After about 20 years, the Chabad House in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital — through which tens of thousands of Israeli backpackers have passed over the years and which is considered one of the best-known Chabad centers in the world — was forced to vacate immediately after the property owner demanded that Chabad emissaries Hezki and Chani Lifshitz leave the compound without delay.
Last Friday, the Shabbat meal was held at a hotel. Hezki Lifshitz told ynet: "Everything will turn out for the good. We will expand and grow.”
“I don’t know if it’s because of antisemitism or if he simply lost his head,” Rabbi Hezki Lifshitz said. “A few months ago he demanded that all Hebrew signs be removed so it would not be visible that there is a Jewish presence, so the Iranians would not suspect him of being a spy. At the same time, he sharply raised the rent. This week he ordered an immediate evacuation and the Chabad House packed up its belongings. We are trying to locate an alternative location immediately.”
Chani Lifshitz published a Facebook post about the evacuation from the building that had been her home for 20 years. “The past few days have not been simple for Hezki and me. You know what? Forget the euphemisms. These are hard days. Yes, we are in a crisis, but we are not abandoning the mission. We are here. And we are staying here in Kathmandu. But after many years in which this specific house was our life’s work — a place of Shabbats, holidays, tears, hugs and conversations that lasted until the night was already gone — we find ourselves packing everything into boxes and looking for a new place. And how much we invested in this house, for you and for us. Wow. Suddenly starting everything from scratch.”
Chani said she is convinced the reason for their removal was antisemitism. “In recent months we really felt how the noose was tightening around us. Another request from the landlord, another demand, another restriction and another decree. Slowly it became clear to us that we were being led to one place: that they do not want this place to be a home for Jews. That our presence here is unnecessary, disturbing. And that hurt. Because behind all of it stood a clear feeling of antisemitism, the kind that could no longer be ignored.”
She added: “Then came the moment when we were told explicitly: leave. Now. And so, almost without time to breathe, we packed everything into a large storage space we found at lightning speed in a neighborhood called Balaju, and we are constantly checking options for a new place. We are now standing in front of empty walls, and I quietly say to myself: how do you leave a home that is entirely soul? Ugh. Hezki says everything is for the good — does that surprise anyone? — and I have only tears in my eyes.”