Some 16 years after his son Gabi and his daughter-in-law Rivka were killed in an attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai, last weekend Rabbi Nachman Holzberg received the news of the murder of his granddaughter's husband Zvi Kogan in Dubai.
"We feel as if the whole tragedy is happening all over again. It's simply incomprehensible," Holzberg told Ynet. "Just like 16 years ago, it happens the week before the world gathering of Chabad emissaries, both then and now; my son Gabriel was 28 years old and Zvi was also 28 years old. There are a lot of things happening here together and it overwhelms everything."
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Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were killed 18 years ago in a terror attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai
(Photo: Eran Yofi Cohen)
There are not only parallels between the circumstances of the murder, but the lifestyles of Gabi and Zvi there are also similar in Holzberg's eyes.
"Everything that was said about Gabi, is also true of Zvi. He was dedicated to his work, constantly trying to help more people, everyone who entered the Chabad house would leave with a smile on their lips. Jew or non-Jew, winter or summer, Shabbat or weekday, he knew how to give the maximum to everyone."
Holzberg added: "He was one of the greats of the generation in love for Israel and the unity of Israel. All the sheikhs in Dubai loved him dearly, and the people of the country also loved him very much. He was always running for everyone, as far as he was concerned he had no privacy, he did not care for himself. When he would come to events in New York, he would return immediately because he felt that the place he needed him."
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Holzberg calls on others to learn from his grandson's example. "I wish we would learn from him and try to follow his path, smiling at everyone, loving everyone. When my son was murdered, no one asked whether he was from the Likud or Labor, whether he was right or left, whether he was secular or religious. When they came to kill Zvi they didn't think about whether he was from the right or the left, secular or religious. This is the point that needs to be conveyed from Zvi's story and Gabi's story - that everyone should take care of everyone. For example, everyone considers the hostages in the tunnels as if they were their own family. We are in a time with many orphans, families with parents who have lost sons. Think about them, take care of them, and everyone will take stock of themselves, how can they take care of someone else. That's how we will receive a great blessing and a complete redemption."