Rabbi Sholom B. Lipskar, a charismatic figure in the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, who helped transform South Florida into a vibrant center of Jewish life, and who founded a national organization that supports Jews in prison and the military, died on May 3 in Miami. He was 78.

Rabbi Lipskar was sent to Miami in 1969 by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher rebbe. At the time, the Jewish community consisted primarily of affluent retirees who were not particularly religious. Rabbi Schneerson saw a different future.

Rabbi Lipskar acted as educator, lecturer, spiritual leader, and Torah scholar. Early on, a dozen people showed up, but within a year, hundreds of Jews were attending his programs. At the same time, he founded Aleph Institute, an outreach organization for prisoners. Aleph now has 75 full-time employees.

Rabbi Lipskar “created a Jewish community which right now is one of the most intensely engaged, committed and active Jewish communities in the World, Jacob Solomon, the president and chief executive emeritus of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, told The Miami Herald. “He was a visionary.”