BERLIN (JTA) -- A Berlin bank account will be opened for donations to help raise the orphaned son of the slain couple that ran the Mumbai Chabad Center.
When "a 2-year-old child cries 'Ima, Abba,' " the whole Jewish community has to come to the rescue, an emotional Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal, the director of the Jewish Educational Center-Rohr Chabad Center in Berlin, told worshipers at a memorial service Tuesday for Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg.
Moshe Holtzberg cried out for his parents at their funeral Tuesday in Israel. The Holtzbergs were among six Jews killed in the Chabad House during last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai. More than 180 people were killed in 10 separate attacks in the Indian city.
Teichtal told JTA the account for Moshe would be opened Wednesday; information can be found at http://www.chabadberlin.de.
Speaking at the West Berlin Chabad center shortly after watching the televised funeral for the Holtzbergs in Kfar Chabad, Teichtal reported that the terrorists had actually spent the night at the Mumbai Chabad center a few months ago. Posing as visiting students, they joined the Holtzbergs for a Sabbath meal and then told them, "We have a problem, we have no place to stay," Teichtal said, standing in front of a large photograph of the Holtzbergs affixed to the Torah curtain.
The Holtzbergs then put up the strangers, who "used the chance to scope out the place," he said.
"The terrorists came into a synagogue in Mumbai in a conflict that has nothing to do with Jews. It happened in Berlin, too," Teichtal said, referring to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. "But we survived because our life consists also of our spirit."
Israel's ambassador to Germany, Yoram Ben-Zeev, also spoke at the Berlin service, which featured psalms and prayers. A condolence book lay open on a table outside the sanctuary.
Teichtal said that when Chabad lights its traditional oversized chanukiyah at Berlin's famous Brandenburg Gate on the first night of Chanukah, the ceremony "will be dedicated to the Holtzbergs."
Showing posts with label Yehuda Teichtal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yehuda Teichtal. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Chabad Rabbi attacked in Berlin
BERLIN (EJP)---A few days before the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Nazi anti-Jewish pogroms in Germany known as “Kristallnacht”, a rabbi in Berlin and 8 rabbinical students were attacked on Saturday night by two hoodlums
Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal, who serves since 11 years as rabbi of Chabad Lubavitch, one of the three Jewish communities of the German capital, was returning in his vehicle with the students after attending a Jewish event in the city when the two aggressors began to chase the rabbi's car.
The two men, driving a Mercedes Benz, braked in front of the rabbi's van and then reversed back towards it while shouting anti-Semitic insults.
"The rabbi then saw the driver light up an unknown object and throw it towards his van," the police said, adding that the rabbi could not explain what the object was.
The students managed to jot down the license plate of the attacking vehicle, which they reported to the police together with the complaint about the offense.
Shmuel Segal, Rabbi Teichtal’s assistant, expressed the hope that police “would do all within their power to find the criminals.”
"This event encourages us to continue our Jewish oriented activities in the city. In every case we encounter instances of darkness. We are motivated to increase our efforts to spread out more light," he told EJP.
He said the Chabad community is due to open a new Mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, in a few days.
Last year, a smoke bomb was thrown through a window of the community’s kindergarten and anti-Semitic slogans were spray painted on its walls.
The Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE), which provides assistance to rabbis across Europe, expressed shock at Saturday's aggression.
“We are totally shocked to find time and again, that particularly the country that should have been dispersing messages of tolerance to all European countries, has been once again the arena of a severe anti-Semitic incident,” it said.
"We maintain that Berlin must put an end to nationalistic and neo-Nazi organizations within its boundaries, otherwise, we have no guarantee that history will not repeat itself,” the Brussels-based centre said.
Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal, who serves since 11 years as rabbi of Chabad Lubavitch, one of the three Jewish communities of the German capital, was returning in his vehicle with the students after attending a Jewish event in the city when the two aggressors began to chase the rabbi's car.
The two men, driving a Mercedes Benz, braked in front of the rabbi's van and then reversed back towards it while shouting anti-Semitic insults.
"The rabbi then saw the driver light up an unknown object and throw it towards his van," the police said, adding that the rabbi could not explain what the object was.
The students managed to jot down the license plate of the attacking vehicle, which they reported to the police together with the complaint about the offense.
Shmuel Segal, Rabbi Teichtal’s assistant, expressed the hope that police “would do all within their power to find the criminals.”
"This event encourages us to continue our Jewish oriented activities in the city. In every case we encounter instances of darkness. We are motivated to increase our efforts to spread out more light," he told EJP.
He said the Chabad community is due to open a new Mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, in a few days.
Last year, a smoke bomb was thrown through a window of the community’s kindergarten and anti-Semitic slogans were spray painted on its walls.
The Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE), which provides assistance to rabbis across Europe, expressed shock at Saturday's aggression.
“We are totally shocked to find time and again, that particularly the country that should have been dispersing messages of tolerance to all European countries, has been once again the arena of a severe anti-Semitic incident,” it said.
"We maintain that Berlin must put an end to nationalistic and neo-Nazi organizations within its boundaries, otherwise, we have no guarantee that history will not repeat itself,” the Brussels-based centre said.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Berlin Jewish Center Builds 1,000 Sq. Foot Replica of Jerusalem's Western Wall
by KRISTEN ALLEN
The Associated Press
BERLIN
The German capital's new $8.2 million Jewish community center will feature a replica of Jerusalem's Western Wall accurate down to the plants sprouting from its cracks, the center's leaders said.
The 1,000 sq. foot replica will be part of Szloma Albam House. The center's Sept. 2 opening will symbolize the growth and vitality of Berlin's 12,000-member Jewish community. Germany's Jewish community is the world's fastest growing, fed by immigrants from the former Soviet Union, according to the World Jewish Congress.
"This is a symbolic part of making Berlin a central hub of Jewish life again," the center's executive director, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The project began when a team from the Chabad-Lubavitch organization traveled to Jerusalem to photograph a section of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, famous for the tradition of inserting tiny prayers on paper into its many cracks.
Almost 19 tons of "Jerusalem Gold" sandstone quarried in the region arrived in Berlin on July 11, and has since been chiseled and installed to match the photographs. The complete replica, located in the center's entryway, will also include identical plants sprouting from the cracks.
The Western Wall replica is not meant to be used for worship, but as a symbol and reminder of the center's mission.
Teichtal told the AP that the center's architecture directly reflects center's philosophy. A large cobalt and light blue glass window greets visitors as a symbol of transparency. The sleek, contemporary design by Russian architect Sergei Tchoban, shows that Szloma Albam House focuses on the future.
"Within the transparency is tradition, and that's why we're building the wall," he told The Associated Press. "It's the strongest symbol of the survival of the Jewish people."
Rabbi Chaim Rozwaski, an orthodox rabbi from New York who serves at Berlin's Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue, said the replica has "no more meaning than a picture."
"But the wall itself has a tremendous attraction and obviously a deep-felt meaning for many people, so it's still nice to have a replica."
The Szloma Albam House, located on Muenstersche Strasse in Berlin's Charlottenburg neighborhood, has been under construction for three years. But its synagogue is already open for worship.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany says the Jewish community has some 110,000 registered members.
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