(lubavitch.com) Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters mourns the passing Wednesday of Rabbi Benzion Lipsker, a Chabad representative and Chief Rabbi of Israel’s southern city of Arad.

He was 65 and suffered from severe illness in the last few months.

Rabbi Lipsker and his wife Sara were appointed to serve as emissaries by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1973.  He later took on the position of Chief Rabbi of Arad, offered to him by Israel’s ministry of religious affairs.

Rabbi Lipsker worked actively to promote Jewish education, and is remembered by many for his outreach activities focusing on preparing boys for their bar-mitzvah.

He is survived by his wife Sara, and children: Chana Mendelsohn of Arad, Esther Druk of Omrim, Ruth Hillman of Petach Tikva and Nechama Dina Kozlovsky of Kfar Chabad.

He has two brothers living in the U.S.: Rabbi Zalman Lispker, Director of the Va'adah L'dovrei Ivrit Chabad - Israeli center in Philadelphia, PA, and musician Eli Lispker of Crown Heights.