Prayers for Moshe Holtzberg's Mom and Dad

Washington Post:

Outside the ornate synagogue, Indian sharpshooters were perched on rooftops and Israeli security agents roamed the alleys in this busy neighborhood, just a 15-minute walk from the devastated Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel.

Inside, a weeping Shimon Rosenberg cradled his grandson, curly-haired 2-year-old Moshe Holtzberg. The toddler was left an orphan after his parents -- a rabbi and his wife -- were slain in a Jewish outreach center in Mumbai, part of a three-day siege that ended Saturday, leaving at least 174 people dead and hundreds injured in targeted attacks across this seaport city.

"Ima! Ima! Ima!" the boy cried out, using the Hebrew word for mother, at a tear-filled prayer service attended by about 100 mourners, including Indian Jews, officials from the U.S and Israeli embassies, aging Holocaust survivors and streams of Israeli backpackers.

Rivkah Holtzberg, 28, was an Israeli citizen, while her husband, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, had dual American and Israeli citizenship. They had come to Mumbai in August 2003 to operate a home for the Jewish community, one where travelers could get a kosher meal, attend Shabbat services, and relax in a library lined with a variety of works, including books by Woody Allen and tomes on Jewish philosophy.

"The house they built here in Mumbai will live with them. They were the mother and father, the address of the Jewish community in Mumbai," Rosenberg said through tears. "The House of Chabad will live again. We have to rebuild."

Jews have a long history in India. Rabbinical leaders have accepted a community of Jewish Indians as being among the "lost tribes" of Israel, exiled by an Assyrian empire 27 centuries ago. Today, India and Israel are emerging allies: India is one of Israel's biggest trading partners in Asia, with the countries exchanging cars, software and weaponry. India is also a favorite destination for Israeli backpackers seeking a break from disciplined and stressful army life. They wind their way through the northern Himalayan hamlets and the southwestern beachfronts in Goa, among India's more easygoing venues. When they want a dose of South Asian bustle, they come to Mumbai, India's largest city.

But to Indians and Israelis, the two countries also have another bond: They have a common enemy. Civilians in both countries have been targeted by Islamist terrorists.

...

Deliberately targeting non combatants is the war crime that is contained in the strategy of the enemy. They are an enemy that lacks remorse. Moshe will return with his grand parents to Israel. I suspect he will be considered a special child for having survived the senseless terror of the Islamic religious bigots who tortured and murdered his parents.

The AP has a well written and touching story about Moshe's trip to his grandparents home in Israel. You may need some tissue handy for this one.

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