After Pain of Mumbai, Emissaries Resolve to Persevere

Editor’s Note: Chani Lifshitz co-directs the Chabad House of Kathmandu with her husband, Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz. In a speech at the Feb. 15 grand banquet of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries, she told of her friendship with Rivka Holtzberg, the slain co-director of the Chabad House in Mumbai, and her struggle in dealing with the loss. This article is based on those remarks. You can watch the video in Hebrew with English subtitles at Chabad.org by Clicking Here.

We sometimes think of ourselves as emissaries who have seen it all. We have tackled everything imaginable. Our unique mission in Nepal, a location so out of the ordinary, teeming with individuals requiring our assistance, forges and strengthens us on a daily basis.

Nine years after having merited to become emissaries of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, I and my family merit on a daily basis to constantly receive assistance from Above. The challenges are daunting. But we know with absolute certainty that there is someone who is concerned for us, that we are never alone.

Nothing will ever surprise us. Nothing will ever break us, or so I thought. Until there came the latest challenge and test.

Eighty-two days ago, we all experienced a terrible tragedy, affecting each and every one of us in one way or another. Each one of us lost something. The Jewish people lost precious children. Chabad-Lubavitch lost dedicated soldiers. The emissaries lost a fellow brother and sister. And I? I lost the very best friend that I ever had. I lost my Rivky.

I never really understood the true meaning of the word “loss” until I lost her. Since then, I have never stopped searching for her. The smallest incident reminds me of her: every sound, movement, song, and word. I never quite understood what is meant when they say that it hurts to yearn and long. Now I understand. Believe me, there is actual physical pain.

Before I left, I asked Rivky’s mother what she most wants for me to relate about her daughter. “Whatever you decide to say,” she responded, “you knew her best. Just speak about her in present terms, as if she is there, for our Rivky is not something of the past, she is with us.”

Article continued at Chabad.org

Watch the video of the speech in Hebrew with English subtitles at Chabad.org