Slain in Mumbai

When Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife landed in India to run a Jewish outreach center, the couple worked tirelessly, serving homemade kosher meals to their many guests and strengthening their connection with God.

Their outpost was in Mumbai, a dusty and chaotic port city. But the pair never let the tough conditions prevent them from creating a comfortable home for Jews visiting India or from helping the needy.

"They were amazing people," said Hillary Lewin, 24, of New York, who met the Holtzbergs last summer at the center in India. "They had this wisdom, courage and braveness about them. It's a shame. The world needs people like them."

Rabbi Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, 28, were killed this week after gunmen assailed the ultra-Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement's center in Mumbai, one in a series of attacks across India's financial capital that left at least 195 dead, including six Americans.

The couple's toddler son, Moshe, was rescued by an employee and taken to his grandparents. At least eight bodies were found at the Jewish center, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Three other victims in the building apparently had been visiting there, said Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, a spokesman for the organization, whose world headquarters are in Brooklyn. He said the dead included Bentzion Chroman, an Israeli with dual U.S. citizenship; Rabbi Leibish Teitlebaum, an American from New York City; and an Israeli woman whose name was not released. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the body of a sixth victim, an unidentified woman, was also found inside the five-story building.

Other Americans killed in the attacks were a man and his teenage daughter from a Virginia community that promotes a form of meditation, a colleague and the U.S. State Department said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the deaths of the three victims from New York were "tragic losses" for the city. He said Teitlebaum, a Brooklyn native who moved to Jerusalem several years ago, was a kosher food supervisor.

"Our hearts go out to these families and to the many New Yorkers of all different religions and ethnicities who have been affected by the attacks," Bloomberg said.

Holtzberg was born in Israel and moved to Brooklyn with his parents when he was 9. He had dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Rivkah Holtzberg only had Israeli citizenship.

"Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg made the ultimate sacrifice," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch.

"As emissaries to Mumbai, Gabi and Rivky gave up the comforts of the West in order to spread Jewish pride in a corner of the world that was a frequent stop for throngs of Israeli tourists," he said.

The Holtzbergs arrived in Mumbai in 2003 to run a synagogue, provide religious instruction and help people dealing with drug addiction and poverty, Kotlarsky said.

He said Holtzberg's last known call was to the Israeli consulate. Holtzberg said that "the situation is not good" before the phone went dead, according to Kotlarsky.

Twelve hours after gunmen stormed the center Wednesday, Sandra Samuel, a cook at the center, heard little Moshe's cries outside the room in which she had barricaded herself. She opened the door, grabbed the toddler and ran outside with another center worker. The little boy's pants were soaked with blood, and Samuel said she saw four people lying on the floor as she fled.

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, one of the group's leaders, said Moshe will turn 2 on Saturday. "Today, he became an orphan," he said. A second son, who has been ailing, was with relatives in Israel when the attack happened. A third child died earlier this year of a genetic disease, the group said.

Members of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement gathered at the group's headquarters Friday to pray for the families of the dead.

The Lubavitchers were one of many Hasidic groups that were uprooted from Eastern Europe by the Holocaust and came to the United States. The once-tiny sect has swelled in number. Estimates of followers vary widely, ranging from the tens of thousands to a million or more.

In response to the Mumbai attacks, New York City police beefed up patrols around large hotels and Jewish centers, including the Lubavitcher headquarters, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

"This is indeed a very sad day," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at the news conference. "It is a reminder to all of us just how connected we are."

The department already was on alert because of a warning earlier this week of a possible al-Qaida plot to strike the city's subways and rail systems over the holidays.

Lewin said the Holtzbergs were aware of possible terrorism when they went to India, but they believed their mission was greater than the potential danger.

She said their attitude was, "If I don't do it, who's going to do it?"