Moshe Holtzberg, orphaned by the Mumbai terrorists last year, is given his first haircut at Kfar Chabad, 20 kilometres east of Tel Aviv, on November 18. Photo: Isranet

DALIA SABLE, CHANTAL ABITBOL AND SYLVIA DEUTSCH

AUSTRALIAN students were among thousands worldwide who commemorated the first anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks with a communal Shabbat dinner.

A global directive by Chabad on Campus in New York, “Bring a Friend Shabbat” aimed to be the largest campus-based Shabbat celebration and was held in memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, who were Chabad shluchim (emissaries).

The couple, together with four others, were murdered in Nariman House, the headquarters of Chabad in Mumbai, on November 26, 2008.

In all, more than 170 people were killed over three days of terrorism in the tourist districts of the city.

Moshe Holtzberg, the infant son of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, meanwhile, was spirited to safety by the Holtzbergs’ Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel.
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Chantal Abitbol

JCS appeal chairman Stephen Green. Photo: AJN file

SYDNEY’S Jewish leaders are calling the terrorist attack on Mumbai’s Chabad House a “wake-up call” and are renewing calls for the community to donate to an ongoing security capital appeal aimed at upgrading the physical protection of Jewish communal sites.
Within days of the coordinated attacks late last month that left 172 people dead in the city -– including the couple who ran the Chabad centre, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg -– the Council for Jewish Community Security NSW (JCS), which launched the appeal in September, said it had seen a spike in donations, but the $20 million target was still a long way off.
“Fundraising could always be better. So far, the appeal is halfway towards its target,” JCS appeal chairman Stephen Green told The AJN.
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PETER KOHN

A MELBOURNE rabbi paid tribute to murdered Mumbai Chabad leader Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, as the Melbourne and Sydney Jewish communities began ramping up security after the terrorist attacks in India.
St Kilda Hebrew Congregation’s Rabbi Philip Heilbrunn met Rabbi Holtzberg in Mumbai when he led a tour of 14 Australian and overseas travellers to India two years ago.
Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah were found dead in Mumbai’s Chabad House, after it was attacked by terrorists during last week’s onslaught on the city. Read the full story