By COLlive reporter
Masses of people turned out last night in London for a special memorial evening in honor of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivky Holtzberg HY”D, murdered Chabad Shluchim to Mumbai.
The event, which was co-sponsored by the United Synagogue and Lubavitch UK took place in the Mill Hill shul and was addressed by the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, as well as the shliach, Rabbi Yitzchok Schochet.
The shul was filled to capacity as was the hall where people watched on live video feed. Still others had to be turned away when there was no more room because of security concerns.
The Chief Rabbi spoke passionately about the role of Lubavitch in the world and how he draws his own inspiration from the Rebbe.
“We will soon be celebrating the festival of Chanukah. But even as the first day didn’t seem like a miracle, the miracle was in the fact that even in the ruins they managed to find oil. And so too here, even in the ruins there is the little light that is Moshe that managed to emerge. And he will go on to be a ner lehair – to light other lights.”
Rabbi Schochet, who returned only hours earlier from the Holtzberg funeral in Israel said: “We owe it to the sacred legacy of Gavriel and Rivky – that we will respond to terror and destruction by building yet more Chabad Houses – and we will respond to their horrifying murder, not only with the young couple already prepared to take their place in Mumbei but so many more besides.
“It’s important to remember: you don’t have to be a Rabbi, a Chabad chosid, a shliach – in order to do your bit, to generate your own luminescence, to combat the evil that lurks out there, by bringing the spice and spirit of spirituality to your own slice of the world – one good deed, an extra undertaking, reaching through the heart of another in order to touch their soul and thereby enabling the triumph of freedom over oppression and light over darkness.”
The evening was also addressed by President of the Board of Deputies Mr Henry Grunwald QC who spoke of the lack of security in Jewish communities throughout the world and the weak governmental stance against radical Muslims.
Rabbi Nachman Sudak, Head Shliach of Lubavitch UK said some Tehilim as did his son Rabbi Levi Sudak from Engwer. After the event, many hundreds of Shabbos candles were handed out to encourage people to light in memory of Rivkah Holtzberg, and a memorial book was signed as well.
Two other events are planned, one in the Yeshiva Gedolah Lubavitch and the other in the Bobov community on Sunday night.
