Rabbi Mendel Rubashkin held vigil at his computer for the better part of two days last week. Eager for Internet updates about terrorist attacks unfolding in India, he trolled frantically for evidence that his friend, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, had survived the violent siege at the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center in Mumbai. "It was a roller coaster of emotions," said Rubashkin, leader of Chabad of Brandon, a sector of the Chabad movement, a network of Orthodox Jews with thousands of groups around the world. News finally came the day after Thanksgiving. Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28, were among those found brutally slain at the center in Mumbai, where they had served the Jewish community since 2003. ...more

December 5, 2008