Rabbi preaches goodwill as answer to Mumbai massacre
By Nancy Dooling • Staff Writer • December 1, 2008
The answer to the deadly attack on Mumbai is the spreading of goodness and kindness in the world, a local rabbi said Sunday.
That's already begun to happen as expressions of sympathy have poured into Chabad House/Jewish Student Center in Vestal, said Rabbi Aaron Slonin.
The rabbi knows the parents and families of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivkah, 28, killed in the terrorist attack on Mumbai.
The couple ran Mumbai's Chabad House, which along with Vestal's student center is part of a network of 3,500 centers across the world.
A memorial service for the Hotzbergs and nearly 200 victims of the 60-hour killing spree in the Indian city will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Chabad House, 420 Murray Hill Road, Vestal. The service is open to the public. Everyone is welcome, Slonin said.
"We see it as one terrorist act against everybody," Slonin said Sunday. "Our mission is to turn tears to action."
The Holtzbergs were two of nine people killed at Mumbai's Chabad House. The couple's 2-year-old son survived, rescued by his nanny, Slonin said.
Efforts are also underway to rebuild and renovate Mumbai's Chabad House, Slonin said. That will be a fitting way to continue the Holtzberg's legacy, the rabbi said.
Chabad Houses worldwide offer outreach services to Jews, including kosher meals, prayers, help and counseling, Slonin said. Thousands of tourists, many of them Israelis, visited the Holtzbergs in Mumbai, the rabbi said.
Rivkah Slonin, the rabbi's wife, said the couple sent out an e-mail to thousands of alumni of the student center from Binghamton University and the local community. So far, the response has been overwhelming, Rivkah Slonin said.
She called the events in Mumbai "utterly upsetting and horrifying."