In the modest room at 770 Eastern Parkway that served as the private office of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar and his rebbetzin Chani stood in 1969, preparing to set out as Chabad shluchim to Miami—a physical paradise that was, at the time, a spiritual desert. The Rebbe looked at them with a warm smile and said in Yiddish, “Ich for doch mit eich! S’zol zein b’simchah!”—“I am [spiritually] traveling with you! You should go with joy!”
Fifty-five years later, on Rabbi Lipskar’s final journey in the opposite direction—from Miami to the Old Montefiore Cemetery to be buried near the Rebbe’s Ohel following his passing this past Shabbos—he again was not alone. He was accompanied not only by the large crowds that gathered in Bal Harbour in Florida and at 770 in New York, but also by the countless mitzvos he inspired, the innumerable neshamos he touched and the enduring spirit of the Yidden he reached, whether in Florida, the prison system or the US Armed Forces.
Over the five and a half decades of his shlichus in Florida, Rabbi Lipskar founded and served as the rav of The Shul of Bal Harbour, the center that stands at the heart of Jewish life there as well as in Surfside. He also established the Aleph Institute, dedicated to supporting Yidden in restricted environments and institutional settings. Beyond these achievements, he was a mentor and spiritual guide to thousands around the world. Each of these roles could have easily demanded the full attention of a team, but Rabbi Lipskar fulfilled them all with unwavering dedication and remarkable success.
“What drove him was his deep sense of shlichus—of fulfilling the mission for which the Rebbe sent him to Florida—as well as an unwavering responsibility to help another Yid,” said his nephew, Rabbi Aaron Lipskar, chief executive officer of the Aleph Institute. “He was a larger-than-life personality, but he would put everything aside to help someone in need. It didn’t matter whether it was a congregant, a person in prison or a stranger. When he was with you—regardless if you were a head of state, a billionaire, a young child or the spouse of an inmate—you walked away feeling like you were the only person in his world.”
“Rabbi Lipskar accomplished truly astounding things in his lifetime—so much so that it’s hard to fathom how one person could do it all,” says Rabbi Mendy Katz, Aleph’s director of Prison Outreach. “However, his true greatness wasn’t just in what he did, but in how he did it—with total devotion and unwavering dedication. He never stopped, never slowed down. Even in his final days, he was still putting tefillin on with people. He knew he had a shlichus to fulfill—and he worked at it until the very end.”
From Tashkent to Bal Harbour
Sholom Dovber Lipskar was born in 1946 in Tashkent, then part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, under the oppressive rule of the USSR. His parents were Reb Eliyahu Akiva Lipskar and Rochel (née Duchman). His paternal grandfather, Rav Chaim Tzvi Lipskar, an alumnus of the famed Volozhin Yeshivah, served as a rav in Poltava. Although not originally a Lubavitcher chasid, he chose to send his sons to study in Chabad yeshivos. On his mother’s side, Sholom Ber’s grandfather was Reb Zalman Duchman, a warm and devoted Lubavitcher who traced his lineage back to the early chasidim of the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad.
Just 20 days after his birth, his family managed to escape the Soviet Union along with dozens of other Lubavitcher chasidim in what later became known as the Yetziah Hagedolah—the Great Exit. This daring operation became possible when the Soviet government permitted Polish citizens who had relocated to the USSR during World War II to return to their homeland. Chabad chasidim seized the opportunity, forging Polish identity papers en masse in order to flee the country that relentlessly persecuted them for their Yiddishkeit. The family was unable to procure documents for the baby, however, so Sholom Ber made the trip hidden inside a suitcase held by his grandfather Reb Zalman Duchman.
After escaping, the Lipskars spent several years in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany, where many chasidim remained until they secured entry visas to other countries. The family was granted visas to Canada and settled in Toronto, where Reb Eliyahu Akiva served as a melamed and became one of the founding figures of the local Chabad community.
Twice a year, the Lipskar family would travel to New York to visit the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and young Sholom Ber had many memorable experiences, such as when the Rebbe would teach a new niggun on the night of Simchas Torah, or when he helped his grandfather carry urns of hot water to 770 for the chasidim. During these visits, the family would also spend time with the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, with whom they had developed a warm relationship after assisting in her own escape from the Soviet Union. Sholom Ber would also join his family in yechidus—private audiences with the Rebbe—where the Rebbe tested him on the Gemara he was learning in cheder.
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