Baila Olidort – Lubavitch.com
He’s the good looking, buoyant 12 year old Nepalese boy who greets visitors to Katmandu’s Chabad House with a huge smile: “Hi I’m Bim, the boy from Beit Chabad.” He happily offers unsolicited information, like candle-lighting time on Friday, or that Shabbos is not out until three stars are spotted in the sky.
Bim arrived at the Chabad House last year, naked but for a plastic bag that he used for some cover. One of hundreds of children exploited for profit on Kathmandu’s dangerous streets, he fixed his eyes on a Chabad rabbinical student, and asked for help. He wouldn’t leave go until the student brought him back to the Chabad House.
Rabbi Chezki and Chani Lifshitz, Chabad representatives here have become beloved figures in Kathmandu, a magnet for thousands of Israeli backpackers trekking the Himalayas.
(The Lifshitzs were the inspiration for a wildly popular Israeli TV series based on their day-to-day lives as Chabad Shluchim who set up a Chabad House in this third world backwater.)
After 13 years of living here, they have not become hardened to the poverty and the human suffering that are everywhere in this slum city. “My grandmother is a Holocaust survivor,” Chani says. “I learned from her not to ignore the pleading eyes of a child in need. Bim was not going to survive—that much was obvious,” she says.
Saving the Life of A Child Beggar
The boy screamed in pain as Chani and Chezki gently washed his lacerated, severely malnourished body. Scars and bruises—from the beatings by his traffickers—were raw. They brought a doctor in to administer first aid. They cut his long, matted hair and uncovered a beautiful face. They fed him, clothed him and made him comfortable.
What made Bim know to ask for the Chabad House?
“He had heard of the Chabad House, the Jewish place where people find help,” Chani explained in a phone conversation with lubavitch.com.
Bim had no normal socialization. “He was not raised as normal children are, and he had to learn basic behaviors.” He also needed psychological therapy and professional help to wean him from a substance dependency (inhaling glue) that many of the street children cultivate in Kathmandu. Then his traffickers, unwilling to give Bim up as a source of income, began to harass and intimidate the Lifshitzs.
With five of their own children, and long days packed with the exigencies of young and restless Jews traveling dangerously in remote mountain ranges, were these Chabad representatives getting in deeper than they meant to?
Adopting a Nepalese child is not exactly what Chani and Chezki expected they’d be doing as Chabad Shluchim. “But we asked ourselves, ‘what would the Rebbe advise us to do?’” Chani says, recalling those first days with Bim. “There’s no question he’d tell us to do whatever we can to save his life.”
Adopting Bim
Chezki and Chani paid Bim’s handlers for his release, and gave him a new life in the bosom of their family. The Lifshitz children surrounded him with warmth and acceptance, and he integrated quickly. “My children have been amazing, full of love and appreciation for Bim. They’ve learned so much from him—gratitude for the things in life they never had to think about before . . . like having parents.”
“Ima Chani” and “Abba Chezki” as Bim likes to call his adoptive parents, enrolled Bim in a private school where he is proving to be a fast learner and a high achiever. “Last year he did not know how to read or write. Now he’s reading and writing in three languages. He’s skipped two grades since he started formal schooling,” says Chani, kvelling like any good Jewish mother. “He’s incredibly bright.”
Bim is not Jewish, but that’s not relevant, Chani says, and converting him is not on the agenda. “We did not adopt him to make him Jewish. We adopted him to save his life, to give him the opportunity to grow intelligently, with happiness and love.”
But Bim seems to have something else in mind. Precocious and very proud of his adoptive Jewish family, he tells visitors that he’ll be having a bar mitzvah next year just like his “older brother” did. He insists that his Jewish name is Binyamin. And he’s learning Hebrew.
The Passover Seder in Kathmandu—with around 2,000 guests—is one of the largest and most popular worldwide. Chezki and Chani invest weeks of preparation. Speaking from Israel where she is adding Passover provisions to a shipping container that will arrive in Kathmandu for Passover, Chani seems to multi-task skillfully. Back home, her husband is taking care of logistics at the Chabad House. Reservations for the legendary Seder are quickly filling up, and Bim and his siblings are pitching in as well.
Raising Awareness
Bim’s story made news and garnered enormous attention in Nepal. It has brought representatives of various agencies and organizations, including government and NGOs, and the media, to the Lifshitzs’ door.
“I hope this will raise awareness of the plight of Nepal’s street children,” Chani says. “Imagine if more children like Bim would be saved.”
To support the work of Chabad of Nepal, click here.
this is such a beutiful story, why dou ppl have to look for bad
Thank you, that was beautiful.
i dont wanna get side tracked but i gotta say this. what u said was hurtful and disgusting. i myself grew up in foster care. it was a terribel expirence and i dont want to wish it on anybody. what u said about them giving him to the goyim is revolting. first of all, these goyim didnt offer much help till now, did they? second of alll,its thire business, theyre religious eminsarries and im sure they know what theyre doing. third of all and most importently, u can obilously see how hes a definate part of them family , to… Read more »
it is absolutley inspiring to see them do such a kind act. plus so what if he is jewish or not, he wont have a bad hashpa on the kids. he is a human being and we are all one big family let us learn some compassion from these shluchim!
This is a beautiful story of love and compassion. The author of the article might consider a less derogatory term to describe a country than “third world backwater.” Calling Nepal underdeveloped would be accurate without being needlessly insulting.
I loved reading how this child was saved. So inspiring. Children should always be loved for themselves and taken care of until they can take care of themselves. A child is a child. They come without tags or labels. They are all equal.
Every person who wrote a comment or felt inspired by this incredible story and very special couple should send in a donation, המעשה הוא העיקר and moshiach will come through the giving of tzedaka, ציון במשפט תפדה ושביה בצדקה. I’m sure many have but it is good to have a reminder even for myself.
For such a heartwarming story, there are always people who find things wrong with it.
#43, your comment actually had me tearing up. You, the Lifshitzes, and those like you are truly living to be a light not only unto the nations, but to Jews as well, and it will be people like you who deserve credit for the world becoming a place fit for Hashem to dwell.
The rest of you are a painful reminder of just how far we are from bringing Moshiach.
No the Turks didnt give the kids back.
Since there was no orthodox school in their city, they had to find a long term solution. This happened in the form of a lubavitcher yungerman from Buenos aires who had no kids of his own, The kids were transfered to him and his wife, who with much dedication and love, bring them up as their own. They attend the lubavitch cheder in buenos aires.
גם אני הייתי חושש אבל מכיוון שאני מכיר היטב את זוג השליחים ואת השליחה ליפשיץ שהיא אישה מאוד פקחית ונבונה אני סומך עליה שיודעת גם לדאוג להפריד ולפקוח עיניים על הילד כדי שלא יקרה חלילה שום דבר לילדים שלה. תוך כדי שהיא נותנת לו אהבה. זה לא סותר
במקרה היתי בחור שליח אצל משפחת ליפשיץ הנפלאה לפני שנתיים וראיתי את חני דואגת בצורה חכמה לכל דבר ודבר . ממש חושבת על כל דבר שיתנהל כראוי גם כשמדובר בארץ כמו קטמנדו .. כך שאני במקומך היתי סומך על זה
one has to be careful, this child has been abused .and there are precious Jewish neshamas in the house and girls too- and they come first. burning sure these amazing shluchim are aware of this. lots of ” nachas ” , he looks adorable!
Great job!!!!!
although yes, ideally we dont want to raise our kids with a goy.. but with the dangers this boy faced they saved his life and showed him such chesed .. and through this their children are learning so much of what it means to be a jew. also it seems like all the positive in their home is influencing Bim more than any kind of negative that he might rub off on them.. so everyone stop trying to be so chassidish .. mentchlichkeit comes first!!
i dont argree with you its a fact
please make your appeal in english and dollars
that must have made a kidush hashem
shluchim are amazing!
Yes he is a goy and is living with them and they “saved” this child and that alone shows the humanity of these shluchim.Now lets ponder this for a moment.Suppose the righteous goyim had thought of not hiding the “jews” during WW2???suppose they also thought they are not my problem? Hmmmm a bit different, right? These people obviously understand what saving a life means more than many here.He’s done nothing to harm them and instead embraces and/or respects Judaism.leave the child alone and stop judging the shluchim . THEY ARE ANGELS that H’ sent there to help jews and non-Jews.
Didnt the turks give back the kids and no longer have them
my exact thoughts! we were raised on stories of the goyshe kid living in the house of Jews , being their shabbos goy etc
this kid seems already to be helping Chabad by raising awareness of Chabad in napal which only good can come from that!
I cried….
Beautiful!!!!! Thank you.
I know you mean well. I used “so called” for several reasons. 1. Not everyone uses “goy” as a neutral term such as “Gentile” or “a beautiful child who happened to not have been born to a Jewish mother.” 2. No “goy” uses the word “goy” to define themselves or their specific culture. But because this is a discussion about Jews and people who happen to not to be Jewish, we need some sort of word to make a distinction between the two. I am choosing not to use the word goy (lower case) as the opposite of Jew (capitalized.)… Read more »
אני יושב וקורא פה את התגובות וחושב לעצמי שאם אנשים פה היו בכלל מבינים על איזה צדיקים מדובר ……….. השליחים של קטמנדו הם לא פחות ממלאכים . מסירות הנפש שלהם בשליחות היא הרבה יותר ממה שאתם יודעים. הרבה הרבה יותר
The issue that I have is the implication that, by merely being a so-called “goy,” this child is somehow polluting the Jewish home in which he lives and harming the souls of his adoptive brothers and sisters. This clearly isn’t the case.
The idea that we have different roles to play in bringing Moshiach does not mean that each and every Gentile poses an imminent danger to any Jewish child they may encounter outside of a janitorial or waiter position.
why do u right “so called” goyish kid. It is NOT a “so called” it IS a goyish kid.
it is what it is. All my empathy!! just let’s call it by its name
The story u might be referring to is a Tzaddik heard cries of a goyish child and took him home, gave him food, clothing and money and sent him off. Later that child saved the yidden.
The reason you would not bring a goy around ur children I understand…u don’t want a goy to have an “hashpa’ah” on ur children…for this reason many ppl. do their best to have only Jewish babysitters watching their children. Hashem had a reason to create us as “am livodad yishkon”. Why didn’t Hashem create everyone to be Jews, y the separation “hamavdil bein kodesh….bein Yisroel la’amim. Hashem clearly made them but as goyim and to be separate from us…hence many Halachos. Ideally they’d find a nice loving goyish home and can even support him but to bring him into ur… Read more »
Firstly there is more to the story that you don’t know or haven’t picked up on, like the fact that when the Lifshitzes first came to Nepal they found a dead child in the market place covered in flies being ignored by passerby. So cleary there is no one else over there doing anything to help those kids. But regardless of that, I personally grew up with stories of Tzaddikim in days of old. Among those stories are quite a number involving righteous Jews that took into their home orphaned or neglected non Jewish children and raised them with their… Read more »
And what, exactly, is so terrible about having a so-called “goyish” child around your children? (Especially a little boy who has embraced Judaism to such an extent that he wants a bar mitzvah? With parents who are wise enough to let him make his own conversion decision when he’s a little older?) If you love Hashem, love all that Hashem has created, and not in some abstract “but keep it away from my children” sense.
i think he should convert.
if he wants to then why not?
Hashem for sure sent him to them for a reason
While this is incredible and truly selfless as is their Mesiras Nefesh of Shlichus in such a remote place I hope Rabbonim were consulted. I’m not so sure the Rebbe would want this goyish child to be brought up with their children. Yes, clothe, feed and possibly continue to support a nice non-Jewish family to adopt but beyond that I’m not so certain. I guess if they did ask Rabbonim and the answer was clearly a yes, great!
nebach!! feel so bad! theyre so cute:)
Yesterday was Lincoln’s birthday, and I found myself trying to explain to my Israeli neighbors why Americans celebrate this day. “Because he freed the slaves” sounded too simplistic. The end of slavery in America didn’t come about because Lincoln signed a piece of paper- it came about because of the bravery of countless people, both black and white. And I started to think about how so many white people could have gone along with a status quo that benefitted them, but they didn’t, taking great risks to help slaves escape to the North. And I thought about how many Gentiles… Read more »
there are so many jewish souls that hashem decided to sent down again in what ever form, when l go on mitziom,one of the things l say is ,man is created in the image of g-d,man has a g-ly soul,many nations of the world have and con’t to become jews
It is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever heard! G-d bless these amainzing couple!
excuse me but i think its beautiful how much these shluchim put into Bim. it may not be their job but its wonderful all the same
It is clear from the story that lubavitch.com interviewed the Lifshitzs. If the story is true why would it not be similar?
I am moved to tears, thank you for this amazing example of Kiddouch H’! Mazal Tov!
THIS IS REALLY BEYOND WORDS, OF SUCH KINDNESS
Good story and very similar to the original on Yediot, was the paper credited?
with #20. They want their children growing up with a goy? Its beautiful that they helped him, but then give him up to goyim.
incrdeible!
may we learn a lesson and take action in protecting our children abused and vulnerable in schools here in crown heights!
This is an amazing story!! I’m so proud of everyone!!
Wow. It’s ppl like you who could read, hear, or even see first hand such moving stories, but obviously the inspiration does little to your cold heart. There are a lot of psukim I could quote to show you how unjust/ified your callous response is, but I honestly won’t waste the time. May life teach you lessons in the kindest way, so that you learn to be more understanding of those who have suffered in life (yes there is a deep correlation between ALL sufferings, regardless of age or demographic differences), hopefully it will not be the sufferings of your… Read more »
mamesh a kiddush hashem
ללמדך שכל המגדל יתום בתוך ביתו מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו” –סנהדרין יט ע”ב
this inspirational story is meant to teach a lesson about saving kids from abuse. I would not be surprise if you are one of these disguised pedophiles in our community.
What a touching and heartwarming story.Restores hope to those who are feeling burned out with negative.There are still wonderful people in the world doing just the kind of things that will bring on the Geula
Baila Olidort does it again! Thanks so much for this inspiring article and for sharing this touching story with the public. Keep it up!
AMAZING WOW!
Most inspiring story I have read in awhile! WOW
So beautiful!! That’s real Chessed – not just looking at a child in a pitiful situation and saying “Oy, how terrible”, but actually doing the work and giving over the dedication needed to turn his life around. May Hashem bentch the Lifshitz’s will all revealed good. They’re actions are really inspiring – embodying “Hamaaseh hu haikar”
You take a inspirational story and drag it into your eek
There’s a lot of good happening out there and if you had a bad experience in life that is sad etc. BUT you don’t have to bring up the drek at every breath of life.
Move on and may hashem help you.
When I was in Nepal and while I was in the Chabad house I sat with the kid and we would talk in Hebrew, I would say the Pesukim with him while we played chess
Sure, Shluchim need to save a child’s life, regardless of Jewish or not, but then if it would be me, I’d give him over to a goyishe help institution. It’s not Shluchim’s job to adopt goyishe children and bring him up with their own.
amazing kol hakovod!
incredible. what a kiddush Hashem
Awesome story.
This is so special, may the Lifshitz’s have all the Brochos from Hashem.
Thank You for inspiring us to do as you have done and will continue to do.
This is the example of true Shluchim, always thinking how the Rebbe will react to every situation.
So incredible!!!! This truly brought tears to my eyes!
I seriously got chills from this! it was such a sweet story and the Shluchim seem like such special people!! WOW so inspiring!!!!!! Makes me want to meet them!
What a touching story. It’s beautiful to see shluchim so sensitive to the plea of a child suffering. It would be nice if the Rabbonim of our community would take a lesson from this story and take some action against the pedophiles from anash, abusing so many children from our community.
Very inspiring. Wishing the family all the Rebbe’s brachos, including much nachas from all their children including Bim.
incredible Shluchim!! May you be blessed with the strength to continue to do ur amazing work!!!
May you see continued hatzlocha in your unbelievable work, leading the way for Moshiach Now!!
AMEN TO ALL THE BROCHOS FOR THESE INCREDIBLY GOOD PEOPLE! MAY THEY GO MECHOYIL EL CHOYIL!!
It’s hard to impress me. This story brough shivers down my spine. What huge hearts these people have. May Hashem bless them with everything they want and need
such a heartwarming story, continue doing your beautiful work, may you have bracha and mazal in all your endeavors!
what a kiddush hashem!
He sounds so cute!
This story brought tears to my eyes! What an amazing couple to do such an incredible mitzvah!
Don’t forget the Turks in Argentina who adopted 3 Jewish children. All Tzaddikim, we can learn so much from their selflessness.
this is the true essence of a kiddush Hashem, I am humbled before you Chanie. A fellow Shlucha in the US