“What’s so special about today?” he asked. I told him about the Rebbe going to the Ohel, adding that, the Rebbe would surely pray for him when he heard about Mel putting on tefillin. He agreed. In fact, from that day on, he began putting on tefillin every single day.
At one point, I decided that Mel should go to meet the Rebbe, and we made an appointment. Mel brought along some plans he had been developing for the school in Miami, as well as for a big project he wanted to build in Israel. This development was going to have golf courses, clubhouses, tennis courts, convention facilities, and the best spa in the world; and the Israeli government was going to give him the land to do all of it. Actually, he was meeting the Israeli finance minister, Pinchas Sapir, the next morning, and we were going to fly back to Miami together that night.
As we waited to go into the Rebbe’s room, the time for our flight crept closer. Mel began asking some of the other people what they had come for. After hearing about how one person had this business problem, and another person had that health problem, he turned to me: “Sholom, let’s go back. The Rebbe has so much to do. We shouldn’t bother him with our stuff.”
“No,” I replied. “This is not the kind of meeting that you skip if it gets late.” We found another 3:00 AM flight through Atlanta that would get us into Miami in the morning, and we stayed.
When the time came, I went into the Rebbe’s office together with Mel, introduced him, and then walked out. I wanted him to be alone with the Rebbe.
“I came to tell you that we’re going to do everything right in Israel,” was the first thing he said to the Rebbe. “The Jewish people are going to be great.”
The Rebbe looked at him and said, “Everything is great? How about the hundreds of thousands of Jewish kids who are lost in the streets? How about the ones involved in drugs?”
“Well, Rebbe,” countered Mel, “let me tell you what I’m going to do in Israel.” He then pulled out his plans and showed the Rebbe.
“Let me ask you,” the Rebbe said. “When you bring someone into your house, do you take him to your library and your living room, or do you take him to your bathroom?”
“The library and living room, of course.”
“So why are you building bathrooms in Israel?” The Rebbe felt that there were more important things to do in the Holy Land than building a spa.
He was there for over an hour, and he came out in shock. We ended up spending the rest of that night speaking about the Rebbe, before arriving in Miami in the morning.
That afternoon, I got a call from Rabbi Hodakov, who had a message from the Rebbe for Mel: “I met a Jew to whom G-d has given powers which even I do not possess. Through them, he will bring hundreds of thousands of Jewish children back to their roots. Normally, one does not see the foundations of a building, but here, I have seen strong, deep foundations.”
The next day, a letter from the Rebbe came by special delivery. It began like this:
“...I had wondered what your reactions might be to my ‘un-American’ manner of welcoming you. For, the accepted American way, if I am not mistaken, is to greet one with a shower of compliments and praise.... Yet, instead of verbalizing my appreciation at length, I... immediately challenged you with new and formidable projects...
“I felt impelled to use the precious time at our disposal to discuss with you those matters... of vital importance.... Moreover, I was hopeful that you would accept my suggestions in the right spirit, precisely because you have already made a magnificent start....”
Since that magnificent start, thousands of children have learned in the school building that Mel Landow sponsored and supported over the years, many of whom have gone on to lead communities themselves.
Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar has been serving as a Chabad emissary in Florida since 1969. After serving as the principal of the Landow Yeshiva Center (today LEC) for several years, he founded The Shul of Bal Harbour in 1982. He was interviewed four times in the years 2009, 2011, and 2024.
