Inspiring a Nation with stories

68. A Bewitching Story:   In order to appreciate my next story, I want to first tell a story told by Rabbi Yosef Wineberg a”h, who travelled the world as the Rebbe’s shliach. Although in today’s age such stories are much less prevalent than in the past, there are still such things happening and especially in South American countries (I believe in Africa as well) where people are very heavily involved in the occult. In a certain South American country there was a woman who was a large donor to Lubavitch institutions through Rabbi Wineberg’s efforts. One day she shared the following story with Rabbi Wineberg: Her husband had died and after the period of mourning, she needed to get her life back in order, especially her financial situation. Her husband basically had left all the necessary documents and papers in order, and so it was generally well organized. However, when she came upon a certain aspect of the finances, one that was related to a large amount of money, she could ...

 How I ended up in Crimea In 1991 the Rebbe gave me his blessings to go back, for one year, to study in the kollel in New York. I was to leave my family in Florida with my wife and oldest son to run a bakery to support the family. What was interesting in this proposal was that it was not to be considered as a “Sabbatical,” where I would take off a year from work, but rather it would be considered as part of my shlichus, as a preparation before moving on to our next mission. Besides all the tremendous blessings that the Rebbe gave us in this venture back into the world of Torah learning, the Rebbe made clear that my wife’s opening a bakery was also part of her continued shlichus. It was with this thought in mind that she used the bakery, which quickly became known as the best in quality as well as in kashrus, to teach private lessons which she used to promote various mivtzoim (mitzvah campaigns.) We saw the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s blessings immediately. My wife found a bakery f...

Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the week 64. The 1960’s were the time of the rise of the “Hippie” generation. That was a time when many youth rebelled and rejected conventional and familial values. While the leaders from all spectrums of Judaism threw their hands up in despair, The Rebbe lauded the youth’s rejection of their parents’ complacence in accepting a lack in spiritual interest. The Rebbe encouraged the shluchim to take advantage of the generation’s search for meaning in life and offer them the experience of a lifestyle of Torah and mitzvos. Thus, began what became known as the Baal Teshuvah Movement with a bang and zest. However, Satan wasn’t yet ready to concede failure, so in the 1970’s a new problem with the youth arose. The proliferation of cults, false gods and so-called religions that relied heavily on mind control. Youths searching for spiritual highs flocked to these cults en masse. Unfortunately, many Jewish teenagers were caught up in this wave. One day, while I wa...

Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the week  65. At a farbrengen that took place while I was shliach in Alabama, (sorry, I don’t remember the year, just that it was in the late 1980’s,) the Rebbe said that every Chabad House should establish a G’mach (a free loan society.) The Rebbe made it clear that this was in addition to the regular city G’mach. Now in the entire state of Alabama, there was no such service, and people there didn’t even have such a concept. I figured I should make a city wide G’mach which would be on a much larger scale. So I contacted a number of influential mainstream Jewish establishment people and presented them with this innovative idea of a Free Loan Society in Birmingham. I was quite surprised at the enthusiastic response to the idea, even from some who were far from being supportive of any other programs that I had done in the past. I was even more surprised at the positive reaction of some of the heavy Federation supporters. You see, as soon as the Jewish Fede...

Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the Week #61 Still looking for a sponsor. To Sponsor the story of the week, Contact Mendy at 513-456-7595             The Center of Chabad activities in Michigan was in Oak Park, a suburb of Detroit. The shul was called Mishkan Israel – Nusach H’Ari. Although it was built before I arrived in Michigan, I had heard the general story of how it came to be. Rabbi Shemtov helped organize the merger of two struggling shuls, with the agreement of both that Chabad would maintain the continuance of the merged congregations in exchange for Chabad taking over ownership of the building. The non-Chabad Rabbi would continue in his position for a number of years, after which Chabad would have the right to bring in a Chabad Rabbi to take over. The women’s section of that shul was two elevated sections or balconies on either side of the sanctuary. Although the women were quite visible from the waist up, especially when they stood, it was tech...

Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the Week 59.  We already told the story of how, while trying to get Rabbi Shemtov to open a Chabad House on the campus of U of M in Ann Arbor, Rabbi Kagan a”h and myself agreed to help with the fund raising. There’s a joke told that the Czar of Russia once wanted to personally experience how the different groups of citizenry actually lived their lives. So together with his wife they went out incognito and took up the different types of jobs that were available to the citizens. As they were finishing of this project, the Czar said to his wife that there was still one area that they didn’t experience. In answer to his wife’s inquiring glance, the Czar said that he was curious as to what it was like for the schnorrers to constantly be begging for money. The Czarina, perturbed, asked, “and how long do you want to be doing this?” The Czar seeing her reluctance answered, “just for 30 days, my dear.” And so the Czar and Czarina, dressed in rags and tatters went...

[15:54, 7/20/2018] Rabbi Lipszyc Weekly Story: Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the Week #60 Still looking for a sponsor. To Sponsor the story of the week, Contact Mendy at 513-456-7595 [15:56, 7/20/2018] Rabbi Lipszyc Weekly Story: Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the Week #60 Still looking for a sponsor. To Sponsor the story of the week, Contact Mendy at 513-456-7595             While in Michigan, in the 1970’s, a friend asked us to invite over for Shabbos a friend of his -- a precocious teenage girl that had a lot of questions about being Jewish. We’ll never forget the first Shabbos she spent with us.  I hadn’t been feeling well that evening, so I went to sleep and she stayed up to speak to my wife.  They were sitting on the couch, with Leah responding to her questions and telling her about how frum families live for hours.  Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, Leah said she was going to say Shema and go to sleep.  The girl asked her ...

Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the week #57. Decidated in Honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Mikvah Miracles (told by Leah) One day I got a call from a young woman, we’ll call her Sara, who was married to a man very much her senior.  She had just given birth to a son, and they had decided to start keeping the laws of Family Purity.  Sara told me that the night she called was the night she could go to the mikvah, and could I please take her the first time?  I asked if she knew the laws involved, and had made the required internal inspections to ascertain that she was able to immerse in the mikvah, and she replied that she did not.  I suggested that we meet that afternoon to start learning the laws, she could check herself that evening, and I would gladly take her the following week.  She told me to come to their restaurant, and we could learn there, as it was quiet in the afternoon. Not an hour passed, when I got another call. Let’s call...

56. Another couple of our acquaintance, with whom we became very close friends over the years, were a young guy and gal who we originally connected with in Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan. Eventually they married and moved to Florida. For more than 45 years, Scott and Sandy Colish have kept connected with us and our bond keeps getting stronger. He lately sent me this story, as he remembers it: On New Years’ Eve, Dec. 31, 2003, at about 11pm, we were on South Beach, when Sandy asked me, “Hey, have you spoken with the Rabbi lately?” Replying that I hadn’t, she suggested that I give him a call. “Dude, what’s up?” “I need $1,700…a loan will do, but I need to pay for a ticket to observe my mother’s Yahrzeit in Israel.” Not a completely atypical greeting, but I told him I would need to discuss that with Sandy. She said that would be OK as a loan, so I transferred the money over the phone via VISA. His reply, “OK…got it…click.” A few weeks late...

Rabbi Lipszyc's Story of the Week #52.  Dedicated In memory of Aharon Tzvi ben Avigdor Although I used to enjoy driving, and did quite a lot in my time, my driving habits weren’t necessarily the best. Through the years, I got into numerous accidents and only because of G-d’s kindness, am I around to talk about it. The first accident was while I was a teenager and still a new driver. My brother Heshy would let me use his car from time to time. The evening before Yom Kippur he allowed me to use his car to run an errand. In the wee hours of the morning, around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. on the day before Yom Kippur it is customary to “shlug kaporas,” the tradition is for a female to take a chicken and a male to take a rooster and say a prayer while encircling it around the head, (three sets of three circles around the head,) and then giving it to the shochet (kosher slaughterer) to ritually kill the chicken in the prescribed manner while looking on and thinking that “I deserve the death...