Return-to-Tradition Radical Jewish Women Organization ‘Beit-Yakov’ in interwar Lithuania

ABSTRACT

With the establishment of the Lithuanian state in the interwar period, an accelerated secularization process took place among its Jewish residents. In this atmosphere, a ‘Beit-Yakov’ women’s organization arose in Lithuania, intending to bring Jewish women back to religion by studying basic books in Judaism and applying these studies in their lives. Soon, ‘Beit-Yakov’ evolved into an active organization that instilled in its members a belief in their ability not only to establish their homes on the foundations of religion but also to change the direction of the development of the Lithuanian Jewry from secularization towards a return to tradition.

KEYWORDS:

• Lithuanian Beit-Yakov organization
• Beit-Yakov study associations
• Lithuanian Jewry
• Lithuanian Tiferet-Bachurim movement
• secularization process
• return to Jewish tradition

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Shaul Stampfer and David Assaf, who read the article, for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. See Eric Lohr, ‘The Russian Army and the Jews: Mass Deportation, Hostages, and Violence during World War I,’ Russian Review 60 (2001): 404–19.

2. On the impact of life in exile during the war years and afterward on the Jews of Lithuania, see Andrew N. Koss, ‘War within, War without: Russian Refugee Rabbis during World War I,’ AJS Review 34 (2010): 231–63. See also Mordechai Katz, ‘LeMatzav Acheinu beRusia,’ part 3, HaIvri 6, no. 27 (1916): 8. The process of secularization of the Jewish town actually began in the second half of the 19^th century. Gradually, it led to the situation that the religious lifestyle of some of the Jewish residents before WWI was derived not from their conscious commitment to Jewish law but from their traditional consciousness, and this, indeed, was severely fractured during the exile; See Asaf Kaniel, ‘Al Milchama uShmirat Mitzvot: Vilna 1914–1922,’ Gal-Ed 24 (2015): 73–4.

3. On autonomy and its institutions, see Tzviya Dvorzhetzky, ‘Maavaka haPoliti shel haTziburiyut haYehudit beLita leMisuda haOtonomi baShanim 1918–1922’ (master’s thesis, Tel-Aviv University, 1980); Šarūnas Liekis, ‘A State within a State?’: Jewish Autonomy in Lithuania 1918–1925 (Vilnius: Versus Aureus, 2003), 115–57. In regard to the accelerated secularization processes in Lithuania, the results of the 1922 elections to the Autonomous Land Council can be an indication of the attitude the Jews had towards religion and tradition in their lives (Leib Garfunkel, ‘Ma’avakam shel Yehudei Lita al Zchuyot Leumiyot,’ in Yahadut Lita, vol. 2, ed. Raphael Chasman et al. [Tel-Aviv: Irgun Yotzei Lita beIsrael, 1972], 55). See also Mordechai Zalkin, ‘“SheYihye Kulo Ivri”: Reshet haChinuch “Yavne” beLita Bein “Chinuch Charedi” le“Chinuch Ivri,”’ in Zechor Davar leAvdecha: Asufat Ma’amarim leZecher Dov Rapel, ed. Shmuel Glick (Jerusalem: Michlelet Lifshitz, 2007), 128, 131. On the Rabbinical Association and its power limitations, see Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky, ‘Ma’amada shel Agudat haRabanim beLita,‘ Zion 75, no. 3 (2010): 313–46.

4. On the fundamental changes in the traditional elementary education of the refugee children during the First World War, see Koss, ‘War within,’ 245–6.

5. On this movement, see Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky, ‘“Tiferet Bachurim” – Tnuat Limud Rechava liVney Ma’amadot haAmelim beLita Beyn Milchamot haOlam,’ Zion 82, no. 4 (2017): 439–88.

6. As explained later, this organization had no practical connection to the ‘Bais-Yakov’ schools established in Poland. The transliteration of the names of the organizations and periodicals mentioned in this article is according to the transliteration in their official documentation. Therefore ‘Bais-Yakov’ and ‘Beit-Yakov’ are alternate pronunciations of the same name in Hebrew.

7. The described picture reinforces the trends of dynamism and assertiveness of the shrinking traditional Jewry in Eastern Europe in the twentieth century, discussed by Glenn Dynner, ‘Jewish Traditionalism in Eastern Europe: The Historiographical Gadfly,’ Polin 21 (2017): 285–99.

8. On home or institutional teaching of the elementary tradition for girls in the 19^th and the 20^th centuries until the First World War, see Shaul Stampfer, Families, Rabbis and Education: Traditional Jewish Society in Nineteenth-Century Eastern Europe (Oxford: Littman Library, 2010), 168–80; Avraham Greenbaum, ‘The “Girls’ Heder” and Girls in the Boys’ Heder in Eastern Europe before World War I,’ East/West Education 18, no. 1 (1997): 55–62; Immanuel Etkes and David Assaf, HaHeder: Mechkarim, Teudot, Pirkei Sifrut veZichronot (Ramat-Aviv: The Institute for the History of Polish Jewry, 2010), 485–491. On studies of this kind in private schools for girls in 1830–1880, see Eliyana R. Adler, In Her Hands: The Education of Jewish Girls in Tsarist Russia (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2011), 28–43, 82–95.

9. These were the Real Gymnasium in Kovna (‘Lita,’ HaTzefira, no. 26, June 27, 1918, 13); ‘Yehudiya’ in Vilna (Andrew N. Koss, ‘Two Rabbis and a Rebbetzin: The Vilna Rabbinate During the First World War,’ European Judaism 48, no. 1 [2015]: 123–4), and ‘Chavatzeles’ in Warsaw (Rachel Manekin, ‘From Anna Kluger to Sarah Schenirer: Women’s Education in Kraków and Its Discontents,’ Jewish History 33 [2020]: 56–7; Nathan Raphael Auerbach [ed.], Zichronot HaRav Moshe Auerbach Zt”l [Jerusalem: HaMa’ayan, 1982], 47–50).

10. Gershon Bacon, The Politics of Tradition: Agudat Yisrael in Poland, 1916–1939 (Jerusalem: Magness Press, 1996), 168. For slightly different numbers, 20000 girls in 160 schools, see Hane’emon 14 (1929): 16. Many of these schools only taught supplementary classes in traditional subjects. On Sarah Schenirer and the network she founded, see Naomi Seidman, Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement: A Revolution in the Name of Tradition (London: Littman Library, 2019).

11. At that time, the Polish Bais-Yakov was still in its infancy, and there was no reason to consider its expansion into Lithuania; See the table in Bacon, The Politics of Tradition, 168.

12. Yitzhak Raphael Etzion (Holtzberg), ‘“Yavne”-Shuln in Lite,’ in Lite, vol. 2, ed. Ch. Leykovitch (Tel-Aviv: Farlag Y.L. Peretz, 1965), 361, 363–4; M. Zalkin, ‘SheYihye Kulo Ivri,’ 121–43. The other Jewish autonomous educational networks in Lithuania were ‘Tarbut,’ which was Hebrew national but not religiously oriented although some of its students came from Jewish observant homes, and ‘Kultur Lige,’ which was clearly an anti-Zionist and anti-clerical (Berl Cohen, ‘HaChinuch haIvri beLita haAtzma’it,’ in: Idem., Yiddishe Shtet, Shtetlech un Dorfishe Yishuvim in Lite biz 1918 [New York: Simcha Graphic Associates, 1991], 723). The Lithuanian cities and towns will be indicated by the name that was customary among the Jews; In their first appearance, their official name at that time will be indicated in parentheses.

13. A first attempt was in 1926 (‘BeAgudat Bnot Yisrael,’ Hane’emon 1 [1927]: 16) and a more successful one – in 1930 (‘LeZecher haRabanit P. Katz Z”l,’ Hane’emon 23 [1930]: 18). For the extensive Orthodox male and female educational institutions in Telz, see Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky, ‘“Lekadesh Shem Shamayim baOlam”: Lidmuta shel haMahapeicha haTelza’it,’ Mayim miDalyav 21 (2010): 25–64.

14. See Ela Shmuelovitch, 5 yor ‘Beit-Yakov’ in Lite (Kaunas-Vilijampolė, 1937), 9–10. On a decision in 1931 to establish a new girl’s organization, see also ‘Chagigat Yovel HaEser leKiyum haGimnasyon liVnot “Yavne” beTelz,’ Hane’emon 30 (1931): 14. For the pedagogical course’s graduates in 1931 see a photo in: Yitzhak Alperovitch, ed., Sefer Telz (Lita) (Tel-Aviv: Irgun Yotzey Telz beYisrael, 1984), 53.

15. See ‘Krayz Tzuzamenfor fun “Tiferes-Bachurim,”’ Di Idishe Shtime, no. 3585, Aug. 21, 1931, 13; Klibansky, ‘Tiferet Bachurim,’ 473–4.

16. For their details and characteristics, see Yisrael Rozenson, ‘Al haMifal haChinuchi “Tiferet Bachurim” beVilna,’ Hagut 10 (2014): 19–28.

17. ‘Unzer Vort tsu der Idisher Yugnt,’ Tsum Yugnt 1 (1928): 2–3.

18. ‘Protokol fun der Konferentz fun “Tiferes-Bachurim,”’ Yugnt 2 (1928): 7.

19. General letter, January 25, 1929, Lithuanian Central State Archives (Lietuvos Centrinis Valstybės Archyvas, henceforth: LCVA), fondas 1143/aprašas 1/byla 2, lapas 221.

20. Center’s letter to Brumshtein and Kluft, May 26, 1929, LCVA, 1143/1/2, 382 (from Yiddish; All the translations in the article are mine).

21. See the center’s letters to Shidleve (Šiluva) committee, October 31, 1928; To Zhosle (Žasliai) committee, February 2, 1929; To Wittenberg in Riga, March 6, 1929, LCVA, 1143/1/2, 193–4, 235, 337 respectively; Yosef Fayvelzon, ‘Kiyum haMitzves als Yesod haYahadus,’ Tsum Yugnt 5 (1929): 6–8.

22. ‘Hachlotes fun der Tzveiter Al-Litvisher Tiferes-Bachurim Konferentz…,’ LCVA, 1143/1/7, 22. Direct shaving with a razor is prohibited by the Torah. The associations were asked to obtain electric shavers for the members.

23. See Circular no. 30 to the rabbis, June 1930, LCVA, 1143/1/7, 17.

24. Rabbi Henkin served as rabbi in Panemun (Panemunė) until 1925, then he was appointed rabbi in Shadeve and moved with his family to this town; See Idisher Lebn, May 9, 1924, 1; Protocol no. 17, March 4, 1925, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Archives, collection RG 2, folder 1207, page 73; Dov Levin, ed., Pinkas haKehillot – Lita (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1996), 497. He married the eighteen-year-old Mina nee Volfovich, a native of Malat (Molėtai; Recorded on July 22, 1909, Lithuanian State Historical Archives [Lietuvos Valstybės Istorijos Archyvas], fondas 728/aprašas 4/byla 176, record #265).

25. Center’s letter to Shadeve association, August 12, 1928, LCVA, 1143/1/2, 170 (from Yiddish). See also center’s letter to [Shmuel Dov] Mel from Ponevezh, March 3, 1930, ibid., 546.

26. See ‘Protokol fun der Konferentz fun “Tiferes-Bachurim”’ and ‘Unzer Bavegung: Shadeve,’ Yugnt 2 (1928): 5, 17 respectively.

27. The date is according to the inscription on the photo of the Shadeve association’s fifth anniversary, in: The Lost Shtetl Museum (‘Dingęs Štetlas’ Šeduvos Žydų Istorijos Muziejus), ŠMP829, courtesy of Yvette Sonkin.

28. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 8–10, 23; ‘Fun Ortodoksishn Lebn: Grandyeze Fayerung fun 4-Yorikn Yubileyum in Shadever “Beis Yakov,”’ Beit Yakov Shtim (5696): 16.

29. ‘Fun Beis-Yakov Lebn,’ Beit Yakov in Lite (5694): 14.

30. Referring to the verse ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel’ (Exodus 19:3 [Modern English Version]), the Jewish Biblical exegesis states that ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob’ – these are the women, and ‘tell the children of Israel’ – these are the men (Exodus-Rabbah 28:2).

31. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 10.

32. ‘Grandyeze “Beis Yakov” Farzamlung in Kovne,’ Idishe Velt, January 15, 1932, 4 (in Kovna); ‘Provintz: Virbaln,’ ibid., April 20, 1932, 5 (in Virbaln [Virbalis]); ‘Fun der “Beis Yakov” Bavegung,’ Beit Yakov (5693): 9 (in Alshad [Alsėdžiai], Yelok [Ylakiai], and Godleve [Garliava]); ‘Fun Beis Yakov-Lebn,’ Beit Yakov in Lite (5694): 14–16 (in Kelm [Kelmė], Yanishok [Joniškis], and Keidan [Kėdainiai]). See also M. L., ‘Di Greise Farzamlung fun “Beis-Yakov” in Kovne,’ Idishe Velt, January 22, 1932, 3.

33. ‘Lietuvos žydų tikybinės draugijos “Bet Jakob” įstatai,’ December 22, 1933, registered on March 9, 1934, LCVA, 402/4/758, 3–6.

34. Including the study group that was established in Telz in 1930 (see ‘Fünf Jahre Telscher Beth Jaacob,’ Der Israelit 15 [1935]: 8; ‘Fun der “Beis Yakov” Bavegung,’ 7; ‘Fun “Beis Yakov“ Lebn,’ Beit Yakov in Lite [5694]: 14, and cf. ‘Hitorerut haNoar beTelz,’ Hane’emon 30 [1931]: 16).

35. See ‘Idishe Froy un Tochter in Lietuva – Greit Zich tzu der “Beis Yakov” Konferentz,’ Beit Yakov Shtim (5696): 14.

36. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 10.

37. It was presumably towards the beginning of 1933 since the first issue of the organization’s journal was published then (see below, note 42).

38. I. Minster, ‘Amol un Haynt,’ Beit Yakov Shtim (5696): 2 (from Yiddish). For her roles in the Beit-Yakov see ‘Pranešimas,’ January 28, 1936, LCVA, 402/4/758, 10–11.

39. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 13, 17.

40. On these books see Chava Weissler, ‘The Religion of Traditional Ashkenazic Women: Some Methodological Issues,’ AJS Review 12, no. 1 (1987): 82–3.

41. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 13.

42. Ibid., 14, 16, 21. The first issue, ‘Beit Yakov,’ is from Adar 5693 (February 1933; The ‘Beit Yakov’ issues were not numbered).

43. For example, Sarah Schenirer, ‘Pesach-Gedanken,’ Bais Yakov 4 (1924): 44–5; Scheindel Mayer, ‘Azoi Kemft a Yudishe Tochter!,’ Bais Yakov 5–6 (1924): 65–6. I did not find the first and second issues of the journal; However, since the third issue is from March 1924 and the fourth from April 1924, it is assumed that the first was published in early 1924.

44. As appears in the first editorial ‘El haKorim,’ Hane’emon 1 (1927): 1.

45. Her pen name was ‘Schevach’ [praise], actually an acronym of her name (in Hebrew). See her article (in two parts) ‘Bat Yisrael Lefanim vehaYom,’ Hane’emon 3 (1928): 9; 5 (1928): 12–13. ‘Hane’emon’ was published from late 1927 until late 1931 (see advertisement, Beit Yakov in Lite [1934]: 16). It seems that Yitzhak Shmuelovitch stopped publishing it after he founded the ‘Yavne’ gymnasium for boys in Kovna and was its principal since the first school year 1931/2 (see LCVA, 391/2/608, 4).

46. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 21 (from Yiddish).

47. ‘1-te Al-Litvishe “Beis-Yakov” Konferentz,’ Tsum Yugnt 18 (1936): 24. See also Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 17.

48. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 15.

49. ‘Family purity’ – the system of laws that govern Jewish marital life, according to which a couple is forbidden to have marital relations during menstruation and seven days after. After this period of abstention, the wife immerses herself in a ritual bath, and marital relations may be resumed.

50. Although the ‘Chafetz Chaim’ dealt a lot with this subject, and his books ‘Shmirat HaLashon’ and ‘Chafetz Chaim’ (after which he was named) were also widespread all over Lithuania, human nature made it difficult to implement the requirements in these books.

51. Article #25 of the Beit-Yakov regulations stated that the conferences would be held two years apart (‘Lietuvos Bet Jakob įstatai,’ 4).

52. See ‘Fünf Jahre,’ 8. According to the associations’ reports there existed fourteen ones at the end of 1935.

53. ‘1-te Al-Litvishe Konferentz,’ 23; An advertisement on the first page of the extended Friday issue of the widely used newspaper in Lithuania, ‘Di Idishe Shtime,’ called on the readership to come en masse and emphasized that the admission is free (Di Idishe Shtime, no. 5244, December 20, 1935, 1).

54. ‘1-te Al-Litvishe Konferentz,’ 23. On the unique ‘OZE’ building, see J. Reklaitė, ed., Kaunas: An Architectural Guide (Vilnius: Lapas, 2017), 28. ‘OZE’ – ‘Organization for the protection of the health of Jews’ founded in St. Petersburg in 1912 by doctors to help Jews in need. In Lithuania, it was established in 1921 in the form of six branches and 14 institutions and dealt especially with public medicine.

55. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 18–19 (from Yiddish).

56. See Fortrag iber Taharas-haMishpoche (Kaunas: Merkaz ‘Beit-Yakov’ in Lietuva, 1936), 4. On the speech of the ‘Chafetz Chaim’ on December 2, 1930, see Moses Meir Yoshor, The Chafetz Chaim: The Life and Works of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1984), 649–52.

57. Fortrag iber Taharas-haMishpoche (Kaunas, 1936).

58. Fortrag iber Taharas-haMishpoche (Kėdainiai: Merkaz ‘Beit-Yakov’ in Lietuva, 1938), 5. The first edition was printed in 1936 and the second one in 1938. See also ‘“Beis Yakov” Nayes: Oysergeveynlicher Derfolg fun di Broshur…,’ Beit Yakov Ruf (5697): 15.

59. ‘Ateitis’ (future) – founded in 1910 in Kovna as a secret student organization, it became an interwar Lithuanian youth organization with a Catholic approach to changing society according to Christian values.

60. ‘Aktuele Fragn,’ Beit Yakov (5698): 25.

61. In the ad for the ceremonial opening of the conference, the speech’s mention was emphasized in large letters (‘Fayerlechle Derefenung,’ Idisher Lebn, January 17, 1938, 1. Cf. Di Idishe Shtime, no. 5862, January 14, 1938, 1).

62. Ela Shmuelovitch, ‘2-te Al-Litvishe “Beis Yakov” Konferentz 15–17 Shvot 5698 (Baricht),’ Idisher Lebn, February 4, 1938, 3 (from Yiddish).

63. ‘VeEs Shabsosay Tishmoru (Tzum Kiyum fun Merkaz “Mazhirey Shabes” in Lietuva),’ Beit Yakov Shtim (5696): 11. The writer preferred to hide her name and indicated it with three dots.

64. Merkaz ‘Beit Yakov’ beLita, ‘Baym Ontzindn di Shabes Licht! (Fun Froyen Tsu Froyen),’ Beit Yakov in Lite (5694): 3. The quote is from a call in Beit Yakov in Lite (5694): 4 (from Yiddish).

65. ‘Tzum Ershtn Mol in der Geshichte fun Litvishn Yidntum…,’ Beit Yakov Lebn (5700): 13 (the quote is a translation from Yiddish). ‘Folksblat’ was the newspaper of the Folkists in Lithuania (who advocated Yiddishism, secularism, and anti-Zionism), which offered an alternative to the very popular Yiddish daily ‘Di Idishe Shtime,’ the newspaper of the General Zionists.

66. ‘Fun der “Beis Yakov” Bavegung,’ 9; ‘Fun Chaveirishn Lebn,’ Beit Yakov (5698): 24. The renewal date is according ‘In di Reyen fun “Beis Yakov” un ire Snifim,’ Beit Yakov Vidmung (5699): 16.

67. ‘Tzu di Zilberne Hochtzayt fun di “Beis Yakov” Tuerin…,’ Beit Yakov Vidmung (5699): 17.

68. ‘In “Beis Yakov” Bavegung,’ Beit Yakov Ruf (5697): 14; Beit Yakov (5698): 24; ‘In di Reyen,’ 16; ‘Fun Merkaz “Beis Yakov” in Lite,’ Idisher Lebn, May 24, 1940, 4.

69. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 14–15, 19–20.

70. See, for example, Sarah Rivka Merkin, ‘Ko Tomar leBeis-Yakov!,’ Beit Yakov in Lite (5694): 4.

71. ‘1-te Al-Litvishe Konferentz,’ 23–4. On the Tiferet-Bachurim decision, see above, next to the reference to note 18.

72. ‘Plenum fun Merkaz “Tze’irei Agudas-Yisroel,”’ Idisher Lebn, July 5, 1934, 2; Nosson Ordman, ‘Der Tzunoifbund fun Unzere Keiches,’ Idisher Lebn, November 26, 1934, 2. In Poland, ‘Tze’irei Agudas-Yisroel’ was founded in 1919.

73. ‘Baricht fun der 2-ter Lands-Konferentz fun Tze’irei Agudas-Yisroel in Lite’ and ‘In der “Bnos” un “Beis-Yakov” Bavegung,’ Idisher Lebn, September 13, 1935, 2, 4 respectively.

74. ‘Fun Ortodoksishn Lebn,’ Beit Yakov Shtim (5696): 15; ‘Fun Beis-Yakov Lebn,’ Beit-Yakov in Lite (5694): 15.

75. ‘In der “Bnos” Bavegung,’ 4.

76. On the pressures exerted on the center by the ‘Agude’ite organizations’ side to join them and by the Tiferet-Bachurim side to remain non-partisan, see: ‘Fünf Jahre,’ 8; Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 10.

77. Idisher Lebn, August 13, 1937, 1; August 20, 1937, 4. See also ibid., August 27, 1937, 1; Shmuelit, ‘Fun der Relig. Froyen Bavegung,’ Beit Yakov (5698): 21. In Poland, associations of ‘Neshei Agudas-Yisroel’ began to organize in 1935 (Di Agudistishe Froyen-Bavegung Bnos Agudas-Yisroel in Poyln, Baricht 5686–5697 [Łódź: Tzentral-Sekretaryat, 1937], 6). In Lithuania, there was no need for such an organization, since ‘Beit-Yakov’ and even ‘Bnos Agudas-Yisroel’ were more oriented for married women (see Em Gur-Ari, ‘Di Vegn fun “Bnos,”’ Idisher Lebn, March 12, 1937, 8).

78. ‘Konferentz fun Histadrus Neshei uVnos Agudas-Yisroel in Marienbad,’ Idisher Lebn, August 27, 1937, 1.

79. ‘Pranešimas,’ 10.

80. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 23 (from Yiddish).

81. Ibid., 22 (from Yiddish).

82. Ibid., 14–15.

83. To her private attitude towards Agudas-Yisroel see Froy Shmuelovitch, ‘Meldung,’ Idisher Lebn, July 2, 1937, 4.

84. M. Yaffe, ‘Di religyeze froi als Tregerin fun Idishn Folks-Last,’ Idisher Lebn, September 10, 1937, 4; Mina Henkin, ‘In Licht fun Knesiye Gdole,’ Beit Yakov (5698): 2.

85. Henkin, ibid. (from Yiddish).

86. Shmuelovitch, ‘2-te Al-Litvishe Konferentz,’ 3.

87. The minimum age was set in article #7 of the Beit-Yakov regulations; Girls over the age of 21 were entitled to full membership rights (‘Lietuvos Bet Jakob įstatai,’ 3).

88. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 13 (from Yiddish).

89. Ibid. (from Yiddish).

90. Ela Grinshtein, ‘Muter un Kind,’ Beit Yakov Ruf (5697): 10 (from Yiddish).

91. On youth movements in Lithuania, see Dov Levin, The Litvaks (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2000), 167–71. In 1931, the youth movements in Lithuania had about 8000 members (ibid., 170).

92. Rachel Shapiro, ‘He’asfi! (Tzu di Baforshteyende “Beis Yakov” Konferentz, Chanukeh 5696),’ Beit Yakov Shtim (5696): 1 (from Yiddish).

93. Shmuelovitch, 5 yor, 12 (from Yiddish).

94. See ibid., 17–18, 21.

95. The associations’ number is according to ibid., 5–6 (in 1937) and data reported in ‘Beit Yakov’ and ‘Idisher Lebn’ magazines; The members’ number – according to the same data supplemented by my minimalist estimates. The condition for the legality of an association was membership of at least 10 women (according to article #11 of ‘Lietuvos Bet Jakob įstatai,’ 3).

96. On the assistance of the chairman of the Tiferet-Bachurim movement, Rabbi Hillel Bishko (1881–1960), to the establishment of new Beit-Yakov associations, see: ‘Fun Beis-Yakov Lebn,’ Beit Yakov in Lite (5694): 15; Letter of Ela Shmuelovitch to Hillel Bishko, August 11, 1935, in: Bidspirit, Auction 441, item 214.

97. ‘Fun Merkaz “Beis Yakov,”’ Idisher Lebn, March 15, 1940, 2.

98. Ela Shmuelovitch, ‘Ayndruks-Fule Froyen-Manifestatziye Far Shmires-Shabes,’ Idisher Lebn, February 23, 1940, 4.

99. The jubilee date (according to the Jewish calendar) was supposed to fall on June 5, 1941. On the quick and brutal murder of the Jews in the Lithuanian province following the German invasion on June 22, 1941, see David Bankier, Expulsion and Extermination: Holocaust Testimonials from Provincial Lithuania (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2011). On the activity in the Slabodka (Vilijampolė) Ghetto of the last association of Beit-Yakov see Ephraim Oshri, ‘Korot “Beit Yakov” beGeto Kovno,’ Beit Ya’akov 13 (1960): 7.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by The Foundation of Mordechai and Mera Eidus from Keidan, Lithuania.

Notes on contributors

Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky

Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky, a native of Vilnius, Lithuania, holds a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in electronics engineering and a Ph.D. in Jewish history from Tel Aviv University. He is a researcher of the history of East-European Jewry in the 19th and the 20th centuries with emphasis on the history of the Lithuanian Jews. He is an author of The Golden Age of the Lithuanian Yeshivas (Indiana University Press, 2022). He is currently a lecturer in a M.Ed. Program at Efrata College in Jerusalem.