December 4, 2008
We are struck silent by the sheer barbarism of the tragedy in Mumbai: the cold-blooded murder of hundreds of innocent people. We mourn the loss of our fellow Jews murdered in the Chabad house together with their hosts Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg.
The Torah tells us that after the sudden passing of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, “Vayidom Aharon — And Aaron was silent.” (Leviticus 10:1-3)
Aaron did not try to rationalize what happened or try to figure out why God did what he did. Rather, with a heavy heart, he focused his attention on moving forward.
Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, right, and his wife Rivka, far left, officiate at a wedding in Mumbai in 2006.
Photo by Chabad.org
My dear colleagues, Gabi and Rivki, gave up the comforts of life to share their kindness and love of Judaism with people of all backgrounds. With lots of hard work and dedication, they opened the Chabad House in Mumbai — a home to thousands of Jewish tourists, Israeli backpackers, and international business travelers.
In this far-off city, remote from anything Jewish, Gabi and Rivki made all Jews feel at home. “Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh — All Jews are responsible for one another.”
***
Since the tragic event, I have come across hundreds of stories written by people who were touched by the Holtzbergs. A visiting rabbinic student tells the following story that exemplifies who Gabi and Rivki were.
In the days preceding Passover, Gabi visited all the area hotels and guest houses to invite every Jew he found to their seder.
On the eve of Passover, during the busy preparations for the overflowing crowd they were expecting, Rivki turned to Gabi asking him to make the rounds one more time. Possibly someone was missed. Though he was sure that he had covered every location, Rivki persisted and Gabi went back out to canvass the streets.
Indeed, he found one guest house that he had somehow overlooked. Reviewing the guest list, he found a Jewish-sounding name. He knocked on the door several times, but no one answered. As he walked away he was called back by a man who apologized that he had been in the shower. He asked Gabi in Hebrew, “Who sent you?”
With his usual shy smile Gabi answered, “Hakadosh baruch hu — The holy one, blessed be he.”
The man’s expression turned to shock and he told Gabi the following story:
“I was traveling through Mumbai to northern India. When I arrived at the train station I found that I had been pickpocketed. Sitting outside at a loss, a young couple approached me. Hearing that I am an Israeli, they, being Jewish, offered to lend me money.
“I rented a room in the first guest house that I found. Settling in, it struck me that tonight was Passover. I found myself talking to God — this is especially unusual since I grew up totally secular — but I felt so alone in a foreign country. I begged God that if he really loves me, he should take care of me and find me a seder.
“I was in the shower when I heard a knock on the door. The person knocked over and over. I opened the door to find you standing there. When I asked, ‘Who sent you?’ you answered, ‘Hakadosh baruch hu!’”
***
In 1956, shortly after the establishment of the village of Kfar Chabad in Israel, there was a terrorist attack in which a teacher and five students were murdered. Everyone was devastated. These hasidim had struggled under communism and had survived the Holocaust. They were now taking up a new and difficult life trying to develop an agricultural village. This brutal attack was simply the final straw.
They wrote to the Lubavitcher rebbe, telling him that they had had enough. The Rebbe’s response was that they will find comfort and consolation in continued growth and development. They rededicated themselves building the institutions of the Kfar, making it the vibrant center for Judaism in Israel that it is today.
Friday, after I heard the news from Mumbai, I was reading the weekly Torah portion which tells of Isaac’s blessings to his children. What struck me was the blessing given to Esau: “By your sword you shall live, but your brother you shall serve; yet it will be when you are aggrieved, you may cast off his yoke….” Esau’s blessing was that he will be strong when Jacob is weak.
Our response to Esau’s aggression is to look introspectively and strengthen Jewish unity, increase acts of loving kindness, and enhance our performance of mitzvot. God promises that this will weaken Esau’s reign of terror.
With Hanukka soon upon us, we are reminded of the miracle of the oil. Its message is the key to Jewish survival. We fight darkness with light. We defeat evil through acts of goodness and kindness.
The Chabad House of Mumbai was a place that brought together Jews of all backgrounds. Our answer to this brutality is to create places, both in space and in mind, of unity and of shared purpose. Let each one of us commit to add hesed and enhance a mitzva. Collectively we will defeat the terrorists.
Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum is executive director of the Friendship Circle of MetroWest NJ. Visit www.chabadindia.org and join people the world over in memorializing the terror victims.
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