Bal Harbour rabbi who survived coronavirus preparing to reopen his synagogue

After surviving coronavirus, a rabbi who was one of the first Miami-Dade cases to be publicly identified is ready to reopen his synagogue’s doors.

Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, 73, tested positive for coronavirus in mid-March. The rabbi had preexisting health conditions, including two heart valve replacements and Type II diabetes. He said the virus had already affected both lungs when he was diagnosed.

One of Lipskar’s doctors during his treatment, Dr. Martin Zak at University of Miami Hospital, said he was concerned that Lipskar would need life support. He was also concerned about Lipskar’s high fevers and general weakness. But Zak said based on what he’s heard, he would consider Lipskar fully recovered. And Lipskar said he’s ready to return to work. He will reopen the synagogue May 29.

One of Lipskar’s doctors encouraged him to get screened for the virus when he reported having a fever and a slight cough he couldn’t relieve with Tylenol. As a result, doctors caught Lipskar’s condition early.

“It was the furthest thing from my mind, that I had anything close to [coronavirus],” Lipskar said from behind a mask during an interview with the Miami Herald in his backyard. “Thank God they caught it early, so it did not get to the point where I needed to be intubated.”

When asked if he thought it would have been different if the doctors had caught it later, Lipskar quickly interrupted and said he didn’t even like to think about that possibility.

“Although, there were moments where mortality did cross my mind,” Lipskar said.

Lipskar founded and leads one of the largest Orthodox synagogues in Miami-Dade County, Shul of Bal Harbour. The synagogue was shuttered after Lipskar’s diagnosis and those who had been in close contact with the rabbi were encouraged to self-isolate in their homes with their nuclear families for two weeks, Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman said in a statement at the time of the diagnosis.

“If I got it, who knows how far it reached. We had a lot of people come in from all over the world, all over the country,” Lipskar said. “The entire community went into a lockdown and is still in a lockdown, basically. And I think it was one of the reasons that we were spared any really serious matters in the community.”

Lipskar said that nobody from his congregation was hospitalized for coronavirus. Groisman said there were 15 reported infections in Bal Harbour, with one death, but he added that the one man who died did not attend Shul of Bal Harbour.

“As soon as my husband got the news, he sent a letter to the entire 33154 community and told everyone to please quarantine because they had been exposed to him in one way or another,” Lipskar’s wife, Chani, said. “And friends called me and said thanks to the rabbi, we all quarantined and he basically saved us all. So I kept thinking, maybe this is why he had to get the corona so early on in the pandemic, to be able to help other people.”

Nearly two months later, Lipskar is prepared to reopen his synagogue with limited hours and with stringent conditions. He will admit worshipers for the first time on Friday, May 29, for the Jewish holiday Shavuot.

The Shul of Bal Harbour is located on Collins Avenue in Surfside. Lipskar lives with his wife in a gated community in Bal Harbour, which adjoins Surfside. Some of his children and grandchildren live in the house behind his. His grandchildren can cross from their house and through Lispskar’s backyard whenever they want to see their grandparents, even for just a meal.

The synagogue has been operating via Zoom, with 150 to 200 participants a day, with prayer services led by a team of rabbis including Lipskar, he said. When the synagogue reopens, it will be under strict conditions, including reducing the main service from 600 seated people to 108, opening all doors, taking temperatures and requiring participants to bring their own prayer books and shawls.

Anybody with preconditions has been told not to participate, Lipskar said. Those over 65 were told to consult their doctor, and nobody under 13 will be permitted.

Lipskar said that while they could have opened Monday, he decided to wait for a little over a week to see the results of the first phase of Bal Harbour’s reopening.

Lipskar spent nine days at the University of Miami being treated for coronavirus. He said he received hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat and prevent malaria that has become controversial in its use to treat coronavirus, after a friend urged him to ask for it. He said he received hydroxychloroquine in combination with other drugs.

Lipskar said his doctors weren’t sure if the drug would work. “One of the things that concerned me, actually, at the hospital, though I was getting excellent care, was the fact that I knew about as much about this virus as the doctors did,” he said.

Zak could not confirm what drugs Lipskar had received but said he is not treating patients with hydroxychloroquine now.

At the hospital, Lipskar saw only the nurses and doctors treating him, who he said had to enter in “space suits” to interact with him. Lipskar said he couldn’t even recognize his own doctors.

For the first time in 51 years of marriage, he was separated from his wife.

“From a practical, physical, social perspective, I was literally alone, for the first time for nine days,” Lipskar said. “But I did not feel lonely because I did feel constantly the presence of a higher authority that was with me. I felt a real sense of faith, a sense of positivity, optimism.”

When he continued to recover at his home in Bal Harbour, he was only allowed to see his wife, who never tested positive for the virus “by some divine miracle.”

Lipskar did not start interacting with his children and grandchildren without masks and social distancing again until a week ago, he said. For the first time in his life, Lipskar wasn’t able to celebrate Shabbat or Passover with his community or family. He and his wife celebrated alone.

“My kids who live behind us, the other house, they were on their porch, in their garden,” Lipskar said, “and singing out loud the songs so that it would give us some kind of solace.”

This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 6:30 AM.