Rabbi Yitzchak Kalish of Vurka רבי יצחק קאליש מווארקא
founder of the Vurka court—the root of Amshinov and one of the two roots of Alexander
The sources give his birth year as 1779 or 1780; we set the first. He studied under Rabbi David of Lelov and under Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshischa—together with the future Kotzker, and parted from him on the main thing: Kotzk chose severity and truth without indulgence, Vurka gentleness and love for the plain man.
The court. He settled in Vurka near Warsaw in 1827. The chasidim remember him as an intercessor: he travelled to the authorities to plead for communities, and the tales of him are almost all about this.
What came from him. His son, Rabbi Yaakov David, settled in Amshinov; Rabbi Yechiel of Alexander studied under him and under the Kotzker at once—and the Alexander house holds to both. The Vurka line is the gentlest branch of Polish Chasidut.
He died on 22 Nisan 1848.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- The Vurka tradition on intercession — what the chasidim remember him for
Scholarship
- Reference works on the Polish chasidic courts — the two birth years; the teachers; who came from him
Basis: documents and evidence.