughter, through swirling Hasidic chants, Mizrachi and Sephardi folk-rock, and spiritual stylings filtered through percussion, flute, strings and electronica.Her sound has been cultivated by her Hasidic music background and a series of trips to the Middle East, Africa, Israel, Egypt, Central Africa, Turkey, Kurdistan and Greece.  She began retuning her guitar to sound like a cross between an Arabic oud and a Turkish saz, with harmonic minor melodies, and odd time signatures. With the many amazing musicians, named below and others as well she has recorded four albums, three with Pharaoh's Daughter and one instrumental exploration with Persian santur player, Alan Kushan. PD also appears on three Tzadik label compilations: Voices in the Wilderness, the 10 year of anniversary of Zorn's Masada compositions; a collection of Sasha Argov music; and, a Brazilian Jewish composer from earlier in the 20th century, Jacob Du Bandolim. Over the past two years, Basya was the recipient of numerous compositional and project grants from NYSCA (New York State Council of the Arts) American Composers Forum (for Trance, and multilayered sound and video installation collaboration with fillmaker Pearl Gluck) and the American Music Center.