Masses gather for Chabad emissaries' funeral

[Phx_Dem]

VIDEO - Masses arrived at Kfar Chabad on Tuesday to attend a memorial ceremony for Rivka and Gavriel Holtzberg, the Chabad emissaries who were murdered, alongside four other Jews, in the terror attack on Chabad House in Mumbai, India last week.

Psalms were recited at the beginning of the ceremony, which was attended by President Shimon Peres, government ministers, Knesset members, Chabad emissaries from around the world and official Indian representatives.

The funeral procession is scheduled to depart later for the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem, where the couple will be laid to rest.

Rivka's parents intend to take over the running of Mumbai's Chabad House, until another emissary is chosen, a Chabad representative said Tuesday. He added that the parents wished to reestablish the Jewish center in the city.

Shimon Rosenberg, Rivka's father, revealed to the gathered mourners that his daughter had been five months pregnant at the time of her death.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3632076,00.html

[Phx_Dem]

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Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, said that the Chabad House in Mumbai will be rebuilt and named after Rivka and Gavriel. "Moishi, this will be your home to return to; from there you will draw strength," he told the emissaries' two-year-old son Moshe-Zvi.

Kotlarsky added, "What can I say Moishi? You don’t have a mother and a father to hold you in their arms. No parents to hug and kiss you. You will be the child of the entire nation of Israel. You are an emissary, and an emissary you shall remain."

Kotlarsky also sent a message to Chabad's entire emissaries abroad: "Now is the time to be strong; this is not a time to think or ask questions but for action. The answer to terror will not be given with tanks and grenades. Such cruelty can only be fought against by spreading light."