Asaf Shariv, Israel consul general in New York, speaks at Rutgers Chabad about the murder of the Chabad emissaries and others in Mumbai, India.
Rebuilding fund
Chabad of Central Jersey is collecting donations to help rebuild the center in Mumbai and to help the families of the slain couple. To give, go to www.chabadnj.org or send checks to: Chabad of India, c/o Chabad House, 170 College Ave., New Brunswick, NJ, 08901.
December 4, 2008
Only last week Asaf Shariv, the Israeli consul general in New York, attended his first Chabad-Lubavitch conference, “dancing with all the shluchim,” the emissaries sent by the hasidic movement to outreach centers around the world.
Only days later he joined Chabad leaders and others in mourning the deaths of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah. They were killed by terrorists who stormed the Nariman House Chabad Jewish Center in Mumbai, India, Nov. 26.
Shariv appeared Dec. 1 at Chabad House at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, discussing the attacks that left at least 195 dead, including nine — most of them Israelis — in the Chabad Jewish Center.
“There were three targets—Americans, British, and Israelis,” said Shariv. “We know for a fact that Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, died because they were Jews. It wasn’t a coincidence.”
The brief press conference drew leaders of the other campus Jewish institutions and organizations and a handful of students. Some lit candles as they left.
Rutgers Chabad director Rabbi Yosef Carlebach announced that a wing to be added to the Les Turchin Chabad House at the university will be named the Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg Men’s Dormitory in honor of the slain couple. Ground breaking is scheduled for Dec. 21.
“I called up our board members this past weekend and made the proposal,” Carlebach told NJJN. He said he expected families of the murdered couple to be involved in the dedication process.
‘Stand together’
At the Rutgers conference, Shariv said the Indian government’s rebuff of Israeli offers of aid after the attacks was not indicative of any strain between the two countries, pointing out American and European offers were also rejected.
Tomar Nili, an economics major from Modi’in, Israel, lights a candle at Rutgers Chabad in memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, Chabad emissaries slain by terrorists in Mumbai.
“Israel and India have strong relations,” he said, adding that Indian officials wanted to use their own people in the wake of the attacks.
Shariv said the security guard at the Mumbai Jewish center was not there at the time of the attacks, but added that “one security guard could not have stopped these attacks.”
Shariv praised the Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel, who spirited the murdered couple’s two-year-old son, Moshe, to safety and who said she is prepared to go to Israel to care for the child if necessary.
Immediately after the conference, Shariv left for a meeting with Rutgers president Richard McCormick and Philip Furmanksi, vice president for academic affairs, according to Rutgers spokeswoman Deborah Walter. She did not know what they were to discuss.
Rabbi Esther Reed, director of Jewish life at Rutgers Hillel, said after the conference that all staff members were asked to come and “stand together as Jews in mourning this catastrophe.”
Nir Pony, a graduate engineering student from Hadar, Israel, said the targeting of Israeli, American, and British citizens “takes us back to a time more than 50 years ago.”
“Unfortunately we haven’t progressed from this stage,” said Pony. “We do not have peace. These extremists do not have this state of mind. They target the heart of Western civilization.”
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