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26 Av 5761 - August 15, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
The New York State Bungalow Colony Experience
by Moshe Rockove

As the "dog days" of summer roll along, with the sweltering heat and humidity beating down on the American landscape, those up in the Catskill Mountains of New York are grateful to have been spared some of the weather's wrath. Although it's hot there too -- temperatures easily rise to the '90s (Fahrenheit) -- the less humid air and more pleasant landscape make it easier to handle the weather.

Most families that head to the Catskills go to bungalow colonies. The typical colony houses anywhere from 25-40 families -- some even larger than that -- all situated near each other and surrounded by woods and mountains.

The bungalows of yore consisted of a 1-room shack (sometimes 2) with peeling linoleum atop a rickety floor. The kitchen had an old Frigidaire refrigerator and a small gas stove. Air conditioned bungalows were almost unheard of -- you could stay in the city for that matter! The children slept on bunk beds, one on top of the other in their crowded rooms. In spite of all these primitive conditions, not to mention the bugs and mosquitoes to contend with, families would come back year after year.

Today's bungalows would not qualify for that distinctive title; a summer home better fits the bill. The modern vacation home today comes with all the amenities one is used to at home: a full, modern kitchen, spacious sleeping quarters and tastefully decorated rooms. Many homes come winterized so families can go up there during the winter months as well. More than 1000 such homes have been built over the past few years for people in our community.

The country population has grown to the extent that there arose a need for a new mikveh. The existing mikvaos were just too small to handle the large number of people. A few askonim got together and decided to build a beautiful mikveh, which would cater to everyone. They bought a plot of land in Fallsburg and are in the process of building it.

The stores in the area stock up for their kosher consumers by providing a wide variety of kosher foods that they wouldn't otherwise carry. Shop-Rite, the big supermarket, stocks its shelves with all different types of food and nosh for their summer consumers.

Wal-Mart, the huge store chain, opened a mega-store in Monticello. They sell all items one normally finds in a department store, plus a full-fledged supermarket. Motzei Shabbos is a big shopping night in Wal-Mart for the Jews, when the entire family can shop together. At first the store was not prepared to handle the crowd; Saturday is the big shopping day by the goyim so by the time Saturday night comes along they only have minimal help at the cash registers and in the aisles.

Someone went over to the store manager and told him that he'll get a lot of Jewish business on Saturday night and perhaps he could schedule more cashiers and floor help for this time. The manager replied that he had run the Wal-Mart near Lakewood and knew that motzei Shabbos is a big shopping night for the Orthodox. He told his superiors that they should prepare for a big crowd that night but they didn't take his suggestion seriously. Next week, he assured him, it will all be taken care of; they saw tonight that I knew what I was talking about!

The Family in the Bungalow

In many cases the family stays in the "country" the entire summer while the husband/father stays in the "city" (New York City) during the week and only comes up on weekends (Friday afternoon to Sunday). For those who work, it doesn't make sense to commute more than an hour and a half every day back and forth so they stay in the city from Sunday evening until Thursday night or Friday afternoon.

The mothers spend the week taking care of the family and enjoying the friendship of their summer neighbors. Indeed, the camaraderie that develops during the summer lasts throughout the year even when they live in different neighborhoods or cities.

Day camps in the bungalow colony provide the children with ample entertainment for most of the day. They spend the rest of the day at the pool or going into the woods finding salamanders, frogs and any other creature that makes its home in the surrounding woods (much to the chagrin of their parents).

Husbands in the City

The husbands stay in their nice, empty, spacious home alone the entire week in the city. Restaurants offer "community suppers" -- a basic supper menu every night at an affordable price to accommodate all those who do not want to cook for themselves.

These men are normally busy at night with family obligations; the children aren't with them now so they have time on their hands. Some spend the time in the bais medrash with an extra chavrusa.

Irgun Shiurei Torah is an organization that schedules shiurim for the general public on many different topics in halacha and hashkofo throughout the year. They arrange for prominent rabbonim and roshei yeshiva to address issues and they make tapes of all the speeches.

Every weekday night during the summer -- Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights -- a wide array of shiurim is delivered by noted speakers. They have three simultaneous nightly programs: In Boro Park and Williamsburg (in Yiddish) and in Flatbush (in English). The average attendance at all three places altogether is 1000 people nightly -- more if it's a good topic or a popular speaker.

A total of 24 different shiurim are given in each location over eight weeks; that's 96 among all three places. That's a lot of coordinating and planning.

A sample of topics include: "Modern Kashrus" by Rabbi Moshe Heinemann ( Baltimore Vaad Hakashrus), "General Halachah" by Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, "Menuchas Hanefesh" by Rabbi Eliezer Ginsberg, "Positive Thinking" by Rabbi Shmuel Dishon (Stolin), "Chizuk to Bnei Torah" by Rav Shmuel Birnbaum (Mir). Also included are topics on the Three Weeks and Elul.

People appreciate the chizuk they get from these speeches and buy tapes of the speeches immediately after the lecture so they can hear it again themselves or pass it on to a friend. Thus these speeches reverberate way beyond the confines of the bais medrash they were delivered in.

A person who heard Rabbi Dishon's speech about seeing the positive side in everyday life and thanking Hashem for it, sent the tape to a friend of his who was in Czechoslovakia on business and who was having a hard time there. None of the business deals he was working on were going through. After listening to Rabbi Dishon's speech, he felt charged with a new, positive attitude about how to perceive things in one's life.

A woman heard Rabbi Ginsberg talk about menuchas hanefesh. Two days later she called the Rav to personally thank him for his divrei chizuk. She had just found out that her son-in-law was afflicted with a type of cancer and she does not know how she would have coped with the crushing news and all its implications without previously hearing his speech!

Thursday in Sloatsburg

Thursday night many people head up to the mountains to reunite with their families after a four-day absence. Since many people leave in the late afternoon and don't have the opportunity to daven mincha before they head out, they have a problem about where and when to daven. They might get to the bungalow colony after sunset. People would pull off to the side of the road to daven. One popular place was at the Harriman toll plaza, when one exits the New York State Thruway for Route 17, which is about half way on the trip. The cars would pull off to the side of the road right after paying the toll and daven.

The State Police noticed the amount of cars pulling off the road and felt that they were creating a real safety hazard. Drivers would cut across a couple of lanes just to get to the right side of the road. Furthermore, when traveling with families, the fathers would get out of the car to daven Shemoneh Esrei, while their children would inevitably scamper out of the car, onto the highway, in the face of oncoming high-speed traffic!

They approached Rabbi Chaim Boruch (Edgar) Gluck, the noted Brooklyn askan who serves as Assistant Superintendent to the New York State Police, to help them out with this problem. He suggested they designate an open area on the side of the road that isn't used as a prayer area, so the cars would be totally off the road. They decided this would the most practical alternative to resolve the issue.

He initially consulted with his rov, HaRav Moshe Bick zt'l as to the halachic issues involved. HaRav Bick encouraged him to go ahead with it.

After trying out a few sites the State Police decided that the Sloatsburg Rest Area, which is situated on the Thruway a few miles before the toll plaza, offered the best site. The Rest Area was undergoing extensive renovations at the time so they put in the plans a special area outside with a sign reading "Mincha Area." The Thruway was threatened with a lawsuit from the AJC and the ACLU who protested the sign because it promotes one religious group over another on public property, so the sign was changed to the non- denominational "Prayer Area" even though the area is used only by Orthodox Jews.

This rest area is the first convenient place on the Thruway once you leave New York City to stop for gas and food, and it is visited by many travelers every day. After the renovations it looks more like a shopping mall than a rest area, with a wide array of food stores and a multi-level garage. It also has a few kosher vending machines. It may be the biggest highway rest area in the world.

Originally the "Mincha Area" was in use from 7:00 Thursday night until 8:30 P.M. The Sate Police sat there to make sure things ran smoothly. Now it has evolved into a full-time operation with minyanim going continuously from 7:00 through 11:00 P.M.! Rabbi Gluck stopped by with his wife a few weeks ago on his way up to the mountains and counted 2000 people there in just one hour!

They have an area on the opposite side of the road, the one going towards the city, for use on Sunday evening. Both areas are now also used during the week as well, not just on their originally designated nights.

During bein hashemoshos (which is a lot longer in America than in Eretz Yisroel), some Chassidim are still davening mincha while others standing next to them are davening ma'ariv!

When there is a taanis on Thursday, someone comes along with a sefer Torah so those who daven there can hear krias haTorah. Today one can find schnorrers making the round among the minyanim with one enterprising person offering fresh kugel with the proceeds going to tzedokoh to nourish the weary travelers. Yes, it has the feel of a real beis medrash.

Rabbi Gluck mentioned that he has received phone calls from people across the country -- even from Eretz Yisroel -- as to how to set up such a place in their area.

Summer Safety

As a member of the State Police, Rabbi Gluck is very concerned about those who don't have much driving experience who take to the country roads without driving properly. He has seen too many unfortunate incidents during his tenure where people drove around curves at dangerously high speeds with life-ending results. He and other Hatzolah members prevailed upon the roshei yeshiva to issue a letter stating that no one under the age of 21 should drive in the mountains.

He also mentioned that people drive with unauthorized emergency lights, thinking they could speed, but thereby endangering other drivers. Hatzolah gets a lot of unwarranted criticism from this because the Police think that since all Jews look alike, it must be a Hatzolah member. This guilt by association gives them unnecessary headaches and impedes on their ability to service those who unfortunately really need their services.

It All Comes To An End

Soon it is time to go home for the winter. The days get shorter, the nights get nippier, which hints that the summer is coming to an end. The stores are already advertising the "back to school" sales, which mean that September is just around the corner. Time to pack up the car and go home. Yet the people leave with a storehouse full of pleasant memories to keep them going through the winter, when it will be time to make plans for next summer.

 

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