Posted on 11/18/2009 10:08:23 PM PST by cold start
At first glance, Moshe Holtzberg looks like any happy boy on the brink of his third birthday.
Messy lunches and tons of playtime is how the lovable tot spends his time with his grandparents and nanny living in Afula, Israel.
But Moshe is far from normal. He is a living miracle.
Last year, a group of gunmen stormed into Moshe's old house in Mumbai, India, killing his parents and four others at the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish center. His nanny, Sandra Samuel, managed to grab him half way into the 36-hour siege, running from the chaos and saving his life.
"He remembers everything," said Moshe's granddad Nachman Holtzberg. "It is unbelievable; he is just 2 years old."
The wide-eyed preschooler is too young to learn the details of the Nov. 26, 2008, terror attacks in Mumbai that left at least 173 dead and more than 300 injured.
"My home is in Mumbai," the boy likes to repeat to his grandparents. "My father and mother are there."
Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg are buried in Jerusalem, 75 miles away from their son.
Relatives taking care of the orphan try to make his new life just like the one he had in Mumbai. That means learning the Torah in nursery school and endless hugs and kisses from doting friends and family.
Just like in India, Moshe is rarely without his beloved nanny. "She goes away every few hours for an opportunity for him to be by himself," Nachman Holtzberg said. "The nanny is very good to him."
The proud 60-year-old grandpop showed off Moshe's drawings kept inside the family's modest Crown Heights, Brooklyn, apartment - the same neighborhood where Gavriel Holtzberg grew up.
Nachman Holtzberg still lives in Brooklyn and collects his grandson's art during monthly trips to Israel, where Rivkah Holtzberg's parents are raising the boy.
"Maybe a doctor will look at these and see how intelligent he is," he said, laughing at Moshe's self-made sketch of his tiny hands.
The grandfather has big goals for his grandson, whose birthday is Wednesday. "All of Mumbai belongs to him. He should be the chief rabbi," he said.
In the meantime, Nachman Holtzberg is trying to keep the tot away from the spotlight. He gave the Daily News a peek into Moshe's new world, sharing family photos taken about a month ago, as the first anniversary of the attacks approaches.
He wants Moshe to stay away from the world's curiosity about his parents' death while remembering why his mom and dad decided to move to Mumbai in the first place. "Their whole life was just to help people," Nachman Holtzberg said. "God took them away."
simonew@nydailynews.com
Some more background:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6896107.ece
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Thank you for posting. I had wondered what happened to the nanny and the boy. I remember when this happened and I remember thinking that the boy was lucky to have his own personal angel to watch over him. I hope he grows to do great things.
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