This is an email I just received from a family friend, Rabbi Vigler, who knew the rabbi and his wife just killed in Mumbai. I'm posting this from my phone, so no links. What a tragedy for all the victims, their families and the world, no matter what your religion, skin color or nationality.
Dear G-d
I am shocked. I am hurt. I am horrified. I am pained. I am angry. I am frustrated. My heart is breaking. I am in tears.
A young couple, Rivky & Gabi Holtzberg sacrifice everything that they love. They leave their families and their surroundings. Rivky left behind her beloved parents in Israel. Her sisters. Her friends. The warmth of the community she grew up in. She went to live in India. In India? How much further can you travel on the globe? In order that she together with her husband can build a Jewish center for the local community. So that she together with her husband could bring warmth & love to the people of Mumbai as well as the Israeli tourists. She opened up her home every single night to guests. Hundreds of people walked through her doors. She sat with them every night listening to their stories, igniting the spark of Judaism inside of them. She gave up everything she ever cared about. She lived in India without a single friend. Without having any school for her children. She uprooted herself from her surroundings. She went to live in a strange land because she knew she was bringing goodness and kindness into this world. She sat at night with her husband crying herself to bed because she missed her home. And yet she continued to live in India because that was her life. Her mission. To help others. And what does she get in return? A bunch of mad, despicable, terrorists who invade her Chabad house, take her hostage and murder her in cold blood together with her beloved husband in front of her 2 year old child.
Little Moshe will never see his Aba & Ima again.
Almighty G-d
MY DEAR BELOVED BROTHER AND SISTER HAVE BEEN KILLED AND MY NEPHEW IS CELEBRATING HIS SECOND BIRTHDAY TONIGHT. WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT FROM US? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU AWARE OF WHATS GOING ON? WITH THIS MURDER YOU HAVE CROSSED ALL BOUNDARIES. PERHAPS THEY SHOULD HAVE NEVER MOVED TO INDIA IN THE FIRST PLACE TO DO YOUR HOLY WORK?
My Dear Father in Heaven:
I cannot begin to understand your justice system. I cannot fathom why you allowed this atrocity to happen. Its my brother but its your child. Is this how you repay your children for their self sacrifice? My heart aches. I feel like Aharon when he lost his 2 sons in one day. His reaction? Aharon was silent.
And yet despite what you have done I still believe in you. My heart aches but I will continue doing your work here in the Upper East Side. I will continue to spread goodness and kindness.
Uriel
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