Anat Shalev
Father of Rivkah Holtzman, who was killed along with her husband Gavriel in Mumbai, holds menorah-lighting ceremony. Murdered couple's son plays with dreidel under a Chabad flag.
The father of Rivkah Holtzberg, who was killed along with her husband Gavriel during the terror attack on the Chabad house in Mumbai, India last month, held a menorah-lighting ceremony at his Afula home Sunday evening.
Moshe Holtzberg, the murdered couple's 2-year-old son, lit the first Hanukkah candle.
Rabbi Shimon Holzberg spoke to Ynet about the emotional event: "We conducted the ceremony along with friends and members of my congregation, and Moishe lit the first candle, an honor that was usually reserved for his father.
"We recited the prayer 'He who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time', which has a special meaning now in light of our own Hanukkah miracle – that Moishe is here with us today," he said.
Rabbi Holzberg said Moshe played with a dreidel while those on hand ate Sufganiot (Hannukah doughnuts); a Chabad flag retrieved from the house in Mumbai hung in the background.
"When we were in India we managed to recover four Torahs from the Chabad house," he added. "Three were kept in a safe at the Israeli consulate, and we brought the fourth back home with us and it served us tonight. We also brought Gavriel's silver menorah and Rivkah's Shabbat candlesticks."
Showing posts with label orphan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orphan. Show all posts
Monday, December 22, 2008
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Berlin Chabad to open account for Moshe Holtzberg
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."
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."
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