Chani Lifshitz, a Chabad emissary in Nepal, sent me the following thought from Katmandu:
"This week we begin reading the Book of Numbers,which talks about our travels in the desert. The entire book transpires in the desert, between Egypt and the Land of Israel. The Book of Numbers teaches us how to behave while on the road in the midst of a long journey. Even when we are far from our destination, when we are in a desert of uncertainty, we can live a life of stability.
The Torah describes how the nation of Israel conducted itself with exemplary orderliness, how the people erected the Mishkan wherever they stopped, how in the heart of the wilderness they adhered to values and followed rules.
When we talk about this Torah portion in the Chabad House in Katmandu, everyone listens with rapt attention. They too are on a journey and sometimes want to throw everything away and be like all the other travelers from all over the globe. Who needs Shabbat or kashrut in Nepal? But the challenge is not to change. We receive strength from the forty years that the nation of Israel was in the desert as we persist in observance of what is important to us regardless of circumstances.
When we went on a mission to Nepal twenty-two years ago, my husband Chezki and I coined a phrase: 'to be a Turtle.' For a turtle always feels at home. Wherever he goes, he takes his house and his roof on his back, no matter where he may be. We promised ourselves that we would always take with us the values and rules of conduct from the homes in which we grew up, all the way to Katmandu. We have strived to do so. I wish each of us, through all the trials and in all the places in which we find ourselves, to have good fortune and to be a turtle".
Chani Lifshitz, a Chabad emissary in Nepal, sent me the following thought from Katmandu:
"This week we begin reading the Book of Numbers,which talks about our travels in the desert. The entire book transpires in the desert, between Egypt and the Land of Israel. The Book of Numbers teaches us how to behave while on the road in the midst of a long journey. Even when we are far from our destination, when we are in a desert of uncertainty, we can live a life of stability.
The Torah describes how the nation of Israel conducted itself with exemplary orderliness, how the people erected the Mishkan wherever they stopped, how in the heart of the wilderness they adhered to values and followed rules.
When we talk about this Torah portion in the Chabad House in Katmandu, everyone listens with rapt attention. They too are on a journey and sometimes want to throw everything away and be like all the other travelers from all over the globe. Who needs Shabbat or kashrut in Nepal? But the challenge is not to change. We receive strength from the forty years that the nation of Israel was in the desert as we persist in observance of what is important to us regardless of circumstances.
When we went on a mission to Nepal twenty-two years ago, my husband Chezki and I coined a phrase: 'to be a Turtle.' For a turtle always feels at home. Wherever he goes, he takes his house and his roof on his back, no matter where he may be. We promised ourselves that we would always take with us the values and rules of conduct from the homes in which we grew up, all the way to Katmandu. We have strived to do so. I wish each of us, through all the trials and in all the places in which we find ourselves, to have good fortune and to be a turtle".
