When the summer crowds dwindle, and the packed vans head back downstate, who stays behind?
Orthodox shuls have existed in the Catskill region since the early 20th century, when these mountains in upstate New York were known as the Borscht Belt — the iconic vacation spot for city-dwelling Jews. Resorts such as Grossinger’s, Kutsher’s, and the Concord Hotel drew summer crowds and provided employment for the locals. The hotels slowly emptied as vacationers sought more exotic locales — the sale of Grossinger’s in the 1980s was the final blow — but the heimishe crowd continued to travel to the Catskills as a summer getaway. Bungalow colonies and frum camps sprung up, creating summer memories for generations.
But it’s not only a summertime region. Yeshivah Gedolah Zichron Moshe of South Fallsburg was founded back in 1969, and these days, the hundred or so families who reside in South Fallsburg year-round are affiliated with the yeshivah’s kollel or work in the schools. Nearby Kiamesha Lake has a year-round Vizhnitz community and a yeshivah at the site of the former Gibber’s Hotel (the Vizhnitzers call the entire community “Gibber’s”). And while towns like Monticello, Liberty, Woodbourne, Mountaindale, and Ellenville still have old-time small Jewish communities, more of the yeshivish/chassidic summer crowd is sticking around throughout the year.
While Rabbi Mandelowitz never expected to start a mosad, the Moticello cheder became a magnet for this town of many opportunities. The fancy filigree wood-trimmed doors (and a fireplace) are aesthetic reminders that the building had been a county lawyer’s office
There’s a huge white hydrangea bush in full bloom flanking the entrance of the cheder in Monticello. This modest building that now serves 150 little boys used to be a county lawyer’s office.
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