By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent
Even from thousands of miles away, the days of siege in Mumbai, India seemed horrific.
But for one local man, Rabbi Shalom “Berry” Farkash of the Sammamish-based Chabad of the Central Cascades, the tragedy was personal.
With the word that six people had died in the Chabad House in Mumbai, Farkash learned that he had lost a nearly lifelong friend, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg. Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, were among six Jews murdered by terrorists at the five-story building that had become a center of Jewish life and a refuge in one of the world’s largest cities. The Holtzbergs’ son, Moshe, a few days shy of his second birthday, survived the attacks and is now in Israel.
Farkash first met Holtzberg while attending yeshiva in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the age of 14. The two moved on from there to further their education and training together in Brooklyn.
“He was a shy person, but had energy,” Farkash said, remembering his friend a week after the killings. “He was intelligent with a great memory. He had memorized much of the Talmud.”
Farkash said he had never met Rivkah Holtzberg.
Rabbi Holtzberg headed for Mumbai in 2003, about the time Farkash came to Issaquah. He said Holtzberg saw a need in India for both the numbers of Jewish business people who came to Mumbai and for even larger numbers of backpacking tourists, particularly those from Israel.
“He began by operating from a hotel, using the conference rooms for services,” Farkash said. “Finding a building for the Chabad was an expensive proposition.”
When Holtzberg received a $1 million dollar grant from the Rohr Foundation, he found a building, now known to the world as Nariman House, and made it his life’s work. He turned it into a “home away from home” for all Jews in a place that has few connections with Judaism.”
The Mumbai Chabad House became a beehive of activity, offering services, classes and meals for all.
“He would make a daily meal that would serve from 30 to 150 people,” Farkash said. “He baked bread each morning from scratch.”
But baking was the least arduous of his tasks. As a shochet, he slaughtered an average of 70 chickens a day. With the help of guests at the Chabad House, he finished the process of salting the birds before preparing a meal.
“It was a crazy operation,” Farkash said, but one that was an act of complete selflessness.”
Farkash added that there is a definite message and symbolism associated to attacking a place that opened its doors to all.
“This was an attack on Jews,” he said. “If they had wanted to attack Israel, they could have gone to the embassy. But they went here, where Jews of all denominations came together.”
While the pain of personal loss has greatly saddened Farkash, he said that the Holtzbergs did not die in vain.
“The people who did this are the embodiment of evil and darkness,” he said. “The work of Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife is the embodiment of goodness, kindness and light. When you bring light into a dark room, the darkness goes away.”
He believes that the evil acts of the terrorists have backfired.
“Thousands of people attended the Holtzbergs’ funeral in Israel, and the message was one of hope and spreading goodness and light,” he continued. “Guns and bombs may be for governments. But the death of Rabbi Holtzberg has brought awareness that we all must bring more light to the world. It is an explosion. People are committing to more mitzvahs, more charity. It is the Jewish way of looking at tragedy. It is the legacy of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivkah.”