AI Summary
5 min readIn the summer months, the great rabbi of Kovno was once asked why he commanded such a high salary. His answer was witty and revealing: while everyone else could take off their heavy coats and relax in the heat, he—as the rabbi of a major city—had to keep his formal frock coat on, always available to answer halakhic questions. For that, he deserved his pay. This episode of Jewish History Soundbites uses that anecdote as a gateway into a lesser-known dimension of pre-war rabbinic life: the summer vacation, the resort towns, and what happened when the great Torah leaders finally took off their coats.
The Dacha: A Russian Word for a Jewish Escape
The phenomenon was widespread. Rabbis from across Eastern Europe would leave their crowded, often unhealthy city environments for the summer, seeking cooler air, forests, and mountainous terrain. The term used for these getaways was "dacha," a Russian word for a vacation home or bungalow, which entered Yiddish-speaking circles and is still used in some Yeshivish communities today. The parallel to the modern Catskills is apt: city dwellers escaping to a nicer, more relaxed atmosphere.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Why Rabbis Earned Their Keep** - The Kovno rabbi jokes that he deserves a high salary because he never gets to take off his formal coat, even in summer.
- 2 (03:00) **The Therapeutic Mineral Baths** - Rabbis traveled west to Karlsbad and Marienbad for special mineral baths, which even provided a lesson for the Rebbe Rashab of Chabad.
- 3 (05:31) **A More Intense View on Vacation** - Rav Eliyahu Lopian of Kelm had a stricter Mussar philosophy and was once horrified to see a prominent Rosh Yeshiva lying in a hammock without his coat.
- 4 (08:18) **Resort Towns in Galicia** - In the Carpathian Mountains, survivors recall the Bobover and Belzer Rebbes visiting their resort town.
- 5 (09:44) **Otwock: The Most Famous Resort** - Otwock, right outside Warsaw, became so popular that many great rabbis settled there year-round, turning it into a booming Jewish town.
- 6 (13:47) **Escape and Leadership in War** - The Amshinover and Modzhitzer Rebbes were the only Polish rebbes to escape to Vilna at the start of the war, with very different fates.
- 7 (15:31) **Chabad and the Brisker Rov in Otwock** - The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rayatz) moved from Warsaw to Otwock, making it the center of the Chabad movement.
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Show Notes
The great Rabbis had their favored vacation spots in the Prewar era. Where were they? What went on there? An inside look at the relaxing times and locations known as the "Dachas".
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