But in Chabad: On Shabbat, Rabbi Shalom Dober Lipsker, the late Chabad emissary in the prestigious neighborhood of Bel Harbor in Miami Beach, Florida, rabbi of federal prisons in the US, and director of the Alef organization for Jewish prisoners throughout the United States, passed away from a heart attack at the age of 78.
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The late Rabbi was born on Menachem Av 1956 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to his parents Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva and Rachel Beila Lipsker, and was smuggled as an infant across the Soviet border to a displaced persons camp in Germany. Upon their arrival in North America in the early 1950s, his family settled in Ontario, Canada.
In his youth, he studied in Chabad yeshivahs and received ordination to the rabbinate at the Chabad Yeshiva at the World Chabad Center-770 in 1968.
After his marriage to Hannah of the Minkowitz family, the Lubavitcher Rebbe sent them on a mission to Miami Beach, where Rabbi Lipsker served as director of the Chabad yeshiva. He later founded the large yeshiva and served as educational director.
In 1941, he founded the Belle Harbor Synagogue on Collins Avenue, the cornerstone of the Belle Harbor, Bay Harbor, Indian Creek Village, and Surfside areas.
In the beginning, Rabbi Lipsker would stand on Collins Avenue for hours asking passersby if they were Jewish and if they wanted to join the minyan. Today, the synagogue has thousands of worshippers and is a synagogue visited daily by hundreds of locals and visitors.
The synagogue is a center for Jewish activities for these four communities and thousands of tourists from around the world who visit or make South Florida their second home, participating in them led by a team of rabbis, educators, rabbinical students, professionals, staff and volunteers.
The synagogue also provides a variety of adult education classes, programs, youth clubs, women's events, and more.
Rabbi Lipsker also founded the Aleph Institute, a national Jewish educational and humanitarian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for prisoners, military personnel, and their families.
He also founded the Miami International Conferences on Torah and Science.
Rabbi Lipsker was beloved by his community and his fellow Shluchim and Chassidim, and led many inspiring gatherings.
He is survived by his wife and children, Rabbi Zalman Lipsker and Deborah Leah Androsier, and grandchildren.
His brothers and sisters: Rabbi Mendel Lipsker - Chief Emissary in Johannesburg, South Africa; Rabbi Yossi Lipsker - Miami Beach, Florida; Sheva Shohat - South Beach, Florida.
His funeral will take place today in Miami, passing through the Bel Harbor Synagogue at 9:00 a.m., from where it will proceed to Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York at 3:30 p.m., where he will be buried.
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