The corona epidemic that paralyzed the world two and a half years ago disrupted plans, claimed lives, and prevented gatherings. The Chabad house in Nepal, founded twenty-two years ago by the couple Hizki and Hani Lifshitz, was closed and travelers stopped coming. This year, for the first time since the virus took over the world, the Chabad house is back in full operation with guests and travelers who will come to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and other holidays Drink at the couple’s home in Kathmandu. The exact number of guests usually ranges from 500 to 1,000, when it is necessary to register in advance, but there will always be those who arrive at the last minute.
“There are two seasons in a year,” Hizki Lifshitz explains in an interview, “between Purim and Shavuot and from before the holidays until after Hanukkah. At the height of summer and mid-winter, because of the monsoons and the cold, there is always a break.” The Israeli tourists come for long trips and treks, and the holidays are spent at the local Chabad house, which is known for its huge feasts and also for the famous series “Kathmandu” from a decade ago, about which the couple testifies that its level of accuracy to reality was almost perfect, “90% reliability for our lives”.
A warm haven for weary relationship seekers
“The nature of the Israeli traveler has changed in recent years, we see many more people who have traveled once come back again, alone or with their children. These are older people.” Hizki explains that the classic travelers, young guys after the army in their early twenties, definitely exist and are the ones who come for a longer period of time, but they are not alone in the landscape. There are also groups of families with children who come to see other places, and for shorter periods, especially on holidays, many young religious couples come. “There is a very strong presence of religious young people in Nepal, much more than the ratio of their quantity in the country. Girls also come more than boys. They feel more comfortable there than in other countries in the East.” There are places that may limit the religious traveler, in India there is a lot of harassment and drugs and in Nepal the country is relatively calm and there are treks of all difficulty levels.
Photo: Beit Chabad Nepal
“During the holidays, we have the atmosphere of a religious neighborhood, or like a branch of Bnei Akiva,” he adds, “Many young guys feel comfortable being with other people like them. This is actually a whole sector of singles who suffer from the familism of the country during the holidays and are looking for a pleasant place to be at him”. Hani testifies that no one remembers the number of couples they managed to match, and they make sure to offer and do everything possible so that those who come there also leave with a match. “It’s hard to miss the phenomenon of those looking for a relationship who come to us,” she adds, “amazing boys and girls who still haven’t found the one they love. They don’t want to sit at the family holiday table again and hear annoying questions when their hearts are broken, they’re not to blame and they didn’t choose it and neither They want to be in the synagogue with a partner. So they come to us and we try to help as much as possible.”
Hani tries to match you Photo: Beit Chabad Nepal
Permanent employment without a secretary
But, the couple is not only a warm home and matchmakers in their spare time, but an address to every problem of an Israeli traveler who goes out into the field, and also of course his caring parents. On average, there is once a day a case that requires medical intervention in the mountains that can end in evacuation or treatment in the field. Mountain sickness is the most common, and half of the travelers who suffer from it have to stop the route. Over the years, they have learned to recognize the situation of those calling for help, and to know if an evacuation is indeed required. “Altitude sickness is really life-threatening. You think it’s just a headache, but it’s much more serious. Since we’ve been in Nepal, there hasn’t been a single death of an Israeli from altitude sickness.” In 2014, Beit Chabad began handing out GPS devices to travelers, and thus were able to locate their location during the severe earthquake. “What took others a week or two, we knew within an hour or two where everyone was.” Technological progress also helps reassure parents Those who are worried in Israel, “they don’t sleep at night when their son is out having fun and call us to find out where the child is.” Using the GPS map, you can easily see where they are, and they can also send a message home and let them know that they are safe and sound. Over the years, they have even accompanied Disasters, when backpackers lost their lives, “we had several tragedies, each of which is the saddest in the world.”
Beyond that, Beit Chabad also operates meat and dairy restaurants and services for travelers. “We don’t really have a routine because these places cause constant problems and questions,” Hizki explains, “and of course, there is also employment in the Jewish aspects, prayers, kosher food and Torah lessons.” They have a secretary, and before the holidays a small team of assistants usually arrives to help manage the tourist season.
An expression of the Jewish aspects of the trip Photo: Beit Chabad Nepal
The US Secretary of State intervened and the arrest was cancelled
Three of their children, by the way, live with them in a Chabad house in Nepal. They are 7, 11 and 13 years old, they arrive during the tourist season and return to Israel immediately after, so they spend most of the school year in Israel. Hezki had to spend Rosh Hashanah in the Nepali prison The Lifshitz family will not be forgotten. In 2014, when he came to extend the visa, the officials claimed that the passport was torn and a photocopy of a document should be added, “They asked for a few dimes so that they would close it quietly. I turned to a friend who was there, the son of a senior minister, and he came to help me, so the officials could no longer go back and I had to spend four days in detention.” Because the Jewish rabbi in the country is arrested for nothing. The officials, by the way, were punished, and sent to work in immigration on the Indian border.
Photo: Beit Chabad Nepal
“The plan is to send all the people in the country for two weeks in Nepal and then bring them back to Israel and everything will be fine”
Another and not simple matter concerns the resources of the Chabad house. All over the world this institution is based on a religious community that supports the rabbi in exchange for religious services, but in Nepal there is no local community and the travelers are considered a poor crowd as most of them are backpacking after the army. They raise the resources from the country and all over the world, and are based on Donations, in the belief that the parents of the travelers, who recognize the hospitality provided by the Chabad home to their children during the big trip, will donate and help.
After the holidays we will again be required to decide while an election campaign is not over, but politics does not come to Nepal. “This is the beautiful part that you can see here. How members of all sectors leave behind differences of opinion and are able to sit together at the Shabbat table, of all types and of all genders. It is a kind of vacuum and there is a connection between opposites.” In a place like Nepal, they explain, when the atmosphere is a little strange, everything works out. “The plan is to send all the people in the country for two weeks in Nepal and then bring them back to Israel and everything will work out,” they joke. And how long will they stay there? “The Chabad house will close when the Messiah comes or when travelers stop coming to Nepal.”