N.Y. fifth graders thank Indian nanny for saving 2-year-old Moshe from Mumbai terrorists

"Dear Sandra, Thank you for saving Moshe," wrote Daniel Smith, a fifth-grader at Solomon Schecter Day School of Nassau County, to express his appreciation to the Indian nanny who saved two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg from the terrorist attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai, India two weeks ago.

The boy's parents, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, were both killed in the attack.

Smith's fifth-grade classmates wrote individual letters to the nanny, Sandra Samuel, which were presented to the Israeli Consulate in New York for delivery to Israel.

Smith was joined at the Consulate by his fifth grade classmate, Jennifer Lipman, their principal, Dr. Cindy Dolgin, and their Judaic Studies teacher, Lizet Romano, who initiated the project. The two represented the entire fifth grade in delivering the letters that recognized Samuel for her heroic act based on the Jewish tradition that "One who saves one person saves an entire nation."

In their letters, the students thanked Samuels for her bravery and assured her that her good deed did not go unnoticed in their community. Lipman wrote, "Everyone at my school thinks you are a hero. Thank you for all you've done."

Administrators felt there was a valuable pedagogical reason for this exercise. Dolgin commented, "What could our young students do under such terrifying circumstances taking place half a world away? As a class, the children and their teacher decided to write letters to Sandra Samuel to express their gratitude, their amazement and their awe for her bravery and courage in rescuing little Moshe, not unlike the rescue of another baby Moshe they had learned about in the Book of Exodus."

In addressing the students, David Saranga, Consul for Media and Public Affairs applauded the students' desire to express their thanks. ?The right way to transmit our thanks as the State of Israel is to welcome her into our community, as we have done. Samuel did the right thing by saving Moshe. She demonstrated that human life is valuable regardless of religion or ethnicity."

The students' letters have been passed for delivery to Chabad in Israel. Rabbi Shmuel Butman, Director of Lubavitch Youth Organization, noted, "Moishi was calling 'Mommy, mommy.' Sandra heard Moishi's cry and she brought him to safety totally sacrificing her own safety. She will be eternally remembered for her selflessness and heroism."

The Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County, located in Jericho, NY, is a Jewish Day Elementary School affiliated with the Conservative Movement and provides a dual curriculum in Judaic and secular education. The school also has a wide-ranging Israel studies program that stresses appreciation for Israel as a democratic and multicultural society.

The Consulate has prepared a short video of the event highlights, which can be viewed online at www.israelpolitik.org.

A Thank You

My mother-in-law, Hayya Basha bat Menahem Manis, passed away Thursday afternoon. The levaya was Friday morning at Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, where the Lubavitcher Rebbe זצ''ל is buried. Since few people were expected, and in accord with my wife's family's modest tastes, a simple graveside service was planned. It was raining heavily. I was expecting difficulty getting a minyan. Since we do not have a car, the funeral director sent a limousine to transport us from our home to the cemetery. I asked the limo driver to stop at the ohel, the small building housing a beit midrash, that one passes through to see the Rebbe's grave, to see if we could scrounge up enough men to make a minyan. He agreed, but not enough people were there; the place is usually packed. I returned to the waiting limo, almost giving up hope of having a minyan for my father-in-law to say Kaddish, when an Israeli hasid came running up with his cell phone, gave me the number and asked me to call when we got to the graveside. Then the limo driver informed us that he would not be able to transport the hasidim from the ohel to the grave, as company policy allowed him to go only from home to grave and back. The Hasidim, doing us a favor, would have to arrange their own transportation. We stopped at the cemetery office to fill out the necessary paperwork, and the funeral director informed us we would not be able to wait for additional people once we got to the grave. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I called the hasid's cell phone from the office and told him we would be at the graveside (Block 80, they would have to get a map in the office to figure out where that was) in a few minutes. When we arrived, the non-Jewish cemetery workers wheeled the casket from the hearse to the grave and lowered it down. This caused me much mental anguish (click here) but we only had four men, including the officiating rabbi and my elderly father-in-law. I and my son began to shovel earth into the grave. Suddenly six hasidim materialized. They had walked from the ohel to the cemetery office to the grave. Not only did they complete the minyan (along with my shul's interim rabbi who went out of his way to be there), they actually took shovels in their hands and helped us fill in the grave! They, along with me and my son, did not stop until the tzurrat ha-kever was completed. Neither the cemetery workers nor their bulldozers had any part. My father-in-law said Kaddish, and only then did the hasidim leave the scene, on foot in a pouring rain.The hashkafa problems we have with Habad are well known and need not be belabored here. But when you need them, they are there. The Rebbe's name was Menahem; כשמו כן הוא . The name fits. The Rebbe comforted me before my Bar Mitzvah (click here) and his hasidim comforted me, as they comfort countless others, last Friday. Tizku l'mitzvot - what you do will hasten the arrival of Mashiach, whoever he is.