Vurka ווארקא
A town on the Pilica near Warsaw. From here came Vurka chasidism: long prayer, gentleness toward a person, and intercession for the Jews before the authorities.
Warka stands on the river Pilica, sixty kilometres south of Warsaw. The court began here in 1829, when Rabbi Yisrael Yitzchak Kalish, a disciple of the Chozeh of Lublin and of Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshischa, settled in the town as its rebbe.
The Vurka manner was told apart from Kotzk at once: in Kotzk severity toward oneself, in Vurka gentleness toward another. Rabbi Yitzchak was called the Lover of Israel for his going to the authorities: he pleaded against the taking of Jewish children as cantonists and against the decree on dress.
After his death in 1848 the chasidim divided. The elder son settled in Amshinov, the younger stayed in Vurka, and the grandson moved the court to Otwock—and in Warka itself there was no court any more.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Documents of the period
- Municipal data on Warka, Grojec County, Masovian Voivodeship — the town's position on the Pilica and the distance to Warsaw
Scholarship
- Encyclopaedia Judaica, 'Warka' — the dates of the Vurka rebbes and the name 'Lover of Israel'
Basis: documents and evidence.