By COLlive reporter
Thanks to a new Torah scroll, the mostly transient Jewish population in Nepal will always remember the loss of one of its own – a fellow Jewish hiker.
Backpackers and trekkers gathered last week in Kathmandu to honor George Abboudi, a 22-year-old from Leeds who died while hiking through the Annapurna Conservation Area, in the north of the country.
Rabbi Chezki Lifshitz of Chabad Nepal was central to the efforts to find Abboudi when he went missing a month ago. In accordance with Nepalese law, the body was cremated after going unidentified for a week, depriving him of a proper Jewish burial.
Abboudi had suffered “a tragic accident. It’s a very fast-flowing river. It seems he slipped and fell. There are no markings of a struggle,” a family member told the Jewish Chronicle.
“His parents are Israeli and he loved traveling, and had a zest for life and a sense of humor,” said Rabbi Lifshitz who presided over the writing of the final letters in the Torah donated by the Abboudi family.
The event was the first time a hachnosas sefer Torah celebration was held in the country, closing off the Thamel, the narrow but focal throughway of the tourist industry in Kathmandu.
Rickshaw carts accompanied by hundreds of participants and live music led the march with the Torah that was brought from England by Rabbi Pesach Efune, Director of Chabad-Lubavitch Brighton, England, who knew Abboudi.
The diplomatic staff of Israel’s embassy, who were part of the efforts to find the British Jewish hiker, attended as well.
“No one remained indifferent,” Lifshitz said about the dancing and procession, produced pro-bono by Schneur Fleishman Productions with the assistance of Mendy Frankel. “There were moments of joy and tears of excitement.”
Rabbi Lifshitz said it was fitting that the new Torah will be used in the Chabad center in Manang, one of the stops along the famous Annapurna trek through the Himalayas.
VIDEO:
What a spectacular way to acknowledge the life of a bubbly enthusiastic young man who inspired so many.
It is a great mitzvah to dedicate a Sefer Torah. We hope and pray that the family shall see no more tragedies and that the memory of young George shall be a blessing to all. To the Shluhin in Nepal you should go from strength to strength to spread Torah to the four corners of the olam.
well done, what a wonderful experience. we wish everybody should only know simchas, after that tragic loss.
may G-d bless you All.
If the parents of this young man, z”l, are alive, then there should only be an “A”H” after the son’s name and not at the end of the line (after the names of the parents).
May no more Yid suffer any tzar. Moshiach NOW!