Some 30 Jews missing in Nepal flash floods, local Chabad rabbi estimates

About 30 Jews, including two Israelis, are among the 4,400 missing in Nepal following the catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border last week, according to Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, head of the Chabad of Nepal in Kathmandu.

Lifshitz tells Chabad.org that the center he runs is working intensely with authorities to help coordinate searches for people missing in the floods. The Chabad center has also sent aid and assistance to flood victims, Lifshitz says.

Lifshitz does not detail how he has come to that number, but his wife, Chani, says, “We are in contact with the families, local communities and officials on the ground, trying to piece together every detail.”

She adds, “We are checking every report, every name, every location and every possible lead.”

“For several nights this week, my husband and I barely slept,” she says.

Preparations for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, next week have come to a standstill, she adds.

“More and more missing Jewish families are turning to us, and we know that some of them [may have been swept away],” Lifshitz wrote on Chabad of Nepal’s Facebook page. “The thought that we will not be able to give them a Jewish burial gives us no rest.”

At least two Israelis have been confirmed missing in the floods, according to the Foreign Ministry.

More than 1,200 people have been killed, and nearly 4,000 remain unaccounted for, after a glacier collapse in the Himalayas unleashed flash floods that devastated the mountainous nation.