Bais Yaakov ( also Beis Yaakov, Beit Yaakov, Beth Jacob or Beys Yankev; lit., House [of] Jacob) is a genericized name for full-time Haredi Jewish elementary and secondary schools for Jewish girls throughout the world. Bais Yaakov, started by Sarah Schenirer in post-World War I Kraków, was at the time a revolutionary approach to Jewish women's education. It has since achieved mainstream status within Orthodox Judaism, with branches located worldwide in every Jewish community with a significant population. While many of these schools carry the Bais Yaakov name, they are not necessarily affiliated, though they may be for other reasons. History The Bais Yaakov movement was started by seamstress Sarah Schenirer in 1917 in Kraków, Poland. The first school building survives as apartments, and is marked with a bronze plaque. While boys attended cheder and Talmud Torah schools (and in some cases yeshivas), at that time, there was no formalized system of Jewish education for girls and young Jewish women. Schenirer saw that there was a high rate of assimilation among girls due to the vast secular influences of the non-Jewish schools that the girls were then attending. Sarah Schenirer concluded that only providing young Jewish women with a thorough, school-based Jewish education would effectively combat this phenomenon. She started a school of her own, trained other women to teach, and set up similar schools in other cities throughout Europe. She obtained the approval of Yisrael Meir Kagan (author of Chofetz Chaim), who issued a responsum holding that contemporary conditions required departing from traditional prohibitions on teaching women Torah and accepting the view that it was permitted. Following the Chofetz Chaim's approbation, the Bais Yaakov Movement in Poland was taken under the wing of Agudath Israel. Additionally, Schenirer sought and received approbation from Hasidic rabbis as well, most notably the Belzer Rebbe and the Gerrer Rebbe. Judith Grunfeld was persuaded to assist Schenirer. The original Bais Yaakov was a seminary of sorts, intended to train girls to themselves become teachers and spread the Bais Yaakov movement. Grunfeld would lead the seminary from 1924 to 1929. Girls who were taught in the Bais Yaakov movement used their education as psychological support to survive World War II and the Holocaust. Besides elementary and high schools, there are also post-secondary schools in the Bais Yaakov system, usually referred to as "seminaries". These run various courses, generally lasting between one and three years. Etymology