Home Away from Home

Unlike in many places around the world, there’s no permanent Jewish community in Kathmandu. Instead, around 25,000 Jewish backpackers pass through annually, most of them Israelis after their military service. “We built everything here with our own hands,” Chani says. “With a vision to provide a Jewish home for every backpacker, we started with a minyan and shiurim, and eventually established a private school for our children with teachers from Israel.”

“We live in an exotic, mountainous place somewhere between India and China. A large part of Nepal’s territory is made up of the Himalayas, which includes Mount Everest,” Chani explains. Young backpackers from all backgrounds and sectors of Israeli society arrive at the Lifshitz home, searching not only for the world’s tallest peak, but also for themselves.

“The backpackers fill our house every day, all day long,” Chani says with a smile, “and we’re here for them for whatever they need.”

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 944)

Shlichus in the Himalayas

“We never know what the day will look like when we wake up,” says Chani with a mix of seriousness and humor. “We juggle many roles: parents, older siblings, psychologists, rabbi and rebbetzin, Torah teachers, ‘mom and dad’ to all the backpackers in the area. A typical day could begin with helping a traveler put on tefillin for the first time, continue with an emergency rescue by helicopter from the peaks of the Himalayas, and end with a hospital visit or emotional support for a traveler in crisis.”