MOSHE TURNS TWO TODAY

[Paddy by Grace]

Every Jewish center, synagogue, community center should have a gun any shape or size. For every Jew a 22. They mean to kill us, do not get on the trains.
atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/11/moshe-turns-two.html

Please watch this video of the Rabbi and Moshe Click Here



Chabad photo hat tip via Gudrun

Orphaned. His parents Rabbi Holtzberg and wife Rivka murdered by pious Muslims because they were Jews.

UPDATE: My daughter turned to me after reading the following and said, "it's like the holocaust all over again".

Article in Hebrew reporting what Zaka guys found on arrival in Mumbai/Chabad and then the unforgettable scene on entering the house after the battle ended. No time to translate, but I expect it will appear in English tomorrow sometime. Reminiscent of the Merkaz attack. These Zaka guys are class A Heroes.

The Rabbi had managed to cover his dead wife with a tallit before he was shot. Then he and his fellow rabbis were found dead, clutching Torah books. Evidence indicates they had probably been killed early on in the episode and not, as I had thought, during the commando attack.

The Zaka guys, after 48 hrs without sleep just to get there, had to stay awake and alert all throughout shabbat, sans food or drink, and had to 'do battle' with the Indian authorities repeatedly to prevent them taking away the bodies, doing autopsies, etc. Also, pre-planted grenades kept continued going off in the house intermittently over shabbat.



To crown it all, it appears there had been two -- only two -- 18-yr-old terrorists/murderers in the Chabad House, each around 18 yrs old, and they had managed to hold off the entire force arrayed against them.

Today I attended the local Chabad House here, in solidarity. The Rabbi spoke but was actually lost for words. I found myself unexpectedly close to tears. As an aside, they had arrived in the morning to find the House had been broken into during the night, things messed up and property stolen. Police had been but the whole incident seemed trivial by comparison.

Every Jewish center, synagogue, community center should have a gun any shape or size. For every Jew a 22. They mean to kill us, do not get on the trains.



When I look into the eyes of Moshe, I see the innocence of my own, (not quite 2 y.o.), grandson and I weep for him. Through no fault of his own, this young child will never know the love of mother and father. He will now be raised by others.

Over the course of the last few days, my anger has grown, I want to do something, anything to repay these muslim bastards. Yes, you heard me right. I am THAT angry! Yet I know I cannot... God would not have me visit my anger upon them when He has much more and worse in store for them than I could ever do.

Forgive my anger, and I pray Yah will keep me standing in His righteousness rather than visit my vengence upon the evil in this world. The thing is, I don't want my anger to pass, I don't want what happened in Mumbai to fade from my memory. Yet I don't want it to consume me so I sin either.

Please Yeshua, bring me to that place where I remember yet do not sin against thee.

Lord, I pray you hold this child to Your bosom and protect him. Bring him into his loved ones arms that they may help him to grow not vengeful, but rather with a forgiving heart. Let him never forget, but let him know that You will repay him for his loss of father and mother.

In Yeshua's name
Amen

Paddy

[Paddy by Grace]

Sandra Samuel: A Heroine in Mumbai

www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/775350/jewish/Sandra-Samuel-A-Heroine-in-Mumbai.htm

I wondered what happened to this brave woman. I felt that she should be honored as a hero for saving this childs life from the horrors of Mumbai.
We have raised our youngest grandson since he was three days old, and he clings to us as if we were his parents. I cannot envison this child sitting, soaked in blood, next to his dead mother and father. This poor child... my heart aches for him...
But my heart also swells with love and honor for Sandra, grabbing him and taking him to safety. May Yah bless her and keep her safe and hopefully reunite her with young Moshe. In my home she would be an honored family member as I'm sure many of you would feel the same way...




I keep trying to imagine the situation. The terrorists break into the Chabad house and everyone there fears that this could be the end. Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg calls the Israeli Consulate. "The situation is not good" is all he is able to say in Hebrew before the line goes dead. That is the last anyone hears from him.

Would they find her baby? Would they kill him?From the reports of those who found the bodies, it appears that Rivka was killed first. When she is found, she is covered in a prayer shawl, a tallit. Presumably Gavriel's final act, before he is also brutally murdered, is to cover his beloved wife.

But where was Moshe? Where was their baby boy? This question haunts me.

Was he with his parents? It doesn't appear so for why would these ruthless murders have let him live? These very terrorists attacked a maternity ward in a hospital. They clearly had no mercy for babies. So one can assume he was not there at the time.

I imagine he was in bed, perhaps his crib, for the night. Most likely on another floor of the building. For when he was found, he was clutching a doll. Perhaps the one he would go to sleep with.

I think about Rivka and what must have been going through her mind. Would they find her baby? Would they kill him? Should she tell them he was there? What if he wakes up? What if he starts to cry? Is there anything she can do for him? We will never know what ran through her mind. But every mother knows that her baby was the last thing she thought about.

One of the only comforts from this entire tragedy that viciously took the lives of 183 innocent victims, is that little Moshe was heroically saved.

Little Moshe was calling her nameWhen a mother leaves her baby in the care of another, be it for an hour or a day, it requires a tremendous amount of trust. We hope and pray that our baby will be well taken care of, fed, clothed properly and watched carefully. We try to ensure that if G‑d Forbid there is a problem, the caretaker will know what to do, who to call, how to care for our child. But how many of us can assume that if the situation arises, that our caretaker will actually risk her life for our child? How many of us really feel that our babysitter would die to save our baby?

The Holtzbergs were blessed with such a selfless, brave and heroic caretaker. There is no question that if it were not for the actions of Sandra Samuel, Moshe's nanny, he would not have survived the ordeal. Sandra was on the bottom floor of the Chabad House when the terrorists stormed in. She barricaded herself while she cowered from the shootings and bombings happening above her head. She did not dare leave her hiding spot until the next day, when the attacks seemed to have stopped. It was only then that she heard little Moshe crying.

She easily could have ran out, saving herself. It would have been understandable. After all, the terrorists didn't know that anyone was left inside alive. If they heard the crying, they would come back in to finish the job. It would have made most sense for her to get out of there as quickly as possible. But she didn't. She couldn't. Little Moshe was calling her name.

Sandra left her barricaded room and went upstairs for Moshe. She found him, next to his parents and soaked in their blood. She grabbed him and ran.

Miraculously, the terrorists who were still on the roof of the Chabad House didn't hear or see her or Moshe. Miraculously, this little orphan survived because of his caretaker who risked everything to save him.

Baby Moshe, who just turned two on Shabbat, is now with his maternal grandparents. He will be living with them in Israel. His grandparents are already taking care of his older sibling who is unfortunately quite ill and in Israel for treatment. Not long ago Moshe lost another sibling to a degenerative genetic disease. They are currently working on getting a visa to bring Sandra to Israel. Right now, she is the only one little Moshe will respond to.

This little orphan survived because of his caretaker who risked everything to save himAs Moshe grows older, he will have to struggle with the reality of what happened to his parents. Trying to make sense, at any age, of senseless brutality and death is the greatest of challenges. He will not be able to understand why it happened. No one can. And as loving as his grandparents are, they are not his parents.

But through his pain and loss, he will also hear the stories of the incredible work his parents did, the numerous lives they touched and people they helped. And he will be blessed with the knowledge that his nanny, the very woman his parents trusted to care for him, gave him the utmost gift and risked everything for his well being. Nothing will ever replace the loss Moshe has endured. And nothing will fill the void that Gavriel and Rivka left when they were taken from this world. But Sandra Samuel is a light amidst this darkness. Sandra is the proof that when people show their evil, others will show their beauty and greatness.

Sandra Samuel is a true hero.