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Terror in Mumbai
Thousands mourn as Mumbai Chabad attack victims laid to rest
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent in Mumbai and The Associated Press
Tags: Aryeh Leibish Teitelboim 

Thousands of Israelis on Tuesday packed the funerals of the six Jews killed by Islamist terrorists during the attack on Mumbai's Chabad House last week.

The funeral of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his 28-year-old wife Rivka, who had both run the Chabad House in Mumbai, began at Kfar Chabad.

After starting at 1 P.M., the funeral procession continued on to Jerusalem. President Shimon Peres was in attendance, as was Defense Minister Ehud Barak, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai and former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau.
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During the funeral, Peres lamented the plight of the Holtzberg's young son, who was orphaned in the attack.

"The whole world and of course the Jewish people need an answer to the question asked by a two-year-old child: "Where is my mother?" said Peres.

Earlier in the day, as Israel began burying the victims of the murder spree in Mumbai, the grimness of the occasion deepened by the conviction that the victims were targeted because of their religion.

The six died when gunmen struck the Chabad House, the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement, on Wednesday night. After a two-day standoff, four Israelis, an American Jew and a Mexican Jewish woman were dead.

Several thousand ultra-Orthodox mourners, most of them bearded men with sidecurls garbed in long black coats and black hats, packed the main square and narrow alleys of Mea She'arim, a large religious neighborhood in Jerusalem, for the funeral of Aryeh Leibish Teitelboim.

The funeral of Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz, the Mexican citizen, was also held in Jerusalem.

A U.S. citizen who lived in Jerusalem, Teitelbaum was in Mumbai last week supervising the preparation of kosher food.

Loudspeakers blared, "May God avenge them."

"It's a very difficult feeling because we know this was targeted against us," said Eliahu Tzadok, 41, of Jerusalem. "It's a continuation of acts against the Jewish people when the Jewish people did nothing to deserve it."

Hours before the Holtzbergs' ceremony, about 200 mourners gathered at Kfar Chabad's main building, where the coffins were placed in a small room. Relatives entered the room, while other mourners read the Book of Psalms outside.

Late Monday night, an Israel Air Force plane carrying the victims' remains landed at Ben Gurion Airport.

Four of the bodies, the Holtzbergs, Ben-Zion Korman and Ycheved Orpaz, were draped in prayer shawls and the Israeli flag. The family of one of the victims, Aryeh Leibish Teitelboim, an ultra-Orthodox Jew who had given up his Israeli citizenship, was draped only in a prayer shawl.

The body of the sixth victim, Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz, who had intended to come to live in Israel this week, was also not draped in the Israeli flag.

Victim's family rejects offer of official memorial ceremony

Teitelboim's family, which belongs to the anti-Zionist Satmar Hassidic sect of Orthodox Judaism, has rejected Israel's offer to hold an official memorial ceremony for him along with the other Jewish and Israeli fatalities.

In a tearful ceremony, the Jewish community of Mumbai paid their last respects to the Holtzbergs at the Knesset Eliyahu Synagogue on Monday. Rivka's parents, Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg were in attendance, along with the Holtzbergs' 2-year-old son, Moshe.

In Mumbai on Monday, Israel's ambassador to India, Mark Sofer, addressed the congregation at the Mumbai ceremony. However, all eyes and cameras were on Moshe, who was spirited out of the besieged Chabad House at the start of the rampage. Moshe sat on the lap of an Indian worker at Chabad House, Zaki Hussein, who was one of the two Indians who got the toddler out of the house. Reports detailed how Moshe's Nanny, Sandra Samuel, held on to Moshe as Hussein stood on the steps of the house so the terrorists would not see them.

Samuel did not take part in the ceremony since she was busy applying for her first passport, after the Israel Foreign Ministry gave her permission to come to Israel with the Rosenbergs.

A few times during the ceremony at the synagoguge Moshe called for Sandra while his grandmother calmed him with a bottle of water and a piece of candy. When the time came for the last speaker, Rabbi Itzhak Yeruslavsky, a Chabad leader from Israel, Moshe started crying and calling out "Mommy, Mommy." He refused to be consoled and was finally taken outside.

In a voice choked with sobs, Rivka's father, Shimon Rosenberg, who is the Chabad rabbi of Afula, said: "The Lord gave, the Lord took away, blessed be the name of the Lord," and pledged that Chabad House in Mumbai would continue to operate. "Rivki and Gabi were not private citizens," he said. "Everything they did they did for someone else." He thanked Sandra Samuel and said, "We have to thank God for the resourcefulness she showed."

Israeli Ambassador Mark Sofer said: "This is not the time to ask why the world did not do enough to work against the bestial behavior of people and to ask why these two countries, India and Israel, suffer so much from terror. But we, the Israelis and the Indians and the civilized world, will not stop until we are victorious over terror."

Israeli police crime scene investigators arrived early Monday in Mumbai for a final check to ensure no Israelis were among the unidentified bodies. They were on a search of the hospitals in the city when word came that the last two Israelis who had not contacted their families while in India had been heard from, and that they were not in Mumbai at the time of the attacks.

Services were held, in keeping with Foreign Ministry procedure, at the airport in Mumbai in the presence of Ambassador Sofer, after which the coffins were placed aboard an Israel Air Force aircraft bound for Israel.

Related articles:
  • Dichter, on Mumbai attack: Israel can't protect every Jewish site worldwide
  • Family, friends mourn victims of attack on Mumbai Chabad House
  • Yossi Melman / Blame game in India
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      1.   Extreme Islam is destroying the whole world 04:25  |  judith 02/12/08
      2.   The scourge of islamo facism 06:44  |  Jane 02/12/08
      3.   Sandra Samuel 06:52  |  Avnera 02/12/08
      4.   Peace Judith 07:17  |  ThundercloudOKC 02/12/08
      5.   Zaki Hussein!!!!! 08:31  |  Sanjay 02/12/08
      6.   Terrorism and War Only Brings Suffering and Pain for All! 09:53  |  Baruch Gold 02/12/08
      7.   Sandra Samuel 10:06  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 02/12/08
      8.   Extreme Islam is not destroying the whole world 10:51  |  Chris Linthwaite 02/12/08
      9.   Judith`s comment. 12:18  |  sandra chitayat 02/12/08
      10.   to Chris Linthwite 12:44  |  Harry 02/12/08
      11.   Chris 12:45  |  Pnina 02/12/08
      12.   Torture 12:50  |  Torture 02/12/08
      13.   chris`s statement 12:51  |  Lisa 02/12/08
      14.   EXTREME ISLAM 12:52  |  JAKE 02/12/08
      15.   Where are you bashers? 13:07  |  Michael 02/12/08
      16.   Who is ultimate victims 13:22  |  Ruz 02/12/08
      17.   Chris Linthwaite where do you live? 13:27  |  Hershel 02/12/08
      18.   Extreme Islam is not destroying the whole world 13:29  |  Reeza 02/12/08
      19.   Misery to humanity 13:48  |  Ross 02/12/08
      20.   tragic death of Rabbi Teitelbaum 13:49  |  Leon Rosgarten 02/12/08
      21.   chris 13:51  |  maurice 02/12/08
      22.   Mossad Must Hunt Down All Who Are Responsible Like after Munich 13:51  |  Baruch Gold 02/12/08
      23.   Condolences 14:25  |  Scottish Lady 02/12/08
      24.   To ThundercloudOKC # 4 - `The dustbin of History"..... 14:31  |  Natasha 02/12/08
      25.   To ThundercloudOKC # 4 - `The dustbin of History"..... 14:31  |  Natasha 02/12/08
      26.   rabbi teitalbaum 14:34  |  david 02/12/08
      27.   Chris L, there are many who think like you 14:34  |  Avi 02/12/08
      28.   Terrorists and their supporters are both evil & dumb 14:37  |  Michael J 02/12/08
      29.   Never forget and never forgive. Death to the murderers! 14:41  |  Realist 02/12/08
      30.   Chris Linthwaite certainly has a point...... 14:45  |  Swiss (Dino) 02/12/08
      31.   Baruch (22) neither Mossad is not able to hunt down 14:50  |  Jew- and Bookburner 02/12/08
      32.   RABBIS NEVER CHANGE 15:10  |  Sarah 02/12/08
      33.   Shimon Peres 15:12  |  Sarah 02/12/08
      34.   Reeza complete nonsense 15:24  |  Peter Williams 02/12/08
      35.   # 1 Judith 15:27  |  k 02/12/08
      36.   "Where is my mother?" Ask for all Peres. 15:59  |  Justice 02/12/08
      37.   islam has nothing to do with it.... 16:07  |  bashar 02/12/08
      38.   Sarah & rabbis 16:12  |  Victoria 02/12/08
      39.   Rabbis don`t change? 16:12  |  Ari 02/12/08
      40.   Where is my mother?" Ask for all Peres. 16:19  |  Sara Goldberg 02/12/08
      41.   #35 Mr. K: The Nakbbah (1948) which has turned the clock back 16:26  |  Justice 02/12/08
      42.   Leon: Rabbi Teitelbaum was killed because he was a Jew... 16:36  |  Dave 02/12/08
      43.   #40 Sara Goldberg: Hamas has nothing to do with this 16:36  |  Justice 02/12/08
      44.   To #38 and #39 - Reread 16:40  |  Sarah 02/12/08
      45.   just answer this for me please 16:54  |  Yosi 02/12/08
      46.   EVERYONE should read Chris # 21 16:56  |  Simon 02/12/08
      47.   Charedi, Wake Up! 17:02  |  IW 02/12/08
      48.   Palestinians trying to conceal the true face of Islam 17:04  |  Simon 02/12/08
      49.   #21 more than ever, the importance of Israel to the Jews. 17:17  |  Simon Weaver 02/12/08
      50.   #8, Neither Radical Islam nor 2 State Solutn 17:27  |  Gary 02/12/08
      51.   #48 Simon: Be logic and sensible before you judge 17:29  |  Justice 02/12/08
      52.   May G_d Avenge Them Through Pease 17:34  |  Yitzchak Stiger 02/12/08
      53.   extreme islam is a creation of contemporary times 17:46  |  ana 02/12/08
      54.   Pregnant Rivka Holtzberg reportedly tortured, but media ignores 17:56  |  Shemuel 02/12/08
      55.   How many Muslim dead by the IDF? 18:05  |  kamal farag 02/12/08
      56.   Not targetted because of their faith... 18:06  |  Katlin 02/12/08
      57.   Katlin being an imbecile 18:22  |  SDHD 02/12/08
      58.   islamic teachings are the problem 18:45  |  Nechama 02/12/08
      59.   To Katlin # 56 - Jews were targetted....... 18:47  |  Dagma 02/12/08
      60.   Responding to SDHD 18:52  |  Kamal Farag 02/12/08
      61.   Even if Israel didn`t exist, there would still be terrorism 19:11  |  sanjosemike 02/12/08
      62.   Wherever Islam sets foot, strife and violence follow- 19:26  |  common sense 02/12/08
      63.   Michael J 28 19:49  |  ChanahS 02/12/08
      64.   Justice 43 19:58  |  ChanahS 02/12/08
      65.   What were they doing there? 21:31  |  Edithann 02/12/08
      66.   Reply to # 45 Yossi 23:14  |  Motic 02/12/08
      67.   Reply to # 56 who was targetted? 23:24  |  Joe 02/12/08
      68.   Islamist terror 23:28  |  Ben Azzai 02/12/08
      69.   Split state for Palistine 01:45  |  Jolene Beauregard 03/12/08
      70.   Who Killed Them?? 04:40  |  Syed 03/12/08
      71.   LIZKOR NEVER AGAIN 14:40  |  moshe brodetzky 03/12/08
      72.   # 60 Kamal - Can we some day stop lying? 06:25  |  Roni 08/12/08
      73.   # 60 Kamal (cont`d) - Can we some day stop lying? 06:39  |  Roni 08/12/08
      74.   Could Roni of Mumbai confirm? 18:27  |  Sanjay 13/12/08
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