Orphaned Son of Mumbai Terror Victims Leads Chabad Prayers
Image by Getty Images
Moshe Holtzberg, the orphaned son of the Chabad House directors in Mumbai, India, killed by terrorists in 2008, was scheduled to lead thousands of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in the recitation of psalms.
Moshe, who is nearly 9 and lives with his grandparents in Afula, Israel, was scheduled to lead the recitation on Sunday night in New York at a gala dinner concluding a week of programming as part of the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.
Moshe’s nanny, Sandra Samuels, escaped from the Nariman Chabad House carrying 2-year-old Moshe in November 2008 after it came under siege. Four other Jewish victims were killed, including Moshe’s parents, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg.
The attacks on several Mumbai sites over four days by an Islamist Pakistani group, including two hotels and the train station, left 166 dead and hundreds injured.
Samuels was given permanent residency status in Israel to be with Moshe after the attack.
“He is said to be a happy, healthy boy,” according to Chabad.org.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
