Chabad orphan lights Hanukkah candle
Father of Rivkah Holtzman, who was killed along with her husband Gavriel in Mumbai, holds menorah-lighting ceremony. Murdered couple's son plays with dreidel under a Chabad flag.

by Anat Shalev, Ynetnews
December 22, 2008

Moshe lights Hanukkah candle
Photo: Doron Golan
 

The father of Rivkah Holtzberg, who was killed along with her husband Gavriel during the terror attack on the Chabad house in Mumbai, India last month, held a menorah-lighting ceremony at his Afula home Sunday evening.

Moshe Holtzberg, the murdered couple's 2-year-old son, lit the first Hanukkah candle.

Rabbi Shimon Holzberg spoke to Ynet about the emotional event: "We conducted the ceremony along with friends and members of my congregation, and Moishe lit the first candle, an honor that was usually reserved for his father.

"We recited the prayer 'He who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time', which has a special meaning now in light of our own Hanukkah miracle – that Moishe is here with us today," he said.

Rabbi Holzberg said Moshe played with a dreidel while those on hand ate Sufganiot (Hannukah doughnuts); a Chabad flag retrieved from the house in Mumbai hung in the background.

"When we were in India we managed to recover four Torahs from the Chabad house," he added. "Three were kept in a safe at the Israeli consulate, and we brought the fourth back home with us and it served us tonight. We also brought Gavriel's silver menorah and Rivkah's Shabbat candlesticks."