Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar: The Shul, Aleph, from distress to excellence 1970s- Rabbi Chaim Dalfin

This is a tribute to Rab Shalom Ben Rabel Yo Lipker, Rabbi Lipker of the Shul in Miami on Collins Avenue, 95th Street, passed away on Hay Ear. I knew Rebel Lipker. I spoke to him and I saw what he did over the last 40 plus years. He was a phenomenal person, a gifted and talented person. He came from the illustrious Lipker family in Kabad and he brought with him the passion, the drive, the excitement for life, for Sidus, for the Reba, for Messiah, for prisoners, and to help Aid. I'm sure there are many many many people that will be writing and sharing these things. I would like to share something that he told me that's not known I believe by many people and focus on one point. In the 1970s, Rabbi Lipker came to Florida to be the principal of the Kabad day school that Rabbi Corf of Ram Corf started. This was in 1977 some around that time and the yeshiva took off but then it got into hot water as far as finances. It was difficult. He met a person called Mel Landown. That's that itself was a great story and he connected him to the Reba. Mel was a very successful financially and he started to give lots of money to the yeshiva and it it was flourishing. Then Mel lost his money and therefore it hurt the yeshiva and Rebel Lipka was going through a hard time because of his great passion and intensity. Whatever he did was intense, was passionate. It really had an impact on him in a way that it caused it caused an upheaval in himself. So he had with the Reb. This is what he told me. He had with the Reb and he had a very longus. I don't know if it was a half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour. It was a very long. Usually a regular didn't have such long and he poured his heart out. He told me he poured his heart out to the Reb and he said he he's like giving up. You know, he can't anymore. I'm sharing this with you because he shared with me not in confidence but for the public to understand who the Reb was, who he was, and what's the the the the purpose and the goal. After the Reb heard his pain, the Reb turned to him. He said, "I want of you to put on filling with a million people." This is what he told me. He left that and he turned around his life and his attitude from negativity, depression, melancholy, bitterness and hardships that he was going through. He turned it around and he did what we have today. an entire block of an institution, a shul and every all kinds of programs. And he started the olive prison program which the Reb always pushed him and blessed him and wanted to know what's going on. This is a lesson for us, my friends. You want to do something for his soul, take this lesson. The lesson is is very important. We run into problems. We have difficulties. We get upset. We get depressed. We get down. The answer is think positive. Go out and put on filling with other yeden. Go out and do something for another Jew. When you do something for another Jew, you will feel better. You will get Hashem's blessing. And in 1981 when he started his shul on Harding Avenue in a a little restore rental and had to stand outside to get a minion, look what he has today. Agra based on the pain is the reward. His love for the Reb. Listen to some of the clips. His his thought process was all reb outer trimmings were outer trimmings but the noma of this person was reb so that's my message and my tribute for this special of the he became an icon for young The success that he had brought him a level of respect that very few if any have. But that's not that's a nice uh a nice uh addition. Let's look at the the essence. Let's look at the nish over here. The nama is his connection to the sadic to the and even after gimlamos he didn't stop talking about about mashiach. He was focused. He got it. And when you get it, you go with it. And when you go with it, Hashem blesses you. Hashem benges you. the sh of Beno have an aliyah let him go to those doors of the and together go to Msiah and bring Msiach Pel in actuality and all the connections that he made with Israeli politicians. He shared with me things about that too and with with dignitaries. Just the week before he passed away, the minister Benvve was at his at his table visiting with him. He has no one better to visit. But Rabbi Lipker was a key person in the Jewish world, not just in the Kabad world. So the loss is a great one. Really, it's a great loss. And I wish his family, his son Zalman, his wife Khani and and and the rest of the family to understand that his message and continues through following in his footsteps with that drive and passion and belief and I know that he did favors for other I think there's a camp that they made there and the the one who made the camp. Rebon told me that Rebel Lipker got him someone to donate the money for the for the camp and he got nothing out of it. You hear that? He got nothing out of it. They're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars or maybe millions and he got nothing out of it. Why did he do it for yeinder for Jewish children? That's a that's a servant. That's a ye that's a that's someone who's connected to the Reb. Okay, you put yourself aside. I'm getting out of it. I'm not getting out of it. You know, is my name going to be recognized? You have an opportunity to help Yiddishkite do it. So in all you know in all situations of grievance of of you know of grief and sorrow and sar and shiva we need to find the upbeat positive message to continue not just the legacy but to continue the reality. should bring now. The