Rivkah Holtzberg and her husband, Rabbi Gavriel, were killed during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. Guests paid tribute to her memory during An Evening of Pride and Inspiration.
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May 26, 2009
Some 200 women gathered in Shrewsbury to pay tribute to the memory of a young rebbetzin killed in last year’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
Rivkah Holtzberg’s life and legacy were celebrated during Pride and Inspiration: Celebrating the Jewish Woman, the fourth annual Evening for Jewish Women, sponsored by the Jewish Women’s Circle of Chabad in Long Branch. The event was hosted by Chabad of the Shore on May 12 at the Shadowbrook.
Holtzberg and her husband, Rabbi Gavriel, were among the nine people killed in November 2008 in the Mumbai Chabad House when gunmen stormed the center.
“Rivkah was a selfless woman, like Jewish women since the beginning of time,” program director Chani Schapiro told NJ Jewish News. “Going to Mumbai was something many women her age wouldn’t do, and she did it with passion and love. She brought blessings with her.”
The Holtzbergs moved in 2003 to Mumbai, where they opened the first Chabad House and served as emissaries of the Lubavitch hasidic outreach movement. They welcomed members of Mumbai’s approximately 5,000-member Jewish community, along with many Jewish tourists, for meals, religious services, and a taste of Yiddishkeit far from home.
Rivkah Holtzberg “provided a Jewish presence in what was not always a Jewish-friendly place,” Brenda Winters of Belmar, the evening’s emcee, told NJJN. “She taught others to perform deeds of kindness. This is what connected her to holiness.”
Her legacy endures, Schapiro said. “That so many women came here to remember Rivkah is an indication of their connection to her,” she said. “They are doing this to honor her and keep her spirit alive.”
Shimona Tzukernik, international lecturer and educator, was the keynote speaker at An Evening of Pride and Inspiration: Celebrating the Jewish Woman, hosted by the Chabad of the Shore on May 12 in Shrewsbury.
Photo by Jill Huber
Transformational process
Jewish women are the driving force behind the preservation of Jewish values and traditions in their homes and communities, Schapiro said, adding that their strength and inner beauty have the power to influence and uplift lives.
“When Jewish women light the Shabbat candles, it’s the light of the soul that shines,” she said. “It preserves the purity of life, spirit, and family. Rivkah’s life was dedicated to the preservation of Judaism in a far corner of the world and to the mitzvot of spreading light, peace, and joy. She made the house in Mumbai a place that glowed with light, love, and the spirit of Shabbat.”
Acquiring joy and spirituality often is a transformational learning process for women, said Shimona Tzukernik, the evening’s keynote speaker, told NJJN. “Peace and joy come from within.” Shimona (who uses only her first name professionally) is an international lecturer, educator, and founder and director of Omek, a women’s learning center headquartered in Brooklyn.
“Women have to align themselves with their inner truth, and that represents a Godly truth,” she said. “It’s an ongoing process — sometimes we try harder, but we don’t always try ‘wiser,’ and this prevents us from getting to the landscape of our souls.”
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