Special Report

MASSACRE IN MUMBA

'Not Just A Name To Me'

U-M student recalls
Rabbi Holtzberg.

dent, Sol Adelsky, sent an e-mail to friends
and family members to help put a face with
the name people were hearing on the news.
"Rabbi Holtzberg is not just a name to
me. When I went backpacking in India a few
Robin Schwartz
summers ago, my friend Dave and I were
Special to the Jewish News
fortunate to experience his gracious and
generous hospitality (his wife was in Israel
Ann Arbor
at the time);' his e-mail read. "He took won-
derful care of us for a weekend, ensuring we
tories of warmth, generosity and
were well fed and well equipped to handle
kindness and descriptions of a
our subsequent journey'
Jewish oasis in a foreign land
Adelsky, from Livingston, N.J., wrote
emerged as people across the world shared
about the rabbi being a shochet (ritual
the experiences they had with Rabbi Gavriel slaughterer) who prepared kosher chickens
Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28.
in a place where kosher meals are hard
Many poured out their hearts on blogs
to come by. Others who visited his center,
and Web sites after learning the beloved
known as Nariman House, described a com-
directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai
fortable, welcoming, homey environment
were among some 172 victims of last week's where large Shabbat dinners were a weekly
terror attacks. University of Michigan stu-
occurrence.
"[Rabbi Holtzberg] has
a warm and laid-back
personality and does very
important and difficult
work in Mumbai, greeting
(and feeding) everyone
from Israeli businessmen
to wayward backpackers','
Adelsky wrote. "I realize
these crises happen so
frequently to the point
where we become numb
to them. I've attached a
picture from my weekend
with Rabbi Holtzberg in
the hopes that maybe this
Children at the Lubavitch Cheder in Oak Park praying
image can help you realize
and giving to tzedakah, along with Rabbi Zalman Zweibel
just how connected you
of Ann Arbor, Nov. 27 after learning about the attacks.
are to the events occurring

S

In Their Memory

Goodness amid
the chaos.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Senior Writer

W

e are in no position to under-
stand the ways of HaShem, but
we must accept his judgment,"
said Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg of the Sara
and Morris Tugman Bais Chabad Torah
Center in West Bloomfield.
"The Holtzbergs gave up their lives in the
line of duty, spreading Torah and mitzvot.
Jewish tradition teaches that anyone killed
just because he is Jewish is immediately

A14

December 4 • 2008

catapulted to the rank of a kadosh, a holy
martyr. This is the first time in Chabad
history that a couple, dedicated shluchim
[emissaries], were murdered in the line of
service," he said.
Just before this past Shabbat, Rabbi
Silberberg said, "In their memory, in their
honor, I beg you to call up at least one
acquaintance who is perhaps not careful
about lighting Shabbat candles, and ask
them to kindle the Shabbat lights, especially
today, in honor of Shabbat and those pure
souls who perished at the hands of the bar-
barians.
"Many have asked me what they can do in
their memorY,' Rabbi Silberberg said. "The
Holtzbergs devoted their lives, among other
things, to these four ideas: providing kosher

The late Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, center, with U-M student Sol Adelsky, right, of

Livingston, N.J., and an unknown traveler. The photo was taken at Nariman House in
Mumbai where the attack occurred.

thousands of miles away"
While Adelsky's e-mail circulated along
with countless other online messages and
personal accounts, leaders of Metro Detroit's
Chabad-Lubavitch community called for
prayer and good deeds. Rabbi Kasriel
Shemtov, spiritual leader of the Shul in West
Bloomfield, met the young Rabbi Holtzberg
before he and his wife moved overseas.
"He was just a wonderful, warm person,
just a gem, a scholar — someone who
decided with his wife to leave his home in
Brooklyn where his community is for no
other reason than to be able to be selfless, to
be able to devote himself to the community,'
Shemtov said. "He died for what he stood for
all his life. He was there on a mission and he
died doing his mission. In my opinion, he
was murdered because he was Jewish!'
Shemtov said he struggled to sleep for 48
hours, while terrorists launched grenades,
fired automatic weapons and set fires half a
world away, holding hostages and claiming
victims in several locations including the
Jewish center. During that time, students
at the Lubavitch Cheder in Oak Park said
prayers and gave money to tzedakah. But, by
the time Shabbat arrived Nov. 28, their worst
fears were realized.
"I have no explanation for this',' said
Rabbi Bentzion Stein of Oak Park, the

Lubavitch Cheder's executive director. "This
young couple went on self-sacrifice to help
other Jews. It's just unbelievable!"
Some took comfort in the miraculous
news that the Holtzberg's 2-year-old son,
Moshe, escaped the building unharmed
with the help of a nanny. He was turned over
to his Israeli grandparents in time to mark
his birthday Saturday. Others, like the writer
who posted this anonymous message on a
Chabad Web site, struggled to make sense of
the tragic turn of events.
"Why were our prayers unanswered? Why
does a 2-year-old have to celebrate his birth-
day an orphan? Why do such people, com-
mitted to goodness, have to go so early?" the
post read.
Rabbi Shemtov and other Chabad lead-
ers urged people to light Shabbat candles,
donate to charity or do a mitzvah of any
kind in the rabbi's memory.
"There's really only one way,' Shemtov
said. "Respond to the terrorists, respond to
this tragedy with bringing more light into
the world, by making this world a brighter
place!'

❑

A fund has been established to sup-
port the Holtzbergs' son and help
rebuild the destroyed Chabad House.
To contribute, go to chabadindia.org .

food to Jews who needed a place
to daven with the minyan of
to eat, providing daily minyanim
your choice!'
three times a day for Jews to pray
"The two kashrus super-
properly, gracing every meal with
visors [Rabbis Leibish
words of Torah, and endeavor-
Teitelbaum and Bentzion
ing that each and every Jewish
Chroman] who were tragi-
woman should light Shabbos
cally murdered in the Chabad
candles!'
House in Mumbai had come
The rabbi's hope is that mem-
there to daven Minchah and
bers of our community "accept
Maariv," Rabbi Silberberg said.
Rabbi Sil berberg
upon ourselves at least one of
"There will be no better way
these missions, and turn this tragic moment to elevate their memory and their souls, and
into a time of growth by supporting our
to bring light out of the darkness of their
agencies which provide kosher meals to our
deaths, than by getting into the habit of
brethren (Yad Ezra in Berkley, for example),
participating in a Mincha-Maariv minyan in
preparing and giving over a dvar Torah
your neighborhood?'
(words of Torah) at least at one or two week-
Estie Greenberg of Commerce Township
day meals and promoting Shabbos candle-
is the first cousin to a man married to Rivka
lighting.
Holtzberg's sister. Greenberg's husband,
He included in this encouragement
"choosing at least one or two additional days In Their Memory on page A16