Chabad Lubavitch of South Africa
Chabad-Lubavitch in South Africa: the Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa, founded by Rabbi Mendel Lipskar in 1972, now with about 20 centres, the Torah Academy and a growing share of the country's Orthodox pulpits
| Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Chabad-Lubavitch regional headquarters |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Founder(s) | Mendel Lipskar and Mashi Lipskar, with Koppel Bacher |
| Headquarters | 57 Oaklands Road, Orchards, Johannesburg 2192 |
| Area served | South Africa |
| Key people | Mendel Lipskar (head); Yossy Goldman; Mendel Popack and Dovid Wineberg (Cape Town) |
| Remarks | Affiliations: Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch. Locations: 18 locations listed by Lubavitch.com; "20 Chabad Centres" (2022). Subsidiaries: Torah Academy; Chabad Centre of Cape Town; Chabad House for Israelis & Tourists, Cape Town; Chabad on Campus, Cape Town. Unlike the Kinshasa network, it does not cover the rest of sub-Saharan Africa |
Chabad-Lubavitch in South Africa dates from 1972, when Menachem Mendel Schneerson sent Rabbi Mendel Lipskar and his wife Mashi to Johannesburg as the first official Chabad emissaries in southern Africa.[1] Their work is run through the Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa, based at 57 Oaklands Road, Orchards, Johannesburg, which also houses the Torah Academy.[2] In 2022 SA Jewish Report counted "20 Chabad Centres and more than 60 shluchim of the rebbe in the country", along with shuls, schools and a Yeshiva Gedolah.[1] Chabad has become a central force in South African Orthodox Judaism. An anonymous 2025 SAJR column put it at "more than 50% of Orthodox shuls being Chabad affiliated".[3] Chabad rabbis now lead several mainstream congregations that are not Chabad. A critical University of Cape Town history describes the arrival of a Chabad rabbi at Cape Town's largest Modern Orthodox synagogue as the moment "the conservative elements had finally won".[4]
History and emissaries
Founding (1972)
- Koppel Bacher, a Johannesburg businessman and qualified Chabad rabbi who had studied at the Chabad yeshiva in New York from 1955, lobbied the Rebbe for an official Chabad office. According to SAJR, "Bacher brought them to the country and financed their start-up". He also brought later emissaries, including Yossy Goldman.[1]
- Mendel Lipskar and Mashi Lipskar arrived in 1972 and took over the Chassidim Shul on Harrow Road, Yeoville. They opened the first Chabad House in Harley Street, Yeoville.[1] Lipskar is described as head of Chabad Lubavitch in South Africa, rabbi of the Hyde Park shul, former chair of the Rabbinical Association, and founder of the Torah Academy, which grew out of a play school.[1]
- Yossy Goldman arrived in 1976 and was the founding director of the Yeoville Chabad House.[5][1]
The 1979 dispute with the communal leadership
In 1979 the Lubavitch Foundation bought "a large tract of land in the prime northern suburbs of Johannesburg" so the Torah Academy could expand. Goldman later recalled that the Jewish Board of Deputies, the Zionist Federation, the Board of Jewish Education, the Israel United Appeal and the United Communal Fund "all attempted to prevail upon us that we should abandon our 'reckless empire building'". When Chabad refused, the chairmen of the Board and the Federation wrote to the Rebbe "asking him to curb his errant emissaries". According to Goldman, the Rebbe replied urging them to reverse the community's decline, and pointed out that Jewish communities helped influence "their local governments to maintain positive international relations with the Jewish state".[5]
Cape Town and growth
Lipskar recalled: "We soon brought out shluchim to Cape Town."[1] Lubavitch.com lists the Chabad Centre of Cape Town (Rabbis Mendel Popack and Dovid Wineberg, 20 St Johns Road, Sea Point, Cape Town 8005), a Chabad House for Israelis & Tourists (Rabbi Yechezkiel Yehuda and Chana Malka) and Chabad on Campus (Rabbi Nissen and Ariella Goldman). Its South Africa directory lists 18 locations, including Johannesburg suburbs, Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Umhlanga Rocks.[6][7]
Relations with the wider Jewish community
Chabad rabbis in mainstream pulpits
After ten years of Chabad outreach, in about 1986–87, Goldman left Chabad's own institutions to become rabbi of Sydenham Shul, Johannesburg's largest synagogue, with the Rebbe's blessing; he led it for 34 years. He said: "Sydenham Shul is not a Chabad shul, and at the time, it was unheard of for the big mainstream shuls here to hire a Lubavitcher. Today, thank G‑d, it is quite common practice in South Africa."[5] Goldman later chaired the South African Rabbinical Association for 12 years and became its president.[5]
In 2010 the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation (Marais Road Shul) in Cape Town, then the country's largest synagogue, appointed the Chabad rabbi Dovid Wineberg. The Kaplan Centre at the University of Cape Town published a critical history of the congregation. It records "some resistance to engaging a Chabad rabbi for a Modern Orthodox congregation" and says that "what was 'authentic' to Lubavitch might not have been 'authentic' to Litvaks, and certainly not the belief of some of his followers that the Lubavitche Rebbe was the Messiah". It concludes: "The largest synagogue in South Africa now had a Lubavitche rabbi and with his arrival in 2010 the conservative elements had finally won."[4] It cites Shmuley Boteach's 2011 article "The Chabadization of Judaism". It adds that in South Africa the process "was assisted by the determination of the Johannesburg Chief Rabbinate to crush modern orthodoxy with the resultant closing of the South African Jewish mind".[4]
The Chief Rabbi, the UOS and the SAJBD
The Chief Rabbi of South Africa is employed by the Union of Orthodox Synagogues (UOS). In August 2025 an anonymous SAJR column described Chabad as playing "a key role in religious life in South Africa, with more than 50% of Orthodox shuls being Chabad affiliated". It called the Yeshiva and Torah Academy schools "Chabad aligned" and the largest and most successful Torah schools. It argued that "Certainly Chabad, Reform, and Conservative Judaism need better representation", since "It's hard to see how the UOS and the chief rabbi represent the majority of Jewish practice in South Africa".[3]
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein praised the Lipskars on their 50th anniversary: "Through their relentless commitment and love, they have made and continue to make an historic contribution to the flourishing of our community by bringing us all closer to Hashem and His Torah."[1]
Relations with the state and politics
Apartheid. The Lipskars arrived in "apartheid South Africa" in 1972. Lipskar told SAJR: "Though we didn't understand the political system, we tried to improvise as best as possible within its limitations."[1] Goldman recalled arriving three months before the 1976 Soweto uprising, when "The park benches had signs stating, 'Whites Only.'"[5] According to Lipskar, the Rebbe repeatedly told South African Jews not to emigrate. When Nelson Mandela's release was imminent, he told Bacher: "It will be good there till Moshiach, and better after Moshiach comes."[1] Chabad.org published a photograph of Goldman and his wife with Mandela.[5]
Israel. According to Goldman, the Rebbe's 1979 letter stressed the community's "proud relationship with Israel" and its role in lobbying the South African government for good relations with Israel.[5]
Funding and donors
- Koppel Bacher financed the Lipskars' start-up.[1]
- Solly Krok and Abe Krok. In 1994 the twins rescued the foundation from about R5 million of Nedbank debt secured on the Orchards properties, through their company Phoenix Salt Industries (see below).[8][9] The Kroks' first success was "a skincare beauty range for the African community"; SAJR notes that "their complexion lightening creams lead to much controversy". They later built the Apartheid Museum.[8]
Controversies
Phoenix Salt Industries v Lubavitch Foundation (civil case)
Civil litigation; no wrongdoing was found against the foundation. In 2017, 23 years after the 1994 loan, Phoenix Salt Industries, by then run by Maxim and Martin Krok, demanded repayment. It later sued the Lubavitch Foundation for R2,886,005.20 plus interest and costs.[9] Lipskar's evidence, backed by an affidavit from Solly Krok, was that the twins had assured him "on numerous occasions" that the foundation would never have to repay. In January 2023 the Gauteng Division of the High Court dismissed the claim, finding that Phoenix Salt had waived its right to enforce payment.[8][9] On 3 July 2024 the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Phoenix Salt's appeal with costs (Phoenix Salt Industries (Pty) Ltd v The Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa [2024] ZASCA 107).[9] SAJR reported that a loss "would have been devastating" to the foundation, in the words of its attorney, Ian Levitt.[8]
Influence over Orthodox pulpits
See the Kaplan Centre's critique above.[4]
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1955 | Koppel Bacher goes to the Chabad yeshiva in New York |
| 1972 | The Lipskars arrive in Johannesburg; Chassidim Shul, Yeoville |
| 1976 | Yossy Goldman arrives; first Chabad House in Yeoville |
| 1979 | Land bought in the northern suburbs for the Torah Academy; communal leaders write to the Rebbe |
| c. 1986–87 | Goldman becomes rabbi of Sydenham Shul |
| 1994 | The Krok twins take over the foundation's Nedbank debt |
| 2010 | Wineberg appointed at Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation |
| 2017 | Phoenix Salt demands repayment |
| Jan 2023 | High Court dismisses Phoenix Salt's claim |
| 3 Jul 2024 | SCA dismisses the appeal |
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to South Africa
- Chabad Lubavitch of Namibia
- Chabad Lubavitch of Mauritius
- Chabad Lubavitch of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Saul Kamionsky, "Lipskars celebrate 50 years of following their calling", SA Jewish Report, 27 January 2022. Press.
- ↑ Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, "Orchards, South Africa – Centers", Lubavitch.com, accessed 20 October 2026. Chabad-side directory.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Anonymous, "Musings of a reluctant community leader", SA Jewish Report, 8 August 2025. Opinion; critical of the UOS and SAJBD.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, University of Cape Town, "Something fishy", web exhibition Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation: its origins to 2010, undated, accessed 20 October 2026. Critical.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Yosef Kaufmann, "Rabbi Who Helped Transform Jewish Life in South Africa Steps Into New Role", Chabad.org, 15 July 2021, quoting Goldman's "How the Rebbe Saved South African Jewry". Chabad-side.
- ↑ Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, "Cape Town, South Africa – Centers", Lubavitch.com, accessed 20 October 2026. Chabad-side directory.
- ↑ Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, "South Africa – Centers", Lubavitch.com, accessed 20 October 2026. Chabad-side directory.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Nicola Miltz, "Chabad rescued with court case win", SA Jewish Report, 26 January 2023. Press.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, media summary, Phoenix Salt Industries (Pty) Ltd v The Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa (330/2023) [2024] ZASCA 107 (3 July 2024); full judgment at SAFLII. Court record.