Orphan of victims killed in attack on Mumbai Chabad House celebrates bar mitzvah
Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were murdered in 2008 by Pakistani terrorists, dons tefillin for first time at ceremony in New York state
Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were killed in the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai when he was two-years-old, celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah by donning phylacteries for the first time during a ceremony in New York.
Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were the directors of the Nariman Chabad House in the Indian city when it was attacked on November 26, 2008. Along with the couple, four other Israeli and American visitors to the house were killed.
The Chabad House was among 12 locations targeted in coordinated shooting and bombing attacks by Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organization based in Pakistan, that killed 166 people and injured hundreds more in a three-day rampage in Mumbai.
The child was dubbed “Baby Moshe” when a photo of his terrified-looking nanny running from the besieged Chabad House clutching the little boy was splashed on the front pages of newspapers around the world.
On Tuesday, Moshe celebrated the ceremony of Hanachat Tefillin, or putting on phylacteries for the first time, during a ceremony in Stony Point, New York, surrounded by family and friends of his parents, Crown Heights info reported. He also helped a US Navy SEAL put on tefillin.
He also visited the grave of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and put on tefillin there, according to the report.
The Times of Israel Community.