December 4, 2008

Dear Friend of Israel,

Last Wednesday, as Americans were busy preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving, terror struck in the heart of Mumbai, India (formerly known as Bombay), when Islamist gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked ten separate targets, causing unimaginable terror and carnage. Nearly 200 civilians were murdered, and hundreds more injured.

The terrorists were careful to target sites where they knew there would be many Westerners, including Mumbai’s train station, and Western-style hotels such as the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi. They showed no mercy to any of their victims, targeting men, women, and children alike. One survivor described his encounter with one of the terrorists: “He was holding quite a large machine gun type of weapon, which he just simply pointed at us, and started using it. People immediately in front of me and to the side of me I saw start to fall … [He was] 19, 20, maybe 21 years old, very young. At the time that he actually started to fire his gun, I saw him smile.”

Also attacked were the local offices of Chabad, an orthodox Jewish organization we work closely with that offers religious and social activities and assistance to the poor. The Chabad house in Mumbai, like thousands of other Chabad houses throughout the world, is a place of light and life to local Jews and travelers alike – a place where Jews work to serve their fellow man and, in the words of one rabbi, to “transform the world into a place of goodness and holiness.” But terrorists, of course, do not respect such noble purposes. Tragically, the director of the center and his wife, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, were murdered along with four others. The Holtzberg’s two-year-old son miraculously survived after escaping with his nanny.

Radical Islamists view anyone who does not subscribe to their hateful ideology as an “infidel.” But time and again – on September 11, 2001 in the U.S., as well as in the London Tube attacks, in the devastating 2003 attacks against two synagogues in Turkey, and the 2004 bombings of the Israeli and American embassies in Uzbekistan, to name just a few occasions – the Islamists’ first choice of victims are Jews and Westerners.

And we saw it again in Mumbai last week. One eyewitness, describing the chilling moment when the terrorists burst into a hotel to select and kill their victims, noted that the gunmen specifically targeted holders of British, American, and Israeli passports. An Indian doctor performing autopsies on the victims’ bodies told a chilling story of the especially brutal treatment reserved for Jewish victims. “Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks,” he said. “It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again.”

How should Jews, Christians, Israelis, Americans, and indeed all people of goodwill respond in the face of such horrific evil?

Clearly, beefing up security and marshalling a stronger military response to terrorism are essential. But we should also follow the example of Rivka Holtzberg’s parents, Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg. After learning of their daughter’s and son-in-law’s murders, the Rosenbergs volunteered to carry on their work by going to Mumbai to run the Chabad house there. In stark contrast to terrorists intent on spreading evil and darkness, they chose to act as a light by serving others.

In their name, and in the memory of all those who have perished due to terrorism, let us resolve today to act as lights of hope, goodness, and holiness in the world. In the spirit of this season holy to both Christians and Jews, I urge you to do something good for someone each day in the coming weeks. And send us an email to let us know how you have helped spread “light” in your own life and community, and how you have brought greater holiness to the world, so we can share it with others.

Please join me today in praying for a swift recovery for those injured in the Mumbai attacks, and for comfort for the victims’ families. Let us pray for all rescue workers who help those in distress and danger, as well as the police and those in the armed services of those nations that work to thwart such attacks. And pray for the coming of a day when God will bless His people and all mankind with shalom, peace.

Umocha Hashem dimah meial kol panim (“The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.” – Isaiah 25:8),