3. The Founding of Chabad- Lubavitch in South Africa
3.1 Rabbi Lipskar’s arrival and initial impact
Mendel Lipskar was born in Toronto to a prominent Lubavitch family and educated exclusively in Hassidic institutions. He came to South Africa full of anticipation and overflowing with “effervescent” energy.98 Already in his late teens he perceived that the victorious outcome of the Six Day War had instilled the spirituality-seeking non-observant Jew with a sense of exuberance about Judaism itself. It was with this understanding and expectation that he embraced his task of spreading Jewish learning and observance among his host community and beyond.99 Merely weeks after his arrival, Lipskar together with Dayan
94 Mrs. Joan Bernhard, interview by author, August 2017, Jerusalem.
95See “Hilewitz, Alter," Encyclopedia Judaica. Available online at Encyclopedia.com.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hilewitz-alter.
96 See “Rabbi Lipskar celebrates 40 years”, where Lipskar thanks Bernhard for his efforts in recruiting him.
97 See Rabbi Mendel Lipskar, interview by author, (Johannesburg, May 2017). Lipskar explained that in those days the protocol was that the Lubavitcher Rebbe would only send an emissary if the host country sent a request.
In this case Bacher made the request some time before, and Lipskar was the first person to receive the Rebbe’s express approval.
98 See Rabbi Dovid Hazdan’s address to the International Kinnus of Shluchim, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jw9wHC3iZI, accessed on 5 December 2021.
99 See Lipskar, interview.
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Irma Aloy -- chairman of the Chassidim shul and an “ambassador” for Lubavitch -- hosted a public meeting to discuss the attraction of the youth to Chabad Hassidic philosophy.100 The evening proved to be a success and earned Lipskar the reputation of being a serious and engaging speaker. The combination of Lipskar’s willingness to seemingly speak on any topic in Judaism, his rhetorical skills, and the interest of various organizations to host him, gained him a busy speaking schedule. 101 In his early years he was invited by Jewish organizations across the board, including the Zionist Federation.102 Concurrently, he used his energies at the Wits University campus to engage young Jewish students in debates over the meaning of Judaism.103 Those he encountered were invited to his home on a Thursday night where he would hold informal gatherings or Farbrengens. These normally consisted of a shiur followed by open and intimate discussions on Hassidic thought, which was supplemented with liquor to lighten up the evening.104 In the context of the early 1970s this relaxed and convivial mode of communication proved effective in recruiting his initial band of followers.
During Lipskar’s first years there were very few Lubavitch Hassidim in Johannesburg who were born into Chabad families. Those who were given a Hassidic education included the children of some of the committee members who had invited Shmuel Lew in 1968, as well as a trickling of others. In the latter category was Dovid Hazdan, the son of a Russian- born Lubavitch rabbi. In the early 1970s Hazdan was in his early teens. Like other observant Chabad Hassidim, he did not attend the Chassidim shul but was a member of the Bnei Akiva congregation, whose congregants were primarily Sabbath observant. Having never left South Africa and having never been exposed to the charismatic American Hassidim, Lipskar’s arrival was eye opening for him.
It was 1972 and it was Rabbi Lipskar’s first Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement]
as rabbi of his community. That morning, in walked a man, with a huge Afro hairstyle, wearing hippie jeans and an open shirt. All the old men stared at
100 “Youth follow Chassidus,” Zionist Record, 9 June, 1972; “Who’s Who in South African Jewry,” in Leon Feldberg, South African Jewry 1967-68, (Fieldhill Publishing: Johannesburg, 1968), 171.
101 See Lipskar, interview, in which he stated that when he first arrived he was asked to speak about and to provide lessons on everything including teaching people to read Hebrew.
102 Ibid. Over the years, as we will later show, the Lubavitch movement, like the other innovators, had an ambiguous relationship with Zionism, but at the early stage it appears there was little tension.
103 Almost immediately after arriving in South Africa, Lipskar gave lectures to the students and attended meetings about their welfare (see “Minutes of Meeting of South African Jewish Board of Deputies, held on 12 March 1972”
(SAJBD Archives)).
104 See Hazdan, interview; In a video presentation by Lipskar, he mentions that the Lubavitcher Rebbe would present his emissaries with a bottle of mashke [ Liquor] which was to be used in the farbrengens in their destined country. See https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/3376055/jewish/Rabbi-Mendel-Lipskar.htm, accessed on 8 December 2021.
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him disapprovingly, as they could not believe someone would have the gall to come to synagogue dressed like he was. Unperturbed, the rabbi, who in recent weeks had befriended this new guest, went up to the wardens and directed them to ask him to open the ark. The scene of the ark flanked at one side by a distinguished gentleman sporting a top hat and at the other side a person with dishevelled hair that seemed to attract a swarm of flies around him proved too much for the genteel crowd. They thought their rabbi was crazy to
countenance such disgraceful conduct. As for Lipskar, since he was new on his job, he held his tongue. The following Yom Kippur, after a year of silence, he decided to address the matter. By doing so he came prepared to take on the senior congregants, who appeared to have pined for the style and manner of his predecessor and were somewhat resentful of Lipskar’s youthful and less cautious approach.105 He told his congregation that during the Temple era two goats were brought before the High Priest, which were
indistinguishable in their value and appearance. Their different fate was sealed by casting lots which would decide which one was sacrificed on the altar and which one was thrown off a cliff in the desert. He then turned to his flock and scolded them for their indignant and judgmental attitude that they, dressed in their three-piece suits, displayed towards someone else in much more casual attire. He asked them who had really distinguished themselves since the last Yom Kippur. While they had remained stagnant in their Judaism this hippie was now learning in a Yeshiva in Boston and had completely altered his lifestyle. He then ended his sermon by wondering how they could have dared point their fingers at the young man. As Rabbi Lipskar took his seat I and the other young teenagers of the tiny band of observant Hassidim felt we had undergone a formative experience.106
It was probably the first time the youth had heard a pulpit rabbi who directly challenged his congregation to act as better human beings and as better Jews. The fact that Lipskar was only in his mid-twenties, was dressed in Hassidic garb rather than in a tailored suit, and was fearless in the face of his congregants (many of whom were easily double his age) must have dismayed some of the veterans while delighting the adolescents Years later the latter who
105 In anonymous interviews with the author interviewees recall a meeting at Chassidim shul where his suitability as a rabbi was openly discussed and people were encouraged to come and show support for Lipskar.
106 See Hazdan interview.
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once comprised his small core of followers still speak of being “mesmerised” by this talk and attribute it and other talks to their becoming keen volunteers for Lipskar’s outreach activities in Johannesburg, and for eventually becoming emissaries themselves.107