EU-DIGEST

Sandra Samuel and Moshe Holtzberg escape from Chabad House in Mumbai

An EU-Digest editorial on the dramatic events at the Rohr Chabad House in Mumbai

Sandra Samuel and Moshe Holtzberg - The Mumbai Miracle: God lives in all

Last Thursday, as the world watched the horrors unfolding in Mumbai, many of us saw Moshe Holzberg being carried out of the Rohr Chabad House by Sandra Samuel (44), an Indian nanny who had worked at the Jewish community center for years. She had found Moshe crying beside his parents’ bodies, drenched in blood. The parents, his mother Rivkah Holtzberg, 28, was an Israeli citizen, while his father, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, had dual American and Israeli citizenship. They had come to Mumbai in August 2003 to operate a home for the Jewish community, where travelers could get a kosher meal, attend Shabbat services, and relax in a library filled with a variety of works, including many books even some by Woody Allen and manuscripts on Jewish philosophy.

Last week their lives on earth abruptly ended, when they were executed in their home by a highly trained, tightly knit, and well-financed, ruthless group of Islamic militants.

When the attack on the Rorh Chabad House began last Wednesday, Sandra Samuel heard explosions and gunshots on an upper floor of the center and locked herself and fellow employee Zaki Hussein in a downstairs utility room. Late Thursday morning, she heard Moshe screaming, ran upstairs, eluded roaming gunmen, even stared some of them down, and found the child beside the bodies of his parents, carried him downstairs, and brought Moshe to safety. Mr. Hussein helped Ms. Samuel conceal Moshe, as the three escaped from Rorh Chabad House.

Sandra Samuel now continues to help care for Moshe Holtzberg in Israel. Her emigration from India was expedited when the Israeli government declared her one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” and issued her an immigration permit. Recipients of this honor, awarded by a special commission headed by a Supreme Court Justice in Israel, include Oskar and Emilie Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg, and Corrie ten Boom. People and groups that receive this title, have risked their lives to save others, many during the Holocaust. Sandra Samuel is the first citizen of India to receive this honor.

As dramatic as this report may sound, it underscores the fact that God does not belong to any religion, but that he lives in all of us. Moshe Holtzberg and Sandra Samuel are a living proof of that, and as difficult as this is to say, also in those militants, who decided not to kill Moshe, after they killed his parents.

Labels: God, India, Israel, Moshe Holtzberg, Mumbai, Religion, Sandra Samuel, Terrorism