Mumbai One Year On
Just one year ago the world was witness to a series of deadly attacks in Mumbai, India, which claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent victims in hotels, train stations and a Chabad Jewish Center. In these attacks we lost our dear colleagues, Rabbi Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg, who were brutally murdered along with multiple guests in the Chabad Center which they had built and ran.
For two days the terrorists were holed up in the Chabad Center and no one knew what would be the fate of Gabi, Rivky, their two year old son Moshe, and the guests who were staying there. Around the world we were glued to our screens and news channels to see what would happen as we all prayed and hoped for a miracle. Their little two year old son was saved by their nanny Sandra but unfortunately none of the other hostages survived and they were all murdered in cold blood.
In subsequent investigations of the surviving terrorist and from the audio conversation of the terrorists that were taped it became clear that their main target of the Mumbai attacks was this little Jewish center: to kill those inside, and spread fear and terror in the Jewish world. The surviving terrorist even said “that even if all the other attacks were to fail this was the one that was to be the main one and by all means must not see failure”.
I cried a lot during and after the attacks as the brutality of the loss and the senseless hate just couldn’t make sense. Gabi and Rivky were colleagues who were exactly the same age as my wife and me, doing the same work in a different and harder environment and yet they were murdered in such a cruel way. My heart screamed, how, why, how could this be? The pain and tears flowed like water as the shocking loss made a deep wound in my heart and in the hearts of the many others, whether or not they knew these wonderful individuals.
Yet throughout this past year the pillars of strength and comfort have come from within the family of Gabi and Rivky themselves. Their parents don’t scream revenge, don’t scream hate, don’t scream justice: they scream a different type of revenge, a revenge of goodness and kindness. They have been towers of moral strength and clarity, awakening within tens of thousands around the world a global call to action, to counter hate with love, to counter evil with good deeds, and to remove darkness through light.
This past weekend I participated in an international conference of Chabad Rabbis and lay leaders in New York City along with 4,000 other people from around the globe. At the conference I heard both of their parents speak, cry, and inspire those assembled, but the bottom line of their message was that hate can only be eradicated through acts of goodness and kindness. While we ourselves may not be able to directly impact terrorists in their evil missions, we can and must make our world a better place, by strengthening love between people, and making this world a place of goodness and kindness. Each good deed we do is one more ripple in the ocean of humanity which will have an infinite impact beyond the simple good deed or action which we do.
Last Thursday night a hand written Torah Scroll / Bible was completed at our conference in NY by the thousands of attendees and was then marched down a main boulevard in Brooklyn with 10,000 people in song and dance as a tribute to the victims of Mumbai. This same Torah Scroll will be taken this week to Mumbai, India, where it will be used in the newly rebuilt Chabad Jewish Center to serve as an eternal tribute to Gabi and Rivky. At this beautiful event, the goodness, kindness, and joy that Gabi and Rivky displayed throughout their short lives was marked in a most magnificent and inspiring way.
In this attack the epitome of evil and hate met up with two striking souls who epitomized unconditional love and kindness. Yet precisely for this reason their goodness will ultimately prevail, for through their lives and their deaths they have triggered a global wave of goodness and kindness which will yet overcome the evil and hate which the terrorists represent.
May the memory of Gabi and Rivky be an inspiration for us all to move forward with determination and make this world a better place.
Next Sunday Nov 29th we will be joining a global memorial event marking the one year anniversary of the attacks via a webcast at our center at which we will hear remarks from Eli Wiesel, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Israel’s Chief Rabbis. For more info or to RSVP please visit www.chabadsudbury.com
Yisroel Freeman
“In the course of their short lives, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, Chabad emissaries in Mumbai, India, radiated love, kindness and inspiration to their surroundings. Visit our special site that has articles on children named after the Holtzberg (a must see), institutions, initiatives and sifrei torah dedicated in their memory, as well as Chabad’s determination to continue activities in Mumbai. The site also has an all new overview of last year’s events, a tribute to the six kedoshim, as well as all the elements from last year’s Mumbai site. The popular Mitzvah Counter has also been reactivated, and is something wonderful to check out and join in.
“With their cruel murder by forces of darkness, their light exploded into a million points of light that now illuminate across the globe.
“Here’s the story of a legacy that lives on.”