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Emotional adieu to Holtzbergs, other victims

DUBAI: Thousands of Israelis on Tuesday bid an emotional farewell to the victims of the terror attack at Nariman House in Mumbai.

Six persons were killed at the place, which housed a Jewish centre. The dead included Israelis, a Mexican and an American who was a Jerusalem resident.

Earlier, an Israeli Air Force plane had flown in the bodies from Mumbai to Tel Aviv.

The funeral of 29-year-old Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his 28-year-old wife Rivka, who ran Chabad House, the name of the Jewish centre, began at the Kfar Chabad, a village close to Tel Aviv.

Kfar Chabad is the headquarters of the Chabad movement in Israel.

The funeral procession began in the afternoon and headed towards Jerusalem. Israeli President Shimon Peres, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, and Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, were in attendance.

Mr. Peres drew attention to Moshe Holtzberg, the two-year-old son of the Holtzberg couple, who had survived the attack.

“The whole world and of course the Jewish people need an answer to the question asked by a two-year-old child: “Where is my mother?” Mr. Peres said.

Hours before the ceremony, crowds had gathered at Kfar Chabad’s headquarters. The coffins of the Holtzberg couple were placed inside a room, where relatives could enter.

Other mourners read religious verses outside.

Earlier, funerals were held for the other victims. Aryeh Leibish Teitelboim, the American citizen who lived in Jerusalem, was mourned by thousands, many wearing long back coats and black hats.

Loudspeakers blared: “May God avenge them.”

The funeral of Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz, a citizen from Mexico, was also held in Jerusalem.

On Monday, the Jewish community in Mumbai gathered at the Knesset Eliyahi Synagogue to pay their last respects to the Holtzbergs. Rivka Holtzberg’s parents Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg were present during the emotional ceremony.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli police investigators who had flown in went around hospitals to check if any Israelis were there among the unidentified bodies.

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