Tears, shock as Jews mourn rabbi

2008-12-01 16:09

Mumbai - There were emotional scenes at a Mumbai synagogue Monday as a two-year-old orphan cried out for his parents - a Jewish rabbi and his wife murdered by Islamic militants.

Moshe Holtzberg cried "Ima" and "Dada" - Hebrew for mother and father - as he accompanied his grieving grandparents and dignitaries including Israel's ambassador to India, Mark Sofer, at the synagogue memorial service.

The toddler's parents - Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka - were among those who died when heavily armed Islamist extremists stormed into the Nariman House complex in the Colaba Market area where they lived and worked.

So far, the bodies of six Jews have been identified and an Israeli official said the toll could be higher as forensic teams try to identify more.

The five-storey building, also called Chabad House after the ultra-orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement, served as an educational centre, synagogue and a hostel for Israeli tourists.

Rivka's father, Shimon Rosenberg, told about 100 mourners at the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue that Chabad House will be rebuilt.

"The house they built here in Mumbai will live with them. They were the mother and father of the Jewish community in Mumbai," a tearful Rosenberg said.

"The House of Chabad will live again."

Young Moshe survived the strike after his Indian nanny Sandra Samuel, 44, fled with him in her arms after the militants captured the building, which is now crumbling and unsafe after a two-day siege.

- AFP