Mumbai attack victims remembered on Long Island

Mumbai attack victims remembered on Long Island

BY LAURA RIVERA

December 22, 2008

Reb Nachman Holtzberg said he knows no words to express his grief at the violent death of his son.

Yet, at a West Hempstead memorial yesterday for the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks, Holtzberg found a way to urge others to continue the work of his slain son, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg.

Among the six Jews killed in the attacks last month, Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28, died in the Chabad center they had operated since 2003. Inside, officials recovered a damaged Torah. According to an Israeli news report, the scroll had a bullet hole in a Leviticus chapter, which narrates divine instructions to Aaron after his sons' death.

It is a position Holtzberg now finds himself in - and, he said, he knows what he must do.

More than 200 people packed a hall inside Young Israel of West Hempstead on Hempstead Avenue to hear Holtzberg's message in his first public appearance since his son's burial in Israel.

Following a video of the events and the groundswell of public outcry that followed, Holtzberg called on the audience to strengthen the Jewish presence in Mumbai by building a bigger Chabad center there.

"We will have a bigger building and everybody who has an interest [in Judaism] in India will have a place to stay," Holtzberg said, his voice rising.

"You don't need to fight against darkness," he said. "A little light spreads."

In a spirit of solidarity with victims and their families, Rabbi Yossi Lieberman, director of Chabad of West Hempstead, asked those gathered to attend a public menorah lighting for Hanukkah.

It is scheduled for 7 p.m. today in West Hempstead at Hall's Pond Park, at Nassau Boulevard and Hempstead Avenue.

Beyond that act, said Rabbi Tuvia Teldon, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Long Island, the faithful should commit to do good acts. "This is the power of every single one of us," said Teldon, regional director of Chabad of Long Island. "To make sure we add to the world more than just the light."

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

Slain rabbi's father to lead NYC Hanukkah ceremony

NEW YORK (AP) — The father of the rabbi who was killed along with his wife in the Mumbai terror attacks will lead a Hanukkah ceremony at the Statue of Liberty.

Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg will be joined by leaders of national Jewish organizations at the menorah lighting ceremony Tuesday, the third night of Hanukkah.

Holtzberg's son, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivka, were among scores killed last month in a rampage by suspected Islamic militants. The couple ran a Chabad Lubavitch center in the Indian city of Mumbai.

The Tuesday ceremony is part of a nationwide "Unite the Lights" campaign to mourn the victims of the Mumbai attack while promoting acts of kindness.

Nachman Holtzberg and his wife, Frida, attended a memorial ceremony for their son and daughter-in-law on Sunday in West Hempstead. Holtzberg called on the 200 mourners to help strengthen the Jewish presence in Mumbai by building a bigger Chabad center there.

"You don't need to fight against darkness," he said. "A little light spreads."

Tuesday's menorah-lighting ceremony will take place at 5:15 p.m. at the foot of the Statue of Liberty.