BDE: Rabbi Avrohom Lipskier, 86, OBM
With great sadness, we regret to inform you of the passing of Rabbi Avrohom Lipskier OBM, a beloved Chabad educator, longtime Rosh Yeshiva, and pioneering figure in the world of kiruv and Baalei Teshuvah. He passed away on Thursday, the 28th of Elul, 5786.
He was 86 years old.
Rabbi Lipskier served for many years as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Tiferes Bachurim in Morristown, New Jersey, and later founded and led Yeshivas Tiferes Menachem in Sea Gate, Brooklyn. Through decades of dedicated work, he helped guide thousands of young Jewish men toward a life of Torah, Yiddishkeit and Chassidus.
Rabbi Avrohom was born on 15 Adar I, 5700 (1940), in Kutaisi, Georgia, to Rabbi Yaakov and Mrs. Taibel Lipskier. His family immigrated to the United States in 5708, and he was privileged to enter into Yechidus with the Frierdiker Rebbe.
As a bochur, he studied in 770 and was sent by the Rebbe to Brunoy, France, in 5722 as part of the first group of Shluchim sent there. Upon returning to Crown Heights the following year, he became deeply involved with the young college students and so-called “hippies” who were arriving at 770 in search of meaning and inspiration.
With his characteristic warmth and ability to connect with each individual, Rabbi Lipskier took many of these young men under his wing, introducing them to Torah and Chassidus and helping them reconnect with their Jewish heritage. He later joined the staff of Yeshivas Hadar HaTorah, the pioneering Chabad yeshiva for Baalei Teshuvah in Crown Heights.
In 5726, he married Mrs. Cirel Lipskier, daughter of the renowned Argentinean Shliach Rabbi Berel Baumgarten. A year later, the couple was sent by the Rebbe on Shlichus to Milan, Italy.
In 1972, at the Rebbe’s direction, Rabbi and Mrs. Lipskier moved to Morristown, where he played a central role in establishing Yeshivas Tiferes Bachurim for young college students at the Rabbinical College of America. There, he spent decades inspiring and guiding thousands of students who had grown up without a strong connection to Torah and Yiddishkeit.
The Rebbe was deeply invested in the development of institutions for Baalei Teshuvah. On one occasion, when Hadar HaTorah was mentioned, the Rebbe remarked, “Ich hob gemacht di yeshiva” — “I founded the yeshiva,” reflecting his personal connection to the mission of bringing Jewish young people back to their roots.
Rabbi Lipskier embodied that mission. His warmth, patience and unwavering dedication enabled countless students to build lives rooted in Torah and Chassidus. Hundreds of his students went on to become Rabbonim and Shluchim, while many hundreds more established Torah-observant Jewish families and became leaders and pillars of Jewish communities around the world.
In 1999, Rabbi Lipskier established Yeshivas Tiferes Menachem in Sea Gate, continuing his life’s work of reaching Jewish young men from secular backgrounds and introducing them to the beauty of Yiddishkeit.
His influence extended far beyond the walls of the yeshiva. Generations of students and their families remained connected to him, and he became a beloved and revered figure in thousands of Chabad homes around the world.
Rabbi Lipskier is survived by his wife, Mrs. Cirel Lipskier, and their children, Mrs. Chanie Kaminezki (Dnipro, Ukraine), Rabbi Mendel Lipskier (Sherman Oaks, CA), Mrs. Dinie Mangel (Cherry Hill, NJ), Mrs. Shternie Backman (Glendale, CA), Mrs. Chaya Mushka Silberberg (Crown Heights), and Rabbi Berel Lipskier (Crown Heights), as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He is also survived by his siblings, Mrs. Tzivia Jacobson, Mrs. Esther Raskin, Mrs. Leah Marmulstein, Rabbi Berel Lipskier, Rabbi Hirshel Lipskier, Rabbi Zalman Lipskier and Rabbi Shmuel Lipskier. His brother, Fitzi Lipskier ע”ה, predeceased him.
The Levaya will take place Thursday, 28 Elul, and will pass by 770 Eastern Parkway at 3:00 p.m., followed by kevurah at Old Montefiore Cemetery at 4:00 p.m.
Shiva information to be announced.
Boruch Dayan Hoemes
