Rabbi Lipskar, Here’s Our Story

A companion to the “Here’s My Story” publication, “Game, Set, Wrap” – The Landows

On Erev Shabbat, Parshat Tazria-Metzora, May 2, 2025, Here’s My Story, part of JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe project, published a powerful firsthand account by Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar OB”M titled “Game, Set, Wrap.” It told how a tennis match with a self-made Miami millionaire led to tefillin and the dedication of a yeshiva that would impact thousands of Jews.

That story was published just hours before Rabbi Lipskar’s sudden passing on Shabbos — a final, divine tribute to a life’s work of bringing Jews home, one soul, one family, one generation at a time.

While that publication told the story through Rabbi Lipskar’s eyes, what follows is the other side: the Landow family’s perspective. A story of transformation, mission, and a ripple effect still unfolding today.

The Tennis Match That Started It All

Mel Landow OB”M was one of Miami Beach’s most prominent and recognizable figures, known for his sharp instincts, larger-than-life personality, and immense wealth. He lived in a grand mansion, drove luxury cars, and moved comfortably in elite social circles. But for all his success, Mel and his family remained distant from Torah and traditional Jewish observance.

Mel also happened to be an excellent tennis player. It was on the courts that Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar first met him and challenged him to a playful bet: if Mel lost a tennis match, he would put on tefillin. Mel lost. And true to his word, he did.

That one mitzvah led to many more. A friendship blossomed. Mel began attending weekly Torah classes and became deeply drawn to the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Eventually, Rabbi Lipskar introduced Mel to the Rebbe, and Mel was enamored. Upon their first meeting, the Rebbe instructed Mel:“When two Jews meet, it is for the purpose of helping a third.”

That came to define their relationship.

Following a later private meeting, the Rebbe remarked about Mel:

“I met a person last night that Hashem gave merits even I don’t have... He will open the spigots through which 100,000 Jewish children will return to their source.”

The Rebbe saw the potential. Rabbi Lipskar helped unlock it.

A Dream That Built a Yeshiva

As their friendship deepened, Rabbi Lipskar brought Mel to visit a small, financially struggling yeshiva located above a fish store. Mel’s own children were not in yeshiva, and he wasn’t willing to offer the kind of financial support the school so desperately needed. Like the rest of the people at the meeting, Mel did not see himself as part of the solution. But that night, he had a deeply disturbing dream of children losing the light of Torah.

The next morning, he called Rabbi Lipskar and declared, “I’m going to build a new yeshiva. I’ll sell my house if I have to.”

And so, the Landow Yeshiva was born.

But it wasn’t just another school. It was a statement. A bold, beautiful campus in the heart of Miami Beach that became a beacon for Jewish education across the country.

As Rabbi Lipskar later reflected:“The Landow Yeshiva Center was the first gorgeous, beautiful building that Chabad built in America. From that point on, shluchim looked at it as a paradigm.”

True to the Rebbe’s vision, Mel opened the spigots. But it was Rabbi Lipskar who brought him to the wellspring and helped him turn the handle. Their partnership didn’t only impact the landscape of Jewish life in South Florida — it forever altered the Landow lineage.

A Knock That Opened a Door

Rabbi Lipskar became a frequent visitor at the Landow home. Often, Mel was on the tennis court, and it was his teenage daughter, Karen Landow-Albert, whose bedroom was near the front door, who would answer.

“I resented him,” Karen recalls. “I was a teenager, and every time he knocked, I thought he was coming to take my father’s money. I didn’t understand who he was or what he was doing. I was contentious, and he knew it.”

But Rabbi Lipskar never stopped coming. Always showing up with warmth and sincerity. Bringing shmura matzah for Pesach. Wine and cake from the Rebbe. And above all, friendship.

“Years later,” Karen says, “I understood. Rabbi Lipskar wasn’t just knocking on our door — he was opening one. A door to Torah. A door to truth. He didn’t take anything from us. He gave us everything.”

A Legacy Through Loss

Eventually, Mel’s financial empire collapsed. His company went bankrupt, and for weeks, his name filled the business pages of the Miami Herald.

After his financial collapse, Mel’s wealthy cronies told him, “You should have bought a yacht instead of a yeshivah. At least then you’d have something left to cash in.” He was ridiculed for giving millions to a school his own children didn’t attend.

But Mel never wavered. Karen recalls, “My father took me to the yeshiva on Alton Road, pointed to the building, and said, ‘The banks took away my house. The banks took away my business. The banks took away my money. But no one could ever take away from me the Landow Yeshiva.’”

Above all, Mel cherished what he built with Rabbi Lipskar. Later in life, he described the opportunity to build the yeshiva as “winning the lottery.” Together, they brought living waters to a desert. And the desert bloomed. The seeds they planted bore fruit.

And as the Rebbe had blessed him, “the fruit of their fruit had fruit.”

Some of that sweet fruit is his own family today.

Karen and her family now live lives dedicated to Hashem, Torah, and mitzvot. Today, she is a great-grandmother, with beautiful Jewish descendants — many of whom proudly serve the Jewish people through outreach and unwavering ahavas Yisroel.

One of them, her son and Mel’s grandson, Rabbi Chaim Albert, carries with him the very pair of tefillin that Rabbi Lipskar gave to Mel nearly 50 years ago. And with them, he carries their mission forward.

More than a decade ago, Rabbi Albert founded The Jewish Academy, determined to provide Jewish education to children attending public school. What began humbly in a shopping center has since educated over 500 students from across South Florida.

The Rebbe’s blessing continues to unfold, and the fruit keeps bearing fruit.

The Landow School of Excellence

With The Jewish Academy’s miraculous acquisition of a 75,000-square-foot former university facility on a sprawling 5.5-acre campus — complete with modern classrooms, labs, studios, sports fields, and space to accommodate 1,000 students — the school enters its next chapter as The Landow School of Excellence.

This isn’t just a name change.

It is the fulfillment of a vision that began decades ago, when a rabbi showed up on a tennis court and kept knocking on a door.

Karen, grieving Rabbi Lipskar’s recent passing, shares:

“Rabbi Lipskar, I want to thank you from the deepest part of my heart and soul. Today, I sit here in my son’s school, which is being renamed the Landow School. We are so honored and blessed that Hashem put you in our lives so we could be part of the people who help Jews in this world. There is no higher calling for our family, and no greater gift than to be among those chosen by Hashem to bring Jews back to Torah.”

She adds with emotion:

“I’m sorry I was chutzpahdik when I was 14… Today, I recognize that God truly blessed us to have you as a friend.”

And with clarity and conviction, Rabbi Albert affirms:

“We will continue the sacred work of my grandfather and Rabbi Lipskar, guided by the Rebbe’s vision that not a single Jewish child be left unreached. With G‑d’s help, this campus will soon be filled to capacity, and we will go on to open even more.”

The Mission Lives On

The story isn’t over.

The spigots are still open.

And they aren’t just flowing.

They are gushing!

Take part in this holy cause at charidy.com/tja