With their parents still in Nepal—coordinating Chabad’s rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath of the recent earthquake that has killed and injured thousands of people—the three young children of Rabbi Chezky and Chani Lifshitz, co-directors of Chabad of Nepal, were airlifted to Israel today. Once there, they were greeted as guests at the home of Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin.
Four days after the 7.8 magnitude quake that struck the impoverished South Asian country on April 25, the couple decided to send their children to their home country. Shmuel, Rivki and Yitzchak Lifshitz, all under age 6, were sent with their Nepali nanny to stay with their grandparents in Israel.
Meeting with the president, who greeted them with a hug and kosher chocolate, they were able to call their parents in Nepal.
During the course of the conversation with Rabbi Lifshitz, Rivlin praised the humanitarian work the couple was doing there, together with their team of rabbinical students and Israeli volunteers.
“What you are doing for the world, and certainly for Israelis who are [in Nepal], is remarkable. Your activity, in the Jewish, Israeli and universal spheres—and the way you opened your home to people in times of need—is amazing,” said Rivlin. “Just as you opened your home to the entire world, we have opened our home to your children here in Israel.”
Rivlin assured the Lifshitzes that their children would attend school in Israel, and not lose even one day of learning and Torah study.
When asked by her daughter when they would be returning home, Chani Lifshitz responded to little Rivki that they would be reunited soon.
“There are a lot of people we need to help,” she said to her daughter.
(On the day that the children spent time with Israel’s president, their father was out in a helicopter rescuing some of the stranded in the Nepal wilderness, while their mother was serving up 2,000 meals to Nepalis at the Chabad center in Kathmandu.)
In the Face of Tragedy
This is not the first time that Chabad has been involved in tragedies in Nepal, and their involvement has earned the praise of Israeli leaders.
Last year, the Chabad emissaries received a surprise telephone call from Israeli Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau, who expressed his gratitude to them after helping Israeli victims of the two incidents. Lau told Rabbi Lifshitz that he was awarding him with a special certificate of honor from the Chief Rabbinate for his actions in locating and getting treatment for the wounded, and keeping their families in Israel updated about the situations.
“All of the nation of Israel looks at you and your wife, and sees a couple who are ambassadors of the honor of the Jewish nation—a Jewish couple who decided to embrace in all of their lifestyle the concept of ‘all Israelites are responsible for one another,’ ” said Lau.
“You are the home of Israelis throughout the year, and also in difficult days like these you are their home, their parents, siblings, doing everything for them. I have no words to express all that you are doing for every one of the Jewish people who encounters hardship,” he added.
“The Lubavitcher Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory] had far vision when he sent emissaries to many far-flung countries, and you, like many emissaries in the world, sanctify life and act as ambassadors of Judaism, the Jewish nation, as well as the state of Israel. You deserve all esteem,” concluded Lau.
With the Nepali President Ram Baran Yadav now estimating that as many as 10,000 people were killed as a result of Saturday’s quake, the situation remains calamitous.
To help Chabad’s relief efforts: chabad.org/nepal.
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