Posted on 12/02/2008 8:09:06 AM PST by goldstategop
A memorial ceremony for Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg took place Tuesday afternoon in Kfar Chabad, Israel. (Photo: Tamar Runyan)
Thousands of people are reciting Psalms in Kfar Chabad, Israel, where the memorial service has just begun for Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, the directors of the Chabad-Lubavitch center in Mumbai, Israel, attacked by terrorists last week.
Their burial will take place afterwards at Jerusalem's Mount of Olives cemetery.
A delegation of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries from around the world flew in for the ceremony.
Rabbi Naftali Lipskar, from the Chabad-Lubavitch Youth Organization, mourned the victims as members of the extended family of more than 8,000 Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries across the globe. He pledged that the gutted Chabad House would be rebuilt, and the Holtzbergs' holy work in India would continue.
"We will continue in the way of the Rebbe," Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, said Lipskar, "in the faith of Hashem and the trust in the future and final redemption."
In his tearful remarks, Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice-chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, cried out to G-d and asked, "Why?!"
"These were such fine people," screamed Kotlarsky, who knew the couple well and just two days before terrorists entered the Chabad House was working with them to send new emissaries to India.
"People who never said no to anyone," he continued in a speech that switched frequently between Hebrew and English. "There was nothing they couldn't do. Why couldn't you give them more time?"
Thousands of people attended the tearful service. (Photo: Tamar Runyan)
Turning to the larger world of Chabad-Lubavitch, Kotlarsky encouraged the emissaries to redouble their efforts to bring added goodness to the world. Then, directing his words to the Holtzbergs' orphaned two-year-old son, Moshe, he promised that Chabad-Lubavitch families everywhere would treat him as their own son.
"You are an emissary of the Rebbe," Kotlarsky said to Moshe. "You will remain an emissary forever."
Israeli President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and opposition leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu represented the Israeli government at the Kfar Chabad ceremony.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
God bless Moshe. Soooooooo sad. I cried last night when I saw the picture of him. What a precious, little boy. God be with others and their families, too, who are suffering and grieving worldwide. Bring comfort, strength and protection to India and it’s people.
My girl and her hubby are the same ages as these two martyrs. I also have a grandchild who is the age of Moshe.
As a parent, I cannot begin to express how upset that I really am.
As a Jew, the Rabbi and Rabetzin have my prayers. I, like many Jews, will light a set of Shabbos candles for them.
As a warrior, the kids [as I call them] have my promise. NEVER AGAIN.
It is time to take the fight to Islam and destroy its evil.
My heart goes out to Chabad, they lost a find young couple who dedicated their lives to doing good and blessing other people. May the Lord’s mercy be upon their souls, their orphaned son, his grandparents, and all of Chabad.
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