Sholom Lipskar

Sholom Dovber Lipskar is a Chabad rabbi who founded the Landow Yeshiva Center in Miami Beach in 1969, The Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, Florida in 1981 and the Aleph Institute and the Educational Academy for the Elderly also in 1981. [cite web|url=http://www.kabbalaonline.org/Dailylife/selfimprovement/Prisoners3_Families_and_Torah.asp|title=Prisoners, Families and Torah]

Origins

Born in Tashkent Russia in 1946, Rabbi Lipsker was smuggled as a baby through the Russian border to a D.P. camp in Germany. On his official passport country of birth as Germany, that being because he was only registered once his family arrived in the D.P. camp.

Arriving in America in the early 50s Rabbi Lipskers family settled in Ontario Canada.

Since receiving ordination from the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn in 1968, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Lipskar has worked as an emissary for the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In 1969 he founded the Landow yeshiva Center in Miami Beach, Florida. He has served as its principal and dean of its elementary, academy, and high school studies. Directly responsible for the training of its rabbinical students. He has formulated a school-wide curriculum and manages a multi-million dollar budget.

In 1981 he founded The Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, Florida. As its head Rabbi he is both the spiritual leader and educational programmer for all ages.

Also in 1981 Rabbi Lipskar founded the Aleph Insititute and the Educational Academy for the Elderly, both based in Surfside. The Aleph Institute is a non-profit national humanitarian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for both prisoners and military personnel and their families. Rabbi Lipskar has created alternative punishment philosophies and developed unique educational opportunities for the general public in the field of treatment of closed populations.

As director of the Educational Academy for the Elderly, Rabbi Lipskar develops pilot programs and restructures the educational priorities of elderly citizens, trying to positively alter their self-image.

Rabbi Lipskar is recognized as an international leader bringing Torah values to people from all walks of life.

The Shul

The Shul is one of the country's most unorthodox, Orthodox synagogues, a popular center for both Jews who are returning to their Jewish roots and experienced congregants. Located on Collins Avenue. by the Atlantic Ocean, The Shul sits at the intersection of Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Indian Creek Village and Surfside. The Shul is the center for Jewish activities in these four communities.

Founded at the direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem M. Schneerson, and under the guidance of Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar. The Shul is a spiritual guidepost and service center for the community to express their spiritual needs and gain inspiration to develop the same while connecting with Almighty G-d. The Shul is referred to as a “Community House of G-d” – a spiritual lighthouse from where holiness and G-dliness emanate to the entire community. A shul is a Beit Ha-Knesset, house of gathering for prayer, a Beit Ha-Midrash, house for learning, a Beit Gemilut-Chassadim, a house for acts of kindness, and a Mikdash Me’at, a minor Holy Temple.

The Shul offers all religious and spiritual services including rites of passage, momentous occasions, anniversaries, expressions of happy and sad moments, the celebration of traditional milestones, holidays and ceremonial relationships. The Shul also awakens and helps to develop the spiritual inner-self of the person. Manifesting the concept that Jewishness or Judaism is not merely a religion but a way of life, the Shul provides the language and the exercise program that fulfills the needs of the soul and strengthens it to function maximally in synergism with the body.

The Shul is a meeting place for social, religious, educational, cultural, and family events and where people seek guidance and advice for whatever issues life presents. The Shul is available and accessible to every single Jewish man, woman and child .

The Shul also has a significant Sephardic membership. To accommodate this integral segment, a Sephardic Minyan was established. The Sephardic members have their own minyan for prayers and are part of all other social, spiritual, educational, and communal activities. In this manner, The Shul enables everyone to preserve their respective unique traditions and simultaneously cultivate a cohesive and unifying community.

In addition to traditional synagogue services The Shul provides a treasure chest of opportunities for Jews of all ages and distinctions. The popular programs The Shul offers include: Adult Education Classes, highlighted by Rabbi Lipskar's famous Tuesday Night Class; The Sephardic Minyan, fostering the Sephardic traditions; The Shul Youth Club, boasting a large number of activities from classes to social meetings and outings; The Young Leadership Committee, presenting many activities for singles including Shabbatons and gatherings; The Shul Sisterhood, uniting the women of the community in various projects and events; Women's and Men's Mikva; School for the Elderly and other Senior Citizen programs; Shabbatons catering to a variety of groups; The Shul of Downtown, for a quick dose of Yiddishkeit to the business world; Spanish Program, for the Latin-American community, and much more!

Our Shul, illuminates the environment, bringing enlightenment, clarity, and goodness to even remote places that may still be obscured or isolated.

The Shul is a cornucopia of spiritual opportunities. It addresses every denomination of a person’s inner being including psychological, emotional, religious, social and personal. The Shul is where one can walk that significant bridge between where G-d speaks to man and man speaks to G-d. It re-prioritizes values, diminishing the unnecessary separations of economic class or otherwise fragmenting attitudes.

The Shul is under the spiritual guidance of Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, an internationally known educator who believes the Torah must be experienced in the context of a modern, technologically advanced world. His approach is encouraged through sermons and discussions known for their dynamic philosophical positions and Jewish mystical content.

The Shul is based on the ideology of Chabad Lubavitch, which has at its foundation based on the encompassing mitzvah “to love every Jew as one loves himself” and to permeate that love with Acts of Kindness, Mitzvas, Torah Study and Prayer. The Shul is a place where people want to go – not have to go; where you enjoy being – not where you look forward to leaving. A home away from home, a gathering place where unity is paramount.

References

His younger brother, Rabbi Mendel Lipskar moved to Johannesburg, South Africa together with his wife Masha in 1972 to establish the lubavitch foundation of southern Africa, today the s.a Jewish community is a flourishing one, with a large network of schools,shuls,kosher restaurants etcRabbi and Mrs Lipskar are well know and it is widely acknowledged that they were most instrumental in the re-birth of active sa jewry

External links

* [http://www.cys-college.org/faculty.asp?page=Lipskar The Chaim Yakov Shlomo College of Jewish Studies profile]
* [http://www.theshul.org The Shul Official Web Site]