The Events in Mumbai

by Rabbi Sue Levy
December 3, 2008

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/130/the-events-in-mumbai

This week we grieve for all those who perished in the senseless and tragic violence that has occurred in Mumbai. It is not surprising that the primary targets of these attacks were Britons, Americans and Jews.

Many people are unaware of the fact that there has been a vibrant Jewish community in India for more than two thousand years. Although many Indian Jews have immigrated to Israel, since the creation of the State of Israel sixty years ago, thousands still remain.

They live in peace and security, without fear of hatred or violence from their Indian neighbors. It is, sadly, a problem for these Jews that there are no longer any Indian-born rabbis there. Indian Jews lived in isolation from the rest of the Jewish world for so many centuries, that their traditions are unique. No foreign-born rabbi has ever been able to serve these Jews as well as they could care for themselves in matters of ritual and community life. Nevertheless, many of these Jews are impoverished. The presence of any rabbi in India and any form of assistance from Jews elsewhere in the world has been a lifeline, a resource too entirely valuable to even describe.

Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, age 29 and his wife Rivkah, age 26, were among those who died in Mumbai. The two of them arrived in India in 2003 and managed a Jewish center there whose primary purpose was to make Jewish life available to the Israelis and other Jews in Mumbai – tourists, businesspeople, and students from all over the world. At this center Jews found food prepared according to the Jewish dietary laws, opportunities for worship and celebration, counsel and Jewish study. Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife worked in the community to alleviate poverty and to help Indians who were addicted to drugs. And, they did whatever possible to assist the Jews of India who needed them. There were only three survivors among those who were present when the building was taken over by those terrorists last week. An Indian-Jewish cook and the child's Indian-Jewish nanny had hidden themselves, but they heard the cries of the rabbi's two-year-old son Moshe (Hebrew for Moses), and came our of hiding to save him. They escaped with the child through a side door while the five people who remained were murdered. The rabbi was an Israeli-born American citizen, while all the others were citizens of Israel.

It became apparent when the child emerged, terrified and covered with blood, that they news about the others would be tragic. Little Moshe is now safely with his Israeli grandparents. It was Moshe's second birthday.

The Holtzberg's became known for their good work in the community. Every Friday, the rabbi would purchase two hundred chickens and see to their ritual slaughter. Aside from the few which were needed for the Shabbat (Sabbath) meals at the center, the remainders were distributed to the poor in the community.

To the best of my knowledge, there is now only one rabbi remaining in all of India, at the center in New Delhi. There is another rabbi in Goa. The Chabad-Lubavitch center announced that a new "emissary," (rabbi) has already been chosen to go to Mumbai.

The Jewish center of Mumbai is affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement – a group of Orthodox Jews whose work it is to establish such centers around the world. They have no interest in converting others to Judaism, and exist only for the sake of helping Jews and others in the communities where they are located.

Here in Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, Rabbi Moshe Traxler, one of the leaders of our own Chabad-Lubavitch center, sent a letter to many people as soon as it became known that our brothers and sisters in Mumbai had been attacked. He asked that we should pray for them, but also that we should give charity and observe the commandments associated with the Jewish Sabbath which was to begin on Friday evening. We believe that it is our task to set right the balance of good and evil in the world. If only we can bring enough human goodness into the world, it may outweigh the terrible force of evil deeds committed by others and change this sorry planet for the better. It is an awesome task, especially in the face of events such as those that occurred in Mumbai. We never know if we will be equal to the need we face, but we are not free to desist from trying. We must.

We Jews do not believe that God causes evil, and we do not believe that our prayers for those in Mumbai were intended to change the Mind of God. Our prayers were offered in the hopes that the minds of those set upon doing harm might be enlightened and changed. The fact that so many people, our Jewish brothers and sisters among them, perished, means only that we must try harder. We do not believe that God willed it to be so. It does mean that God needs us be partners in the work of perfecting the world around us. We believe in a God who is painfully disappointed with us when we do wrong and who rejoices when we do well. Perhaps Muslims would not agree with us in this belief, but it is this understanding of ours', as Jews, that commits us to do our best – to increase love and justice in the world.

Responsible Islamic organizations in the United States and Canada have issued statements calling for the punishment of those responsible and expressing their pain at the suffering that was caused by their Muslim brothers. They have disassociated themselves from such hated in the strongest terms and made if plain that there are Muslims who love all their neighbors. Perhaps this is obvious to those who live in countries with a Muslim majority. Here in the United States, Muslims are a small minority. What we see most often and most visibly is the face of Muslim hatred and violence in the world. We need to be reminded of Islamic goodness, because there are so many millions of Americans who have never met a Muslim and know only what they read in newspapers and see on television.

As a practical and moral matter, we are concerned now, that the result of these events will be vengeance at a time when what is most needed is healing. It is apparent now that all of the terrorists were from Pakistan. From the depths of the human soul, from the pain in human hearts, it is natural for people to want revenge. What is needed is justice. Those who have committed these acts should be punished to the full extent of the law. It would be tragic for India to retaliate against Pakistan – an act which would only inflame tensions and hatred and cause ever-escalating violence in a region where there is already more than enough pain. If these terrorists were trained in Pakistan, it does not mean that all Pakistanis are responsible. It does mean that all good and decent people on Earth should insist that the Government of Pakistan must root out those who sponsor terrorism in the name of Islam. Let no more innocent people suffer because of this. Let only the guilty pay for what they have done. And, for the sake of our own humanity and sanity, let us always believe that the hope for goodness and healing is worth the effort it will take to make these things real.

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