Rebbetzin Chani Lifshitz, the Chabad envoy to the Chabad house in Kathmandu, will not take part in the torch-lighting ceremony in honor of Israel's 72nd Independence Day this after the movement's authorities instructed her to reject the offer to light a torch.
The ceremony, which will be pre-recorded this year due to the coronavirus crisis, takes place on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl every year and it is considered the main state event for independence day.
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Lifshitz initially accepted the honor to light one of those torches but on Thursday Lifshitz regretfully declined after the Chabad Rabbinical Court forbade the Nepal envoy from participating in the annual celebration.
Despite being staunchly pro-Israel, Chabad has historically rejected any official association with the state, as it does not consider itself Zionist.
In a letter, written by seven rabbis, the Chabad Rabbinical Court made it clear that Lifshitz must comply or suffer a possible penalty: "We are confident that you will follow our instructions, whose implementation will be supervised by the Center for Education."
"I might be able to hold the torch," she later wrote on Facebook, "but I have already received the greatest honor in this world – a life of purpose and mutual assistance. No gift is greater."
