Victims of Mumbai

This attack in Mumbai reminds us of how far from peace any of us really are. Over 160 lives were senselessly lost. It pisses me off, especially since I have no answer for it. Here's a piece from the NY Daily News on a young rabbi and his wife who were killed in the attacks:

Hope turns to despair for Brooklyn family of Mumbai rabbi and wife held hostage

BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM, MIKE JACCARINO AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Hope for the rescue of a Brooklyn-raised rabbi and his wife turned to despair Friday on word that the couple were found slain - along with three other hostages - at a Jewish center in Mumbai, India.

The deaths of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28, were confirmed by the Chabad Lubavitcher organization a day after their infant son, Moshe, was spirited out of the building by his nanny.

"Today, he became an orphan," said Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky.

Grimly, the rabbi revealed that Holtzberg called New York as the center was being invaded and warned them, "The situation is not good."

"Then he was cut off," Krinsky said.

Fighting back tears, another rabbi who had been in almost daily contact with Holtzberg called his slain friend "a mensch."

"Tuesday we put the finishing touches on opening a new branch in Bangalore," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky. "He was the nicest gentleman you can imagine. Never saw him without a smile."

In Crown Heights, relatives were plunged into mourning.

"That's it, it's over," the rabbi's cousin, Abraham Holtzberg said, when he got the unwanted call. "They say there is no one alive."

Exhausted from three days of hoping and praying, Abraham Holtzberg said the couple will be buried in Israel. He said Rivka Holtzberg's parents are in India and already taking care of Moshe, who turns 2 on Saturday.

Mayor Bloomberg also condemned the "senseless and barbaric murders in Mumbai."

"We have lost two New Yorkers," he said. "This is a tragic loss for the Lubavitch community, and for our entire City."

Both Bloomberg and Krinsky singled out the couple's Indian nanny, 44-year-old Sandra Samuel, for praise. "Moshe was heroically rescued from that hell by his nanny," the rabbi said.

Moshe's parents were still inside the center when Indian commandoes staged a daring raid early Friday to save them.

Relatives said their death was a tragic ending to what had been a love story, one that began with an arranged marriage shortly before they moved to Mumbai five years ago.

"They lived together, they died together," said a relative who was too distraught to give his name.

Holtzberg was born in Israel. His parents, Frida and Nachman Holtzberg, moved the family to Brooklyn when he was 12.

The third of seven children, Holtzberg was blessed with a photographic memory and quickly rose to the top of his class at a Crown Heights yeshiva. He later studied in Argentina and served the small Lubavitcher communities in Thailand and China before moving to India.

Rivka Holtzberg was also born in Israel. Her parents, Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg and Yehudit Rosenberg, still live there.