Rabbi Lipnick served Congregation B'nai Amoona, St. Louis, Missouri as senior rabbi for over 40 years (1951-1991) and he is listed along with other rabbis who served St. Louis congregations. The full list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS.
_________________________
Rabbi Lipnick was a 2nd cousin to St. Louis rabbi Rabbi Jerome Grollman
Rabbi Lipnick received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1951
_________________________
OBITUARY
Bernard Lipnick
Lipnick, Rabbi Bernard April 20, 2010. Beloved husband of Harriet Lipnick; dear father and father-inlaw of David (Becca), the late Daniel and Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, Jayme (Mark Schwartz) Sophir, Mark (Nancy) Sophir and Tammy (Alan) Parry; dear grandfather of Joshua, Chaim and Dassie Lipnick, Emily and Rachel Schwartz, Michael and Abby Sophir, Marisa and Bennett Parry; dear brother of the late Jerome Lipnick and Len (the late Stan) Saulson; former brother-in-law of Joan (Rabbi Kassel) Lipnick Abelson; our dear uncle, cousin and friend. Services: Funeral service Friday, April 23rd, 11:00 AM at Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road. No visitation prior to the service. Interment at B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North and South Road. Memorial contributions preferred to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement, Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63141. BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE.
Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch on April 22, 2010
_________________________
** FEATURE STORY **
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
BY MICHAEL D. SORKIN and JUDITH NEWMARK
Posted: Thursday, April 22, 2010
RABBI BERNARD LIPNICK; HEADED CONGREGATION B'NAI AMOONA
After the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, Bernie Lipnick took a cargo ship to Israel, where, as a radio newsman, he broadcast the new nation's fight for independence to listeners worldwide.
He returned to the U.S., became a rabbi and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala. Later, as the chief rabbi at Congregation B'nai Amoona, he led the fight for women's equality.
Rabbi Bernard Lipnick died of complications from lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20, 2010) at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. He was 83 and lived in Chesterfield.
He recently served his congregation as rabbi emeritus and also conducted cruise tours. He was nearly halfway through a 120-day cruise when he developed pneumonia. He and his wife, Harriet, disembarked in Hong Kong and later flew to Chicago, where he collapsed. He was flown to St. Louis by air ambulance on April 6 and died two weeks later, on the day Israelis celebrate their independence.
Rabbi Lipnick's passion was education and he was the driving force behind the creation of Solomon Schechter Day School here, where parents send children to learn about their Jewish heritage and receive a strong general education.
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, the current chief rabbi at B'nai Amoona, called Rabbi Lipnick an innovative educator who championed the inclusion of women, gays and lesbians in synagogue practice and sought creative ways to engage young people.
"He was a giant," Rose said.
During the civil rights demonstrations in 1963, Rabbi Lipnick marched in Selma alongside six nuns from St. Louis. He was assigned to protect Sister Antona Ebo from attack. The nuns reciprocated by serving kosher food to Rabbi Lipnick and other rabbis.
The rabbi and the nun didn't see each other again for 40 years. "I will miss his big, booming voice," she said Wednesday.
A committed Zionist, Rabbi Lipnick took a leave in 1949 from rabbinical school in New York to work in Israel.
There, he put his distinctive baritone to use as a radio announcer stationed with Israeli Army troops. Listeners worldwide heard his stories about the Israelis and their fight to become a new nation.
Rabbi Lipnick grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Hebrew College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He came to St. Louis in 1951 as educational director at B'nai Amoona, then located near the University City Loop. He became senior rabbi 11 years later.
Conservative Jewish synagogues such as B'nai Amoona, where men and women sat together, didn't let women participate fully.
They weren't allowed to read from the Torah in public, and bas mitzvah ceremonies for girls were held on Friday nights, separate from bar mitzvah ceremonies for boys on Saturdays.
In the mid-1980s, the congregation moved to its current location on Mason Road in Creve Coeur and, urged by Rabbi Lipnick, voted to include women in all rituals. About 10 years later, the congregation hired its first female rabbi.
B'nai Amoona, with 775 families, is one of the largest Conservative Jewish congregations in the U.S.
Speaking of the future of Judaism, Rabbi Lipnick often told his students that, "A Jew wants Jewish grandchildren."
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, followed by burial at B'nai Amoona Cemetery in University City.
Survivors in addition to his wife include two daughters, Jayme Sophir-Schwartz of Arlington, Va., and Tammy Parry of Poway, Calif.; three sons, Dr. Jesse Lipnick of Gainesville, Fla., Mark Sophir of Olivette and David Lipnick of Farmington, N.M.; and nine grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
_________________________
The Beacon
April 22, 2010
By Gloria S. Ross, special to the Beacon
RABBI BRERNARD LIPNICK: EDUCATOR AND FIGHTER FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, WOMEN'S RIGHTS, ISRAEL
Bernard "Bernie" Lipnick prepared well to become a rabbi, a role he actively served in for four decades at Congregation B'nai Amoona. But being a pulpit rabbi was never his goal.
"I became a rabbi - that was my title - but I didn't want to do rabbinic work," he told the St. Louis Jewish Light in 2008. "What I wanted to do was Jewish education."
Rabbi Lipnick did both. He never wavered from his lifelong focus on learning and teaching, whether in the pulpit, fighting on behalf of women's and civil rights or traveling far and wide. He was halfway through his seventh round-the-world cruise with his wife, Harriet, serving as a ship chaplain, when he fell ill last month. He was hospitalized in Hong Kong before returning to the U.S. Rabbi Lipnick died of lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20) at Missouri Baptist Hospital. He was 83.
Rabbi Lipnick came to B'nai Amoona in 1951 as educational director. Shortly after his arrival, the synagogue Bulletin reported that "Rabbi Lipnick has brought a new spirit into the children." Though he had more than 700 students to inspire, he was quickly enlisted by Rabbi Abraham E. Halpern, then senior rabbi, to perform rabbinical duties and inspire the entire congregation.
Rabbi As Educator
"He was interested in education," said Harriet Lipnick, "but Rabbi Halpern convinced him that he could get a lot more done as the rabbi."
And so it came to be that after 11 years as educational director, Rabbi Lipnick was named senior rabbi when Rabbi Halpern died in 1962. He began to put his educational stamp on B'nai Amoona.
lipnick150bernard.jpg
Photo courtesy of Congregation B'nai Amoona
Under his leadership, the congregation built a preschool, which became the foundation for the Solomon Schechter Day School on what is now the Bernard Lipnick Campus of B'nai Amoona. He led the development of two camping programs, the Alfred Fleishman Summer Camps. He also instituted the Nir Galim program in 1972 that sent teenagers to live in Israel on a communal farm for a summer of religious education.
Rabbi Lipnick had made many trips to Israel, the first in 1949 while a student at Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He had wanted to go a year earlier to join Israel's fight for independence in the Arab-Israeli War, but had to settle for a trip where he could study and work.
He went from New York to Israel on a freighter. On the ship, he and other Americans formed language and geography learning groups. Upon arrival, he became the first foreign radio announcer for Kol Israel and used a shortwave radio to broadcast the news about Israel. He used an assumed name, Bernard Jerome, combining his and his brother's first names, because it was illegal for a non-citizen to be broadcasting.
He also did some newspaper work and a lot of manual labor, including digging wells and ditches, which gave him material to write about. The digging led to early recognition of his great baritone voice, which echoed so melodically in the wells that his foreman said he could quit digging and just sing. It was a voice he would go on to use in many recordings, including K'dusha Symphony.
He spent a year in Israel that first time, and returned throughout his life for year-long sabbaticals to study and write.
Ahead of His Time
His wife said, "He tried to be ahead of things." By almost any measure, he succeeded, his friends say.
He was in the vanguard of establishing a just society that respected and encouraged the rights of women.
He was credited with increasing student enrollment in all programs, but he was particularly lauded for increasing the number of girls attending Hebrew School. His many efforts on behalf of women resulted in total egalitarian rights within the congregation.
He was no less committed to civil rights. He was at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Two years later, he marched in Selma, Ala., to protest the murder of an activist, unfair state laws and voting rights infringements. After more than 500 peaceful demonstrators were violently assaulted on March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday," Rabbi Lipnick went to Selma to join the next march.
For his civil rights efforts, he shared the 2005 Jews United for Justice Heschel-King Award with Sister Antona Ebo, an African-American nun who was one of the first marchers in Selma.
THE LIFE OF A LEADER
Rabbi Lipnick was born on April 29, 1926, in Baltimore, the younger of two brothers. He celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in 1939. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor's degree and received an academic diploma and a teaching certificate from Baltimore Hebrew University. He went on to complete a Master of Hebrew in Literature and received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. After his ordination, Rabbi Lipnick joined the staff of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin for three years.
Around that time, he applied to serve as a military chaplain during the Korean War. He was in the Navy for a short time in World War II, but missed out on most of the war because of a theological deferment.
"When the Korean War came along, I saw an opportunity for me to make amends," he told the Jewish Light. But it was not to be. This time, a high blood pressure diagnosis kept him from serving.
"When I was turned down from the service, I was devastated," Rabbi Lipnick said.
But a friend told him about the opening at B'nai Amoona.
In 1972, he earned a Ph.D. from Washington University and was subsequently awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity. His numerous published works included selections in Eulogies and Sermons for Special Occasions, both edited by Morton A. Wallack. He received the Alexander Dushkin Prize from Hebrew University.
"Throughout his distinguished rabbinic career, Rabbi Lipnick has been a tower of strength not only to his own beloved synagogue, but to the entire Jewish and general communities of St. Louis," said Robert A. Cohn, editor-in-chief emeritus of the Jewish Light, upon Rabbi Lipnick's retirement from B'nai Amoona in 1991.
Following retirement, he and Harriet made their home in Idyllwild, Calif., in the San Jacinto mountains. There he hand-built a home on the forested side of a mountain at an altitude of 6,000 feet. From 2001 to 2002, he served Congregation Beth Shalom in Bermuda Dunes, Calif. When he developed some health problems, they returned to St. Louis in 2003, and Rabbi Emeritus Lipnick again served Congregation B'nai Amoona as needed.
Rabbi Lipnick was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Augusta "Gussie" Lipnick; his brother, Rabbi Jerome "Jerry" Lipnick, and his son, Daniel Lipnick.
In addition to his wife of 36 years, Harriet (nee Pogrelis) Lipnick of Chesterfield, Rabbi Lipnick is survived by two sons, Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, of Gainsville, Fla., and David (Becca) Lipnick, of Farmington, N.M. He is also survived by his stepchildren, Jayme (Mark) Schwartz, of Arlington, Va., Mark (Nancy) Sophir, of St. Louis, and Tammy (Alan) Parry, of Poway, Calif. He was "Saba" to nine grandchildren.
Funeral services for Rabbi Lipnick will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 23, at the B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, Mo. 63141, followed by internment at the B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North & South Road, University City. Following internment, the family will gather from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Wolf Auditorium at B'nai Amoona.
Individuals unable to attend the funeral who would like to listen to the service, may call 1-605-475-4001. The access code is 749027#. It is not a toll-free call.
The Lipnick family would appreciate donations in Rabbi Lipnick's memory to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
Gloria Ross is the head of Okara Communications and the storywriter for AfterWords, an obituary-writing and production service. To reach her, contact Beacon contributing editor Richard Weiss. END
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on any photo image to enlarge it and to reveal any captions, or attributions by scrolling to the bottom of the photo.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
_________________________
Rabbi Lipnick was a 2nd cousin to St. Louis rabbi Rabbi Jerome Grollman
Rabbi Lipnick received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1951
_________________________
OBITUARY
Bernard Lipnick
Lipnick, Rabbi Bernard April 20, 2010. Beloved husband of Harriet Lipnick; dear father and father-inlaw of David (Becca), the late Daniel and Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, Jayme (Mark Schwartz) Sophir, Mark (Nancy) Sophir and Tammy (Alan) Parry; dear grandfather of Joshua, Chaim and Dassie Lipnick, Emily and Rachel Schwartz, Michael and Abby Sophir, Marisa and Bennett Parry; dear brother of the late Jerome Lipnick and Len (the late Stan) Saulson; former brother-in-law of Joan (Rabbi Kassel) Lipnick Abelson; our dear uncle, cousin and friend. Services: Funeral service Friday, April 23rd, 11:00 AM at Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road. No visitation prior to the service. Interment at B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North and South Road. Memorial contributions preferred to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement, Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63141. BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE.
Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch on April 22, 2010
_________________________
** FEATURE STORY **
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
BY MICHAEL D. SORKIN and JUDITH NEWMARK
Posted: Thursday, April 22, 2010
RABBI BERNARD LIPNICK; HEADED CONGREGATION B'NAI AMOONA
After the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, Bernie Lipnick took a cargo ship to Israel, where, as a radio newsman, he broadcast the new nation's fight for independence to listeners worldwide.
He returned to the U.S., became a rabbi and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala. Later, as the chief rabbi at Congregation B'nai Amoona, he led the fight for women's equality.
Rabbi Bernard Lipnick died of complications from lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20, 2010) at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. He was 83 and lived in Chesterfield.
He recently served his congregation as rabbi emeritus and also conducted cruise tours. He was nearly halfway through a 120-day cruise when he developed pneumonia. He and his wife, Harriet, disembarked in Hong Kong and later flew to Chicago, where he collapsed. He was flown to St. Louis by air ambulance on April 6 and died two weeks later, on the day Israelis celebrate their independence.
Rabbi Lipnick's passion was education and he was the driving force behind the creation of Solomon Schechter Day School here, where parents send children to learn about their Jewish heritage and receive a strong general education.
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, the current chief rabbi at B'nai Amoona, called Rabbi Lipnick an innovative educator who championed the inclusion of women, gays and lesbians in synagogue practice and sought creative ways to engage young people.
"He was a giant," Rose said.
During the civil rights demonstrations in 1963, Rabbi Lipnick marched in Selma alongside six nuns from St. Louis. He was assigned to protect Sister Antona Ebo from attack. The nuns reciprocated by serving kosher food to Rabbi Lipnick and other rabbis.
The rabbi and the nun didn't see each other again for 40 years. "I will miss his big, booming voice," she said Wednesday.
A committed Zionist, Rabbi Lipnick took a leave in 1949 from rabbinical school in New York to work in Israel.
There, he put his distinctive baritone to use as a radio announcer stationed with Israeli Army troops. Listeners worldwide heard his stories about the Israelis and their fight to become a new nation.
Rabbi Lipnick grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Hebrew College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He came to St. Louis in 1951 as educational director at B'nai Amoona, then located near the University City Loop. He became senior rabbi 11 years later.
Conservative Jewish synagogues such as B'nai Amoona, where men and women sat together, didn't let women participate fully.
They weren't allowed to read from the Torah in public, and bas mitzvah ceremonies for girls were held on Friday nights, separate from bar mitzvah ceremonies for boys on Saturdays.
In the mid-1980s, the congregation moved to its current location on Mason Road in Creve Coeur and, urged by Rabbi Lipnick, voted to include women in all rituals. About 10 years later, the congregation hired its first female rabbi.
B'nai Amoona, with 775 families, is one of the largest Conservative Jewish congregations in the U.S.
Speaking of the future of Judaism, Rabbi Lipnick often told his students that, "A Jew wants Jewish grandchildren."
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, followed by burial at B'nai Amoona Cemetery in University City.
Survivors in addition to his wife include two daughters, Jayme Sophir-Schwartz of Arlington, Va., and Tammy Parry of Poway, Calif.; three sons, Dr. Jesse Lipnick of Gainesville, Fla., Mark Sophir of Olivette and David Lipnick of Farmington, N.M.; and nine grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
_________________________
The Beacon
April 22, 2010
By Gloria S. Ross, special to the Beacon
RABBI BRERNARD LIPNICK: EDUCATOR AND FIGHTER FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, WOMEN'S RIGHTS, ISRAEL
Bernard "Bernie" Lipnick prepared well to become a rabbi, a role he actively served in for four decades at Congregation B'nai Amoona. But being a pulpit rabbi was never his goal.
"I became a rabbi - that was my title - but I didn't want to do rabbinic work," he told the St. Louis Jewish Light in 2008. "What I wanted to do was Jewish education."
Rabbi Lipnick did both. He never wavered from his lifelong focus on learning and teaching, whether in the pulpit, fighting on behalf of women's and civil rights or traveling far and wide. He was halfway through his seventh round-the-world cruise with his wife, Harriet, serving as a ship chaplain, when he fell ill last month. He was hospitalized in Hong Kong before returning to the U.S. Rabbi Lipnick died of lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20) at Missouri Baptist Hospital. He was 83.
Rabbi Lipnick came to B'nai Amoona in 1951 as educational director. Shortly after his arrival, the synagogue Bulletin reported that "Rabbi Lipnick has brought a new spirit into the children." Though he had more than 700 students to inspire, he was quickly enlisted by Rabbi Abraham E. Halpern, then senior rabbi, to perform rabbinical duties and inspire the entire congregation.
Rabbi As Educator
"He was interested in education," said Harriet Lipnick, "but Rabbi Halpern convinced him that he could get a lot more done as the rabbi."
And so it came to be that after 11 years as educational director, Rabbi Lipnick was named senior rabbi when Rabbi Halpern died in 1962. He began to put his educational stamp on B'nai Amoona.
lipnick150bernard.jpg
Photo courtesy of Congregation B'nai Amoona
Under his leadership, the congregation built a preschool, which became the foundation for the Solomon Schechter Day School on what is now the Bernard Lipnick Campus of B'nai Amoona. He led the development of two camping programs, the Alfred Fleishman Summer Camps. He also instituted the Nir Galim program in 1972 that sent teenagers to live in Israel on a communal farm for a summer of religious education.
Rabbi Lipnick had made many trips to Israel, the first in 1949 while a student at Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He had wanted to go a year earlier to join Israel's fight for independence in the Arab-Israeli War, but had to settle for a trip where he could study and work.
He went from New York to Israel on a freighter. On the ship, he and other Americans formed language and geography learning groups. Upon arrival, he became the first foreign radio announcer for Kol Israel and used a shortwave radio to broadcast the news about Israel. He used an assumed name, Bernard Jerome, combining his and his brother's first names, because it was illegal for a non-citizen to be broadcasting.
He also did some newspaper work and a lot of manual labor, including digging wells and ditches, which gave him material to write about. The digging led to early recognition of his great baritone voice, which echoed so melodically in the wells that his foreman said he could quit digging and just sing. It was a voice he would go on to use in many recordings, including K'dusha Symphony.
He spent a year in Israel that first time, and returned throughout his life for year-long sabbaticals to study and write.
Ahead of His Time
His wife said, "He tried to be ahead of things." By almost any measure, he succeeded, his friends say.
He was in the vanguard of establishing a just society that respected and encouraged the rights of women.
He was credited with increasing student enrollment in all programs, but he was particularly lauded for increasing the number of girls attending Hebrew School. His many efforts on behalf of women resulted in total egalitarian rights within the congregation.
He was no less committed to civil rights. He was at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Two years later, he marched in Selma, Ala., to protest the murder of an activist, unfair state laws and voting rights infringements. After more than 500 peaceful demonstrators were violently assaulted on March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday," Rabbi Lipnick went to Selma to join the next march.
For his civil rights efforts, he shared the 2005 Jews United for Justice Heschel-King Award with Sister Antona Ebo, an African-American nun who was one of the first marchers in Selma.
THE LIFE OF A LEADER
Rabbi Lipnick was born on April 29, 1926, in Baltimore, the younger of two brothers. He celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in 1939. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor's degree and received an academic diploma and a teaching certificate from Baltimore Hebrew University. He went on to complete a Master of Hebrew in Literature and received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. After his ordination, Rabbi Lipnick joined the staff of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin for three years.
Around that time, he applied to serve as a military chaplain during the Korean War. He was in the Navy for a short time in World War II, but missed out on most of the war because of a theological deferment.
"When the Korean War came along, I saw an opportunity for me to make amends," he told the Jewish Light. But it was not to be. This time, a high blood pressure diagnosis kept him from serving.
"When I was turned down from the service, I was devastated," Rabbi Lipnick said.
But a friend told him about the opening at B'nai Amoona.
In 1972, he earned a Ph.D. from Washington University and was subsequently awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity. His numerous published works included selections in Eulogies and Sermons for Special Occasions, both edited by Morton A. Wallack. He received the Alexander Dushkin Prize from Hebrew University.
"Throughout his distinguished rabbinic career, Rabbi Lipnick has been a tower of strength not only to his own beloved synagogue, but to the entire Jewish and general communities of St. Louis," said Robert A. Cohn, editor-in-chief emeritus of the Jewish Light, upon Rabbi Lipnick's retirement from B'nai Amoona in 1991.
Following retirement, he and Harriet made their home in Idyllwild, Calif., in the San Jacinto mountains. There he hand-built a home on the forested side of a mountain at an altitude of 6,000 feet. From 2001 to 2002, he served Congregation Beth Shalom in Bermuda Dunes, Calif. When he developed some health problems, they returned to St. Louis in 2003, and Rabbi Emeritus Lipnick again served Congregation B'nai Amoona as needed.
Rabbi Lipnick was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Augusta "Gussie" Lipnick; his brother, Rabbi Jerome "Jerry" Lipnick, and his son, Daniel Lipnick.
In addition to his wife of 36 years, Harriet (nee Pogrelis) Lipnick of Chesterfield, Rabbi Lipnick is survived by two sons, Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, of Gainsville, Fla., and David (Becca) Lipnick, of Farmington, N.M. He is also survived by his stepchildren, Jayme (Mark) Schwartz, of Arlington, Va., Mark (Nancy) Sophir, of St. Louis, and Tammy (Alan) Parry, of Poway, Calif. He was "Saba" to nine grandchildren.
Funeral services for Rabbi Lipnick will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 23, at the B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, Mo. 63141, followed by internment at the B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North & South Road, University City. Following internment, the family will gather from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Wolf Auditorium at B'nai Amoona.
Individuals unable to attend the funeral who would like to listen to the service, may call 1-605-475-4001. The access code is 749027#. It is not a toll-free call.
The Lipnick family would appreciate donations in Rabbi Lipnick's memory to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
Gloria Ross is the head of Okara Communications and the storywriter for AfterWords, an obituary-writing and production service. To reach her, contact Beacon contributing editor Richard Weiss. END
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on any photo image to enlarge it and to reveal any captions, or attributions by scrolling to the bottom of the photo.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
Rabbi Lipnick served Congregation B'nai Amoona, St. Louis, Missouri as senior rabbi for over 40 years (1951-1991) and he is listed along with other rabbis who served St. Louis congregations. The full list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS.
_________________________
Rabbi Lipnick was a 2nd cousin to St. Louis rabbi Rabbi Jerome Grollman
Rabbi Lipnick received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1951
_________________________
OBITUARY
Bernard Lipnick
Lipnick, Rabbi Bernard April 20, 2010. Beloved husband of Harriet Lipnick; dear father and father-inlaw of David (Becca), the late Daniel and Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, Jayme (Mark Schwartz) Sophir, Mark (Nancy) Sophir and Tammy (Alan) Parry; dear grandfather of Joshua, Chaim and Dassie Lipnick, Emily and Rachel Schwartz, Michael and Abby Sophir, Marisa and Bennett Parry; dear brother of the late Jerome Lipnick and Len (the late Stan) Saulson; former brother-in-law of Joan (Rabbi Kassel) Lipnick Abelson; our dear uncle, cousin and friend. Services: Funeral service Friday, April 23rd, 11:00 AM at Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road. No visitation prior to the service. Interment at B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North and South Road. Memorial contributions preferred to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement, Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63141. BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE.
Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch on April 22, 2010
_________________________
** FEATURE STORY **
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
BY MICHAEL D. SORKIN and JUDITH NEWMARK
Posted: Thursday, April 22, 2010
RABBI BERNARD LIPNICK; HEADED CONGREGATION B'NAI AMOONA
After the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, Bernie Lipnick took a cargo ship to Israel, where, as a radio newsman, he broadcast the new nation's fight for independence to listeners worldwide.
He returned to the U.S., became a rabbi and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala. Later, as the chief rabbi at Congregation B'nai Amoona, he led the fight for women's equality.
Rabbi Bernard Lipnick died of complications from lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20, 2010) at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. He was 83 and lived in Chesterfield.
He recently served his congregation as rabbi emeritus and also conducted cruise tours. He was nearly halfway through a 120-day cruise when he developed pneumonia. He and his wife, Harriet, disembarked in Hong Kong and later flew to Chicago, where he collapsed. He was flown to St. Louis by air ambulance on April 6 and died two weeks later, on the day Israelis celebrate their independence.
Rabbi Lipnick's passion was education and he was the driving force behind the creation of Solomon Schechter Day School here, where parents send children to learn about their Jewish heritage and receive a strong general education.
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, the current chief rabbi at B'nai Amoona, called Rabbi Lipnick an innovative educator who championed the inclusion of women, gays and lesbians in synagogue practice and sought creative ways to engage young people.
"He was a giant," Rose said.
During the civil rights demonstrations in 1963, Rabbi Lipnick marched in Selma alongside six nuns from St. Louis. He was assigned to protect Sister Antona Ebo from attack. The nuns reciprocated by serving kosher food to Rabbi Lipnick and other rabbis.
The rabbi and the nun didn't see each other again for 40 years. "I will miss his big, booming voice," she said Wednesday.
A committed Zionist, Rabbi Lipnick took a leave in 1949 from rabbinical school in New York to work in Israel.
There, he put his distinctive baritone to use as a radio announcer stationed with Israeli Army troops. Listeners worldwide heard his stories about the Israelis and their fight to become a new nation.
Rabbi Lipnick grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Hebrew College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He came to St. Louis in 1951 as educational director at B'nai Amoona, then located near the University City Loop. He became senior rabbi 11 years later.
Conservative Jewish synagogues such as B'nai Amoona, where men and women sat together, didn't let women participate fully.
They weren't allowed to read from the Torah in public, and bas mitzvah ceremonies for girls were held on Friday nights, separate from bar mitzvah ceremonies for boys on Saturdays.
In the mid-1980s, the congregation moved to its current location on Mason Road in Creve Coeur and, urged by Rabbi Lipnick, voted to include women in all rituals. About 10 years later, the congregation hired its first female rabbi.
B'nai Amoona, with 775 families, is one of the largest Conservative Jewish congregations in the U.S.
Speaking of the future of Judaism, Rabbi Lipnick often told his students that, "A Jew wants Jewish grandchildren."
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, followed by burial at B'nai Amoona Cemetery in University City.
Survivors in addition to his wife include two daughters, Jayme Sophir-Schwartz of Arlington, Va., and Tammy Parry of Poway, Calif.; three sons, Dr. Jesse Lipnick of Gainesville, Fla., Mark Sophir of Olivette and David Lipnick of Farmington, N.M.; and nine grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
_________________________
The Beacon
April 22, 2010
By Gloria S. Ross, special to the Beacon
RABBI BRERNARD LIPNICK: EDUCATOR AND FIGHTER FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, WOMEN'S RIGHTS, ISRAEL
Bernard "Bernie" Lipnick prepared well to become a rabbi, a role he actively served in for four decades at Congregation B'nai Amoona. But being a pulpit rabbi was never his goal.
"I became a rabbi - that was my title - but I didn't want to do rabbinic work," he told the St. Louis Jewish Light in 2008. "What I wanted to do was Jewish education."
Rabbi Lipnick did both. He never wavered from his lifelong focus on learning and teaching, whether in the pulpit, fighting on behalf of women's and civil rights or traveling far and wide. He was halfway through his seventh round-the-world cruise with his wife, Harriet, serving as a ship chaplain, when he fell ill last month. He was hospitalized in Hong Kong before returning to the U.S. Rabbi Lipnick died of lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20) at Missouri Baptist Hospital. He was 83.
Rabbi Lipnick came to B'nai Amoona in 1951 as educational director. Shortly after his arrival, the synagogue Bulletin reported that "Rabbi Lipnick has brought a new spirit into the children." Though he had more than 700 students to inspire, he was quickly enlisted by Rabbi Abraham E. Halpern, then senior rabbi, to perform rabbinical duties and inspire the entire congregation.
Rabbi As Educator
"He was interested in education," said Harriet Lipnick, "but Rabbi Halpern convinced him that he could get a lot more done as the rabbi."
And so it came to be that after 11 years as educational director, Rabbi Lipnick was named senior rabbi when Rabbi Halpern died in 1962. He began to put his educational stamp on B'nai Amoona.
lipnick150bernard.jpg
Photo courtesy of Congregation B'nai Amoona
Under his leadership, the congregation built a preschool, which became the foundation for the Solomon Schechter Day School on what is now the Bernard Lipnick Campus of B'nai Amoona. He led the development of two camping programs, the Alfred Fleishman Summer Camps. He also instituted the Nir Galim program in 1972 that sent teenagers to live in Israel on a communal farm for a summer of religious education.
Rabbi Lipnick had made many trips to Israel, the first in 1949 while a student at Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He had wanted to go a year earlier to join Israel's fight for independence in the Arab-Israeli War, but had to settle for a trip where he could study and work.
He went from New York to Israel on a freighter. On the ship, he and other Americans formed language and geography learning groups. Upon arrival, he became the first foreign radio announcer for Kol Israel and used a shortwave radio to broadcast the news about Israel. He used an assumed name, Bernard Jerome, combining his and his brother's first names, because it was illegal for a non-citizen to be broadcasting.
He also did some newspaper work and a lot of manual labor, including digging wells and ditches, which gave him material to write about. The digging led to early recognition of his great baritone voice, which echoed so melodically in the wells that his foreman said he could quit digging and just sing. It was a voice he would go on to use in many recordings, including K'dusha Symphony.
He spent a year in Israel that first time, and returned throughout his life for year-long sabbaticals to study and write.
Ahead of His Time
His wife said, "He tried to be ahead of things." By almost any measure, he succeeded, his friends say.
He was in the vanguard of establishing a just society that respected and encouraged the rights of women.
He was credited with increasing student enrollment in all programs, but he was particularly lauded for increasing the number of girls attending Hebrew School. His many efforts on behalf of women resulted in total egalitarian rights within the congregation.
He was no less committed to civil rights. He was at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Two years later, he marched in Selma, Ala., to protest the murder of an activist, unfair state laws and voting rights infringements. After more than 500 peaceful demonstrators were violently assaulted on March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday," Rabbi Lipnick went to Selma to join the next march.
For his civil rights efforts, he shared the 2005 Jews United for Justice Heschel-King Award with Sister Antona Ebo, an African-American nun who was one of the first marchers in Selma.
THE LIFE OF A LEADER
Rabbi Lipnick was born on April 29, 1926, in Baltimore, the younger of two brothers. He celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in 1939. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor's degree and received an academic diploma and a teaching certificate from Baltimore Hebrew University. He went on to complete a Master of Hebrew in Literature and received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. After his ordination, Rabbi Lipnick joined the staff of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin for three years.
Around that time, he applied to serve as a military chaplain during the Korean War. He was in the Navy for a short time in World War II, but missed out on most of the war because of a theological deferment.
"When the Korean War came along, I saw an opportunity for me to make amends," he told the Jewish Light. But it was not to be. This time, a high blood pressure diagnosis kept him from serving.
"When I was turned down from the service, I was devastated," Rabbi Lipnick said.
But a friend told him about the opening at B'nai Amoona.
In 1972, he earned a Ph.D. from Washington University and was subsequently awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity. His numerous published works included selections in Eulogies and Sermons for Special Occasions, both edited by Morton A. Wallack. He received the Alexander Dushkin Prize from Hebrew University.
"Throughout his distinguished rabbinic career, Rabbi Lipnick has been a tower of strength not only to his own beloved synagogue, but to the entire Jewish and general communities of St. Louis," said Robert A. Cohn, editor-in-chief emeritus of the Jewish Light, upon Rabbi Lipnick's retirement from B'nai Amoona in 1991.
Following retirement, he and Harriet made their home in Idyllwild, Calif., in the San Jacinto mountains. There he hand-built a home on the forested side of a mountain at an altitude of 6,000 feet. From 2001 to 2002, he served Congregation Beth Shalom in Bermuda Dunes, Calif. When he developed some health problems, they returned to St. Louis in 2003, and Rabbi Emeritus Lipnick again served Congregation B'nai Amoona as needed.
Rabbi Lipnick was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Augusta "Gussie" Lipnick; his brother, Rabbi Jerome "Jerry" Lipnick, and his son, Daniel Lipnick.
In addition to his wife of 36 years, Harriet (nee Pogrelis) Lipnick of Chesterfield, Rabbi Lipnick is survived by two sons, Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, of Gainsville, Fla., and David (Becca) Lipnick, of Farmington, N.M. He is also survived by his stepchildren, Jayme (Mark) Schwartz, of Arlington, Va., Mark (Nancy) Sophir, of St. Louis, and Tammy (Alan) Parry, of Poway, Calif. He was "Saba" to nine grandchildren.
Funeral services for Rabbi Lipnick will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 23, at the B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, Mo. 63141, followed by internment at the B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North & South Road, University City. Following internment, the family will gather from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Wolf Auditorium at B'nai Amoona.
Individuals unable to attend the funeral who would like to listen to the service, may call 1-605-475-4001. The access code is 749027#. It is not a toll-free call.
The Lipnick family would appreciate donations in Rabbi Lipnick's memory to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
Gloria Ross is the head of Okara Communications and the storywriter for AfterWords, an obituary-writing and production service. To reach her, contact Beacon contributing editor Richard Weiss. END
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on any photo image to enlarge it and to reveal any captions, or attributions by scrolling to the bottom of the photo.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
_________________________
Rabbi Lipnick was a 2nd cousin to St. Louis rabbi Rabbi Jerome Grollman
Rabbi Lipnick received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1951
_________________________
OBITUARY
Bernard Lipnick
Lipnick, Rabbi Bernard April 20, 2010. Beloved husband of Harriet Lipnick; dear father and father-inlaw of David (Becca), the late Daniel and Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, Jayme (Mark Schwartz) Sophir, Mark (Nancy) Sophir and Tammy (Alan) Parry; dear grandfather of Joshua, Chaim and Dassie Lipnick, Emily and Rachel Schwartz, Michael and Abby Sophir, Marisa and Bennett Parry; dear brother of the late Jerome Lipnick and Len (the late Stan) Saulson; former brother-in-law of Joan (Rabbi Kassel) Lipnick Abelson; our dear uncle, cousin and friend. Services: Funeral service Friday, April 23rd, 11:00 AM at Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road. No visitation prior to the service. Interment at B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North and South Road. Memorial contributions preferred to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement, Congregation B'nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63141. BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE.
Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch on April 22, 2010
_________________________
** FEATURE STORY **
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
BY MICHAEL D. SORKIN and JUDITH NEWMARK
Posted: Thursday, April 22, 2010
RABBI BERNARD LIPNICK; HEADED CONGREGATION B'NAI AMOONA
After the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, Bernie Lipnick took a cargo ship to Israel, where, as a radio newsman, he broadcast the new nation's fight for independence to listeners worldwide.
He returned to the U.S., became a rabbi and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala. Later, as the chief rabbi at Congregation B'nai Amoona, he led the fight for women's equality.
Rabbi Bernard Lipnick died of complications from lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20, 2010) at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. He was 83 and lived in Chesterfield.
He recently served his congregation as rabbi emeritus and also conducted cruise tours. He was nearly halfway through a 120-day cruise when he developed pneumonia. He and his wife, Harriet, disembarked in Hong Kong and later flew to Chicago, where he collapsed. He was flown to St. Louis by air ambulance on April 6 and died two weeks later, on the day Israelis celebrate their independence.
Rabbi Lipnick's passion was education and he was the driving force behind the creation of Solomon Schechter Day School here, where parents send children to learn about their Jewish heritage and receive a strong general education.
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, the current chief rabbi at B'nai Amoona, called Rabbi Lipnick an innovative educator who championed the inclusion of women, gays and lesbians in synagogue practice and sought creative ways to engage young people.
"He was a giant," Rose said.
During the civil rights demonstrations in 1963, Rabbi Lipnick marched in Selma alongside six nuns from St. Louis. He was assigned to protect Sister Antona Ebo from attack. The nuns reciprocated by serving kosher food to Rabbi Lipnick and other rabbis.
The rabbi and the nun didn't see each other again for 40 years. "I will miss his big, booming voice," she said Wednesday.
A committed Zionist, Rabbi Lipnick took a leave in 1949 from rabbinical school in New York to work in Israel.
There, he put his distinctive baritone to use as a radio announcer stationed with Israeli Army troops. Listeners worldwide heard his stories about the Israelis and their fight to become a new nation.
Rabbi Lipnick grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Hebrew College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He came to St. Louis in 1951 as educational director at B'nai Amoona, then located near the University City Loop. He became senior rabbi 11 years later.
Conservative Jewish synagogues such as B'nai Amoona, where men and women sat together, didn't let women participate fully.
They weren't allowed to read from the Torah in public, and bas mitzvah ceremonies for girls were held on Friday nights, separate from bar mitzvah ceremonies for boys on Saturdays.
In the mid-1980s, the congregation moved to its current location on Mason Road in Creve Coeur and, urged by Rabbi Lipnick, voted to include women in all rituals. About 10 years later, the congregation hired its first female rabbi.
B'nai Amoona, with 775 families, is one of the largest Conservative Jewish congregations in the U.S.
Speaking of the future of Judaism, Rabbi Lipnick often told his students that, "A Jew wants Jewish grandchildren."
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, followed by burial at B'nai Amoona Cemetery in University City.
Survivors in addition to his wife include two daughters, Jayme Sophir-Schwartz of Arlington, Va., and Tammy Parry of Poway, Calif.; three sons, Dr. Jesse Lipnick of Gainesville, Fla., Mark Sophir of Olivette and David Lipnick of Farmington, N.M.; and nine grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
_________________________
The Beacon
April 22, 2010
By Gloria S. Ross, special to the Beacon
RABBI BRERNARD LIPNICK: EDUCATOR AND FIGHTER FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, WOMEN'S RIGHTS, ISRAEL
Bernard "Bernie" Lipnick prepared well to become a rabbi, a role he actively served in for four decades at Congregation B'nai Amoona. But being a pulpit rabbi was never his goal.
"I became a rabbi - that was my title - but I didn't want to do rabbinic work," he told the St. Louis Jewish Light in 2008. "What I wanted to do was Jewish education."
Rabbi Lipnick did both. He never wavered from his lifelong focus on learning and teaching, whether in the pulpit, fighting on behalf of women's and civil rights or traveling far and wide. He was halfway through his seventh round-the-world cruise with his wife, Harriet, serving as a ship chaplain, when he fell ill last month. He was hospitalized in Hong Kong before returning to the U.S. Rabbi Lipnick died of lymphoma on Tuesday (April 20) at Missouri Baptist Hospital. He was 83.
Rabbi Lipnick came to B'nai Amoona in 1951 as educational director. Shortly after his arrival, the synagogue Bulletin reported that "Rabbi Lipnick has brought a new spirit into the children." Though he had more than 700 students to inspire, he was quickly enlisted by Rabbi Abraham E. Halpern, then senior rabbi, to perform rabbinical duties and inspire the entire congregation.
Rabbi As Educator
"He was interested in education," said Harriet Lipnick, "but Rabbi Halpern convinced him that he could get a lot more done as the rabbi."
And so it came to be that after 11 years as educational director, Rabbi Lipnick was named senior rabbi when Rabbi Halpern died in 1962. He began to put his educational stamp on B'nai Amoona.
lipnick150bernard.jpg
Photo courtesy of Congregation B'nai Amoona
Under his leadership, the congregation built a preschool, which became the foundation for the Solomon Schechter Day School on what is now the Bernard Lipnick Campus of B'nai Amoona. He led the development of two camping programs, the Alfred Fleishman Summer Camps. He also instituted the Nir Galim program in 1972 that sent teenagers to live in Israel on a communal farm for a summer of religious education.
Rabbi Lipnick had made many trips to Israel, the first in 1949 while a student at Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He had wanted to go a year earlier to join Israel's fight for independence in the Arab-Israeli War, but had to settle for a trip where he could study and work.
He went from New York to Israel on a freighter. On the ship, he and other Americans formed language and geography learning groups. Upon arrival, he became the first foreign radio announcer for Kol Israel and used a shortwave radio to broadcast the news about Israel. He used an assumed name, Bernard Jerome, combining his and his brother's first names, because it was illegal for a non-citizen to be broadcasting.
He also did some newspaper work and a lot of manual labor, including digging wells and ditches, which gave him material to write about. The digging led to early recognition of his great baritone voice, which echoed so melodically in the wells that his foreman said he could quit digging and just sing. It was a voice he would go on to use in many recordings, including K'dusha Symphony.
He spent a year in Israel that first time, and returned throughout his life for year-long sabbaticals to study and write.
Ahead of His Time
His wife said, "He tried to be ahead of things." By almost any measure, he succeeded, his friends say.
He was in the vanguard of establishing a just society that respected and encouraged the rights of women.
He was credited with increasing student enrollment in all programs, but he was particularly lauded for increasing the number of girls attending Hebrew School. His many efforts on behalf of women resulted in total egalitarian rights within the congregation.
He was no less committed to civil rights. He was at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Two years later, he marched in Selma, Ala., to protest the murder of an activist, unfair state laws and voting rights infringements. After more than 500 peaceful demonstrators were violently assaulted on March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday," Rabbi Lipnick went to Selma to join the next march.
For his civil rights efforts, he shared the 2005 Jews United for Justice Heschel-King Award with Sister Antona Ebo, an African-American nun who was one of the first marchers in Selma.
THE LIFE OF A LEADER
Rabbi Lipnick was born on April 29, 1926, in Baltimore, the younger of two brothers. He celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in 1939. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor's degree and received an academic diploma and a teaching certificate from Baltimore Hebrew University. He went on to complete a Master of Hebrew in Literature and received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. After his ordination, Rabbi Lipnick joined the staff of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin for three years.
Around that time, he applied to serve as a military chaplain during the Korean War. He was in the Navy for a short time in World War II, but missed out on most of the war because of a theological deferment.
"When the Korean War came along, I saw an opportunity for me to make amends," he told the Jewish Light. But it was not to be. This time, a high blood pressure diagnosis kept him from serving.
"When I was turned down from the service, I was devastated," Rabbi Lipnick said.
But a friend told him about the opening at B'nai Amoona.
In 1972, he earned a Ph.D. from Washington University and was subsequently awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity. His numerous published works included selections in Eulogies and Sermons for Special Occasions, both edited by Morton A. Wallack. He received the Alexander Dushkin Prize from Hebrew University.
"Throughout his distinguished rabbinic career, Rabbi Lipnick has been a tower of strength not only to his own beloved synagogue, but to the entire Jewish and general communities of St. Louis," said Robert A. Cohn, editor-in-chief emeritus of the Jewish Light, upon Rabbi Lipnick's retirement from B'nai Amoona in 1991.
Following retirement, he and Harriet made their home in Idyllwild, Calif., in the San Jacinto mountains. There he hand-built a home on the forested side of a mountain at an altitude of 6,000 feet. From 2001 to 2002, he served Congregation Beth Shalom in Bermuda Dunes, Calif. When he developed some health problems, they returned to St. Louis in 2003, and Rabbi Emeritus Lipnick again served Congregation B'nai Amoona as needed.
Rabbi Lipnick was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Augusta "Gussie" Lipnick; his brother, Rabbi Jerome "Jerry" Lipnick, and his son, Daniel Lipnick.
In addition to his wife of 36 years, Harriet (nee Pogrelis) Lipnick of Chesterfield, Rabbi Lipnick is survived by two sons, Dr. Jesse (Corinne) Lipnick, of Gainsville, Fla., and David (Becca) Lipnick, of Farmington, N.M. He is also survived by his stepchildren, Jayme (Mark) Schwartz, of Arlington, Va., Mark (Nancy) Sophir, of St. Louis, and Tammy (Alan) Parry, of Poway, Calif. He was "Saba" to nine grandchildren.
Funeral services for Rabbi Lipnick will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 23, at the B'nai Amoona Sanctuary, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, Mo. 63141, followed by internment at the B'nai Amoona Cemetery, 930 North & South Road, University City. Following internment, the family will gather from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Wolf Auditorium at B'nai Amoona.
Individuals unable to attend the funeral who would like to listen to the service, may call 1-605-475-4001. The access code is 749027#. It is not a toll-free call.
The Lipnick family would appreciate donations in Rabbi Lipnick's memory to the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Foundation for the Conservative Movement at Congregation B'nai Amoona.
Gloria Ross is the head of Okara Communications and the storywriter for AfterWords, an obituary-writing and production service. To reach her, contact Beacon contributing editor Richard Weiss. END
_________________________
Scroll down this page and just below the final photo on the right, click on the access link to reveal more photos. Double-click on any photo image to enlarge it and to reveal any captions, or attributions by scrolling to the bottom of the photo.
_________________________
The rabbi featured on this Find A Grave page is one of many included in a "Virtual Cemetery" of rabbis who've passed but who served on St. Louis pulpits during their rabbinate. The complete "Virtual Cemetery" list can be found at SAINT LOUIS RABBIS. Questions about this "Virtual Cemetery" project may be directed to:
Steven Weinreich
Email: [email protected]
