Living Torah Archives

Rabbi Mendel Lipskar is the Executive Director of Chabad of South Africa and serves as rabbi of the Shul at Hyde Park in Johannesburg. He grew up in Toronto, Canada, where his father was on the staff of Camp Gan Israel. To his surprise, when he went to visit the Rebbe with his father, the Rebbe made him an offer that he could not refuse. (1960)

Long before his bar mitzvah, the Previous Rebbe was already preoccupied with doing acts of kindness. At age eleven he established a free-loan fund, allowing him to help the needy in a dignified manner.