Gavriel Holtzberg: Difference between revisions

The Holtzbergs married in 2002.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/nyregion/28chabad-2.html?pagewanted=print|title=Brooklyn Couple Killed in Attacks|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=29 November 2008|first=Liz|last=Robbins|first2=Jack|last2=Healy}}</ref> Their firstborn son, Menachem Mendel, was born a year later, afflicted with [[Tay–Sachs disease]]. He died of this disease at the age of 3.<ref name="Orphan"/> Their second son, DovBer, was born with the same ailment and was institutionalized in a pediatric long-term care facility in Israel under the care of his grandparents. He died at the age of 4 in December 2008, one month after his parents' murder.<ref>[http://www.vosizneias.com/24942/2008/12/30/jerusalem-israel-another-holtzberg-son-dies/ "4-Year-Old Son Of Kedoshim Holtzberg Dies of Illness". ''Vos Is Neias?'' 30 December 2008]</ref> Their third son, Moshe, was born healthy and lived with them in Mumbai. They lived together on the fifth floor of the Chabad House.<ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3631199,00.html Mumbai victims' son searches for mother], [[Yedioth Ahronoth]], Ronen Medzini, 1 December 2008</ref> It was revealed by her father during her funeral that Rivka was five months pregnant with her fourth child at the time she was slain.<ref>{{cite news|page=A16|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/middleeast/03funerals.html?em=&pagewanted=print|title=Orphaned Boy Is Focus at Hostages’ Funeral|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|first=Isabel|last=Kershner|date=2 December 2008}}</ref>

On 26 November 2008, Nariman House was attacked during the [[2008 Mumbai attacks]] and the Holtzbergs were taken hostage. [[Sandra Samuel]], a maid at the house and the nanny for their 2-year-old son, Moshe, managed to escape with the boy. As the siege began, Samuel locked the doors and hid in a room. She heard Rivka screaming "Sandra, Sandra, help, Sandra." The gunmen reportedly went door-to-door, searching for targets, so Samuel unlocked her door, but they did not find her. She then ran upstairs to find the Holtzbergs shot and lying on the ground with their son crying over them, so she picked him up and ran to the exit.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/02/moshe.mumbai/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail Nanny credited with tot's daring rescue], [[CNN]], Drew Griffin and Paula Hancocks, 2 December 2008</ref> The Holtzbergs and other hostages were reportedly tortured.<ref name="time">[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6896107.ece Mumbai terror attacks: And then they came for the Jews – Times Online]</ref>

In 2018, a decade after the massacre, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, visited Moshe in Israel and invited the boy to return to India any time. That same year, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, accompanied Moshe on a visit to Mumbai.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Oster|first=Marcy|title=Decade after Mumbai massacre, murdered Chabad couple’s son flourishes in Israel|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/decade-after-mumbai-massacre-murdered-chabad-couples-son-flourishes-in-israel/|access-date=2020-07-14|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref>